GATHERING TOBACCO. 



299 



ing them. A law rigidly enforced, but seldom found 

 necessary. Consequently dealers were "safe" intrust- 

 ing to the quality of genuine Virginian leaf.* 



During very rainy seasons, and in some kinds of 

 unfavourable soil, the plant is subject to a malady 

 called " firing." It is a kind of blight produced by 

 the moist state of the atmosphere, or of the ground 

 in which the plant grows; it is also liable to the 

 opposite extreme of heat or drought. The injury is 

 much dreaded by the planter, as it spots the leaf with 

 a hard brown spot, which perishes, and produces holes 

 fatal to the value of the crop. The leaves as they 

 ripen, become rougher and thicker, assume a tint of 

 yellowish green, and are sometimes mottled with yel- 

 lowish spots. The crop being ready for gathering, 

 the planter is careful to secure it before any autumnal 

 frosts occur ; for the plant is among the first to feel its 

 injurious influence. Judgment is also required in cut- 

 ting the plants, and this operation is consigned to the 

 best and most judicious hands employed in the cul- 

 ture. Each person so employed, being provided with 

 a strong sharp knife, proceeds along the respective 

 rows of plants, and selects only such plants as appear 

 fully ripe, leaving the rest a short time longer. 



* "The valuations of an ordinary price current afford a good criterion 

 by which to judge of the quality of the different sorts of tobacco, as far, 

 at least, as they are presented in our markets. I quote the highest 

 quality of each sort : Canada, id, per pound ; Kentucky, 6d. ; Virginia, 

 Id. ; Maryland, 9d, ; St. Domingo, Sd. ; Turkey, 9d. ; Columbian, lOd. ; 

 Cuba, Is. U. ; Havannah, 3s. 6d."— Mr. Johnston, in The Journal oj 

 the Statistical Society, vol. 16. 



