TOBACCO. 



TOBACCO. 



leaves will come to the ground, we should rise 

 in the same proportion. The crop should be 

 wormed and suckered, at least once a week. 



the barn floor, two lengths to reach across, ths 

 large ends placed outwards, to guard against 

 the tendency of heat to the centre. We keep 



Cutting and Housing. In about 3 months j up our warming fires from 36 to 48 hours, the 

 after setting out, the plants assume a spotted j mercury ranging from 100 to 115. This 



and yellowish appearance, indicating that they 

 have attained sufficient maturity for cutting 

 and housing. This stage of the tobacco cul 

 ture is generally reckoned the most difficult 

 and delicate part of the whole business, and 

 the planter, if he wishes to be successful, must 

 give it all his attention, as the profit of a whole 

 plantation, for the year, greatly depends upon 

 the diligence and skilful management exercised 

 during the few days of cutting. He should 

 therefore be well prepared for this state of the 

 crop, by having the barns close, carts and 

 wagons in good order, and every thing ar- 

 ranged to despatch business as much as pos- 

 sible, since it is hard work he has to encounter. 

 To save a heavy crop in the best manner 

 requires both energy and activity. The most 

 'judicious hands should be selected for cutters. 

 The plants are cut with a knife near the 

 ground, and suffered to lie in the sun for a 

 few hours, to cause them to " fall" or wilt. 

 "When the field is a pretty large one, a middling 

 or average hand should count the whole num- 

 ber of plants he cuts, so that, allowing each 

 cutter the same number, we may arrive at 

 nearly the whole quantity cut. We should 

 never cut more nor less than will fill the con- 

 templated barn ; otherwise there is labour lost 

 in attending to a barn not full, or the overplus 

 is injured for want of firing. The tobacco, 

 after it has "fallen," or becomes sufficiently 

 limber, is carried to the barn in carts or wa- 

 gons, being from 6 to 10 plants on a stick, and 

 stowed away for firing. It is also of great im- 

 portance to be particular in the arrangement 

 of the sticks. The equal and general circula- 

 tion of heat throughout the house depends on 

 the manner in which this is done. Our barns 

 commonly have three firing tiers above, and 

 three below the joists. We commence ar- 

 ranging the sticks on the most elevated tier 

 in the roof, to which we give five inches dis- 

 tance ; and on each tier, as we descend, we 

 gain one inch ; so that on the lowest tier, near- 

 est the fire, the sticks are placed eleven inches 

 apart. This disposition of the sticks, I have 

 ascertained by late experiment, is important. 

 The sticks of tobacco being wider apart, next 

 o the fires, gives a freer circulation, and, con- 

 sequently, a more equal temperature, than the 

 usual way of equal distance from bottom to 

 top. The heat having more space to ascend, 

 must be more equal and generally diffused, and 

 will give a more uniform house of tobacco. I 

 esteem this a considerable improvement ; and 

 if we have house-room, and make a greater 

 difference in the proportionate distance be- 

 tween the sticks, it will be a still better arrange- 

 ment. 



Curing. We commence our warming or 

 preparing fires, says Mr. Edmunds, the day 

 after housing. We prefer what is commonly 

 called the " bed logs" of green, and the " feed- 

 ing" of dry or seasoned wood. By this ar- 

 rangement the fires are rendered more govern- 

 able. 



will generally bring the leaf to the drying state; 

 the tail, or end of the leaf, now begins to curl 

 handsomely , and then the planter must be on the 

 alert. If he is careless, and his fires are made 

 too hot, the aromatic oil passes off with the sap 

 and smoke, and he has a house of red or dark 

 inferior tobacco. If his fires are kept too low, 

 his tobacco gets into a clammy sweat, and the 

 oil escapes. There is much more danger of 

 the former than of the latter evil. There is 

 more tobacco injured by too much heat than 

 by the want of a sufficiency. The fires should 

 now be kept steady and regular, with a gradual 

 increase of heat, so that in 48 hours the mer- 

 cury will stand 150 to 160. It must be kept 

 at or about that temperature until the tobacco 

 is cured. 



Stripping, Prizing, fyc. After the plants be- 

 come sufficiently dried, known by the stems 

 getting hard, which will be in about 2 months 

 after housing, the leaves are stripped from the 

 stalks. For this operation a moist time in the 

 spring or late in winter is chosen, to prevent 

 the leaves from crumbling. They are divided 

 by select hands into three classes for stripping: 

 1st, that which is of the best colour and qua- 

 lity; 2dly, that which is somewhat inferior, 

 comprising the balance of the leaf; 3dly, 

 lugs, or ground leaves. Some planters make 

 still more classes, but this requires more at- 

 tention and discrimination than can be gene- 

 rally bestowed, at least by ordinary hands. 

 After sorting, the leaves are neatly tied up in 

 bundles called "hands," consisting of 4 leaves 

 in each bundle of the first class, or 6 of the 

 second and third classes. The hands are next 

 ' put down to condition," as the process is 

 commonly termed. This consists in putting it 

 in large bulks and subjecting it to pressure 

 >om weights, in which state it undergoes a 

 sweat. It must be watched during this pro- 

 cess, and as soon as it is observed beginning 

 to heat, taken out and hung up to dry. After 

 drying thoroughly, it must be again taken down 

 and put into bulk, a damp spell being chosen 

 so as to prevent the leaves from breaking or 

 crumbling. In Mr. Edmunds' instructions he ob- 

 serves, that, " at the close of each day's stripping, v 

 and oftener if the weather is drying, we bulk 

 down what has been stripped, being careful to 

 pack straight. It is left in this situation until 

 we wish to commence prizing, and then hung, 

 Vom 12 to 15 bundles on a smooth stick, and 

 loisted in the barn, the sticks placed 6 inches 

 apart, the hoister carrying a measure in his 

 land. It is important to measure, as the order 

 will be more uniform. It should remain until 

 he stems are perfectly dry; after which it 

 should be taken down for prizing, as dry as it 

 can be handled without breaking. It remains 

 n this state a few days, until the leaves are 

 jressed together, and we have soft weather 

 Each bundle is then carefully 



'or packing. 



straightened, repacked, and heavily weighted 



~ is then ready for prizing. We should prize 



The bed logs should be nicely fitted to m weather when the order of the tobacco will 



1048 



