No. 1.] TOBACCO GROWING. 35 



We are all familiar with the look and behavior of tobacco 

 during the barn or pole cure. The process, under the most 

 favorable conditions of weather, when no long storms or pro- 

 tracted drought and hot weather interfere with its course, is 

 about as follows : — 



The plants first wilt completely, losing a very large part 

 of the water which was in them, and hang down like wet 

 rags, leaving air spaces between the lath through which you 

 can see clear to the top of the barn, and through which 

 there is a free circulation of air, — a thing which is essential 

 to an even, rapid cure. 



Next the lower sand leaves turn bright yellow, the tips 

 of the wrapper leaves do the same, and yellow patches 

 appear on the surface of the wrappers. A little later the 

 sand leaves begin to turn brown. They come to their color 

 soonest, but the process goes on gradually all through the 

 plant, till, last of all, the top leaves are cured. 



But all this time the stems, the midribs of the leaves, 

 remain yellow and full of sap, and, at this stage of the cure, 

 easily break from the stalk. On further drying they turn 

 brown at the point of union with the stalk and knit onto it, 

 so that they break off much less readily than before. 



Drying the stems is the last and most tedious part of the 

 process. The sap dries up very slowly, but finally the stem 

 shrivels together, and the crop is ready to dampen up and 

 strip. 



This fairly describes the cure when it goes on just as the 

 grower could wish, with no bad weather, with no hitches 

 of any sort. But you all know that it does not fairly de- 

 scribe the curing process as it goes, in nineteen cases out 

 of every twenty. Curing time is an anxious time for all 

 growers, no matter how much experience they have had. 

 Much depends on skill in taking advantage of, or in dodg- 

 ing, the changes of the weather : anticipating a long storm, 

 for instance, by drying out the crop a little more than one 

 would otherwise ; changing the air in pole-burn weather by 

 burning kerosene lamps under the tobacco, or even kindling 

 wood fires. But there are some seasons when, in spite of 

 all skill and painstaking, crops are ruined or badly dam- 

 aged because of bad weather after harvest. Every year 



