220 TOBACCO. 



Our own experience has tended to confirm this judg- 

 ment. 



" IX. See to it that the suckers are promptly removed. 

 It is work quickly done, and with worming may constitute 

 a single operation. 



" X. We come now to consider the last operation in the 

 field, ' cutting ' the crop. In this, as in topping, a man of 

 judgment, experience, and fidelity is needed. An inex- 

 perienced hand, one without judgment, and particularly 

 one who is indifferent to the interests of his employer, 

 will slash away, right and left, not knowing or not caring 

 whether the tobacco he cuts be ripe or green, doing more 

 damage in a few hours than his whole year's wages would 

 compensate for, even could they be garnished. 



" Therefore, be on hand to see for yourself, and do not 

 delegate the duty to any less interested party, that a crop 

 managed well, it may be, so far, from the initial plant- 

 bed, should not be spoiled in the closing work by an 

 incompetent or unfaithful cutter. 



" Be there, too, to see, in this supreme hour, that injury 

 from sunburn is warded off by the timely removal, to the 

 shade, of the plants that have been cut, or by a proper 

 covering, where they lie, against the scorching rays of 

 the sun. The neglect of this precaution has played havoc 

 with many a crop when brought under the auctioneer's 

 hammer. 



" XI. We should have no space to describe the different 

 methods of * curing ' tobacco, as, for instance, ' sun- 

 curing,' ' air-curing,' ' flue-curing,' ' open-fire-curing,' &c., 

 even though the whole subject had not been gone over 

 again and again in previous reports of this Department. 



