No. 4.] HARVESTING AND CURING TOBACC^O. 



HAKVESTING AND CURING CIGAR WRAPPER TOBACCO. 



BY DR. W. W. GARNER, BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY, UNITED STATES 

 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Tobacco affords one of the rare instances among our im- 

 portant farm crops where yield is usually secondary to qual- 

 it_)^, and there are few, if any, other crops the values of which 

 are so dependent on the ])ainstaking care, skill and good judg- 

 ment of the producer. Of the various factors entering into 

 the successful production of a superior quality of tobacco, none 

 is more important than the proper management of the curing 

 ])rocess ; but, unfortunately, this process is also the feature 

 which is least understood, either from the scientific or the 

 practical standpoint. 



Because of the increasing interest in the method of harvest- 

 ing tobacco by picking the leaves, which introduces new prob- 

 lems in curing, it would seem that this subject is worthy of 

 special study, both by the scientific investigator and by the 

 practical grower, and I shall endeavor briefly to outline some 

 of the important factors in successful curing, and to draw 

 some comparisons between th(^ methods of curing on the stalk 

 and curing the picked leaves. 



What is Curing ? 

 We liave to consider at the outset the question of what cur- 

 ing really means. The leaf at the time of harvesting contains 

 a large amount of water, but it is evident tl^at the curing is 

 something more than mere drying, for a leaf dried out rapidly 

 by heat has few of the desirable properties of a well-cured leaf. 

 Again, a leaf dried under the right conditions for curing 

 weighs much less than would the same leaf if dried out 

 quickly. Curing, therefore, means the de\cl()]unont of certain 



