31 



meter apart, so constructed that the; air may be treely admitted O)' 

 excluded as the weather conditions may demand. It is essential that 

 the weather conditions be under perfect control while the process of 

 curing is going on. 



A shed 10 meters wide and 36 meters long, with the sides 3 meters 

 high, is sufficiently large to cure about one hectare of tobacco. The lower 

 leaves of the plant, which ripen first, can be taken off, cured, and placed 

 in the mandaW before the top leaves are ripe and ready to be har- 

 vested. 



After the tobacco is thoroughly cured it should remain hanging in 

 the shed until the moist atmosphere softens the stems and tissues of the 

 leaves so that they may be taken down and placed in mandalas without 

 breaking or other injury. 



Many planters damage their tobacco by taking it down dry and pouring 

 water over it to soften the leaves preparatory to placing in the mandala. 

 When the leaves are treated in this manner they take on a darker shade, 

 and their flavor and aroma are greatly injured. 



FERMENTIXG. 



The green tobacco leaf has a dark, sticky gum and during the curing 

 process the juice or fluid in the leaf cells evaporates and leaves this 

 gmn with the leaf. After the leaves are cured, if they are moist and in 

 a pliable condition, and packed together in large bulk, fermentation 

 starts the heat causing a change in the composition of the leaf. This 

 change is caused largely by the oxidizing action of soluble ferments. 

 Good tobacco will lose from 10 to 15 per cent of its weight while undergo- 

 ing this change. If the tohacco is fermented properly the desirable quali- 

 ties, such as flavor and aroma, are fixed and the color of the leaves made 

 uniform. The fermentation must be carefully controlled and the leaves 

 from the bottom, middle, and top of the plants should be feraiented in 

 different piles. As the bottom leaves are very thin and contain only a 

 small amount of gum the leaf cells break down sooner and the change is 

 more rapid than in the middle leaves of the plant. The top leaves of the 

 plant are still heavier and require a higher temperature to break down. 



In order to properly ferment tobacco it is necessary to have a large 

 quantity of leaves in the mandala, as a large mandala will generate 

 more heat and ferment better than a small one. Since the majority of 

 the planters do not have a sufficient amount of tobacco to ferment 

 properly, it is better that the buyers do the fermenting. 



In fermenting tobacco a platfomi should be built 15 or 20 centi- 

 meters above the surface of the ground and this platform covered 



^ A mandala is a pile of cured tobacco arranged in compact form for the purpose 

 of fermenting. 



