THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



201 



lerent operations by which it is prepared for mar- 

 ket. No crop periiaps requires such unremitting 

 atientibn, vigilance, and system. The crop is al- 

 ready cured and hanging in the house ; but as our 

 writer remarks, it should not be permitted to "come 

 and no," as the planters say; that is, it should not 

 be allowed to come in "order"' every wet season, 

 as it will change the color which was given it in 

 curing. Small fires should be put under it in 

 damp seasons to keep it dry. It should hang till 

 alter a lew keen north-west winds in November 

 have thoroughly seasoned and cured the stems, 

 some ol' wiiich would easily mould wilhoutit. It 

 is now to be taken down, or " struck,^'' as it is 

 called, In tolerably supple order, as there is not 

 much danger of its moulding during the winter's 

 cold, (which is the time lor stripping,) and as it 

 should be shaken and whipped moderately to get 

 off the dirt. It is now to be laid away, or bulked 

 straight upon the slicks, elevated on logs or skids 

 to keep it off the damp floor, and covered care- 

 fully with straw and slicks. Now the process of 

 stripping begins. The best judges of tobacco are 

 made what are called "sorters,^^ whose business it 

 is to take up plant by plant, and separate accord- 

 ing to quality into four parcels — " /wgs," " short,'''' 

 second, and first quality. There are strippers at 

 each ol'those respective parcels, who strip and tie 

 up the leaves in bundles containing from five to 

 eight, according to the size ol' the leal'. Before it 

 is tied, the bundle should be held up lo see that 

 the leaves are all of the same length. Small, 

 nice leaves are to be kept by each stripper to tie 

 wilh. He should never take a good large leaf lor 

 that purpose, which would be bad economy. The 

 top ofthe bundle should be covered by the tying, 

 so that the ruggedness of ihe leaves do not show, 

 and the tie be continued down about two inches. 

 The stripping being gone through, each quality 

 should be bulked to itself^ A floor is made ofthe 

 tobacco sticks, raised Irom the ground. Two or 

 three of the hands now place themselves in a row, 

 one of them takes up two bundles and places the 

 bul-ends even, and straightens them. They are 

 then passed through his hands by squeezing from 

 the top to the bottom, and passed on lo the^next, 

 who goes through the same operation, and then 

 the next, and so on, till it is in the hands ofthe 

 bulker, who is fixed on the floor above described, 

 on his knees. He presses the bundles close side 

 by side wilh the buts out, and pressed down with 

 the knees, and is by that time supplied wilh more, 

 which are disposed of in like manner, till he 

 passes through the whole length ofthe floor. He 

 now begins and reveiees the packing, so as to 

 have the tails lapped one-half or two-thirds, and 

 the buts facing at opposite sides. Thus the pro- 

 cess continues till the whole is disposed of; which 

 is called " windrows.''^ The wiiole is now co- 

 vered with sticks and'weighted with logs of wood 

 or rocks, and straw thrown about to prevent too 

 much exposure. When the buts are thus turned 

 out, there is not much danger of its mouldinff, 

 though it is best to examine it in warm and moist 

 spells. It remains in this condition till some time 

 in March, when it is hung up on small tobacco sticks 

 to be dried out by the cold hard winds. It must not 

 be permitted to " come and go" by the chaniies 

 of the season ; but after being once thoroughly 

 dried, it must be again struck for "prizing" in 

 some warm season, when it is just soft enough 



to keep from breaking. It must now bn, bulked 

 as in the lormer case, with this exception, that 

 one bundle only is taken through the process at a 

 lime, and packed down as straight as possible lor 

 prizing, and well weighted. It is a matter of the 

 greatest importance that the bulk should be so 

 protected Irom the changes of the atmosphere 

 that it will remain precisely in the onicr in which 

 it was " struck,^^ as it is called. With this ob- 

 ject, it is tlie practice of some (and we ourselves 

 adopted it, and think it most invaluable) to have 

 tight boxes in which it is packed. They should 

 hold about one hogshead of tobacco each, and 

 are made about 10 feet long and 4 wide, with a 

 lid to fit in close. The workmanship should be 

 strong and with as few apertures as possible, and 

 heavy weights should be placed upon the lids af- 

 ter the tobacco is bulked. When the planter is 

 ready to prize, he will find the bundles to come 

 oat ofthe box almost as straight as candles, which 

 very much lacilitates the prizing operation. In 

 putting the bundles in the hogshead, they should 

 always be laid on tiie edge, if they are anywise 

 flat — the longest bundles in the middle and the 

 short ones around the edge, which fit in more 

 neatly. There is very great art in prizing, and 

 the same tobacco will command more or less by 

 several dollars in the hundred, according as it is 

 prized. There are different modes of placing the 

 bundles in the hogshead, but this would be im- 

 possible to describe on paper, and could only be 

 acquired by observation. 



The few remarks which have been made in 

 these notes, are merely an outline — a sketch of 

 the process of the tobacco culture amongst the 

 best planters in V"irginia. We have not the leisure 

 to go more into detail, and many things could only 

 be acquired by observation. Tobacco is a crop 

 of much labor, and the cultivator can only be paid 

 for it by getting the best prices — and to do this, he 

 must lake great pains. We consider that no man 

 is paid for his trouble if he does not get $10 per 

 liundred. This remark may be qualified, how- 

 ever, by saying that those who live near market 

 would perhaps find it to their interest to adopt a 

 more summary course, by taking it to market in a 

 loose state as soon as it can be stripped out. In 

 this way, although they may not obtain the high- 

 est prices, yet they get it off their hands — have 

 the use of their money several months sooner — 

 avoid a great deal of waste, and have more lei- 

 sure to raise manure and improve their farms. 



DISEASES OF HOGS. 



From the Agriculturist. 



As we rank (he hog among the most useful 

 and indispensable of our domestic animals, it is 

 but right that we should investigate their diseases 

 and endeavor to apply some remedies. The 

 number lost in this neighborhood last fall was 

 4 to 500 — this is a matter of some interest with a' 

 community that have to raise or buy as much 

 pork as we do, for we consume more to the popu- 

 lation than any other people — from the fact i hat 

 the negro population consume nothing else. The 

 most of our farmers attribute the death of their 

 swine to the stock pea. Can anv of your nu- 

 merous readers tell if peas are injurious to hogs 



