Edible Products. 



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of the large majority who have not been fortunate enough to have had opportunities 

 for observing the changes that occur during vegetable fermentation, it will be neces- 

 sary to set down all the details concerning the actual curing of tobacco. 



The press, then, is simply the pile of tobacco; the term, however, is also 

 applied by the Anglo-Cuban to the receptacle in which the tobacco is stacked ; and 

 when he wishes to convey the information that he is about to ferment a ' pilon ' of 

 tobacco, he states that he is going to ' put press '—to an outsider a most mysterious 

 phrase. This receptacle may be made of ordinary deal boards (though cedar is the 

 best), lined sides and floor with ' jagua,' the skin or bark stripped from the inner sur- 

 face of the broad leaf-sheath or petiole base of the matured and fallen leaves of the 

 royal palm (Oreodoxa regia) ; if a sufficient quantity of this material is not obtain- 

 able, a lining of dry banana leaves (trash), some 3 inches thick, will answer almost 

 as well. 



A perfectly round press is undoubtedly the best, though a hexagonal or six- 

 sided does almost as well and is much easier to construct ; if the tobacco house has a 

 wooden floor, the sides of the press may be built upon it ; if an earth floor, the wooden 

 floor of the press must be raised about 6 inches from the ground. It is most conve 

 nient to build the press in one of the rooms of the curing house in a part not exposed 

 to the wind. It is best under any circumstances to have sufficient banana trash in 

 the bottom of the press to cover it to the depth of at least 6 inches when pressed 

 down by the weight of the tobacco that is put upon it. The heat that is evolved by 

 the fermentation has a tendency to rise towards the top, and, as a consequence, the 

 bottom is liable to become chilled, if it is not snugly packed and almost air-tight. 

 Whenever tobacco is being fermented and it becomes chilled, fungus is sure to grow. 

 The dimensions of the press should be 9 feet in diameter by 5 feet in depth ; no ' pilon ' 

 should be less than 9 feet nor more than 10 feet in diameter, if nicely fermented 

 tobacco is required ; about 200 double-packed bars will fill a press of this size. 



The tobacco having come safely through the drying process and the press 

 being ready, advantage should be taken of the first opportunity to ' put press.' This 

 occurs after a day's rain, when the leaves lose their crispness and become ' mild,' i.e., 

 as soft and elastic as kid skin. The early morning is the best time to begin the work 

 of transferring the tobacco from the bars to the press, as everything must be finished 

 before the atmosphere is hot and dry enough to make the leaves crisp again. On the 

 night following a rainy day all the shutters and doors must be left open to allow the 

 moist, dew-laden air to circulate among the plants, and before daybreak in the morn- 

 ing all hands should be at work. In preparing the tobacco for the press the pairs of 

 plants should be tied into bundles of about twenty (four bundles to a double-packed 

 bar) by passing a strand of thatch-leaf along the bar under the strings and tying 

 them together not quite as tightly as it is possible to tie them ; this will allow a loop 

 to lay hold of when handling the bundle, and is also convenient in other ways. The 

 bundles are then lifted off the bar and handed to a man armed with a mallet-like 

 piece of wood with which he gently taps the ends of the stalks, whilst holding the 

 bundle under the left arm, until they are quite even ; after which he hands the 

 bundle to the man who is in the press to stack the tobacco ; the latter gives the bundle 

 a good squeeze, and lays it down in the press with the tips of the leaves pointing 

 towards the centre and the stalks pressed tight against the wall. When he has filled 

 up all round the inside of the wall of the press, he must commence the next layer 

 about 18 inches from the wall, and the next about 2k feet or 3 feet from the wall, 

 according to the length of the plant, so that the whole of the bottom of the press 

 may be covered. When this is done, he is to commence at the wall again and con- 

 tinue in the same way as he began, until the press is filled, kneeling on and drawing 

 the bundles tightly together as they are put in. A halt, hoAvever, must be cried 

 when the press is half full for the purpose of inserting the thermometer, or rather 



