54 TOBACCO CULTURE. 



Extreme care during the first few days of the curing 

 process is necessary, lest with hot, dry weather the process 

 proceed too rapidly. If such conditions exist, ventilators 

 should be kept closed during most of the day, but be open 

 at night, as by this means, slower, early-curing is secured. 

 After the "lemon condition" has been evenly secured, dry- 

 ing should be hastened. Tobacco in the barn should not be 

 crowded until the stalks and midribs are well cured. 



FORMULA FOR CURING BRIGHT TOBACCO BY 

 ARTIFICIAL HEAT. 



No one can advise another just exactly how to run the 

 heat, or how to cure tobacco, unless he be there in person 

 throughout the time of curing. There is a wide different 

 in the kinds of tobacco, some yellow, some green, some ripe, 

 some light bright, some heavy, some thin and smooth, some 

 thick and coarse. The careful or expert curer is governed 

 by the condition of the tobacco itself. Too much heat in 

 drying the leaf will scald or scorch it through and through, 

 while not enough heat will redden the leaf on the inside. 

 While drying it is better to run the heat as fast as possible, 

 short of scalding or scorching the leaf. 



As soon as barns are filled with tobacco from the fields 

 before retiring at night, build fires in the flues and run the 

 heat to 90 degrees Fahrenheit, but make sure that the heat 

 will not exceed 90. By morning, the barn will be about 

 cooled off. Then build fires sufficient to run the heat up tc 



