CULTURE AND CURING IN TENNESSEE 185 



There are two methods of curiug pursued by the best planters. One is to scaffold in the field for four or five 

 days, until the tobacco is well yellowed, then haul to the barns and apply heat by means of good seasoned wood, 

 placed in trenches dug in an earthen floor. Two logs are placed side by side in these trenches, and fires are kindled 

 all along their points of contact. If the bottom of the trench be made sloping, the logs will remain pressed up 

 against each other. Sometimes it is necessary to lay a small stick of wood over the line of contact, in order to 

 keep the fires steady. Seasoned hickory wood is preferred, as it gives out less smoke and burns readily, and, when 

 once on fire, it will burn steadily until wholly consumed. The only objection to this kind of wood is its tendency to 

 sparkle, which, under some circumstances, might endanger the barn by fire. The heat is kept at about 90 for the 

 first day and 120 for the second, afterward increased to 150, and is kept at this point, or above it, day and night 

 until the leaf is wholly cured, with the exception of half the stem. The fires are then put out; but should damp 

 weather supervene, small fires are kindled in the barns every morning, so as to prevent the tobacco from being injured 

 by the "running" of the half cured stems. If the weather, however, is bright, the doors of the barn are usually 

 left open for a few days, when all danger from the green stems will be gone. 



Another method of curing is to take the tobacco directly to the barns from the field and arrange it, already 

 strung 011 sticks, on the tier poles, the sticks being put eight or ten inches apart. In this condition it remains for 

 about three days longer if the weather is cool. Slow fires are then put under it, and a gentle heat is kept up until 

 the tails begin to curl, when the heat is increased to about 150, and kept at that point until the tobacco is cured, 

 with the exception of the stalk and the upper half of the stem. Good planters are very careful in keeping the 

 heat gentle for a day or two, for tobacco, when very green, may be permanently injured by too much heat, which 

 gives it a " coddled ", lifeless appearance. 



After the fires are once kindled, it is thought to be important to keep them in full blast day and night until 

 the tobacco is cured. No injury, however, is apt to result, if the weather is clear and dry, by suspending the fires 

 at any time. 



In the Clarksville region at least 90 per cent, of the crop is cured by fires; in western Tennessee, about 75 per 

 cent.; and in the Upper Cumberland district only about 25 per cent., the remainder being air-cured. 



In air-curing, the tobacco is left upon the scaffolds for four or five days, and is then hung up in open barns where 

 there is good ventilation. Air-cured tobacco, if ripe, is always brown in color when cut, and to prevent its piebald or 

 yellow colors from changing to a brown it must be kept excluded from a damp atmosphere, either by packing it 

 down or by kindling small fires under it whenever moist weather occurs. 



The price of tobacco depends very much upon the manner in which it is cured, a fancy article often bringing 

 on the market three or four times as much as the' same tobacco cured a dingy brown. A rich black color is always 

 in demand for black wrappers, but this color is more the result of the soil upon which it is grown than of the methods 

 of curing. A heavy, rich manured lot is more likely to grow tobacco that will cure dark than a clover or grass 

 sod. The tendency, when grown on rich, new oak lands, is to cure a bright brown; on tjesh lauds, where the tulip 

 tree grows, a rich piebald; on hickory lauds, a golden yellow. One correspondent from Henry county, in speaking 

 of the advantages derived from skill iu curing, says: 



Mr. Jackson Wimberly, one of the most skillful curers in the county, realized $12 50 per hundred pounds for his entire crop in 1878, 

 and Mr. William Gulledge $10 per hundred for a part of his crop grown in 1879. Others grew as good tobacco as either of these 

 gentlemen, but, lacking skill to cure it properly, they readily took $5 per hundred, showing a difference of from 100 to 140 per cent, iu 

 favor of the skillful cnrer. 



ASSORTING, STRIPPING, AND PREPARING TOBACCO FOR MARKET. 



Good planters always put their most careful hands to the work of assorting. The various qualities and colors 

 are first separated, and these are afterward arranged into various grades. In the same crop there are often bright 

 and dark tobacco, heavy and light, rich and poor, long and short, the product of different plantings, of diversified soils, 

 and of freshly cleared lands. Much can be done in the way of assorting when the tobacco is cut. It is the practice 

 with tobacco-growers to keep that grown on freshly-cleared lands separated from that grown on old manured lots, 

 the long from the short, the ripe from the green or frosted, and each kind is put in a different barn, or on different 

 tiers of the same barn. This is considered a great help when the season for stripping and preparing it for market 

 comes on. The stripping rarely begins until November, for in all the tobacco districts of the state the month of 

 October is usually consumed in sowing wheat, and the tobacco is not then considered sufficiently well cured to strip. 

 During the warm, soft days in November, when the leaves are pliant but the stems dry enough to crack when bent, 

 a large portion of the product is taken from the sticks and packed in bulks. These bulks are covered with planks 

 or sticks, and are sometimes surrounded with wheat straw, to keep the exposed heads in a damp condition. The 

 stripping may then be performed during the winter months, especially if a room heated by a stove is provided. If 

 the weather is severely cold, tobacco cannot be handled without injury outside of such a room; and it is not 

 taken down by the best planters in cold weather, for though it may appear to be in proper condition, it will quickly 



sour should warm weather supervene. 



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