CROP-GATHERING, 825 
moth, whose egg produces these larve, is a large white 
miller of unusual size and prolificness. Liberal and kind 
masters would frequently offer the negro children a reward 
——— ee 
WORMING. 
for every miller captured, and many were the pennies won 
in this way. One of these insects, placed one evening under 
an inverted tumbler, was found next morning to have depos- 
ited over two hundred eggs on the glass. 
“As the plant matures the leaves grow heavy, and, thick 
with gum, droop gracefully over from the plant. Then as 
they ripen, one by one the plants are cut, some inches below 
the first leaves, with short stout knives,—scythe or reaper is 
useless here,—and hung, heads down, on scaffolds, in the 
open air, till ready to be taken to the barn. A Virginia 
tobacco-barn is totally unlike any other building under the 
sun. Square as to the ground plan, its height is usually 
twice its width and length. In the center of the bare earthen 
floor is the trench for firing; around the sides runs a raised 
platform for placing the leaves in bulk; and, commencing at 
a safe distance from the fire, up to the top of the tall 
building, reach beams stretching across for the reception of 
the tobacco-sticks, thick pine laths, from which are suspended 
the heavy plants. Safely housed and beyond all danger of 
the frost, whose slightest touch is sufficient to blacken and 
destroy it, the crop is now ready for firing, and through the 
late autumn days blue clouds of smoke hover over and 
around the steep roofs of the tall tobacco-barns. A stranger 
