144 TOBACCO PRODUCTION IN" THE UNITED STATES 



more or less soiled with dirt and punctured with holes, and sometimes half burned up by the heat of the 

 ground. The last plucking, which embraces the tops, is the next inferior, curing up a dingy green if the leaves 

 are harvested late in the season. The best portion of the crop comes from the second and third gatherings. 

 Tobacco planted upon newly-cleared lands ripens about two weeks in advance of that planted upon lands long 

 cleared. The occurrence of bad weather during the period of gathering induces a second growth, filling the leaves 

 with fresh sap, which militates greatly against the production of fancy colors. Heavy dews, however, stimulate 

 the secretory glands, and assist in the formation of the gums and oils that give elasticity, flavor, and other desirable 

 qualities to the leaf. 



The growers in this district claim many advantages from gathering the leaves instead of cutting the stalk. 

 No leaves are plucked until they are fully ripe, and this insures a larger number of pounds per acre. The different 

 qualities are kept separate, and the comparative quantity of each grade can be estimated, so that less time is 

 required to prepare it for market. The crop is cured in a much shorter space of time, less fuel being required, and 

 the risk of burning the barns is greatly reduced. There is great economy in the saving of barn room, the same 

 height required for four tiers when the plants are housed making six when the leaves only are harvested, and 

 all the trouble of stripping after it is cured is saved. Cheaper labor can be employed in harvesting, and girls, who 

 would be of little service in the housing of a crop in the ordinary way, are by this method of more service than 

 men, since they are more dextrous in the use of the needle. 



CURING THE TOBACCO CEO P. 



It is estimated that about one- third of the crop of the district is air- cured, and the proportion is regularly 

 increasing every year with the introduction of the White Bnrley. About half of this variety is now cured by 

 fire, and a fine, bright leaf is made; but the use of fire unfits it for American consumption. 



To cure red tobacco slow fires are kept up for four days. The heat is then gently raised for three or four days 

 more, but at no time exceeds 125 F. This is kept up until the leafy part is cured, and the product is thought 

 to be of a little better quality when the fires are drawn before the stem is fully cured. To make yellow tobacco 

 slow fires are kept up for a day or two, and the heat thereafter is increased more rapidly and carried to a higher 

 degree than in the case of red tobacco. The leaf and the stem are thoroughly cured, and as soon as the tobacco 

 comes in condition it is taken down to prevent the running of the sap. 



TOBACCO-HOUSES. 



The log-pen "tobacco-houses" of the Eastern tobacco region of Ohio are erected at a cost not exceeding 8-3 

 t^ach, and are made of round logs, most frequently with the rough bark left on them. They are from 14 to 20 feet 

 square, four to five tiers high, and are daubed with clay on the outside. Some of them are open. Their capacity 

 is from 500 to 1,000 pounds. It is impossible, in badly constructed buildings, to prevent injury to the crop, ev< n 

 after it has been cured, and farmers are obliged to hurry it off to market, whether the prices prevailing are 

 satisfactory or not. 



In Viuton county and parts of Gallia and Noble the largest proportion of the crop is packed in hogsheads 

 by the farmers themselves. 



In almost every part of the district, except the section above named, the tanners prefer to sell loose to dealers 

 without assorting. It is taken down, the ends of the strings are cut, and the leaves from two sticks, with the strings, 

 are rolled up, packed in wagons, and thus taken to market. Dealers assort it into all the grades mentioned, and it is 

 by them pressed into hogsheads aud shipped to Baltimore, and thence distributed to markets in the Old World. Of the 

 fancy-bright tobacco from 000 to 750 pounds net are packed in a hogshead 50 inches high and 40 inches in diameter; 

 of the darker tobacco the number of pounds varies from 800 to 900. The rule is, the brighter the tobacco the less 

 the number of pounds to the hogshead. One-fourth of the whole crop grown in the district is put up at or shipped 

 from Barnesville, in Belmont county;" the remainder, with the exception of a small quantity of air-cured White 

 Burley that goes to Cincinnati, is shipped by the Ohio river to Parkersburg, and thence by railroad to Baltimore. 

 Hogsheads cost $1 each. The commission for selling is 2 per cent., and an additional sum of 20 cents per hogshead 

 is paid for insurance. 



The average crop of the district is about 16,000 hogsheads, of which 1,000 should be credited to West Virginia. 

 In stripping it is graded carefully, about one hogshead in a thousand being fancy yellow tobacco. The Yellow 

 Spangled has generally a red edge and red and yellow colors, interlacing one with another in the central parts of 

 the leaf, and usually makes 5 per cent, of the crop ; the Bed Spangled has the red predominating in the center of the 

 leaf, relieved by frequent yellow spots, and embraces 10 per cent, of the crop. Spotted Red is a grade in which 

 the general color is red, with occasional spots of yellow. This grade constitutes 10 per cent, of the crop. Fine and 

 medium reds are made from the middle leaves of the plant without, blemish. The color is a bright brown or red, 

 and the proportion in an average crop is 10 per cent. Brown and unripe old-ground tobacco and nondescript inako 

 18 per cent, of the crop ; green and brown tips, made from the undeveloped and partly green leaves of the top. 

 make 20 percent. The remainder of the crop, classed as ground leaves, being imperfect, trashy red aud spangled 



leaves, will make 27 per cent, of an average crop. 



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