THE SOUTHERN PLANTER; 



Heboteti to ^cjrfculture, ^ortfculture, antr the ?£iouszl\olu ilrts. 



Agriculture is the nursing mother of the Arts. 



Xenophon. 



Vol. III. 



TOBACCO. 

 (Continued from page 4.) 

 Of the Cutting, Curing and Housing. 



We have now arrived at the most difficult 

 and critical stages of the whole process ; every 

 operation from this time until the plant is cured, 

 requiring great attention and care, as well as 

 skill and nicety of judgment in the execution. 

 And hence a great contrariety of practice in 

 some of the minutiae prevails, according to the 

 superior skill and ability of different planters. 



It is difficult to convey an idea of ripe tobacco 

 by description. It can only be learned by ob- 

 servation and experience. In general, its matu- 

 rity is indicated by the top leaves of the plant 

 turning down and ' often touching the ground, 

 becoming curdled, with yellow spots interspersed 

 on their surface, looking glossy and shining, 

 with an entire loss of fur, a manifest increase of 

 thickness in the substance of the leaves, which 

 when pinched in a fold between the finger and 

 thumb, will crack with ease. But the most ex- 

 perienced planters acknowledge that they are 

 more apt to err in cutting their tobacco too soon, 

 than in deferring it too long. As a proof of 

 this, take two plants growing side by side, of 

 equal size and appearance in every respect, and 

 both apparently ripe — cut one and weigh it both 

 green and when cured : let the other stand a 

 week longer, and when weighed like the first, 

 the difference in favor of the latter will be as- 

 tonishing. If it be asked, why we do not avail 

 ourselves of the advantage to be derived from 

 thus deferring the operation % It may be an- 

 swered, as I have before observed, that tobacco, 

 while standing, is liable to be injured and de- 

 stroyed by more accidents than any other plant, 

 such as hail storms, heavy rains, high winds, 

 the depredations of worms, the growth of suckers 

 from the root, which abstract greatly from the 

 weight and thickness of the leaves, if suffered 

 to grow, and which it is not always convenient 

 to pull off. Besides this, the season of cutting 

 tobacco is a very busy one to the planter, and 

 too much work would accumulate on his hands 

 by deferring it to the last moment. For these 

 reasons it is considered most prudent to cull out 

 the plants as soon as they will make good to- 

 bacco; in which case the loss in the aggregate 

 amount of crop, is balanced by avoiding the 

 Vol. III. — 4 



Tillage and Pasturage are the two breasts of the 

 State. — Sully. 



No. 2. 



risk of accidents, and being able to bestow more 

 care and attention to what remains. 



The cutters go over the ground by rows, each 

 taking two at a time, and the plants they cut 

 are laid in the intermediate row between them. 

 This facilitates the picking up, as the cutting of 

 four rows is thereby placed in one. The stalk 

 of the plant to be cut is first split down with 

 the knife about six inches, and after being cut 

 off just below the bottom leaf, is inverted and 

 laid upon the ground, to fall and become pliant 

 for handling. The splitting of the stalk is im- 

 portant, both for the convenience of hanging it 

 on sticks and accelerating the cure of the plant. 

 To those unused to the culture and management 

 of tobacco, it will be almost incredible to learn 

 how soon it will sun-burn, (as we call it,) after 

 being cut and turned over on the ground. This 

 is effected by the hot rays of the sun, piercing 

 and penetrating the tender parts of the leaves, 

 and is manifested by the parts affected, turning 

 white and soon becoming dry and crisp, and 

 when cured, of a dark green color, without pos- 

 sessing any of the strength or qualities of to- 

 bacco. In very dry, hot weather, sun-burning 

 often takes place before a large plant falls suffi- 

 ciently to be handled without breaking off the 

 leaves; and for this reason the cutting in such 

 weather should always be made early in the 

 morning, and not proceed after ten o'clock. — 

 Sometimes it is done in the evening when there 

 is no prospect of rain, by which the packing up 

 may be accomplished earlier the next morning, 

 and with less risk of burning. As soon as the 

 plants fall sufficiently to handle without breaking 

 off the leaves, they are hand-fulled, (as we call 

 it ;) that is, they are picked up, and three or four 

 or five plants are laid together, with their tails 

 from the sun, and the stalks inclined and some- 

 what elevated against the sides of some of the 

 hills. The pickers up, after going through this 

 ground, return and turn over each handful, that 

 both sides of the plants may receive the benefit 

 of the sun, and not be burned, and this opera- 

 tion is again repeated ; if by this time the to- 

 bacco is not pliant enough to be put in shocks. 

 This is putting an indefinite number of handfuls 

 together, the stalks in an erect position, forming 

 a sort of circle of any diameter, from two to six 

 feet or more, at convenient distances in the field ; 

 and these shocks should be immediately and 

 effectually covered with green bushes or some- 



C. T. BOTTS & L. M. BUR FOOT, Editors. 

 RICHMOND, FEBRUARY, 1843. 



