56 THE CULTI-RK OF TOJSACCO. 



Cigai- leaf should continue as lung as possible in the curing process. 

 The unsplit stalks being slower in drying will slightly increase the 

 length of the curing period. 



Plants should not be haryested soon after a rain, for the reasi.n 

 that the water has washed out the gums and oils of the leaf, and 

 the leaf, if haryested at that time, will cure up thin and papery, 

 and be deyt>id of the finer aroma. In fact, the ripening tobacco 

 plant would be better off if it had no rain during the few weeks 

 preceding harvesting. In countries where the seasons are well 

 defined, growers should so arrange the time of planting as to allow 

 the crop to ripen, and be harvested, before or after the season of 

 heavy rainfall. In Cuba this point is understood and the crop is 

 not grown during the heavy rainy season. Heavy dews, however, 

 are greatly desired during the ripening period, for the reason that the 

 moisture on the leaf aids in the formation of gums and othei' 

 aromatic materials. Plants should never be harvested when the dew 

 is upon them, for at this time they are very brittle and likely to be 

 broken, and at the same time the dew covered leaf will develop 

 black spots when cured. 



Bright sunny days shtiulil be chosen for the time of cutting. 

 The acidity of the leaves is less on a warm sunny day than upon 

 a cool or cloudy day, and is also less in the evening than in the 

 morning. On a bright day the piocesses of metabolism are piiomoted, 

 and the respiration stimulated, so that at the end of such a day the 

 leaf will have more of the desirable products and less of the 

 undesirable Iiy-products than at other times. 



The plant should be slightly wilted before being hauled to the 

 curing barn, as this will prevent breakage and hasten the com- 

 mencement of the cui'ing process. Often the curing sticks are stuck 

 into the soil at an angle appro.ximating 65°, with the slope away 

 from the sun, and on these sticks the plants are placed with their 

 butts toward the sun and allowed to wilt for a short time. At 

 other times the plants are placed with the top side down, or are 

 laid in rows of three oi' four plants deep and allowed to remain 

 until they are wilted. Long wilting is not so popular as it once 

 was, and the system of placing the cut plants on scaffolds in the 

 field is obsolete. 



Leaves if left long exposed to the sun will become sunburned, 

 that is the heat of the sun will kill the plant cells and at the 

 same time destroy the enzymns that bring about fermenta.tion ; this 

 lieing the case nfj further life changes or processes of fermentation 

 can take place, and, with the exception of the drying of the leaf 

 by the evaporation of moisture, no improvement will take place. 

 The greenness of a sunburned leaf will always remain and reduce 

 its value. Sunburned leaves will carbonize and not burn satis- 

 factorily in the pipe oi' cigar. 



TRANSPORTATION. 



Several different methods of tran.sferring the tobacco from the 

 field to the curing barn are practised. Sonietiuies a frame four feet 

 wide, and high enough so that the tobacco will not touch the \vagon 

 box, is built upon the wagon, and the toljacco, already on the curing 

 sticks, is hung on this. This metlu.d is to be preferred where it is 



