CULTURE AND CURING IN NEW ENGLAND. 



24: 



are left open until the tobacco is thoroughly wilted and the leaves hang perpendicularly. Before the laths are put 



in place on the tiers in the shed the plants are carefully arranged on them, giving to each plant an equal amount 



of space. These are then put upon the tiers, 6 or 8 inches apart, filling 



the top tiers of the shed first, and working downward until the whole 



shed is filled. The tobacco is carried to the barn on wagons having a 



frame nearly -4 feet wide, or just wide enough to catch the ends of the 



laths, and high enough so that when a stick of tobacco is hung on the 



frame the tails may not touch the bottom of the wagon bed. These laths 



are 1J inches wide and five-eighths of an inch thick. It was a practice, 



pretty generally followed in the Connecticut valley a few years ago, to 



tie the plants to poles with twine, these poles being 12 feet long. The 



plants were tied on alternate sides, from 9 to 12 inches apart on a side, 



making from twenty-four to thirty-two to the pole, as illustrated. 



Some few farmers still adhere to this method of housing, and discard the lath and spear altogether. While it 

 may require a little more time to harvest tobacco in this way, it is asserted that the number of leaves damaged 

 is not so great. It is also said that the amount of tobacco injured from pole-sweat is less, as each plant, when 

 tied to the pole, has its distance distinctly marked, and, as the poles are put from a foot to 15 inches apart, 

 currents of air can circulate more freely between them. Hanging in this manner, however, is a very tedious 

 process, and though it may have some advantages over the spear and lath system, the greater care and the longer 

 time demanded, at a period when time is most valuable to the tobacco-grower, has to a considerable extent brought 

 it into disuse. 



The character of the sheds or barns has been very greatly improved within the last decade. For a long time 

 tobacco-growers utilized the stock barns, cattle-sheds, and other outhouses for curing tobacco ; but much of it was 

 injured by winds and undue exposure in damp, 

 rainy weather, and in other ways. Judicious 

 economy suggested the building of houses for the 

 curing and handling of the crop, the usual size ot 

 these houses being 24 feet wide, from three to four 

 tiers high, and as long as the necessities of the 

 crop might demand. To hang an acre of tobacco 

 requires a house 24 feet wide,- 30 feet long, and 





three tiers high, or the same width, 24 feet long, 

 and four tiers high. It is easy to estimate from 

 this the length of the building required to house 

 a crop of tobacco. The distance between tiers 

 varies from 4 to 5 feet. 



Havana Seed tobacco may be safely housed, 

 with tiers 3 feet apart, iu perpendicular distance. 

 There are two ways of constructing these sheds, 

 one by a series of bents placed 12 feet apart. The accompanying illustration will show the manner in which these 

 bents are constructed. 



The posts rest upon low rock pillars, in place of sills, and the lower girders are movable, so that they may be 

 taken out for the passage of a wagon. 



A few barns are constructed 36 feet in width ; but they are objectionable, from the fact that the middle range 

 is not so well ventilated, and there is greater danger of pole-burn. 



Many sheds are two or three hundred feet long, the length being always regulated by the size of the crop. 



The poles upon which the tobacco is hung are put from bent to bent. If the tobacco is tied to the poles, a 

 greater number will be required; but if laths are used, seven poles only are necessary between each two girders 

 connecting the posts in a shed 24 feet wide, the lateral girders connecting the bents supplying two others. 



The other method of constructing sheds is to frame two or three girders, according to height, into the posts 

 on all sides of the building, the first 5 feet above the ground, the second 9 feet, and the third 14 feet, the latter on the 

 sides being used also to support the rafters. This gives a space of 4J feet for each tier, but this distance should 

 probably be increased to 5 feet for very long tobacco. Upon a line of posts along the center of the building, 

 parallel with and 12 feet from the sides, are framed girders, corresponding with those on the sides, for the poles, 

 12 feet in length, to rest upon, one end on these, and the other on the corresponding girders on the sides. 

 Ventilators are put upon the top of the roof. Better results are said to be obtained by having a monitor roof 

 extending the whole length of the building. 



In the case of a monitor roof, the building is raised a foot or more above the ground, and drop-doors are made 

 for the openings below and for the monitor roof above. When these are opened a constant draught of air passes 

 from bottom to top, and the tobacco is cured with a much smaller proportion of house-burn than when perpendicular 

 air-openings are provided. 



