38 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Keep the heat uniform all through the barn. Our purline 

 averaged only 3 degrees warmer than the lower tiers. 



Never let the tobacco get chilled. The lowest point it 

 ever reached in the barn was 59°, and it averaged 69° at 3 

 to 6 o'clock in the morning, the coldest time in the twenty- 

 four hours. 



Never let the green or yellow leaves dry out so as to be 

 anywhere near dry and husky. Keep them sappy, but 

 limp, so they will hang like rags at the tips. This may 

 sound hard to do, but it is easy. The sand leaves or 

 seconds and then the second wrappers may be allowed to 

 get a little husky after they have come to color, but never 

 let them get chippy or brittle. 



And, finally, keep the tobacco moving on in the cure day 

 and night. Don't let it stop and hang lire, as it often does 

 in the barn, waiting for some change of weather to send it 

 along again. 



In 1897, after we had successfully cured a small crop, our 

 barn was destroyed by fire. In 1898 we put up a new barn, 

 with a system of heating which is perfectly safe. A single 

 chimney is built in the centre of the barn, running through 

 the roof close to the ridge pole. 



Two furnaces, one on each side of the barn, outside of it 

 and covered by a lean-to, supply the heat. Each sheet-iron 

 furnace is surrounded by a brick wall, having an air space 

 five inches wide between. From this two hot-air pipes pass 

 into the barn, one going nearly to each end and then re- 

 turning to the chimney, having enough pitch to secure the 

 flow of hot air in them. The smoke and hot air from the 

 fires can also be turned into these hot-air flues, when desired. 

 This year we had a rather inferior crop to cure, which had 

 been pinched by dry weather. We do not recommend our 

 own method of heating for general use, our experiments 

 have not gone far enough for that ; but it is perfectly certain 

 that artificial heat in some form can be used, at least occa- 

 sionally, in curing-barns and entirely prevent the ravages of 

 pole-burn in unfavorable seasons. 



If I were a grower, I certainly would not go through a 

 single season without a supply of kerosene lanterns, at least 

 to use in emergency, to change the air in my sheds in bad 



