CURING. 99 



rays of the sun, to prevent blanching. When it has 

 nearly cured, shut it up and let it remain till perfectly 

 cured. This may be known by the stem of the leaves 

 being dried up, so that no green sap will show itself. If 

 you have hung in your stables and other places that you 

 wish to use, it will be necessary to take it down and strip 

 it at the first favourable opportunity, which is described 

 farther along. The separate building elsewhere described 

 is to be preferred, as it does not necessitate any imme- 

 diate hurry in getting it down. In such it can be 

 allowed to hang and freeze and thaw two or three times, 

 which improves the colour and weight, and will give 

 more leisure in stripping, &c. Watch a favourable time, 

 when it rains and is damp, to open your buildings, and 

 let in the damp air till the tobacco is damped, so that it 

 can be handled without any danger of breaking the leaves. 

 It need not get too damp, as in that case it is liable to 

 injure in the pile before you can get it stripped. It will 

 gain dampness from the stalk." 



The Cuban tobacco planter, according to Davis, " would 

 force the drying in wet weather and retard it in dry 

 weather, as either extreme is injurious; the wet is 

 injurious, as the leaves, when they change from the 

 natural colour to a pale yellow and light brown, easily 

 mildew; when dry, as before-named, it is taken down. 

 Damp weather is best, so as not to break the leaves, which 

 are immediately stripped from the stalks and sorted into 

 as many grades as the market may require, from one to 

 four and even more grades, as ' bright yellow, dull, seconds, 

 and ground-leaves.' But I see no necessity for but three 

 grades, as the over-ripe, the unripe, and the just ripe at 



H 2 



