CULTURE AND CURING IN NEW ENGLAND. 249 



Some prefer to keep doors open day and night for two weeks after hanging, that the dampness of the night 

 may better equalize the dryness from day opening only. 



The course pursued in curing has been changed to a considerable degree during the past three or four years. 

 When light wrappers were in demand the doors of the sheds were thrown open during the day and closed at night, 

 but since dark wrappers have come into fashion the doors are opened at night and shut during the heat of the 

 day ; for it is a generally accepted opinion that light and heat, by accelerating the process, make a leaf light in 

 color. Peruvian guano is thought to favor the making of dark colors, and has been extensively employed in the 

 production of the crop, and gypsum, sprinkled on the plant while growing, will darken the colors. Tobacco, when 

 thick, always cures up a darker color. Thin leaves, very fine and delicate, are always inclined to cure up light 

 colors, and require from ten to twelve weeks for the tobacco to cure fully. The existence of white veins in the leaf 

 occurs under circumstances sometimes seemingly opposite. By some they are believed to be caused by long 

 continued dry weather before and after cutting; by others, as due to any check in the growth of the plant, 

 whether from lack of manure, or cultivation, or drought, or too much water; and some think they are caused by 

 the lack of some organic or inorganic substance in the soil. All that can be said with certainty is that they do 

 occur, very much to the injury of the leaf for wrapping purposes. As a general rule, the product from a field well 

 prepared, well fertilized, and well cultivated, planted in good season, the plants properly topped and kept free 

 of suckers, will show, when cured, very few white steins. 



POLE-SWEAT. 



Damage from pole-sweat during a favorable season for curing is very small; but the years 1872 and 1878 are 

 memorable among the tobacco-growers of New England from the large amount of tobacco injured in this way. The 

 weather throughout the curing season of those years was damp and foggy, and the buildings, as a general thing, 

 were not constructed so as to have the tobacco under control. The consequence was that a large proportion of the 

 crop was lost, or was so badly damaged that the price was greatly reduced. 



The best protection against pole-sweat in wet weather is tight sheds and plenty of room, frequent airing during 

 dry weather, and the sheds closed tightly during long seasons of wet weather. In the Seed Leaf district pole- 

 sweated leaves are thrown away or are used as a fertilizer. 



ASSORTING, HANDLING, AND PREPARING TOBACCO FOR MARKET. 



When the leaves and stalks are completely cured, so that no green is visible, the tobacco is taken from the 

 laths, and the leaves are stripped off and are either tied into hands of 12 to 20 leaves or bound with twine into 

 bundles weighing from 10 to 40 pounds. In this condition it is delivered to dealers, who pay a certain price agreed 

 upon for the crop through. 



Dark tobacco, made so in the curing process, will command, crop through, from 3 to 5 cents per pound more 

 than crops of light color, though the latter may have the same texture, fiber, and length. Local dealers, who buy 

 direct from the farmers, carefully assort the tobacco, classify it, pack, sweat, and sell it to jobbers. 



The quality of the crop is determined by the wrappers. If the proportion of wrappers as compared with other 

 grades is large, the price will be correspondingly high, the quality, size, texture, and color of the wrapper 

 determining its price. A large, coarse wrapper is not so desirable as a smaller, but fine one ; nor is a fine wrapper 

 of bad color prized as highly as one coarse in texture but of a uniform color. The best wrappers are characterized 

 by fineness of fiber, largeness of leaf, uniformity of color, and a satin finish, are free from white veins, and have au 

 elasticity and strength of leaf sufficient to bear the tension required in wrapping cigars ; the seconds are leaves 

 slightly injured, but may be used for the inside wrappers of cigars. Mutilated, worm-eaten, and pole-sweated 

 leaves, and those injured- by fat stems, are used for fillers. In a good crop, well cured, there will be about the 

 following proportion of each grade: Wrappers, GO per cent.; seconds, 28 per cent.; fillers, 12 per cent. 



The proportion of long and short wrappers is variable. If the crop is planted at the same time upon land of 

 uniform fertility, there will be only one grade of wrappers; when, however, the crop is planted at different times, 

 or upon soils of unequal fertility, the wrappers are put into two grades. At the time of assorting, the tobacco, 

 unless already tied into hands by the farmers, is made into bundles of from 18 to 24 leaves each and bulked down 

 in two courses, the heads being turned outward and the tails overlapping about 6 inches in the middle, the idea 

 being to expose the heads so that they can dry out. The ends of , the bulk are usually protected by boards nailed 

 to upright pieces, as represented in the diagram on page 254. Bulks are made on a temporary platform raised a few 

 inches above the ground, so that the air can circulate under them, are 4 to 5 feet wide, and of any length desired, 

 the layers of tobacco alternating on each side, and are built up to any height desired, usually, however, about 4 

 feet. Two bundles are laid down, one at a time, heads out, until a course is run on one side of the platform. A 

 similar course is run on the other side, the tails lapping from 4 to 6 inches, to equalize the height in the middle of 

 the bulk. When bulked, the tobacco is in a moist and pliant condition. The completed bulk is covered with blankets 

 and weighted down for a few days, when it is ready to be packed in boxes. 



A cord of rich tobacco, well packed and weighted, will make a ton. Sometimes the planter, when he desires 

 to put the tobacco in casks, assorts and ties up in hands of suitable size as fast as the leaves are picked from the 



stalk, the inferior or filler leaves being taken off first, the binders next, and lastly the wrappers. 



843 



