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The carpa man uses three strings to his matula, the tripa matulas have 

 two, whilst the fonque is known in future manipulations by its being 

 tied in small round bundles about one third the size of a matula. As 

 the leaves are stripped they should be laid in the box over the strings 

 with the base (the end nearest the stem) against the closed end and 

 the tips towards the open end. When the box is full they should be 

 pressed firmly with the open hand and the strings tied; the matula is 

 then turned out, stacked with the others in a warm corner and covered 

 up with bag mats. The tobacco in the press must also be kept closely 

 covered when not getting out bundles. The fonque leaves are those 

 one or two near the base of the plant that were over-ripe and had be- 

 come badly spotted and broken in the tying and hanging ; it always 

 follows that the better the cultivation and handling the smaller will be 

 the proportion of fonque to the rest of the crop ; this proportion must, 

 however small, be k-pt out of the good tobacco The carpa are the 

 perfect leaves and are known by their kid-like texture. The workman 

 who picks carpa draws every leaf from end to end between thumb and 

 fingers, taking off the soft and perfect leaves and leaving on those 

 that have a dryish stiff feel which are the tripa leaves It may here 

 be stated that another receptacle will be required of the same dimen- 

 sions as the first for the accommodation of the matulas, another press in 

 fact. The second press should be square as it is more convenient for 

 the neat and close stacking of the square brick shaped matulas. The 

 two presses Nos. 1 and 2 will be needed for a crop of three acres, and 

 for each additional three acres a matula press must be provided, re- 

 serving No. 1 for the first fermentation. All the presses must be of 

 the dimensions shown, as, to a large extent, the quality of the tobacco 

 depends on the quantity put together to ferment; it may be to » much or 

 too little. 



The stripping of the leaves and making up into matulas must be 

 done as quickly as possible, for if the temperature of the the press rises 

 to 130° F. before a quaner of the tobacco has been stripped the work 

 is going too slowly, and there is danger of the remaining bulk getting 

 too hot, causing what is known as wet tobacco ; if nearly half the press 

 has been stripped when the thermometer shows 130° the work is going 

 right. It should be borne in mind that from the first the tobacco 

 should be kept warm and bulked together tightly, never allowing it to 

 remain spread out any longer than necessary. It is desirable, therefore, 

 that stripping should be done quickly, and the leaves packed into the 

 matula box before they lose their natural heat, and that the matulas 

 are packed closely together into No 2 press and covered. 



Occasionally a wet leaf will be discovered, and these must never be 

 allowed to go into the matulas until after they have been laid out in 

 the shade to dry ; this is most important as the wet leaves unfailingly 

 cause the growth of fungus, and this will spread through all the ad- 

 jacent leaves and spoil the lot. 



When the whole of the pilon has been picked it will be seen that 

 the resulting matulas occupy about a third of the sp*ce that the 

 bundles took up, and if then the matulas are spread over the bottom of 

 press No. 2 there will not be sufficient depth to retain the existing 

 heat, much less generate more ; in other words fermentation will cease. 

 It, therefore, becomes necessary to re-arrange the matulas and make 



