444 SUCKERS. 
“ This operation, simply, is that of pinching off with the 
thumb nail* the leading stem or sprout of the plant, which 
would, if left alone, run up to flower and seed; but which, 
from the more substantial formation of the leaf by the help 
of the nutritive juices, which are thereby afforded to the 
lower parts of the plant, and thus absorbed through the ducts 
and fibres of the leaf, is rendered more weighty, thick, and 
fit for market.” 
Now the custom is to top for shipping from eight to ten 
leaves, for coal-curing from ten to twelve, according in both 
cases to strength of soil and time of doing the work. 
In Mexico “as soon as the buds begin to show themselves 
the top is broken off. Not more than from eight to ten 
leaves are left on the plant, without counting the sand-leaf, 
which is thrown away,” and destroyed in the same manner 
as the Dutch are said to do of spies. In some countries the 
plants are not topped at all, and the leaves are left upon the 
stalk until fully ripe, when they are picked. 
The next labor following the topping of the plants is called 
SUCKERING. 
Immediately after topping the plants, shoots or sprouts 
make their appearance at the base of the leaves where they 
join the parent stalk. They are known by the name of suckers 
and the removal of them by breaking them off-is called sucker- 
ing. At first the suckers make their appearance at the top of 
the plants at the base of the upper leaves, and then gradually 
appear farther down on the stalk until they are found at the 
very root of the plant. The plantsshould besuckered before 
the shoots are tough, when they will be removed with difficulty, 
frequently clinging to both stalk and leaf, thereby injuring the 
latter, as the leaf very often comes off with the sucker if the 
latter is left growing too long. The plants should be kept 
clean of them and especially at the time of harvesting. 
An old writer on tobacco says of Suckers and Suckering :— 
“ The sucker is.a superfluous sprout which is wont to make 
its appearance and shoot forth from the stem or stalk, near to 
*Many of the Virginians let the thumb nail grow long, and harden it in the candle, for this 
purpose : not for the use of gouging out people's eyes, as some have thought fit to insinuate. 
