212 



SUCCESSFUL FARMING 



waste of the bottom leaves and every leaf can be harvested at the desired 

 stage of ripeness. 



Barn Curing. — There are four methods of barn curing practiced: air 

 curing, fire curing, flue curing and sun curing. All cigar leaf, Burley and 

 Maryland smoking tobaccos are air cured. The tobacco, either primed or 

 cut on the stalk, is hung upon the tier poles in the curing barn and there 

 allowed to cure out by a gradual dying of the leaf tissues and evaporation 

 of moisture. Favorable curing conditions exist when the tobacco will 

 come and go "in kase" several times during the period of curing. Barns for 

 air curing are provided with ventilators which can be opened or closed 



according to the climatic con- 

 ditions and the stage of the 

 cure. For the first few days 

 the barn should be kept closed 

 until the tobacco has wilted 

 and taken on a yellow shade of 

 color; then the ventilators 

 should be opened so as to ad- 

 mit a free circulation of air 

 until the tobacco assumes the 

 brown color. During dry, 

 windy weather the ventilators 

 should be kept closed during 

 the day and opened at night. 

 The heavy and export 

 tobaccos of Virginia, Tennessee 

 and Kentucky are fire cured. 

 As soon as the barn has been 

 filled with green tobacco, small 

 wood fires are started to wilt 

 the leaf until the yellow color appears; then the amount of heat is grad- 

 ually increased until the leaf turns brown. When the tobacco reaches this 

 stage the heat is again increased to cure the midrib or stem of the leaf, . 

 after which the fires are allowed to die and the tobacco cool off. During 

 the curing process the heat should never be allowed to fall until the 

 final cure is obtained, as a fall of temperature during the curing process 

 will injure the color and texture of the tobacco. Small log barns with 

 tight walls are used for fire curing without any ventilation except the 

 door. 



The bright tobaccos of Virginia and North and South Carolina are 

 cured by flues. The barns used in this process are similar to those used in 

 the open fire process, except that the fires are built on the outside of the 

 barn in brick fireplaces, having a metal flue running around the inside of 

 the barn about two feet from the bottom. There are usually two fireplaces, 

 the flues of each uniting at the opposite end of the barn, and merging into 



Fire-curing Barn. 



