6 



HOW TO RAISE TOBACCO. 



meet in the 3enter of the rail, 1| inches resting on 

 it. Some use sawed lath to hang on, but the split and 

 shaved are far preferable. Hanging on fence-rails with 

 twine is going out of use, as it should. I use my barn 

 to store wheat and barley, doing the threshing just 

 before tobacco-hanging. My barn will hang about seven 

 acres of good tobacco. 



HOUSING TOBACCO. The tobacco being brought to 

 the barn, should be unloaded on a platform or bench 

 convenient for handling. An iron socket, about 6 

 inches long, J by 1 inches at the big end, taper- 

 ing to a sharp point is necessary ; the sticks should be 

 shaved so as to fit the socket as near as possible, but 

 do not bring the stick to a sharp point, or it will not 

 lie firmly on the rail. Have a l|-inch hole bored 

 three inches deep in the barn-post, three feet from the 

 ground or floor ; let the hole be bored slanting down 

 a little, so that the socket end of the lath may be the 

 highest ; put the end of the stick that is not tapered 

 into this hole and the socket on the lath ; take hold 

 of a stalk with the right hand, about one foot from 

 the but end, bring it against the point of the socket, 

 six inches from the but of the stalk, grasp the but 

 with the left hand, and give the right hand a firm, 

 q^ick jerk to start the stalk to split; then, with 

 ooth nands, pull it back against the post, and so on 

 ;mtil you have the stick full. The stalks should not 

 oe crowded on the sticks, four or five inches apart is close 

 enough; eight or nine large stalks are enough for a four- 

 toot stick. Having filled the stick, remove the socket, 

 lay your stick of tobacco on the floor, and go on stick- 

 ing until the load is all stuck ; or it is a good plan to 

 hsve rails laid on the lower tie and hang for the pre- 

 ee-st as you stick. While one or two hands are hang- 

 ing one load, another may be in the field bringing in 

 another. In hanging, have a single block and half- 

 inch rope, with a hook at one end ; secure the block 

 near where you hang, place the hook in the center of 

 the stick of tobacco, and let the man on the floor draw 

 it up to the one who hangs. There should be a stout pine 

 oard, two inches thick, fifteen inches wide, and long 

 enough to reach from tie to tie ; this should be placed 

 ander where you hang, to walk on. When the tobacco is 

 uoisted up, take it off the hook, and walk to the farther 

 end of the board; have your rails placed to receive the 

 etick, and so continue until your rails are full, then 

 move your board and block to another place, and so con- 

 unue. A sixteen-foot rail will hang about twenty-four 

 laths ; eight inches apart is about the distance to place 

 the laths of tobacco on the rails ; if too much crowded 

 the tobacco will house-burn. Care sbould bo used 

 never to let a load of tobacco lie long on the wagon or 

 in a pile, as it sweats and heats and is soon ruined. 

 Always keep the tobacco cool. After it is housed, 

 keep the doors open day and night, so that it may 

 Aave the benefit of the warm and dry air for the pur- 

 pose of curing, closing the doors against high winds 

 and beating raina. When cured keep the doors closed. 



STRIPPING. When the tobacco is sufficiently cured 

 to strip, which will be after it has been well frozen 

 and dried out, you will have to watch for it to get u in 

 case" for handling; when a warm, wet, misty spell of 

 weather comes, throw open the doors, to allow the to- 

 bacco to take the damp. When the stems of the 

 leaves are so limber that they will not snap, and the 

 leaves are pliable, but not too wet, take down a suffi- 

 cient quantity to strip for two or throe days ; take it off 

 the sticks, make a temporary crib of boards about four 

 feet wide, and bulk the tobacco in it, laying the tops 

 in, buts out, next the boards. After you have made 

 your bulk, cover with an old carpet, boards, or any 

 thing else handy, to keep it from getting too damp or 

 from drying out. Care should be taken that the bulk 

 does not heat; if the stalks are wet or there is any un- 

 cured tobacco, forty-eight hours ia sufficient to spoil the 

 tobacco. During the winter there are generally several 

 tobacco seasons, and by improving them the stripping 

 can all be done before March. Having the bulk dowj.- 

 we now proceed to strip for market; lay a pile of tbi 

 tobacco on a bench or platform about two feet higb 

 and let the most careful and handy man take a stalk 

 in his left hand, give it a shake to make the leave^ 

 hang out free, then pick off four or five of the botton 

 or ground leaves, and any badly torn or diseased leaver 

 and all such as are not considered prime ; do not pu 

 any frosted or "fat" leaves in, as it spoils the tobacco 

 pass the stalk that is primed to the stripper, and let hiu 

 take off the prime leaves. Take off one leaf at a time 

 keeping them straight in the hand ; when a sufficient 

 number are taken off to make what is called a hand of 

 tobacco, take a leaf in the right hand, put the thumb 

 of the left hand on the end of the leaf about one inch 

 from the but of the hand or bunch, and pass the leaf 

 around once or twice ; an inch is wide enough for the 

 hand ; open the hand of tobacco in the center, pass 

 the end of the leaf through and draw it tight, then 

 squeeze the hand together and lay it down, keeping 

 the leaves straight. An inch and a half in diameter is 

 large enough for a hand. When a sufficient quantity 

 is stripped to commence bulking, make two places to 

 bulk in, one for prime and one for ground leaf; let the 

 space be according to the quantity of tobacco to bulk. 

 A bulk 3^ feet high and 20 feet long will hold ten boica 

 or about four thousand Ibs. of prime tobacco ; the sides 

 of the bulk must not be inclosed, but left open, so that 

 the buts can dry out ; at each end of the bulk put a bulk- 

 head of boards to build against, about three feet wide 

 and four feet high ; secure this upright and firm ; do not 

 build on the ground, but on a platform or floor. Com 

 mence at one end against the bulkhead, take one nand 

 of tobacco at a time, straighten and smooth it and lay 

 it on the floor at or e side of the bulk ; take another 

 as above, press it against the first, and so proceed to 

 lay the length of the bulk ; then turn and lay down the 

 other side of the bulk, letting the ends of the tobacco 

 lap over the first row about four inch? , and so repeat, 



