116 TOBACCO PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 



When the plants are fully ripe each cutter takes two rows, a stick-carrier walking between two cutters, holding 

 a stick. The plants are split down the center of the stalk and cut, and six to eight plants are placed astride the 

 stick ; another hand takes two sticks at a time to the wagon ; and a third hand keeps the stick-carrier supplied. The 

 plants are assorted in the field, so that those only of a uniform color and ripeness shall be cut and cured together, and 

 the tobacco is placed at once in the wagon, if possible, without exposure to the sun, and without allowing it to wilt or 

 to lie upon the ground. It is desirable that the plants shall be stiff and open, so that the hot air can Circulate freely 

 among the leaves, and is never scaffolded before housing. 



Cutting is done on Monday and Tuesday, so as to cure by Saturday, or it is cut on Friday and Saturday, 

 postponing the curing till Monday, from the rigid regard for the Sabbath and its universal observance by all 

 classes, although the planters suffer serious inconvenience and expense in the cutting season when the weather 

 on Monday is unfavorable for outdoor work. 



Twelve hands will fill a barn of 600 pounds' capacity in two days; but this is excellent work, and the last loads 

 will not be gotten in until after nightfall. 



The sticks are 4J feet long, and are placed at a distance of from 8 to 10 inches apart on the tier poles, but 

 never less than 8 inches, for fear of sweating or "house-burn". 



TOBACCO-BARNS. 



For fine tobacco curing barns are built of logs, small and tight, from 16 to 22 feet square. The larger ^ize has 

 the merit of economy, while 10-foot barns have the approval of the larger number of planters. The comparative 

 housing capacity is about as 4 to 7, the smaller holding 352 sticks, the larger C50, one foot apart. If 1C feet, the 

 barn is divided by five sets of tier poles into four equal compartments; if 20 feet square, six sets of tier poles divide 

 the barn, including, in both cases, the joists, and exclusive of the collar beams. A slope to the east is used, if 

 possible, that the furnace may open on that side, prevailing winds being from the west in the curing season. 



When, as is generally the case, more than one barn is needed the barns are grouped together for convenience, 

 but not nearer than 100 feet, on account of danger from fire. An inclination of 2 feet in 20 will be found advantageous 

 in arranging the furnaces. The reason assigned for the use of log instead of frame barns is that the latter, even 

 though they be ceiled, ca'nnot be heated sufficiently. The ground sills are of oak, well underpinned, and on these 

 the pen, 20 feet square, is built of logs about 6 inches in diameter, notched down closely. At the height of 5 feet 

 a set of six tier poles, generally of pine, and 4 inches in diameter, is laid horizontally, resting upon the northern and 

 southern walls, the two outside poles lying against the east and west walls. The first tier is only used in hanging 

 and hoisting; the next is laid on in the same way, three logs above; and so on to the top, when the sixth is laid, 

 serving also as joists, and resting upon the plates. If the roof is framed, the rafters are raised directly above and 

 in line with the joists or last tier, and the collar beams are nailed to the rafters, giving one and a half more tiers 

 in the roof. Cabin roofs are usually built; that is, each gable is built up with logs of decreasing length, with 

 their ends beveled, the long side down, to the last and shortest, which is notched in the center for the ridge pole 

 of the roof. Bach end of the gable log is laid- upon a roof pole, which extends the full length of the barn, and by 

 the shortening of these logs the roof poles form on both sides the slant of the roof, which is crowned by the ridge 

 pole. Into these roof poles the collar beams are let in the cabin roof. The walls for a barn 20 feet square, when 

 completed, contain about twenty logs each, plates included, and are about 16 feet high. The cracks are then 

 closely chinked and daubed with mud, to which lime enough has been added to make it adhere well, and doors 4 

 feet square are cut in the north or south side and are provided with very closely-fitting shutters. 



THE FLUES. 



The Smith patent is the one most commonly used. Furnaces are built, if the barn is properly located, on the east 

 side; and if the ground is rightly inclined only one log need be sawed out, which is done 4 inches from the corner 

 next to both the north and the south walls. The arch is of brick or fire-proof stone, 5 feet long, ) irojecting externally 

 18 inches. The walls are built of brick, two bricks thick, and 2 feet apart, 18 inches high, 4 inches from the walls 

 of the barn, the space being filled witli dry earth, and the space between the two carefully filled up to the first log. 

 A covering is then made over the external arch, running the length of the barn, and an ash-bed is dug out in front 

 of the opening of each arch. The iron flue pipes are let in about inches from the floors of the arches, and the cracks 

 are stopped with clay. In order to give the greatest heating capacity the flues are built one foot from the north, 

 the west, and the south walls, and, as a protection against fire, when this is done a thin wall is built between the 

 pipes and the ground sills, running from where the pipe joins the furnace 6 feet along the flue, the distance to 

 which the pipes are heated red. The pipes are made of No. 24 iron, except the two joints that enter the furnaces, 

 which are of 18-inch iron, and are from 12 to 15 inches in diameter. The pipe is elevated gradually about 1 inch in 2 

 feet, and runs continuously from both flues along the north and south walls and the west wall. In the center of the 

 pipe, along the west wall, which lies horizontal, and 1 foot from the wall, the return pipe makes a T, and conducts the 

 draught through the center of the barn back to the east wall, rising gradually, so as to make the perpendicular 

 distance between the points where the pipes leave the furnaces and that where the return pipe comes out through 

 the wall about 18 inches. A short elbow joint in a small chimney receives the return pipe or. the outside. 



710 



