FLUE-CURED TOBACCO. 57 
also came into greater demand for that purpose. Planters with 
suitable soils, particularly freshly cleared fields of a gray or sandy 
nature so common in the border counties of central Virginia and 
North Carolina between the coastal plain and the Blue Ridge, vied 
with each other in producing the highest colored sweet and mild 
tobaccos. 
The method of curing first in use was to begin with small open fires 
to be continued until the leaf was properly yellowed and then increase 
the fires steadily and cure up the leaf as yellow as possible with open 
wood fires. Maj. Ragland thought that charcoal was first made use 
of in curing this type about 1824 in Caswell County, N. C., the honor 
lying between Capt. Abishai Slade and Mr. William Long. Maj 
Ragland also states that Dr. Davis G. Tuck, of Halifax County, Va. 
was the first to use flues in curing tobacco and was granted a patent 
therefor in 1829. Because of the defective plan of construction, 
however, these flues were very liable to burst in use, and they never 
came into general use until about the time of the Civil War and after 
the plan of construction had been improved. 
Maj. Ragland speaks also of attending a meeting of tobacco growers 
in 1850 at Cluster Springs, Halifax Co., Va., to listen to an address 
by Capt. Slade on coal curing yellow tobacco. Up to 1850 the pro- 
duction of yellow tobacco was small and confined principally to 
Caswell County, N. C., and Pittsylvania County, Va. 
Figure 23 shows a typical field of tobacco of the fine flue-cured 
type grown on freshly cleared land, which generally yields the bright- 
est and finest textured leaf. Figure 24 shows a standard type of 
flue-curing barn which has been in use in the Old Belt section. 
IMPORTANCE OF FERTILIZERS IN STIMULATING PRODUCTION. 
An important factor in making the rapid development in produc- 
tion of the flue-cured type possible since the Civil War was the intro- 
duction of commercial fertilizers. 
Bright tobacco soils as a class are naturally rather infertile. Before 
the use of artificial manures became general in the seventies of the 
last century the portion of the country now noted for the production 
of the fine flue-cured leaf was but little farmed. On most of these 
soils crop yields including those of tobacco were so small without 
fertilizer that it did not pay to cultivate them. They were, however, 
light and friable and of a character to respond readily to fertilizers, 
particularly in producing a high-value crop like tobacco. The use 
of fertilizers increased the chances of profit from growing tobacco in 
two ways. It markedly increased the yield, often more than 100 per 
cent, and also improved the quality greatly, so that the tobacco 
244 
