EXPERIENCE OF PRACTICAL GROWERS. 



25 



and the same, or some uniform number, on every stick. 

 To hang a plant, lift it up with the right hand, and 

 with the left divide the stalk through the split, having 

 half the leaves on one side and half on the other. As 

 the sticks are filled, place them on the poles of the 

 scaffold, crowding them closely. Under the most 

 favorable circumstances, all the plants of a crop will 

 not ripen the same day, or even the same week. It 

 often happens that three weeks intervene between the 

 first and the last cutting. But whenever ripe, it must 

 be cut, hung, and placed on the scaffold, or on some 

 other fixture, to dry out. This drying is the first step 

 in the process called curing the tobacco, which simply 

 means to dry out all the juices of the plant. This can 

 only be done by absorption, assimilation, and evapora- 

 tion. The two former are natural processes ; the lat- 

 ter can be effected by heat, and this heat must be from 

 the sun or from ordinary fire. It is important, for 

 many reasons, that this evaporation be as rapid as pos- 

 sible. Left to the sun alone, it would require, in or- 

 dinary seasons, at least three months. I have seen 

 plants of ripe tobacco of a green color in January; 

 and I have seen whole crops perfectly cured by fire in 

 five days. The latter was the plan in Virginia, the 

 fire being kept up night and day during that period. 

 I have not used fire for that purpose since I came to 

 this State, seventeen years ago. But whether here or 

 any where else, if large quantities of freshly cut to- 

 bacco be stored in a close house, it will rot or mold 

 during long spells of warm, damp weather, if fire were 

 not used. Tobacco well ripened, and timely cut, in 

 ordinary seasons, can be cured by the first of January, 

 without fire, if suffered to remain on the scaffolds a 

 week, and then placed in sheds with open ends and 

 sides ; but the roofs should not leak. Rains will not 

 injure it any time during the first eight or ten days 

 after cutting, in any other way than by delaying the 

 process of curing. It may be asked: "Are there any 

 certain signs or indications to show when tobacco is 

 perfectly cured ?" I think there are ; and with the 

 exercise of a little judgment, there can be no mistake. 

 There should not be the least greenness of color or 

 scent about the stalk, the stem, or any portion of the 

 leaf ; and the stems should be so brittle that they will 

 snap short in bending them, in dry weather. With 

 fire it can be put in such a condition in one week ; but 

 without fire, in ordinary seasons, it will require till 

 Christmas. But when it is in that condition it is cured. 

 The tobacco being cured, the next process is 



Stripping. — This consists of breaking the leaves 

 from the stalks, and tying them into bundles, called 

 " hands" in this section. But in doing this we should 

 not tie the leaves as we come to them. In all crops, 

 and sometimes on the same plant, there are some long 

 leaves, some short ones, (equally good in equality,) and 

 some dusty, ragged, weather-beaten leaves. These 

 grades or qualities should not be tied up in the same 

 bundle. In stripping, the practice was, in Virginia, to 



let one person pull off all of the first grade, and tie, it 

 up ; another would take the same plants and pull off all 

 leaves of the second grade, and tie it ; and another 

 would pull off and tie up what was left on the plant : 

 thus making three grades or qualities. These are re- 

 hung separately, and prized in the hogsheads sepa- 

 rately. This is evidently the proper plan to be followed 

 every where. 



Every day's stripping is placed on the same sticks 

 again, and hung up out of the way of every thing. 

 The bundles of the first grade Contain twelve leaves ; 

 of the second, sixteen; and of the third, between 

 twenty and thirty. 



After tobacco has begun to dry out, or cure, it can 

 be handled only in moist weather. At any other time 

 it will break and crumble more or less. In order to 

 have it ready to strip at any time, the planter should 

 select a spell of moist weather, and while the tobacco 

 is in the right case, (aa it is called in Virginia, and 

 means neither so dry as to break, nor so damp as to 

 mold,) bulk down a considerable portion of his crop. 



Bulking Down. — Suppose he wishes to bulk down 

 three hundred sticks, making three thousand six hun- 

 dred plants. The tobacco being in the right " case," 

 he selects a corner of his barn, or other building, and 

 sweeps the floor clean. He then takes down the sticks, 

 slips the plants off, and places them, straight and 

 compact, in one corner of the room, about one foot 

 from either wall, buts outside. And so of another 

 stick by the side of the first, keeping the course par- 

 allel with the wall ; and when one course is completed, 

 lay down another with the buts on the opposite side. 

 Let the length and number of these courses be such, 

 that the bulk, when completed, will be about three 

 feet high." This done, lay the tobacco-sticks on the 

 bulk lengthwise, and cover over with hay or fodder, 

 pressing it tightly between the wall and the bulk. If 

 this is done rightly, the tobacco will remain in strip- 

 ping case for years. Suppose your whole crop is 

 stripped and re-hung, which ought to be done by the 

 first of March. Let it hang until about the first of 

 April ; then take it down in the proper prizing case, 

 and bulk it away as before. The prizing case for the 

 first and second grades is the same as for stripping ; 

 but for the first grade it must be decidedly drier. 



Preparing for Market. — The crop is now ready to 

 prize for market. Parcels less than one thousand five 

 hundred pounds may be carried to market almost in any 

 way ; but more than that should be prized in hogsheads. 

 Several farmers might combine their crops for prizing. 

 As to the size, form, and materials of the hogsheads. 

 In Virginia, the size of the hogsheads is prescribed by 

 law. They must be made of seasoned pine or poplar. 

 They must be four feet six inches long; three feet six. 

 inches in diameter, at one end, and three feet four 

 inches at the other. This difierence of diameter is to ' 

 allow the tobacco to be inspected. This may be some- 

 thing new to persons of the North, therefore I will 



