VIRGINIA SUN-CURED TOBACCO. 91 
and in blackening it by Steaming and subjecting it to very heavy 
pressure in prizing. The treated tobacco is packed in tierces, boxes, 
or bales of various shapes and sizes convenient for transportation, 
often some distance inland, by animal power. A number of large 
plants for rehandling tobacco of the type just described, probably 
representing some 80 per cent of the total business of this class in the 
country, are located in Louisville. 
The manufacture of domestic twist and the rehandling or export 
trade probably absorb about two-thirds or 20,000,000 pounds of 
this One-Sucker type of tobacco annually. The other 10,000,000 
pounds is uncertainly divided among a number of miscellaneous 
domestic and export demands very difficult to classify accurately. 
An approximate estimate of the distribution in use of the One- 
Sucker type is presented in Table XXV. 
TABLE XX V.—Estimated distribution in use of the One-Sucker type of tobacco. 
Use. Pounds. Use. Pounds. 
Domestic: Export: 
BL Wval S TP RRS eee aos Rena pg vec OLN 8,000, 000 Rehandline VAtnicasetess. 4222555 12, 000, 000 
PAID Re as ee Shee tee ae eee ee cea 5, 000, 000 Miscelllamea usiyiere as sue alte eegearlel 3,000, 000 
Granwlatine tess assem este 2,000, 000 ee eGR ON: NE 
ANON UEET VIN ooh BS SURE ED Ube leer 3 30, 000, 000 
A large portion of the dark tobacco sold in Louisville is of the 
One-Sucker type from this district, shipped in mostly by country 
dealers and speculators. The areas covered by the subdivisions of 
the One-Sucker air-cured type are shown on the map (PI. II, in 
pocket). ; 
VIRGINIA ‘‘ SUN-CURED” TOBACCO. 
Several of the counties of middle Virginia just north of the James 
River produce a type of tobacco known to the trade as ‘‘Sun-Cured,”’ 
which is probably in the nature of a development from tobacco grow- 
ing as it was practiced in the early days in the York and Rappahan- 
nock River sections of the State. 
METHOD OF CURING AND GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 
The name ‘‘Sun-Cured”’ as now applied to the type as a whole 
is really a misnomer so far as indicating any special method of sun 
curing is concerned. In the typical sun-cured product the tobacco 
is scaffolded in the open air or sun near the curing barn and is allowed 
to remain on the scaffold crowded rather closely together for five or 
six days until thoroughly yellowed. The sticks of tobacco are then 
spread apart somewhat so that the air may pass between the plants 
in order to prevent damage to the lug leaves from sweating, and the 
tobacco is then allowed to remain on the scaffold three or four days 
244 
