82 TOBACCO. 



down, and then when the sun has sufficiently wilted the 

 leaves, the stalk may be cut and left to lie until it will 

 bear handling without breaking the leaves. The lath 

 being previously prepared, 4 feet in length and about 1 

 inch in thickness on one edge, and ^ inch on the other, 

 and 2 inches broad (or poles cut in the forest will answer 

 pretty well) ; then have trestles prepared high enough to 

 allow the stalks to hang suspended without touching the 

 ground, and set far enough apart in the field to admit of 

 the lath reaching from one to another; now place the 

 stalks of tobacco upon the lath (previously laid across the 

 trestles), by slipping them over and down until they will 

 hang perpendicular and 6-8 inches apart, so they will 

 merely touch, without crowding too much. It may be 

 left hanging thus exposed to the weather until the leaves 

 are so wilted that the stalks hang apart without touching, 

 and the lower leaves begin to dry, when it is taken off the 

 trestles, each lath entire, and laid upon a waggon and 

 hauled to the drying-shed." 



Before the tobacco is ready for harvesting, Hudson 

 suggests the preparation of " a supply of sticks for hang- 

 ing. Sticks 4 feet long and 1 inch square are most con- 

 venient ; 12 sticks to every 100 plants will be sufficient. 

 For sun-curing, there should be a shed built at one or 

 more convenient points of the patch. This may be done 

 by placing posts in the ground to support the poles, as 

 represented in Fig. 8. The poles a being for the support 

 of the smaller poles c, upon which the tobacco-sticks are 

 placed, and 6 for the cover, when necessary that it should 

 be shedded." 



Mitjen's translator gives the following account of the 



