io8 The Soverane Herbe 



duce certain flavours. With some choice tobaccos 

 the Americans use cider, but the natures of the 

 dressings are trade and firm secrets. 



When to stop the process is a matter of the utmost 

 importance. With some tobaccos a day and a half s 

 fermentation suffices ; require others much longer ; in 

 scarcely any two cases is the period the same. Fer- 

 mentation must be stopped when the tobacco attains 

 a certain temperature. To ascertain this the planter 

 thrusts his hand into the heap. Experience and a 

 keen judgment are the only guides. If the tobacco 

 is heated too much the leaf becomes very dark 

 and harsh in quality, while insufficient fermentation 

 results in musty tobacco. Imperfect curing causes 

 black leaves, produces ammonia products and im- 

 perfect combustion. 



Various methods of curing apply to various 

 tobaccos. Light leaves are cured entirely in the open 

 air ; yellow leaves are cured in sheds by charcoal fires, 

 and heavy, dark tobacco by open wood fires, the 

 smoke of which chokes the pores of the leaves and 

 preserves them. 



The process of fermentation, or curing, is caused, 

 according to the recent investigations of Herr Suchs- 

 land, a German scientist (described by Mr. G. Clarke 

 Nuttal in the Contemporary Review for July, 1899), 

 by bacteria. The heap of fermenting tobacco con- 

 tains a complete flora of fungus life, and the microbes 

 drawing nourishment from the leaves produce organic 

 changes in the whole, in a manner analogous to the 

 action of yeast on dough. 



The flavour of tobacco has long been known to be 



