OTHER FARM CROPS 617 



circumstances must the temperature of the fermenting tobacco be 

 permitted to rise above 136 F. As soon as the temperature in the 

 middle of the pile, which is the hottest, reaches 100 F., the pile 

 should be torn down and rearranged on an adjoining platform. 

 The bottoms, sides, and tops are placed in the center of the new pile, 

 and the center of the first pile becomes the outsides, bottoms, and tops 

 of the second pile. This process should be continued throughout 

 the various rebulkings. 



Indications are that the best qualities of wrapper leaf should 

 not be allowed to go much over 100 F. If light colors are shown 

 that is, if the color of the leaf is desirable fermentation may be re- 

 duced to a minimum, which will mean that the pile will have to be 

 rebulked perhaps every twenty-four hours. An important point is to 

 maintain a constant degree of humidity in the fermenting room. 

 The air in the fermenting room should never be permitted to be- 

 come dry, but should always show from 85 to 90 of humidity, 

 irrespective of the temperature. In wrapper tobacco color is every- 

 thing. As the piles are broken down and rebulked there is each time 

 a slower rise in temperature, and it is a matter of judgment as to when 

 the fermenting process should be discontinued. When the stage is 

 reached 1 where the temperature of the tobacco in the pile rises, re- 

 mains stationary, and then begins to fall, the fermentation is finished. 



Binder tobacco will stand more fermentation than wrapper. 

 Thick wrapper will stand more fermentation than medium wrapper, 

 and both than the thinnest or highest quality of leaf. The better 

 the quality of the tobacco the greater care should be exercised in its 

 manipulation. In the case of filler tobacco it is best to allow the 

 temperature to approach the maximum limit of 136 at the second 

 turning, the subsequent rebulkings being checked at lower tempera- 

 tures. In the first stages of fermentation large quantities of am- 

 monia are set free, and there is a considerable evolution of ammonia 

 throughout the whole fermentation process. As soon as the fermen- 

 tation is complete the tobacco is ready for the final sorting. 



Sorting to Color and Preparation for Baling. From the fer- 

 menting room the fermented tobacco is again taken, in such quan- 

 tities as will not dry out, to the sorting room, which, as in the case 

 of the one previously used, should be well lighted, ventilated, and 

 so arranged that it can be kept moist. A good arrangement of this 

 assorting room would be with north light along the whole side of 

 the building. Direct sunshine or southern exposure is very detri- 

 mental. The sorting tables should be at right angles to the source 

 of light, the sorters with their sides toward the window. This final 

 sorting is the most important stage in the whole process of treatment 

 of the tobacco leaf. The leaf must be graded to color, shape, thin- 

 ness, and length, and requires a class of labor of the very highest 

 skill. Wrapper tobacco of the Sumatra types is graded into seventy- 

 two classes. There should be at least six colors of wrappers dark, 

 brown, light, green, specked, and broken. They should be graded 

 to length, so that there should not be a variation of more than 2 

 inches in the length of leaf in any lot. Gradations of color can best 



