o4 CIRCULAR 249, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
now constituted includes a considerable portion of the old stemming 
district, where the increasing cost of wood for firing purposes has 
caused growers to shift to the cheaper method of air curing. On the 
other hand, Burley tobacco has encroached on the Green River dis- 
trict from the east, and both types are now sold on the Owensboro 
market. 
VIRGINIA SUN-CURED, TYPE 37 
Virginia sun-cured tobacco is the third of the dark air-cured group. 
The quantity produced has dwindled greatly because of changes in 
consuming habits (tables 12, 13, and 14). The name refers to the 
AMA 2204-B 
Figure 17.—Virginia sun-cured tobacco under field conditions. This type of 
tobacco is classed as dark air-cured and is used almost exclusively for chewing 
purposes. Production is small and averages less than 4 million pounds per 
annum. 
former practice of hanging the tobacco in the sun during a part of the 
curing process. Figure 17 shows Virginia sun-cured tobacco in the 
field; figure 18 shows a rack for wilting the tobacco in the sun as a 
preliminary to housing, and illustrates the origin of the name ‘‘sun- 
cured.” : 
The investigations of Robert (23) and the present author’s review 
of available early literature indicate that the prevailing method of 
curing tobacco during the seventeenth century was air curing, or air 
and sun curing, and that fire curing was a later development which 
did not become widespread until late in the eighteenth century. 
From this it seems possible that the Virginia sun-cured district is 
but the small remnant of a tobacco-growing area which may have 
included a considerable portion of tidewater Virginia, as well as por- 
tions of the present flue-cured and fire-cured districts of Virginia and 
North Carolina. It may well be, therefore, that the present sun- 
