11 



flies are destroyed. However, as this means of extermination can not be 

 depended upon entirely, a force of lielp is kept continually going over 

 the field i^icking off the worms. 



TIAKVESTING. 



As soon as the first leaves at the bottom of the stalk begin to ripen 

 harvesting is begun by plucking off' the first four leaves from the bot- 

 tom and transporting them to the curing sheds in baskets. These 

 baskets are 36 inches long, 18 inches wide, and 12 inches deep, holding 

 about GOO leaves, or enough to fill 20 laths. These baskets are carried 

 from the field to the curing shed by men, if the curing shed is nearj if 

 not, they are carried in wagons. Each wagon has a frame that will 

 carry 16 of these baskets, thus in one load transporting 9,600 leaves, 

 enough to fill 220 laths. On reaching the curing sheds these baskets 

 are received by the foreman of the barn work, who places them on tables, 

 around which he has a number of women engaged in ^' stringing.'^ 

 They take the tobacco from the baskets and put it on strings by means 

 of large needles. The leaves are placed back to back and face to face. 

 This is done to prevent the leaves from cupping or folding over each 

 other. Thirty-five or 40 leaves are put on one string, according to the 

 size of the leaf. Each end of the string, as soon as filled, is attached 

 to a lath 1 feet 4 inches long, and the leaves are evenly distributed 

 along the string. The lath is then hung in the barn, where it remains 

 until the leaves are cured. The method of stringing the leaves is 

 shown in Plate lY^ fig. 2. 



If the tobacco gives promise of being "wrapper," that is, if it is light 

 green, very sound in leaf, and of desirable size, it should be "primed'^ 

 at an early stage of ripening. If, however, appearances indicate that 

 it will prove '-filler" tobacco, it should be allowed to thoroughly ripen. 

 After priming six or eight leaves the remainder will ripen sufficiently 

 near the same time to permit the cutting of the stalks. When the 

 stalk is cut it is placed on what is called a hand barrow, carried by two 

 men. These barrows will hold about eighty stalks, or enough to till 

 ten laths. On reaching tbe barn these barrows are placed on a table 

 and the stalks are immediately put on laths by means of a spear fitted 

 on the end of the lath, eight or ten stalks being put on each lath. 

 These laths are then put in the barn just where they will reuiain until 

 the tobacco is cured. 



If the soil is rich and the season propitious a second profitable crop 

 can be produced from the suckers. As soon as the original crop is 

 topped suckers will sprout from each leaf. These, of course, should be 

 broken off as soon as they appear, otherwise they will sap, hinder, and 

 check the growth of the leaves. When all of the leaves have been 

 I)rimed from the original stalk, except the four or six leaves at the top, 

 two suckers should be allowed to grow from the bottom of the stalk. 

 These two will be well started by the time the top leaves of the original 



