182 



TOBACCO PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 



resting against the posts on each side. The posts in the lines marked D and E are 15 feet high, with two sets of 

 girders or streamers let in from the outside, the first set 9 feet from the ground sill, so as to be on a level with the 



tirst set in the passage-way. A plate rests on top of the posts, 3 feet above the last set of girders. Tier poles 

 extend from the girders on the outside posts to the girders on the central line of posts. The accompanying section will 



give a better idea than a written description, the cross-pieces repre- 

 senting tier poles, the girders supposed to be perpendicular to the 

 plnne of the paper. 



The pitch of the roof will be C-feet fall in 13 feet. Some tobacco- 

 barns are provided with ventilators on top, though rarely. Windows 

 at the gable ends and under the eaves answer a good purpose as 

 ventilators, and they may be opened and shut as the requirements of 

 the process of curing demand. The boards or planks for inclosing the 

 barn may be a foot or more in width. They are set perpendicularly 

 and nailed to the sills, girders, and plates. A barn like this need not 

 cost over $250, with the help which could be furnished from the farm 

 in its construction. 



When the tobacco in the field is fully ripe, it should be cut imme- 

 diately, or it will waste rapidly. When there is an insufficiency of 

 barn room tiie cured tobacco has to be crowded. In this crowded 

 condition the stems, which are rarely cured up entirely, often rot, and 

 not only is the leaf near the stem injured, but every leaf which touches 

 the rotting stem is damaged. House-burned tobacco is, in fact, noth- 

 ing more than tobacco that has rotted for want of air. In crowded 

 houses, where the fires are kept in such low condition as to induce an accumulation of moisture or "sweat" on 

 the leaves, there is always more or less house-burned tobacco. Such tobacco is lifeless, is of a dark-brown color, 



breaks easily, and seldom 

 comes in case for stripping. 

 The only furniture 

 needed in a curing barn is 

 plenty of good sticks, rived 

 from hickory or oak, 4 feet 

 6 inches long by IrV inches 

 wide and 1J inches thick. 

 Thoughtful farmers always 

 have these well -seasoned 

 before they are used. Green 

 sticks are apt to sag under 

 the strong heat required 

 for curing tobacco. 



In portions of west- 



ern Tennessee, notably ill 



Henry county, ihe sched- 

 ules returned 1 o this office mention flues as among the means used for curing tobacco. These are especially valuable 



776 



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