CURING. 103 



" In the months of April or May, when the rainy season 

 commences, the poles which are on the highest pegs of the 

 scaffolding should be taken down and placed somewhat 

 apart, one from the other, on the lower pegs. The doors 

 of the house should be left open at night, so that the 

 humidity from the atmosphere may enter, and when, in 

 the morning, the tobacco is found to be soft and silky, it 

 is fit to be placed in heaps. The pairs of leaves should 

 then be collected in armfuls, with all the bits of stalks 

 placed in one direction; the leaves that may be found 

 doubled or crooked should be smoothed out, and each arm- 

 ful should be placed in layers in the heaps, placing the 

 first layer at the bottom with all the woody pieces of the 

 stalk touching the yagua which forms the sides of the 

 case; other layers should be placed with the stalk 

 reversed, and in this manner, crossing the leaves, the pile 

 should be raised up level. When a pile has a sufficient 

 height, another, and another, is made until the tobacco is 

 finished or the case is full, so that each heap may form a 

 compact mass of leaves protected by the pieces of stalk all 

 round, which should never touch the leaves, but only 

 touch each other. When the heaps have been thus made, 

 they should be covered with dry plantain leaves, or palm 

 skins, and, in front, by palm leaves. 



"Tobacco should not be packed thus when it is too 

 damp, because a very strong fermentation would ensue, 

 which, if kept up longer than necessary, would pass to 

 putrefaction. The tobacco only requires to be soft, or 

 flexible, before packing, so as to produce a certain degree 

 of heat, neither is it convenient to pack tobacco when 

 too dry, for then it would not ferment at all, nor would 



