TOBACCO. 



623 



The drying sheds ought to be built upon an elevated or dry spot, with a 

 boarded flour of rough split stuff, fifteen or eighteen inches from the ground, 

 with apertures as windows to admit or to exclude the external atmosphere. In 

 damp weather close all the doors and windows, also every night ; in contrary 

 weather open all. 



In these drying houses the stalks should remain suspended until the vegetable 

 moisture is entirely evaporated, so that on a dry day the stems of the leaves 

 will break like a glass pipe, and the finer parts crumble into snuff upon com- 

 pression ; after whic h, in humid weather, they will become quite pliable ; then 

 strip the leaves off the stems, make them up into hands, and pack them tightly 

 into a close bin : when fall, cover it with boards and old bagged stuff, upon 

 which place heavy weights. In this state it undergoes the svv^eating process, 

 which, in this colony, is little understood or not properly attended to, and 

 yet, upon the skill displayed thereon, the quality of the tobacco greatly depends. 

 I will therefore give some general directions upon this portion of the planter's 

 office. If the tobacco happen to be too damp when put into the bin, it will 

 attain either an injurious or a destructive degree of heat ; it must therefore be 

 watched for some days after it is packed. To an experienced operator I would 

 say, if the heat exceed 80 degrees of temperatui-e, immediately unpack and 

 re-hang the whole, waiting its condition as before explained, before it is again 

 put into the sweating bin. Should the degree of heat be below that stated, it 

 may remain for weeks or until the heat has subsided. I have generally removed 

 it from the sweating process in about fourteen or twenty days, sometimes con- 

 siderably longer, regulating that act by the odor and color of the leaf. If, how- 

 ever, it appears to be attaining a very dark; brown color and its heat not sub- 

 sided, it should be taken out and closely pressed into large cases or casks, when 

 it will again attain a gentle heat called the "second sweating," as is invariably 

 the case with the hogsheads of the American leaf tobacco : this again improves 

 its quality. Here the growler's operations terminate. 



It may be necessary to ren:iark, that how skilful and experienced soever the 

 grower may be, it is hardly possible for him to produce a good article iipon a 

 small scale ; for with a less quantity than one ton to place in the sweating bin 

 at a time, the requisite heat to insure success will not be generated. I would 

 further observe, that the practice of the colonists in growing what they term a 

 " second crop" is most injurious to their interests, their lands, and the quality 

 and character of the colonial tobacco. The American planter never attempts 

 it. I would therefore strongly recommend its discontinuance, and also never 

 to crop one piece of land with tobacco more than two or three years m suc- 

 cession. The Americans rarely take more than two crops unles"k the land, be 

 new ; after which they sow it down with grasses, in which state it remains 

 for two or three years until it is again planted with tobacco. I womd i^ecom- 

 mend this plan to the growers. 



The character of the American tobacco has been greatly advanced in the 

 mercantile world by an ordinance regulating that source of national wealth. 

 The planters are thereby obligated to deposit their crops in warehouses, over 

 which sworn inspectors preside, who rigidly examine every hogshead, and if 

 found to be of mercantile quality, grant the owner a certificate, by which in- 

 strument only he sells his produce. The purchaser is hereby safe in buying 

 these certificates. The tobacco to which they refer is delivered to the holder 

 on presentation to the inspector. I mention this not as applicable here at pre- 

 sent, but it most probably may hereafter. 



When the colony is suffering severely for the want of labor, it may by some 

 be deemed inopportune in offering remarks u|ion this article of commerce. To 

 such dissentients I will remark, that a great portion of the work can be per- 

 formed by women and children. A moiety of our anticipated increase of popu- 

 lation will be available for this hitherto mismanaged source of wealth. At 

 present the quantity grown in the colony is equal to three-fourths of its con- 

 sumption, and which production is of a very inferior quality to the imported. 

 These facts tend to show that my notice of the subject is not inopportune, and 

 particularly so when the object is to point out those errors so generally adopted 

 by the tobacco growers here. Years of practical experience, of personal obser- 



