106 TOBACCO. 



tlie wrapper-leaf through the opening, and draw it snug, 

 so that when the opening is closed the wrapper-leaf will 

 remain ; this forms a bundle which we call a ' hand of 

 tobacco.' The hands should be strung on sticks, and 

 hoisted up in the barn on the tier-poles ; 18-20 hands 

 may be put on each stick, at equal distances apart." 



Xi bha^ expresses his opinions on stripping in the fol- 

 lowing words. " At the setting in of a warm, drizzling, 

 wet, foggy spell of weather, the shed must be opened on 

 all sides to allow the damp atmosphere to pervade the 

 whole interior ; after the dry leaves have become damp 

 enough to allow handling in any degree without breaking, 

 the stalks must be taken off the lath or pulled down and 

 laid in heaps about 18 inches or 2 feet high, and any 

 desired length ; ifit is not intended to strip it imme - 

 diately, it should be conveyed to a cellar o r other apar t- 

 ment, where it will remain damp ; it should not, however, 

 be suffered to remain longer than 2 or 3 days in heaps, 

 without examination, as there is sometimes sufficient 

 moisture remaining in the stalks or frozen leaves to 

 create heat and rot the good tobacco. If found to be 

 heating, it should be changed about and aired and be 

 stripped immediately. If found to be drying out, further 

 evaporation may be checked by covering the heaps with 

 damp straw or corn-fodder. Tobacco is usually stripped 

 into two qualities, ' ground-leaf,' or ' fillers,' and ' wrap- 

 pers ' ; the leaves that lie next the ground, generally 

 from 2 to 4, are always more or less damaged by sand 

 beaten on by the rain and other causes, hence they only 

 command about half the price of the good tobacco or 

 ' wrappers.' The ground-leaves are taken off first and 



