154 TOBACCO. 



solution of loaf sugar, licorice, delicate essences, 

 etc., which, to use a darkey's expression, 'are well 

 stomped in by dese two foots.' If, while perform- 

 ing this 'stomping' business, he desires to spit, 

 the leaves get the benefit of that juice, also ; while 

 with his bare feet he kicks them over and over, 

 and 'stomps' both sides well. The mess is then 

 swept up into a pile, and afterward strung on 

 poles and dried. 



"Do the men wash their feet before going on 

 the tobacco ? " I inquired. 



" f Well-1 — they wash them when they come 

 off,' was the smiling answer." 



Truly an appetizing process ! 



A writer in the Xew York Times furnishes ad- 

 ditional pleasant information : — 



" A prominent physician told me lately that 

 from the practice of cigar-makers wetting the 

 wrapper with their saliva, and biting the end of 

 the cigar into shape, a spread of syphilitic disease 

 was taking place ; and that he knew of several 

 cases. Somewhat alarmed, I managed to visit a 

 number of factories. Two thirds of the cigar- 

 makers, I found, daub the whole end of the cigar 

 with their saliva. Thinking that Cuban workmen 

 might not do it, I visited places where they were 

 employed, and found not only did they use their 

 saliva to make the wrapper stick, but that most of 

 them before wrapping bit the end of the cigar into 

 shape with their teeth. As the physician in- 

 formed me that many of the cigar-makers have sore 



