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TOBACCO PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 



tobacco^ The suckers are pulled off as they appear, the best growers rarely permitting them to attain a length of 

 4 inches. This operation is performed generally twice before cutting, first a week after the plant is topped, and 

 again just before it is cut. A few pull off the- suckers once only. The work of destroying the worms is done, every 

 day, if possible, as no tobacco is so much injured in quality by worm holes as the cigar wrapper. The moths are 

 caught or beaten down with a wisp of fine brush at evening. A few tanners plow their laud in the fall, in the 

 belief that by exposing the worms in their chrysalis state to the frosts of winter they will be killed. The worms 

 are destroyed by hand-picking, and sometimes, but not often, by gangs of turkeys. 



After the Connecticut Seed Leaf has been topped from two to three weeks, by a careful inspection of the top 

 surface of the leaf irregular yellow spots, shading off into the general green of the leaf, will be seen. A grainy 

 appearance also becomes visible on the surface, and the leaf becomes somewhat crisp, and will break by doubling. 

 Though not fully ripe, it is in the proper condition to make leaves best suited for wrappers, and to permit it to 

 remain longer in the field would thicken them. Ilains at this period injure the leaf by washing away the resinous 

 substances that give it a satin-like face after it is cured and sweated. Heavy dews and cool nights are favorable 

 for the development of these resinous compounds. 



When the Connecticut Seed Leaf was first grown in the Connecticut valley it was the custom among farmers to let 

 it ripen fully ; but experience has taught them that its highest perfection is reached about the time the upper leaves 

 attain their full size. In other words, the time most propitious for cutting tobacco is when the process of expansion 

 ceases and that of granulation fairly begins. This is not the case, however, with the Havana Seed; for unless this 

 variety is permitted to remain until the sweet gums are secreted the aroma for which it is prized and its glossiness 

 will be lacking, and it will not occupy no higher standard than a small, thin, wrapping leaf, unequal in size and 

 inferior to the Connecticut Seed Leaf. On this account it is allowed to stand for three or four weeks after being 

 topped. 



CUTTING AND CUEING OF TOBACCO. 



The cutting of tobacco usually begins in the second week of August, and continues through that month and often 

 as late as the 10th of September. When planted upon warm, sandy soils, tobacco will mature from one to two weeks 

 earlier than when planted on a clayey loam. While the latter will not mature so rapidly, it has more body and will 

 cure up darker in color a thing very much desired by the tobacco planters for two or three years past. The time 

 selected for cutting is when the dew is off the leaf and the sun not too hot, from three to six o'clock in the afternoon 

 being considered the best time. If cut when the dew is on, it breaks more easily, and dirt will adhere to the surface 

 of the leaves that come in contact with the ground. A sunburned leaf, it may be well to add, is one whose juices have 

 been dried out, in whole or in part, by the heat of the sun. Although perfectly green in color, it will crumble to the 

 touch, and though it may become pliant, the green of the leaf never disappears if put in the shed. One method 

 only will remedy in part this evil, and that is to let the sunburned plant take the dews for several successive nights. 



The instrument employed for cutting is a hatchet, a hay-knife, or a saw, the latter being preferred, because, like 

 the hatchet, it does not jar the plant. The plants are grasped about the center of the stalk with the left hand, 

 and with the saw, hatchet, or knife in the right hand they are severed within an inch or two of the surface and laid 

 back upon the row, and, after they are somewhat wilted, are taken by other hands and speared about C inches from 

 the butt on a lath. From four to six plants are put upon each lath, unless they are very small, when a larger number 

 may be put on. For this purpose a " horse" is used, represented in the following cut: 



The spear has a socket, by which it can be fastened to the lath ; and as fast as the laths are filled they are hung 

 upon a frame on a wagon and are hauled to the curing shed, or, as is the practice with many, are put upon scaffolds in 

 the fields, constructed witli carpenters' trestles, as shown in the illustration. If taken to the sheds at once, the doors 



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