TOBACCO. 



605 



eveninsi'. The plant, if large, is split do"vrn the middle, and cut oW ivro or 

 three inches below the extremity of the split ; it is then turned directly- 

 bottom upwards, for the sun to kill it more speedily, to enable tne laborers 

 to carry it out of the field, else the leaves vrould break off in transporting 

 it to the scafi'old. The plants are cut only as they become ripe, for afield never 

 ripens altogether. There is generally a second cutting likewise, for the stalk 

 vegetates and shoots forth again, and in good land, with favorable seasons, 

 there is a third cutting also procured, not-withstanding acts of the Legislatui-e to 

 prevent cutting tobacco even a "second time. 



AYhcn the tobacco plants are cut and brought to the scaffolds, "which are 

 generally erected all around the tobacco houses, they are placed "with the split 

 across a small oak stick, an inch and better in diameter and four fret and a half 

 long, so close as each plant just to touch the other without bruising or pressing. 

 These sticks are then placed on the scaffolds, with the tobacco thus suspended 

 in the middle, to dry or cure, and are called tobacco sticks. As the plants 

 advance in curing, the sticks are removed from the scaffolds out of doors into 

 the tobacco house, on to other scaffolds erected therein in successive regular 

 gradations fiom the bottom to the top of the roof, being placed higher as the 

 tobacco approaches to a perfect cure, until the house is all filled and the tobacco 

 quite cured, and this cure is frecj^uently promoted by making fires on the floor 

 below. When the tobacco house is quite full, and there is still more tobacco 

 to bring in, all that is within the house is struck, and taken down, and care- 

 fully placed in bulks, or regvJar rows, one upon another, and the whole covered 

 with trash tobacco, or straw, to preserve it in a proper condition, that is moist, 

 which prevents its wasting and crumbling to pieces. But, to enable them to 

 strike the cured tobacco, they must wait for what is there called a season, that 

 is rainy or moist weather, when the plants will better bear handling, for in dry 

 weather the haves would all crumble to pieces in the attempt. By this means 

 a tobacco house may be filled two, three, or four times in the year. Every 

 night the negroes are sent to the tobacco house to strip, that is to pull off the 

 leaves from the stalk, and tie them up in hands or hurdles. This is also their 

 daily occupation in rainy weather. In stripping, they are careful to throw 

 away all the ground leaves and faulty tobacco, binding up none but what is 

 merchantable. The hands or bundles thus tied up are also laid in what are 

 called a bulk, and covered with the refuse tobacco or straw to preserve their 

 moisture. After this, the tobacco is carefully packed in hogsheads, and pressed 

 down with a large beam laid over it, on the ends of which prodigious weights 

 are suspended, the other end being inserted with a mortice in a tree, close to 

 which the hogshead is placed. This vast pressure is continued for some days, 

 and then the cask is filled up again with tobacco until it will contain no more, 

 after which it is headed up and carried to the pubic -w arehouses for inspection. 

 At these warehouses two skilful planters constantly attend, and receive a salary 

 from the public for that purpose. They are sworn to inspect with honesty, 

 care, and impartiality, all the tobacco that comes to the warehouse, and none 

 is allowed to be shipped that is not regularly inspected. The head of the cask 

 is taken off, and the tobacco is opened by means of large, long iron wedges, 

 and great labour, in such places as the inspectors direct. After this strict 

 attentive examination, if they find it good and merchantable, it is replaced in 

 the cask, weighed at the public scales, the weight of the tobacco and of 

 the cask also cut in the wood on the cask, stowed away in the public 

 warehouses, and a note given to the proprietor, which he disposes of to the 

 merchant, and he neither sees nor has any trouble with his tobacco more. 

 The weight of each hogshead must be 950 lbs. nett, exclusive of the cask — for 

 less a note will not be given. Under the name of a crop hogshead, however, 

 the general weight is from 1,000 to 1,200 or 1,300 lbs. nett, but if the tobacco 

 is found to be totally bad, and refused as unmerchantable, the whole is pub- 

 licly burnt in a place set apart for that purpose. However, if it be judged 

 that there is some merchantable tobacco in the hogshead, the owner must un- 

 pack the whole publicly on the spot, for he is not permitted to take any of 

 it away again, and must select and separate the good from the bad ; the last 

 is immediately committed to the flames, and for the first he receives a transfer 

 note, specifying the weight, quality, &c. This great and very laudable care 



