THE SEASON IN OTHER PLACES. 451 
done in as little time as is necessary to cut the stalk off in 
the ordinary way. Split it to within about three or four 
inches of the ground, and cut it off in the ordinary way with 
the same knife. Cut it off and hang it over one of your 
sticks that you have driven slanting into the ground near 
ou. Cut and put six stalks on the stick, sid then lay it 
own on ceo to wilt, taking the usual care to prevent 
sun-burn. hen it is sufficiently wilted, haul to the shed 
and hang it up.” 
In the East Indian Archipelago, “as soon as the leaves are 
fully grown they are plucked off, and the petiole and a mid- 
rib are cut away. Each leaf is then cut transversely into 
strips about a sixteenth of an inch wide, and these are dried 
jn the sun until a mass of them looks like a bunch of oakum.” 
In Persia, when the plants are ripe they are cut off close 
to the root, and again stuck firmly in the ground. By 
exposure to the night dews the leaves change from green to 
yellow. When of the proper tint, they are gathered in the 
early morning while wet with dew, and heaped up in a shed, 
the sides of which are closed in with light thorny bushes, so 
as to be freely exposed to the wind. 
In Japan, the leaves are gathered in the height of summer. 
When the flowers are of a light tint, two or three of the leaves 
nearest the root are gathered. These are called first leaves, but 
produce tobacco of second quality. After the lapse of a fort- 
night, the leaves are gathered by twos, and from these the 
best tobaccos are produced. Any remaining leaves are after- 
wards broken off along with the stem and dried. These 
form the lowest quality of tobacco. After gathering, the 
leaves are arranged in regular layers and covered with straw 
matting, which is removed in a couple of days. The leaves 
are now of a light yellow color. They are then fastened by 
the stem in twos and threes to a rope slung in a smoke 
room, and after being so left for fourteen or fifteen days, they 
are dried for two or three days in the sun, after which they 
are exposed for a couple of nights in order that they may be 
moistened with dew. They are then smoothed out and 
arranged in layers, the stems being fastened together, pressed 
down with boards, and packed away in a dark room. 
