36 



I 1 /? to 3 feet. As soon as the plants have readied a 

 height of one foot, the lower leaves are taken off and the 

 trunks covered with clods. The latter manipulation is 

 repeated once or twice. When the plants have nearly 

 reached their complete development, they are topped in 

 order to prevent the blossoming and to accelerate hereby 

 the development of the leaves. 



This topping demands much care. If too many 

 leaves are removed, the remaining ones become thick and 

 heavy ; if, on the other hand, not enough are lopped, the 

 leaves remain small. 



After the topping the tobacco is left to develop 

 for two weeks more until complete maturity, so that it 

 may benefit, if possible, from some showers which take 

 away a kind of fat from the leaves, increasing hereby their 

 inflammability. 



6. Within 65 to 90 days the tobacco is ripe, 

 which is evident from the fact that the leaves begin to 

 droop. The leaves are then plucked one by one. strung 

 and then hung up in the drying-shed, or the plant is cut 

 off a little above the ground and in that way many leaves 

 are hung up at a time, the lower leaves have the greatest 

 value, these are always plucked first one by one. 



In the drying-sheds, which are constructed of wood 

 and bamboo and covered with straw, and which as a rule 

 are 100' to 400' long and 30' to 60' wide, the tobacco is 

 strung on laths of bamboo and kept from the light. The 



