TOBACCO 



TOBACCO 



649 



The plants are usually cut with a regular tobacco 

 hatchet (Pig. 874) or knife, and are strung on 

 laths. Five or six plants are usually strung on 

 each lath, after which they are hauled to the sheds 

 in wagons specially prepared for this purpose. A 

 wagon with special rack arranged for transporting 

 the plants from the field to the curing shed is 

 shown in Fig. 875. These laths are usually four. 

 feet in length, and are so hung in the curing shed 

 that a space is left between each two plants in 

 order to get a circulation of air. Common types of 

 curing sheds are shown in Figs. 878-880. 



Fig. 877. Tobacco ricks. FiUed carriers on way to curing 

 barn. The old method was a wheelbarrow which had to 

 be run by each worker. Every time it was filled it had 

 to be carried to end of row and emptied, — a slow and 

 nuprofitable procedure. This saves much time and does 

 with six workers about the work of twelve or more by 

 the old method. 



The curing process requires, as a rule, four to 

 six weeks. The manipulation of the barn or curing 

 shed during this period is governed entirely by the 

 conditions of weather and the nature of the 

 tobacco, so that no fixed rules can be given. How- 

 ever, in a general way it can be said that if the 

 barn is filled with green tobacco and the weather 

 is hot and dry, the ventilators should be open most 

 of the time for about three days, by which time 

 the tobacco should begin to yellow. The ventilators 

 should be closed only to prevent too rapid curing 

 during this period. The barn should then be opened 

 at night and kept closed during the day. This is to 

 prevent too rapid curing, which destroys the life 

 of the leaf and produces uneven colors in the 

 tobacco. If there are frequent showers and but 

 little sunshine, the barn should be kept closed, and 

 if there are indications of pole-bum or pole-sweat, 

 small fires, at least two in every bent in the shed, 

 should be started. In order to dry out the tobacco 

 in as short a time as possible, these fires should be 

 distributed throughout the shed and the tobacco 

 above the fires protected by hoods. The best 

 material for making these fires is probably char- 

 coal or coke, but if these two materials can not be 

 used, soft pine wood may be found to be satis- 

 factory. In no case should hard wood be used, as 

 certain odors are given oif which it is impossible 

 to get out of the tobacco, and these injure the 

 quality and the sale of the crop. To get the best 

 results, the tobacco during the curing process 

 should be kept fairly moist and fairly dried out 

 once in every twenty-four hours. 



After the curing process has been finished, the 

 tobacco is usually sorted according to grade and 

 color as laid down by the tobacco trade. The 

 tobacco is then arranged in hands and packed in 

 cases, where it is allowed to go through natural 

 fermentation, or it is placed in a room which can 



be heated and is there put through a forced sweat. 

 If the natural fermentation takes place it usually 

 does not begin until the warm weather of the 

 succeeding summer. Great care must be used in 

 the fermenting processes that the tobacco is not 

 damaged by the spread of fungous diseases, mold 

 or other causes of injury to tobacco in cases. The 

 cases are usually arranged to hold about 350 

 pounds of tobacco. 



Connecticut Broadleaf. 



The seed-bed. — The method of sowing the seed, 

 preparation of the seed-beds and treatment of the 

 beds are practically the same for the Connecticut 

 Broadleaf as for the Connecticut Havana variety. 

 Many of the growers in the Connecticut valley 

 prefer the tent cover for the seed-beds for this 

 variety. The advantage in the cheese-cloth or light 

 muslin cover for the seed-beds is that plants grown 

 under such conditions are as a rule more hardy 

 than plants raised under glass. As the Broadleaf 

 plants make a very rapid growth in the seed-bed 

 and field, hotbeds for the production of early seed- 

 lings are not so essential as with other slower- 

 growing varieties. To get an even sowing, mix one 

 tablespoonful of seed with two quarts of ashes or 

 meal for every 100 square yards of seed-bed, and 

 lightly rake the surface of the bed so as barely to 

 cover the the seed. If the seed is covered too deep, 

 it will not germinate. 



The field crop. — The preparation of the land for 

 field planting should be thorough and the soil 

 should be in as good tilth as possible. Cover-crops, 

 such as vetch, are desirable for plowing under. 

 A disk-cultivator is a good implement to fine 

 the surface soil,^ after which the land should be 

 fitted with drag' and harrow, in order to get the 

 surface as level and fine as possible. The land is 

 usually fertilized with well-rotted barnyard manure, 

 at the rate of eight to twelve tons per acre, plowed 

 under in the spring. Frequently, tobacco stems, at 

 the rate of 500 to 600 pounds per acre, are used as 

 a fertilizer in the Broadleaf sections. Most crops 

 of Broadleaf tobacco are grown on these fertilizers 

 alone, but in recent years the growers have begun 

 to apply about one ton of cottonseed meal, 200 

 pounds of carbonate of potash, and one to two 

 barrels of lime per acre in addition to the usual 

 tobacco starter. 



The seedlings of the Broadleaf variety are 

 usually set in rows four feet apart and the plants 

 twenty-two to twenty-four inches apart in the 

 rows. In all cases water should be used in trans- 

 planting, even if the ground be moist. If the plants 

 are set by hand, one person distributes the, plants 

 at the proper distance along the rows, followed by 

 a man or boy who, with a round stick, makes a 

 hole for the plants. A third person sets the plants 

 in the holes and presses the soil firmly about the 

 roots, leaving the surface of the soil as loose as 

 possible. As the plants are set, a cupful of water 

 should be poured into the holes, and some growers 

 prefer to add water to the plants directly after 

 they are set, although this practice leaves the soil 

 about the plants in such condition as to bake. 



