300 CULTURE, MANUFACTURE, ETC., OF TOBACCO. 



stalk, -without disturbing the minor branches which 

 cross the leaf, or tearing the leaf in any degree; a 

 facility of hand only to be obtained by practice, for a 

 leaf would be torn to shreds by a person unused to the 

 trade, while practised strippers can take the stalk out 

 of a hundred weight of tobacco, in a wondrously short 

 time, with a certainty and absence of all risk to the 

 leaf. Some leaf is packed in the plantation with the 

 stalk already extracted, and is termed "strip-leaf" by 

 the English manufacturer. It is so packed when the 

 grower has any reason to fear that the juices in the 

 stalk might endanger the safety of the cargo, by 

 producing mildew or spots, just as mischievous as the 

 V firing " already alluded to in the growing crop. The 

 technical name given to tobacco with the stalk in it is 

 " hand-work." 



The tobacco-leaf is now ready to be manufactured 

 for the smoker, and cut into shreds for his pipe. The 

 first thing done toward this is the placing of the leaf 

 in a trough, and wetting it thoroughly with w r ater ; to 

 which sometimes a little salt is added, and sometimes 

 treacle ; neither being strictly considered necessary or 

 allowable in first-rate manufactories, and are usually 

 adopted to disguise the bad flavour of common or 

 damaged leaves. The tobacco is generally subjected 

 to this process, or " liquoring " as it is termed by the 

 workman, over night as he leaves his work; and is 

 allowed to remain soaking all night, because as the 

 water is only sprinkled over each layer of dry leaf, it 

 takes a considerable time to spread and soak, giving 



