122 TOBACCO. 



shed. With a good kind of tobacco, grown on light, 

 friable soil, treated as described, little care will be needed, 

 after the leaves are dried and stripped. By the drying 

 process, the leaves will have undergone a slow fermenta- 

 tion, which makes it unnecessary to watch or guide a 

 regular fermentation afterwards, hence bulking and fer- 

 menting, as generally understood, are not required. 



After being made into hands, the tobacco is put into 

 heaps (bulked) before it again dries. Every evening, 

 the tobacco that has been stripped during the day is 

 bulked; but if the weather be very dry, it must be 

 bulked as soon as a certain number of hands is ready. 

 The heaps should be made 4-8 feet square and 4-8 feet 

 high ; all the stalks are outside, and the whole is covered 

 by mats, &c., to check evaporation. The drier the to- 

 bacco, the larger must the heaps be made, to encourage 

 a slight fermentation. The extent of the fermentation 

 can be easily controlled. If the colour of the leaves is 

 not uniform, or if it is desired to give them a browner 

 colour, the heaps must be made large, and a somewhat 

 moist atmosphere is required in the storing-room. This 

 will cause fermentation to set in after a short time, and 

 the heat to rise after some days, so much so that re- 

 bulking is required, which is done by putting the top 

 leaves of the old heap at the bottom of the new one. 

 Under such circumstances, the heap must be frequently 

 examined during the few first weeks, to prevent over- 

 heating. It is advisable to rebulk the tobacco also, even 

 when not much heated, after the first fourteen days, and 

 again a month later, to ascertain the exact state in which 

 it is. Sometimes the tobacco becomes mouldy ; this 



