Flue-cured 



11-14 



Fire-cured 



21-23 



Bur ley- 



31 



Maryland 



32 



Dark air-cured 



35-37 



Cigar filler 



41-44 



Cigar filler 



46 



Cigar binder 



51-55 



Cigar wrapper 



61-62 



The following outline shows harvesting and curing methods for each kind 

 of tobacco: 



Harvesting method Curing method 

 Kind Type Priming Stalk-cutting Flue Fire Air 



x x 



X X 



X X 



X X 



X X 



X X 



X X 



X X 



X X 



Perique 72 x x 



The curing processes and barns are described separately below. 



Air-curing (burley, Maryland, dark air- cured, and cigar types) 



Type of barn . Barns used for air-curing tobacco are 30 to 40 feet wide 

 and vary in length up to 300 feet. Boards on the outside of the barn may be 

 either vertical or horizontal. About every third board is hung on hinges and 

 functions as a ventilator. Horizontal bottom ventilators are also provided a- 

 long the entire length of the sides of the barn to admit air near the ground, 

 and many barns have additional ventilators along the peak of the roof (figs. 

 14,16,& 18)- 



The barn usually has driveways and doors large enough to allow a wagon or 

 truck to pass through easily. The interior consists of a framework of poles 

 for supporting the laths on which the tobacco has been placed (fig. 15 ). The 

 spaces between the poles are called tiers. Barns are built 3 to 4 tiers high. 

 The first tier of poles is at least 9 feet from the ground, so that the tobac- 

 co on the bottom tier clears the ground by at least 3 feet. The other tiers 

 are 4 or 5 feet apart. The tier poles are usually about 16 feet long, and 

 strong enough to carry at least 800 pounds. 



Air-curing operation . All air-cured tobaccos are harvested by stalk-cut- 

 ting, except shade-grown wrapper and Puerto Rican filler, which are harvested 

 by priming. The surplus food supply that the plant accumulates before har- 

 vesting helps it to live several days after being cut. When this is exhausted, 

 the leaf dies and is then nearly cured. We might say, therefore, that air- 

 curing tobacco is forcing the leaves to go through a process of gradual star- 

 vation under proper conditions. 



The time required for completely curing stalk-cut tobacco varies, depend- 

 ing on weather conditions, from 5 to 8 weeks for the cigar types, and from 4 

 to 6 weeks for burley, Maryland, and the dark air-cured types. 



- 19 - 



