154 TOBACCO. 



are put into machines and chopped into strips of the 

 width of a finger; they are then moistened with pure 

 water or tobacco juice of various strengths, the necessary- 

 quantity and quality of which is determined by chemical 

 analysis. These strips are then piled up in masses con- 

 taining from 35,000 to 40,000 kilogrammes, in rooms 

 where a high and even temperature is maintained by 

 steam-pipes and ventilators. Here they remain to ferment 

 during a month or six weeks, when they are dried, ground 

 into powder, and sifted. This powder then receives a 

 wetting, is packed in stout wooden bins, in quantities 

 ranging from 25,000 to 30,000 Mlo., and so remain to 

 ferment for several months. During the course of the 

 final fermentation, the powder is tested and moved from 

 one bin to another from time to time, in order to ensure a 

 successful issue of the process. When the samples taken 

 from the bins indicate maturity, the snuff is packed in 

 barrels and casks, and is ready for the market. For the 

 manufacture of smoking-tobacco, the leaves, after the 

 stemming process, receive their first moistening, which 

 lasts 24 hours. They are then neatly arranged, with 

 their edges parallel, and are taken to the chopping 

 machines ; the machines in use at the Eegie are 

 capable of chopping 220 lb. per hour, the knives being 

 renewed twice during that time. The tobacco, on leaving 

 the choppers, contains about 25 per cent, of humidity, and 

 is immediately conveyed into one end of a revolving 

 drying cylinder, heated to a uniform temperature of 

 203° Fahrenheit, from the opposite end of which it issues, 

 at the expiration of fifteen minutes, in a dried state and 

 freed from albumen. It is then put through a second 

 cylinder, similar in construction to the last, but which 



