19 



the visits of insects by covering the seed head with a paper bag. Jiefore 

 doing this all the suckers, leaves and lateral branches immediately below 

 the seed head should be removed. Tie the mouth of the bag around the 

 stalk below the remaining flower buds before they open. After three 

 or four days the bag should be removed long enough to shake out the 

 old dead flowers and break off the newly developed suckers. It should 

 be replaced at once and the process repeated at intervals of four to 

 five days. Not over 25 or 30 seed capsules should be allowed to develop 

 on one plant, and after they have finished blooming the paper bag should 

 be removed and the head exposed to the sunlight. 



Wlien the seeds are fully matured and the capsules have taken on a 

 brown color the head should be removed with 4 or 5 inches of the stalk 

 and hung in a dry place where there is a free circulation of air. Even in 

 seeds selected in this careful manner, there will be many light seeds which 

 are small, weak and imdeveloped that are likely to produce weak, slow- 

 growing plants. These should ])e taken out and only the large, strong 

 heavy seeds used in sowing the seed bed. With this end in view, several 

 good machines for cleaning tobacco seed, that is, for separating the 

 weak, light seed from the strong, heavy seed, have been constructed, and 

 any farmer can have his tobacco seed cleaned free of charge by sending 

 it either to the Bureau of Agriculture in Manila or to the tobacco 

 experiment station at Ilagan, Isabela. In moist or damp weather the 

 seeds are liable to mold or rot and it is better to hull them out of the 

 capsules and send them at once to be cleaned. Mix the good seed with 

 powdered charcoal, put in a bottle and seal it so no outside air can enter. 



HARVESTING AXD CURING. ^ 



This is one of the most important operations in the production of good 

 tobacco, as a good crop can easily be ruined if it is not harvested at 

 the proper time, and afterwards properly cured. 



Some Filipino planters harvest their tobacco too green, and others 

 harvest it over-ripe. When the leaves are harvested too green they 

 have a dark color and Ijitter taste when cured. AVlien the color of the 

 leaves changes from a rank green to a light shade of green and a few 

 yellow spots appear on them, they are ready to harvest. 



Tobacco leaves should never be gathered when there is dew or rain on 

 them, as the drops of water will cause dark spots to form on the leaves 

 when cured. As soon as the leaves are broken from the stalk, they should 

 be immediately removed to the curing shed. Thirty to thirty-five leaves 

 should be strung on a stick, back to back and face to face, leaving a 

 space of about 1:^ centimeters between each leaf. 



After the stringing is finished they should then be removed to the 

 interior of the curing shed and hung up in such a manner as to 

 allow the free circulation of air. No leaves should be hung near the 



