20 



As the leaves are removed from the plant they should be placed in 

 baskets or other light receptacles and taken without delay to the 

 stringing room, where each grade should be kept" separate and 

 roughly assorted to length. The fresh leaf should never be piled in 

 deep piles, as it heats very rapidly, and such heating has a tendency 

 to turn the leaf black. It does not harm the leaf to wilt, but it must 

 not be allowed to heat. Having reached the stringing room, and hav- 

 ing been roughly assorted to length, from 50 to 60 leaves are strung 

 with a straight needle and cotton thread, back to back and front to 

 front, about an inch apart. The distance between the leaves is 

 readily gauged with the fingers. The string is knotted at one end 

 only. A string of leaves when completed is ready to put on the pole. 

 The tobacco pole is a lath 4r| feet long, f by 1 inch, sawn out of rough 

 1 by 12 inch lumber, with a saAv scarf at each end cut to a depth 

 of about three-fourths of an inch. When the leaves are strung the 

 knotted end of the string is fastened in the scarf at one end of the 

 pole, the string is pulled tight, passed through the scarf at the other 

 end of the pole, and fastened by weaving in and out. One pound of 

 string is enough for 200 poles. The string should be cut 10 feet 8 

 inches long, and doubled. 



The tobacco is now ready to be placed upon the racks in the curing 

 barn. A barn of the type here recommended should be filled from the 

 bottom upward, so that the green tobacco is always on top, and never 

 below that which is partially cured. The air is essentially humid in 

 the tobacco barn, and it is detrimental to have an ascending current of 

 wet air passing through the tobacco which is partially cured. The 

 poles should be placed at an average distance of about 9 inches apart 

 on the hanging rails, so that the leaves will not touch. It is very 

 important that the leaves should not touch while hanging. 



THE CURING PROCESS. 



The tobacco crop should be large enough so that a unit of the cur- 

 ing barn can be filled with one grade of tobacco, either wrapper, 

 binder, or filler, in the shortest possible time. This filling of the barn 

 may be allowed to extend from two to three days, but it will be advan- 

 tageous to fill the unit in a shorter time if possible. 



The cure depends upon the exclusion of light, thorough ventilation, 

 and perfect control of temperatures and humidity. 



A diseased condition having been produced in the leaf in the field 

 by the topping and suckering process, by which the amount of 

 enzyms in the plant cells are greatly increased, the object of curing 

 is to produce a yellowing in the leaf by prolonging the death of the 

 green cells in the leaf. The yellow color is essential. Without it the 

 leaf cures black. If the leaf dries too rapidly, and yellowing does 

 not occur, it cures green. The whole curing process is a delicate one, 



