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TOBACCO PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 



brick or covered with flat lire-proof stoiie for about 5 feet from A A to BB; then cover the flues from BB to CO 



with sheet-iron. Use No. 16 iron nearest the fire, commencing 

 at BB, and thinner iron, No. 18 or 20, for the remainder of the 

 covering. 



A number of patent flues are used, some of which greatly 

 economize fuel and perform admirably, and where the saving of 

 fuel is an object they are to be preferred. 



A cheap flue is constructed by cutting ditches in the floor of 

 the barn from 15 to 18 inches wide and as deep as necessary and 

 covering them with sheet-iron, as recommended for the stone or 

 brick flue. A better one is made of mud walls, covered with 

 sheet-iron. The mud walls are built by placing two wide boards 

 I; from 12 to 14 inches apart and packing moist clay between them, 

 beating it down hard, in position and arrangement similar to the 

 walls of stone, and covering with sheet-iron. Upon firing the 

 ! flues the boards are burned away and the dirt walls are hard- 

 | ened. If the clay is of proper quality, such as is fit for making 

 tolerably good bricks, these walls will last a long time. It is 

 necessary with the ditch or inud-wall flue to attach furnaces of 

 PLATE ii. stone, brick, or iron. 



QUALITY OP TOBACCO IN VIBGINIA. 



There are five distinct qualities of tobacco produced in Virginia, viz : Dark Shipping, Bed and Colored Shipping, 

 Suu- and Air-cured Fillers, Bright Yellow Wrappers, Smokers and Fillers, and Orange and Mahogany Flue-cured 

 Manufacturing. These are severally characterized by peculiarities of color, quality, body, and flavor, the result of 

 soil influence and variety, modified by curing and management. 



DARK SHIPPING. Of this there are four grades of leaf and two of lugs, classed as follows: 1. Dark, rich 

 waxy leaf, English; 2. Nutmeg and mahogany leaf, English and Continental; 3. Dark red leaf, English and Con- 

 tinental; 4. Dull red leaf ; 5. Longings; 6. Short lugs. 



Dark Shipping tobacco is generally raised on rich lots, and is cured with open wood fires. The English, French, 

 Germans, Spanish, and Italians take. the bulk of this tobacco, with a growing preference for that cured without 

 smoke. It is produced more or less all over the tobacco belt of Virginia, but the bulk of it is raised south of the 

 James river and east of the Blue Eidge. 



EED AND COLORED SHIPPING. Like the foregoing, this tobacco is produced more or less all over the tobacco 

 region of the state. The region producing most of it is colored red on the type map, and contains the following : 

 Northeast of the region just described, Dinwiddie, Chesterfield, Goochlaud, and Fluvauua, with Eockbridge and 

 all the counties west of the Blue Eidge down to the Kentucky and Tennessee lines, except Montgomery, which is 

 classed in the yellow district. 



This tobacco is divided into three grades : 1. Bright spangled ; 2. Mahogany; 3. Cherry red; and is generally 

 cured with open wood fires, a method which greatly detracts from its worth. The red and mahogany wrappers of 

 this and the dark tobacco, if fine, sell well, notwithstanding the smell of smoke. 



SUN- AND AIR-CURED FILLERS. These include all that is cured without artificial heat, whether by the sun or 

 by air, or by both. The counties raising this tobacco mainly are Caroline, Hanover, Louisa, and Spotsylvania. 

 Their product is eagerly sought after by manufacturers, is never in oversupply, and those long accustomed to its 

 use prefer it to all others, even to the White Burley. 



BRIGHT YELLOW has many grades, the finest, smoothest, and brightest leaves being rated as wrappers : 1. 

 Fancy; 2. Fine; 3. Medium, running 0, 00, 000, etc., according to quality and color; 4. Fillers, several grades. 

 Lugs are graded as follows : Fancy Smokers, Fine Smokers, Medium Smokers, Common Smokers, Bright Lug Fillers, 

 and Common Lug Fillers. 



Instances are on record of its first grades having been sold for $3 and $4 per pound, and to sell at the highest 

 average, or to obtain the highest price, is an honor sought by the best planters of the yellow belt. 



FLUE-CURED FILLERS. These are known as Henry county fillers, being produced mainly in Henry county 

 and in portions of Franklin and Patrick counties. This tobacco is divided into fillers and wrappers, according to 

 size, color, and quality, and is mostly manufactured into pli\g chewing. It is characterized by its tough, rich, silky 

 leaf, and sweet flavor, due to the soil, the varieties cultivated (Sweet Orinoco and Flaunagan), and the peculiar 

 mode of curing by flues, both walls and tops of stone, and slow firing until the leaf is dried. 

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