616 HORTICULTURE, FORESTRY, FLORICULTURE 



When tak;en from the curing barn to the sorting room, the to- 

 bacco should be moist. If the weather is cloudy or rainy, no arti- 

 ficial additional moisture will be necessary, but in a dry period, or 

 when the humidity is low, the tobacco can be moistened by wetting 

 down the walls and floor of the sorting room, or by turning live steam 

 in the room, in case a steam plant has been provided. The tobacco 

 must never be sprayed or any direct application of water made to 

 it. A properly cured leaf absorbs moisture from the air with great 

 rapidity and will hold from 20 to 25 per cent of moisture without 

 detriment. This is about the amount it should contain when placed 

 in the fermenting heap. 



Fermenting. The fermentation should follow immediately 

 after the grading and sorting process, as the tobacco is then in the 

 best condition. A much better fermentation can be secured imme- 

 diately than after a delay of weeks or months. The tobacco is taken 

 from the assorting room to the fermenting room. The fermenting 

 room is provided with platforms 5 feet wide and of sufficient length 

 to hold from 1,000 to 1,500 pounds. These platforms are raised a 

 foot above the floor and should have a bulkhead at each end, about 

 5 feet high. The platforms are covered with cotton cloth, burlaps, 

 or some other cheap material to keep the tobacco from coming in 

 contact with the lumber of which the platforms are constructed. To 

 build up a bulk or fermenting heap the hands are laid close in 4 or 

 5 rows until the bottom is completely covered, the butts overlapping 

 the tops about a third of the length of the leaf, and subsequent tiers 

 are added until the quantity at hand is all in the pile. A tin or cop- 

 per pipe, about 2 inches in diameter, closed at one end, should be 

 stood in the center of the pile and the tobacco built up around it. 

 This tube should be long enough to reach above the top of the pile 

 of tobacco, and the open end is placed up. This pipe is to be used 

 for a thermometer, which can be lowered to a position corresponding 

 with the bottom, middle, or top of the pile. If the tobacco is in proper 

 case when it is placed in the pile that is, if the leaf contains 20 to 25 

 per cent of moisture a rise in temperature will begin at once. The 

 fermenting heap when finished should be covered over with a tar- 

 paulin or rubber blanket, excluding all air and retaining aU mois- 

 ture. No weight should be applied. When the building of the fer- 

 menting heap is finished the temperature of the room should be 

 raised from 8 to 10 above the temperature of the pile until the 

 temperature of the pile becomes equal to that of the room. The 

 fermenting room should be heated to from 85 to 95 and should be 

 kept at that temperature until the temperature of the pile of fer- 

 menting tobacco equals the temperature of the room. As the tem- 

 perature in the fermenting pile of tobacco increases about 90, the 

 air temperature should be permitted to remain about 10 lower than 

 the increasing temperature of the pile. 



Wrapper, binder, and filler tobaccos require different treatment 

 in fermenting, the best wrapper tobaccos being produced at lower 

 temperatures than fillers. The higher the temperatures in the fer- 

 menting pile the darker the color of the finished leaf. Under no 



