X TOBACCO 219 



that the air may freely circulate amongst them and dry the 

 leaves. 



When, however, the whole plant is cut and brought to the 

 house in bundles, the bundles are untied and the plants 

 spread about the floor to allow the leaves to cool and to 

 •prevent fermentation. Afterwards two plants, or four plants ^^^"f^^JP 

 if they be small ones, are tied together with string so as to 

 enable them to be hung on sticks to dry. These sticks 

 are similar to the ones used in carrying the leaves from 

 the fields when they are cut in pairs, and they should be 

 about an inch or a little more in diameter, and not too 

 long or they will bend in the middle by the weight of the 

 tobacco plants. In tying the plants together, a turn of 

 the string should go below the first leaf so as to prevent 

 it slipping as the stems dry up. 



The tobacco leaves and plants must be kept hanging up The leaves 

 until the mid-ribs are perfectly dry, which will not be until hang^?,g up 

 the lapse of at least thirty days, but the drying process may "n^ii they 



' 3.r6 QUI 16 



be hastened by putting the poles or sticks on frames in the dry. 

 sun for a few hours every fine day for three days. When 

 dry, the leaves and plants are taken down, and stripped off 

 the stems and put in heaps to ferment. A damp day should 

 be selected for this work in order that the humidity of the 

 air may make the leaves soft and pliant. In removing the The wrap- 

 leaves from the stalks, the wrappers must be kept apart from Pp^" J^f^'^ 

 the fillers, as this will prevent the trouble of sorting out the the fillers. 

 different qualities after the leaves are cured. If the tobacco The plat- 

 house be unfloored a platform must be constructed by laying ^°'''"' 

 boards or wattles on blocks of wood ; and the leaves must 

 be heaped together on this platform, each leaf being spread 

 out evenly with the tips all in one direction. The heaps The heaps, 

 may be two or three feet high, and they should be covered 

 with dry plantain leaves and a weight put on top. After the Fermen- 

 first day the heaps are to be opened and changed, so that the '^"°"' 

 leaves in the centre of the first heap may be the outside ones 

 in the second. This may be done several times so as to 



