78 



TOBACCO PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 



to the ground, by which it is bruised and broken, and if if, is not taken up at once it is liable to heat and coddle in 

 the mass, which is as destructive as the action of frost. When well wilted, and before the leaves begin to turn 



hrown, rain will do no injury. 



CURING OP TOBACCO. 



No tire is used in curing White Burley tobacco. About eight weeks are required to cure it well by the ordinary 

 process of air-curing when put into the bams, which are provided with ample facilities for ventilation. The openings 

 are not closed day or night, unless there is an excess of wet weather, when the doors are closed. Too much dry 

 weather during the process of curing injures the tobacco by decreasing the elasticity and the toughness of the leaf 

 and destroying the uniformity in color, making the leaves mottled. An old grower says: 



If the weather is very dry, it will be changeable in color; if too wet, the color will be too dark ; but after cuttiug, if the weather is 

 *iiie, with occasional showers, the tobacco will cure a beautiful bright color. 



ASSORTING AND STRIPPING OF TOBACCO. 



The tobacco being fully cured, it is taken down when in proper condition and assorted into four or five grades, as 

 follows, beginning at the bottom of the stalk aud goiug upward to the top: 



1. The sand leaves, trash, or flyings. This grade is made up of the soiled and parched leaves, varying in 

 number from one to three. 



2. Good trash or lugs, taken next above the ground leaves, varying in number from two to three leaves. 



3. Bright and prime leaves, taken from the central part of the stalk, in number from four to six. 



4. Tips, or top leaves, red, in number from one to three. 



Two classes of " reds" are sometimes made, known as first and second reds. 



Some planters only make three classes, trash, lugs, and good ; the first being the ground leaves, the second 

 the imperfect leaves, and the third the bright middle aud top leaves. If the tobacco is topped low, there is great 

 uniformity iu color aud length of all the leaves near the top ; but if topped high, the upper leaves are small and 

 imperfectly developed. 



These several grades are tied into bundles of ten to twelve leaves each, relmng upon sticks, and crowded upon 

 the tier poles until damp, warm weather supervenes, which is most favorable for ordering. The sticks are then given 

 greater distance, aud when the leaves become sufficiently pliant to handle without breaking the tobacco is taken 

 down, bulked, and weigh'ed, each grade being kept separate. In this condition probably nine-tenths of all the 

 tobacco grown in the district is sold to local dealers,' who receive it in houses prepared for prizing, and pack from 

 700 to 1,100 pounds for line grades, aud from 1,200 to 1,800 pounds for trash and lugs, in each cask. These casks 

 are by no means uniform in size. Some of them are 5 feet high and 48 inches in diameter; others 5 feet high and 

 42 inches in diameter; and again others are 56 inches high and 48 inches in diameter. Local dealers buy at 

 all times, from the period when the crop can first be examined after curing until the following May or June. 

 It is estimated that the cost of prizing, shipping, and selling the crop, including the cost of hogsheads, will amount 

 to $2 per hundred pounds. This also includes shrinkage iu the weight of the tobacco from the time it goes out of 

 the planter's hands until it reaches the market where it is inspected and sold. This shrinkage is estimated to vary 

 from 3 to 8 per cent., and if permitted to go through the sweat before being sold 5 per cent, more must be added. 



A crop that hns been properly cultivated, kept free from worms, neatly and carefully handled, well assorted 

 into grades, tied into neat hands, artistically packed and prized into hogsheads of the weight required for each 

 grade, will bring iu the market from 33 to 50 per cent, more than one that has been grown upon similar soil aud 

 handled in a. slovenly manner. There is a wide range in prices. For instance, when the crop is assorted into two 

 grades, only 8 cents and 4 cents for the two grades may be considered a fair average price, while the same crop, if 

 assorted into four grades, would bring 15, 12, 10, aud 4 cents for each grade, respectively, of bright, red, lugs, 



and trash. 



VALUE OF THE TOBACCO CROP OF 1879. 



The following statement will show the prices received by planters in the counties named for the crop of 1879: 



