AMERICAN TOBACCO TYPES, USES, AND MARKETS 49 
After the tobacco is thoroughly cured it is placed in boxes and 
delivered at once to the packing houses where it is removed from the 
boxes and placed in bulks about 5 or 6 feet wide and from 12 to 16 
feet long, and usually about 8 feet high. These bulks contain from 
4,000 to 6,000 pounds (see fig. 24). ‘Temperature and humidity are 
definitely controlled in the bulking room. A temperature of 75° to 
85° F. is usually maintained and the relative humidity is not allowed 
to fall below 70 percent. A perforated metal tube is placed through 
the center of each bulk for the purpose of inserting a thermometer 
for inner temperature readings. 
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AMA 1296 
Fiaure 24.—Bulks of shade-grown tobacco during fermentation, 
The moisture content of the tobacco when placed in the bulks 
ranges from 24 to 32 percent. With this moisture content, fermenta- 
tion starts at once and the temperature of the bulk gradually increases 
until within about a week it reaches a maximum of from 110° to 120° 
F, The maximum temperature attained and the number of days 
before a maximum is reached vary with the condition and quality of 
the tobacco and the room temperature. When the temperature starts 
downward the tobacco is turned or is rebulked. In rebulking the 
position of the tobacco is reversed; that is, the outer layers are placed 
on the inside and the inner layers on the outside of the new bulk. 
Fermentation starts again and the temperature again rises, but much 
more slowly, and it usually does not reach a maximum of more than 
105° after this first rebulking. The tobacco is turned again when the 
maximum temperature is reached. It is always turned at least three 
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