156 



TOBACCO PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 



certain intervals upon hinges, which left 



750 



continuous openings from the bottom to the top, with no place above for 

 the hot air to escape. Cellars underneath the structure were 

 imthought of. and when stripping time came it was necessary to 

 wait until the needed wet weather to make stripping; possible. 



As a knowledge of tobacco-growing spread among the 

 farmers improved buildings began to be erected everywhere, 

 with an eye to better results. Cellars were found to play so 

 important a part in the preparation of the product for market 

 that all good tobacco-barns were built with them, but now almost 

 every farmer has his improved tobacco-barn. These are of all 

 sizes, from 20 feet square to 40 feet wide and 150 feet long, but 

 a well-proportioned tobacco-barn is thought to be one that is 36 

 feet wide by 72 or 80 feet long. Some of these are model 

 structures of the kind, and present a line appearance. The 

 cost varies with the size. From $500 to $1,500 may be con- 

 sidered the ruling figures, but some of the more elaborate 

 structures cost twice the latter sum ; aud barns costing in the 

 aggregate about $200,000 were erected in the year 1877. With 

 prudent foresight the farmers have built them so that should 

 the time come when tobacco-growing shall cease to be desirable 

 these structures can be utilized for general farm purposes. The 

 cut No. 1 shows what is perhaps the finest structure of the kind in 

 the state. It stands on the farm of B. J. McGrann, who owns 

 145 acres immediately outside the eastern limits of the city of 

 Lancaster, and who has recently purchased 70 additional acres 

 adjoining, at $300 per acre. Mr. McGrauu some years ago built 

 the tobacco-barn marked No. 2, 28 feet wide and 150 feet long ; 

 but having increased the size of his tobacco-field to 28 acres 

 during the present year, the old barn was unequal to the demand 

 made upon it, and the erection of another (No. 1) was begun 

 and completed during the past fall. 



The plans and several elevations give an excellent idea of 

 what these barns are, but only a written description can do full 

 justice to their model arrangement. Beginning with the cellar 

 of No. 1, it will be seen that the excavation extends beneath 

 the whole length and width of the building, 41 by 84 feet. This 

 is divided by a partition into two apartments of unequal size. 

 The larger of the two is used as a dampening room, into which 

 the tobacco is lowered through trap -doors in the floor. Here 

 it is also bulked after being stripped. The second and smaller 

 apartment is used exclusively as a stripping room. Arranged 

 [\, around its four sides are permanent tables or counters, with a 

 Irt-di! raised wooden floor immediately behind them, on which the men 

 engaged in stripping stand. Elsewhere throughout the whole 

 cellar the floor is of earth. The stripping room communicates 

 with the larger room by a door, while a second door communi- 

 cates with the outside. There are, seven windows, affording all 

 the light desired. There is also a smoke-flue running to the 

 top of the building, and a stove to keep the place comfortable 

 in cold weather. 'The cellar is 9 feet high in the clear. Upon 

 this is erected a wooden superstructure, 21) feet high from the 

 floor to the square or eaves. This space is so divided that 

 seven tiers of tobacco can be hung one above the other, while 

 the central portion of the building, being considerably higher, 

 furnishes accommodations to three additional tiers, making ten 

 in all. The ventilation is provided at the sides, at the gables, 

 and also at the roof. At intervals of 4 feet there are horizontal 

 openings along the entire building, the lowest oue being at the 

 floor and the rest above it, each one opening just where the 

 tier of tobacco begins. These openings are about a foot wide, 

 and are operated by a series of vertical levers, running from 



