228 TOBACCO PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 



quality, until the product ceases to be desirable to purchasers or profitable to the grower. In some counties there 

 has been a decided increase in the product, the result of better cultivation, as well as of the extended use of 

 fertilizers; in others, a decrease must be noted, due to exhaustion of the soils, inferior cultivation, and the neglect, 

 of manures. 



On many farms, tobacco occupies the same fields for only two years after clearing, the laud being then devoted 

 to other uses, aud new clearings being made for tobacco. No system of rotation, in connection with green-manuring 

 or other fertilizing, for soil recuperation, is generally adopted ; but a few of the more careful planters are beginning 

 to follow tobacco with grass, to remain some years. 



SEED-BEDS. 



The general practice is to burn from January to March, and to sow the seed as soon as the beds are prepared. 



PREPARATION OF TOBACCO LAND AND CULTIVATION. 



New laud is coltered or plowed, harrowed or shoveled over, marked, and hilled, the implements used varying 

 with the condition of the " clearing"; but old laud is broken usually with a two-horse turn-plow, harrowed or shoveled, 

 furrowed off and hilled. The preparation is various thorough by some; by the greater number, imperfect and in 

 a slovenly manner. 



The usual distance apart for the plants is 3 by 3 feet ; for the larger varieties, upon stronger soils, 3 feet each 

 way. Planting is begun about the middle of May and completed by the first of July. No system of cultivation 

 is adopted, even in any given neighborhood. Every farmer follows his own mode, as inclination or necessity 



prompts. 



TOPPING AND PEIMING TOBACCO. 



Topping commences as soon as the plants are large enough, some farmers waiting for the appearance of the 

 " buttons ", and others topping as soon as eight or ten leaves of good size are formed, the dark grades being topped 

 to eight or ten leaves, the yellow to ten or twelve, and the Burley to twelve or sixteen. 



In some localities all the tobacco is primed ; in others no priming is done; aud there is a growing disposition not 

 to prime, especially where the Burley is grown. 



CUTTING, HOUSING, AND CUEING OF TOBACCO. 



Most planters in West Virginia prefer to cut tobacco when fully ripe, so that the plants are not considered ready 

 for harvest until thirty or forty days after topping. If, because of late planting, firsts threaten before the crop is 

 ripe, the tobacco is cut before being fully matured. In some sections of the state the leaves are stripped from the 

 stalk and are strung upon wires or twine to. be cured ; but for much the larger portion of the crop the stalks are split 

 and the plants are straddled upon sticks, six to eight and sometimes eight to ten plants to the stick, according to 

 size and type a less number for the Burley and yellow, aud more for the dark grades. 



Nearly all the tobacco-houses are built of logs, are usually 20 feet square, with from four to five tiers in 

 the body of the barn, and are covered with boards or shingles, the spaces between the logs being usually chinked 

 and daubed with mud. The average capacity of these houses is from 4,000 to 6,000 plants. In the Yellow district 

 the sticks of hung tobacco are placed well apart on the tiers. Where the curing is done with open wood fires the 

 sticks can be placed closer together. The cost of an ordinary log barn, 20 feet square, 10 to 20 feet high, and 

 covered with boards, is from $40 to $70. 



The usual time of cutting is from September 1 to October 1. A few farmers scaffold tobacco, but the majority 

 house it as 'soon as it is cut. A considerable part of the product of this state is cured with open wood fires a 

 method which makes a low-priced tobacco; but no tobacco grown in the state has sufficient richness and body to 

 be properly cured in this way. 



The Burley is air-cured, makes a salable product, and is growing in favor with manufacturers. This variety, 

 as indeed all others intended for air-curing, should be cut dry, and either placed upon scaffolds or hung well apart 

 in the house, not crowded upon the sticks nor on the tiers ; and especial care is needed to maintain a free circulation 

 of air to prevent pole-sweat, or house-burn as it is sometimes called. Some planters ruined their crops of Burley by- 

 failing to give room enough and by firing with wood. In Fayette and in Raleigh charcoal is principally used iu 

 curing brights, and the method of yellowing, fixing the color, and drying out the tobacco is substantially the same 

 as practiced in Virginia and North Carolina. Flues are being introduced, to take the place of coal, and, where 

 properly constructed, give satisfaction. 



Hall's method of curing bright yellow, as practiced in Mercer county, is as follows : After housing, raise the 

 heat to 100 F., to wilt the tobacco ; then let it cool down. The following day raise the heat to 90 and cool down as 

 before; repeat this every six hours until the tobacco is half yellowed ; then raise the heat slowly to 120, to dry the 

 leaf. After the sweat is dried up raise the heat to 190, and keep it there until stems and stalks are fully cured. 

 Very fine tobacco is cured by this process. The directions above given can serve only as a guide, the condition 

 of the tobacco when housed, the character of the house, the season, and the weather being all so variable as to make 

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