TOBACCO-CUTTING. 



300 



in a frame, held fast between grooves at e e, and which 

 when the screws upon it are removed, allows the mass 

 of cut tobacco to be drawn out in the trough /. The 



width of the fibres thus made occasionally differs : 

 " shag " tobacco is cut the finest ; " broad-cut, " as its 

 name implies, is nearly an eighth of an inch in width. 

 The cutting is regulated by changing the cog-wheel, 

 and the two sorts are technically known as " short cut " 

 and " long cut," the first being originally adopted for 

 smokers, the second for chewers. 



Sometimes horses are employed in turning the 

 cutting wheels ; and in large warehouses tobacco is now 

 cut by steam pow r er. 



The mass of cut tobacco when removed from the 

 machine, is next placed in a brass drying-pan over a 

 slow fire, and so kept till the damp evaporates in thick 

 white steam. This is a final process which has to be 

 conducted with much judgment; for a sufficient amount 

 of damp must be retained to preserve its moisture in 

 the salesman's cask. When the tobacco is dried to 

 this point, which is decided by " the feel " of the heated 

 mass to the workman's fingers, it is taken from the 



