THE CULTURE OF FLUE-CURED TOBACCO. 29 
mately its stage of maximum development, should be best. The 
priming method requires somewhat more labor than the cutting 
method, and the New Belt section has this labor in better supply, 
Fic. 7.—Harvesting tobacco by the priming method. The form of truck shown, with 
a high body which passes over the tops of the standing plants without damage, 
is convenient for hauling out the leaves. 
owing to the surplus that can be shifted temporarily from the cotton 
fields. The lighter soils of the New Belt and the consequent greater 
tendency in many cases for the bottom leaves to waste before the top 
Fic. 8.—A common type of low-wheel truck in the New Belt section, in which the 
tobacco leaves are placed as they are picked, 
leaves are ripe perhaps makes the priming method relatively more 
necessary there than in the Old Belt, where the stiffer soils retard 
deterioration of the bottom leaves while the top leaves are ripening. 
