No. 4.] TOBACCO GROWING. 273 



Priming. 



This new method of harvesting tobacco came with the shade- 

 grown tobacco, and has found favor among many growers who 

 grow the outside or sun-grown tobacco. The barn has to be 

 rigged differently, with the tiers only half as far apart as either 

 of the methods previously described. The plant is not cut, but 

 the leaves are picked off or "primed," as they ripen, four or 

 five at a time, beginning with the bottom one. The pickers sit 

 down between the two rows and "prime" both rows, placing the 

 leaves in little piles. These are picked up by another man and 

 placed in baskets and are drawn to the end of the row on a 

 hand truck, loaded onto a wagon, and taken to the shed where 

 the leaves are strung. Generally women and children do this 

 work, using large needles and stringing forty leaves on a string, 

 which has been knotted at one end. After the leaves are all 

 on, the stringer knots the other end of the string and hangs it 

 on a lath which has been notched at either end. These laths 

 are then hung up tier upon tier as aforesaid. In a few days 

 the second priming is taken and so on until the crop is har- 

 vested. Cases have been known where the first priming has 

 become cured and taken down before the last priming was 

 taken, thus giving a chance to use the shed a second time in 

 the same season. When the crop is to be primed it is not 

 necessary to top the plant. After the priming is finished the 

 stalks are cut down and utilized in different ways; some growers 

 run them through a cutting machine and plow them under or 

 use them for top-dressing grass. 



Curing. 



The curing shed is really the factor limiting the increase of 

 tobacco acreage. It is useless for the grower to set more plants 

 than he has shed room to take care of. To hang an acre of 

 tobacco requires a shed 30 by 30 feet. A building this size will 

 cost from $300 up, depending upon whether it is of frame or 

 of pole construction. The pole shed is built by setting the 

 posts in the ground and is not framed, the braces being nailed 

 on. This type of shed is by far the most common. The frame 



