﻿28 BULLETIN 16, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



HARVESTING. 



When the tobacco is to be harvested by cutting the entire plant, as 

 is customary in the Old Belt, the general condition of the whole 

 plant must be considered, allowing the top leaves to get as ripe as 

 possible without too much offsetting the loss at the bottom of the 

 plant. Generally, a plant will be ripe in from 90 to 100 days after 

 transplanting, and in about 35 or 40 days after topping, but this is 

 subject to great variation, dependent primarily upon seasonal con- 

 ditions. When the tobacco is to be harvested by priming, or picking 

 the leaves off as they ripen, the harvest begins whenever the bottom 

 leaves demand it, generally in about two or three weeks after top- 

 ping, or even bpfore topping in some instances. The field subse- 

 quently w iH need to be gone over about once a week until all the 















Ih^ 











V 

 '■ 3 



V 1- 







'&.*G&&£ 







W**'/**^ 





0t W7- \'\ =■ 



Maw*?**?' 



^^^Tl 







W&'A*VmL 





- - ' • ' ■ 



^JNR 



Fig. 6. — A fine field of tobacco nearly ready for harvest in the Old Belt section. 



leaves are removed, usually about four or five times in all. Figure G 

 shows a fine field of tobacco in the Old Belt section near Winston- 

 Salem, N. C., which is about ready for the harvest, and figure 7 

 gives a view of a field in the New Belt section near Greenville, N. O, 

 which is in actual process of harvest by the priming method. The 

 more common form of law-wheel truck for hauling out the leaves 

 is shown in figure 8. To cure up sweet and with good color, par- 

 ticularly on the stiffer class of soils of the Old Belt section, the 

 tobacco must be ripe when harvested, but if it is overripe it will be 

 lacking in toughness and luster. 



The question of the comparative merits of the priming method as 

 compared with cutting the entire plant is somewhat complicated by 

 local conditions and is a matter of considerable controversy. Theo- 

 retically the priming method, whereby each leaf is taken at approxi- 



