No. 4.] HARVESTING AND CURING TOBACCO. 87 



Aviser not to apply heat. By applying heat then yon will 

 simply favor the pole sweating. 



Mr. Graves. Do I nnderstand that a leaf taken from the 

 stalk cnres with more weight than where cured on the stalk; 

 and if so, how do you account for it ? 



Dr. Garner. It unquestionably does have more weight, as 

 has been proved by repcate<l experiments. In the field tobacco 

 takes up its raw food material from the soil and the air, and 

 this raw material is worked over for the use of the plant in the 

 leaf. This goes on only when the sun shines, and at night the 

 food material is carried out of the leaf and into the stalk and 

 the roots, to feed the other parts of the plant. When a green 

 tobacco plant is hung in the shed there are always young 

 suckers on the jjlant. Exactly the same process goes on in 

 curing in the barn as in the field ; the food material is carried 

 away from the leaf into the stalk to feetl these suckers. You 

 have noticed that they grow in the barn and that is where they 

 have gotten their food. Consequently, the leaf weighs less 

 when cured than if not subjected to this drain. Many have the 

 idea that the course is just the opposite, — that the leaf draws 

 from the stalk, — but that would be contrary to nature, as it 

 would be a case of a dead thing feeding on a living thing, 

 which cannot happen. The leaf dies very quickly, but the 

 stalk will remain green for two months, and during that time 

 is drawing its food supply from the leaf, or it would also die. 

 In Virginia they sometimes pick the leaf from the stalk and 

 sometimes harvest by cutting the stalk. When they follow the 

 latter method they split the entire stalk open, leaving only 

 two or three inches at the lower end to set astride a stick, and 

 the stalk lives only a very little longer than the leaf. 



Mr. Graves. I know by observation and experience that 

 your position is correct. If it increases the weight 10 or 15 

 per cent, and the picked tobacco is worth something like 50 

 or 60 cents a pound, would not the difference in weight pay 

 for the extra cost of harvesting ? 



Dr. Garner. It is entirely possible that you would get the 

 same price for the picked tobacco that you did for that cured 

 on the stalk. Whether the increased weight would pay for 

 the increased cost of harvesting would depend largely on the 



