464 OLD STYLE. 
immediately under the most powerful point of the lever, a 
platform or floor of plank is constructed for the hogshead to 
stand upon during the operation of prizing. This must be 
laid upon a solid foundation, levelled, upon hewn pieces of 
PRIZING IN OLDEN TIMES. 
wood as sleepers ; and so grooved and perforated that any 
wet or rain which may happen to fall upon the platform may 
run off without injuring the tobacco. Blocks of wood are 
prepared about two feet in length, and about three or four 
inches in diameter, with a few blocks of greater dimensions, 
for the purpose of raising the beam to a suitable purchase; 
and a movable roof constructed of clap-boards nailed upon 
pairs of light rafters, of sufficient size to shelter the platform 
and hogshead, is made ready to place astride of the beam, ‘as 
a saddle is put upon a horse’s back, in order to secure the 
tobacco from the weather while it is subjected to this tedious 
rt of the process. 
“That part of the apparatus which is designed to manage 
and give power to the lever is variously constructed: in some 
instances two beams of timber about six feet long, and 
squared to four by six inches, are prepared ; through these, 
by means of an auger hole, a sapling of hickory or other 
tough wood, is respectively passed; and the root thereof 
being formed like the head of a pin to prevent its slipping 
through the hole, the sapling is bent like a bow, and the 
other end is passed through the same piece of wood in a 
reversed direction, in which position it is wedged. These 
two bows are in this manner hung by the sapling loops upon” 
