410 ORDINARY SHEDS. 
circulation of air, and is a good space apart for the process of 
curing the plant. There are various methods in use in respect 
to the construction of tobacco houses, and various materials 
of which they are constructed ; but such are generally found 
upon the premises as suffice for the occasion. And although 
these sizes are most prevalent, yet tobacco houses are in 
, Inany instances built larger or smaller according to the cir- 
cumstances of the proprietor, or the size of the spot of ground 
under cultivation. 
“The most ordinary kinds consist of two square pens 
built out of logs of six or 
eight inches thick, and 
from sixteen to twenty feet 
long. Out of this material 
the two pens are formed 
by notching the logs near 
their extremities with an 
axe; so that they are al- 
ternately fitted one upon 
another, until they rise to 
a competent height ; taking 
care to fit joists in at the 
respective tiers of four 
feet space, so that scaffolds 
VIRGINIA SHED 150 YEARS AGO. may be formed by them 
similar to those heretofore 
described to have been erected in the open field, for the 
purpose of hanging the sticks of tobacco upon, that they 
may be open to a free circulation of air during this stage of 
the process. These pens are placed on a line with each 
other, at the opposite extremes of an oblong square, formed 
of such a length as to admit of a space between the two pens 
wide enough for the reception of a cart or wagon. This 
space, together with the two pens, is covered over with one 
and the same roof, the frame of which is formed in the same 
way as the walls by notching the logs aforesaid, and narrow- 
ing up the gable ends to a point at the upper extremity of 
the house, termed the ridge pole. The remaining part of the 
fabric consists of a rough cover of thin slabs of wood, split 
first with a mall and wedges, and afterwards riven with an 
instrument or tool termed a froe. The only .thing which 
then remains to be done, is to cut a door into each of the 
pens, which is done by putting blocks or wedges in betwixt 
the logs which are to be cut out, and securing the jambs 
