104 TOBACCO. 



any beneficial results be produced. When it has been 

 packed sufl&ciently soft, it undergoes after the second or 

 third day a degree of heat of 110" to 120° F. in the centre 

 of the heap, and if it does not acquire this degree of heat 

 it is because it has been packed too dry. 



" We have already said that reaping or cutting tobacco 

 should be performed in three distinct sections, preserving 

 always a distinction, consequently the crown leaves should 

 form one heap, or one set of heaps ; the second and third 

 pairs another, or others ; the fourths and the fifths others ; 

 and lastly, the capaduras (second shoots from the same 

 plants) others. This system, besides having the advan- 

 tages which we have in another place described, greatly 

 facilitates the sorting of the leaves, as the diiferent 

 qualities are from the first kept apart, and scarcely any 

 other work remains to be done than that of taking out 

 the broken leaves. Tobacco should be kept for at least 

 30 days in heaps, after which, sorting and choosing the 

 leaves may commence, beginning first with the heaps of 

 the inferior qualities." 



Stripping. — Stripping may be performed at any time, 

 provided the leaves, after being once properly dried, 

 have again become pliable. For stripping, such a number 

 of plants as will furnish work for several days are taken 

 down on a morning, when the plants have absorbed some 

 moisture, and have become elastic; they are put in a 

 heap, and properly covered, to check evaporation. If, 

 however, the night air should be so very dry that the 

 leaves cannot absorb sufficient moisture to become pliable, 

 a moist atmosphere can be created either by steam, or by 

 pouring water on the floor, or by keeping vessels with 



