E.M.Wilcox. 

 11 



cells, however, will naturally remain active after the death of the pro- 

 toplasm from starvation has set in.' 



Considerable variation has been found in the total nitrogen content 

 01 the fresh leaves, as well as in the amido nitrogen content of the 

 cured leaves. The amount of the former may vary in American, Greek, 

 and German tobaccos from 2, 3, or 4 per cent to 8 per cent of the dry 

 leaf. One-third of this and even more can turn into amido compounds 

 in the curing process. 



Regulation of heat and moisture. — Further changes, relating to color 

 and flavor, set in with the death of the cells. However, it requires a 

 most judicious regulation of the moisture, temperature, and ventila- 

 tion of the barn where the tobacco leaves are hung up to obtain those 

 changes which characterize cured tobacco of a superior quality. This 

 curing process may last four weeks or even much longer.^ When the 

 weather is too dry all the chemical changes in the leaves come to a pre- 

 mature stop, but on the other hand when it is too moist the danger of 

 mold development arises. In the former case the barns must be 

 eventually kept closed and water introduced, while in the latter case 

 careful application of heat may be resorted to. 



An interesting experiment in curing by artificial heat has been 

 described by E. H. Jenkins.^ Some farmers have tried the burning of 

 sulphur with the intention of killing the mold spores by sulphurous 

 acid, but this requires the utmost i)recaution, as the leaves themselves 

 might easily be injured and even all further action in them stopped. 



Sometimes mold fungi will develop unnoticed in the stems, appearing 

 distinctly later on, when the sweating operation has begun. xVll dis- 

 eased leaves must be discarded before fermentation begins in order to 

 avoid further damage by the spreading of the fungi. Tobacco growers 

 in Florida recognize the white mold, the yellow mold, the blue mold, 

 and the stem-rot mold, the latter being the worst and causing much 

 damage. Sturgis has described a bacterium causing pole burn of 

 tobacco,^ and further determined the fungus causing the stem rot to be 

 Botrytis Jongihranchiata:' Jenkins reports that the pole burn disease 

 "may destroy a portion or even the whole of the harvested crop within 

 forty-eight hours after the time when the trouble is first noticed." 



' It is somewhat diflScult to prove the presence of diastase in healthy normal 

 leaves, as very small quantities may resist extraction. 



- The drying, or curing, for good cigar tobacco requires about as much time in 

 America as it does in Europe. Tscherwatscheff, a Russian, has described the Ameri- 

 can method as requiring but four days witli applications of artificial heat (Landw. 

 Jahrb., 1875). What he had seen, however, was nothing but the preparation of 

 hght-colored cigarette tobacco as practiced in North Carolina, \'irginia, and Ken- 

 tucky. In curing cigar tobacco tire is resorted to only when damp, foggy weather 

 prevails for a long time. 



3 Conn. Agr. Expt. Sta. Ann. Kept., 1897; Ihid., 1892, p. 38. 



<Conn. Agr. Expt. Sta. Ann. Kept., 1891. 



^Ihid., Sturgis's list of tobacco diseases. 



