TOPPING, 443 
‘The leaves ripen sooner if the plant is topped, while the 
quality is much better. There are various methods of. top- 
ping as well as different periods. Some growers top the 
plant as soon as the capsules appear, while others wait until 
the plants are in full blossom. If topped before the plants 
have come into blossom, the operation should be performed 
as soon as possible, as a longer time will be required for the 
leaves to grow and ripen than when topping is delayed until 
the plants are in blossom. In the Connecticut valley most 
growers wait until the blossoms appear before breaking off 
thetop. Topping must not be delayed after the blossoming, 
in order that all danger from an untimely frost may be 
avoided. The top may be broken off with the hand or cut 
with a knife, the latter being the better as well as the safer 
way. Sometimes the rain soaks into the stalk, rotting it so 
that the leaves fall off, injuring them for wrappers. Top the 
‘plants at a regular height, leaving from nine to twelve leaves, 
so that the field will look even, and also make the number of 
leaves to a plant uniform. Late plants may be topped with 
the rest or not, at the option of the grower. This mode of 
topping refers more particularly to cigar rather than cutting 
leaf. Those varieties of tobacco adapted for cutting leaf 
should be topped’ as soon as the button appears; top low, 
thereby throwing the strength of the stalk into a few leaves, 
making them large and heavy. The number of leaves should 
not exceed fourteen. Let it stand from five to six weeks 
after it is topped. The object in letting it stand so long 
after topping is to have it thoroughly ripe. This gives it the 
bright, rich, golden color, entirely different from cigar leaf, 
but very desirable for chewing leaf. On account of the 
length of time it must stand after topping, it is desirable to 
take that which has been topped early,-in order to have it 
ripen, and get it in before a freeze, although ripe tobacco is 
not injured by cold nights, and will sometimes stand even an 
ordinary frost. 
The manner of topping in Virginia by the first planters in 
the colony, is thus described :— 
