•66 THE CULTURE OF TOBACCO. 



pursued in the fermentation of each new tobacco will have to be 

 Avorked out foi' the special ease involved. 



BUILDINGS; THE CURING BARN. 



The present curing barn is the result of an evolutionary process. 

 At first the tobacco was hung in the sun upon bu.shes to dry ; the next 

 step was the curing rack ; after this came the hanging of the tobacco in 

 any old building that could be used ; then came rough log budding.s 

 and sheds for the tobacco crop alone ; and finally came the construction 

 of buildings where the conditions could be governed by ventdation. 

 In the use of fire there have been giadual changes from a smoky 

 smudge to the use (jf charcoal, and then to the adoption of the flue 

 .system where smokeless dry heat is used. We have no reason to 

 think that we have reached perfection in the construction of the 

 curing barn, or in the method of applying the heat. The ideal curing 

 barn is to Ije the product of the next generation. 



The perfect curing barn is one that is so constructed that the 

 tobacco may be handled with the least labour, and so ventilated and 

 heated that the temperature and moisture conditions are alisolutely 

 under control. The heat should be applied in a form that is free from 

 all odours, and the system used shi mid 1 le such that desired tempei-atures 

 can be maintained, with the minimum of labour and with no un- 

 necessary waste of material. It should l>e ccinstructed out of the 

 material most easily and cheaply obtained in the locality, ]5roviding 

 that matei'ial has the qualities necessary to a curing bain. 



In America, timber is the material most easily obtained and out 

 of which the liarna are consti'ucted. There appears to be no reason 

 Avhy brick Ijuildings cannot be used. Temperature and moisture 

 conditions will not change as rapidly in a brick building as in a 

 wooden building, and this certainly is a desirable feature. Buildings 

 with thatched ro<jf and even thatched sides can be einpldved for the 

 curing of tobacco where fires are not used. 



The main objection to the use of giass is that it would liarljoui 

 the spores of moulds and rots, once tliese diseases have obtained a foot- 

 hold in the curing barn. In Sumati-a the cuiing sheds are th.atched 

 with the leaves of a palm. Galvanized iron is subject to too great and 

 lapid changes of tempeiature to be a perfect material for the con- 

 struction of curing Viarns, but pei'haps this tendency to become too hot 

 or too cold can be somewhat regulated by a covering of the iron with 

 grass thatch. 



The width of a curing barn should not be much ii\-er thirty feet, 

 for that is about the width that can be conveniently ventilated. The 

 height is regulated by the distance that it will pay to raise the tobacco 

 Avhile banging it ; from twenty-five to thiity feet is aliout the limit in 

 this regard. The length of the curing barn is governed only by the 

 amount of tobacco that the grower can place in the bai'ii in a given 

 length of time. It is not wise to have tobacco in the same barn in 

 different stages of curing. Perhaps a good length is any distance up 

 to one hundred feet. It is true that many hue barns aie consti'ucted 

 that vary greatly from the dimensions here given. But these 

 distances are the <ines that the liest tobacco men consider as most 

 nearh' collect. Tobacc<i barns are often several hundred feet long, 

 and again others are sixty to eighty feet wide and tiftv feet hit;h, biit 



