in the North- West of Europe. 
749 
waiting until nearly all the leaves are ripe and then carefully 
picking them off at one operation, leaving the stem still standing ; 
and (3) By cutting the stem about 2 inches from the ground 
with the leaves still attached. It should be added that great 
care is required when the last method is adopted, in order to 
prevent injury to the leaves. The first method has already 
been sufficiently described (pp. 740 and 741) ; it is carried out 
very carefully in the Netherlands, and in France is done, like 
every other operation connected with the culture and curing of 
tobacco, under the direction of the Regie, which insists upon 
the leaves being cut off close to the stem. The second method 
is generally practised in America, and finds favour because it is 
maintained that the lower leaves, being retained on the stem 
until the general harvest, prevent the upper leaves from being 
contaminated with the soil, as they form a screen in the event 
of heavy rains driving particles of soil upwards. The third 
system is adopted in parts of Belgium and other districts of 
Europe where the tobacco-harvest coincides with the corn- 
harvest, and where, therefore, it is difficult to devote a large 
amount of labour exclusively to the former. 
Whichever system of harvesting is adopted, one rule is 
common to all, namely, that the operation should not be 
attempted in brilliant sunshine, as the effect upon the leaves, 
after they have been severed from the source of vitality, ivould 
be too sudden. On a cloudy day, harvesting may be carried on 
without let or hindrance ; but on a bright day it should be ter- 
minated before the sun's rays have acquired their full strength, 
or should not be commenced until the sun has lost most of its 
power, say, towards four o'clock in the afternoon in the month 
of September in our climate. 
Coming' to the details of harvesting and curing,* it may be 
observed that in France the picking of the leaves at three different 
times, facilitates their classification afterwards. Thus, sup- 
posing a plant has ten leaves, the first harvest would consist of 
the lower three or four, the second of the middle leaves, and the 
third of the uppermost. On a few specially selected farms in 
the Pas de Calais experiments are being made under the super- 
vision of the officers of the Regie, to test the value of the leaves 
which grow from the two uppermost axillary buds, which of 
course are not pinched off from these experimental plants. These 
four additional leaves form a fourth and latest harvest, but the 
* It was my intention to give a Glossary of terms and words, to assist those 
who might wish to study further the French system ; but a comparison of the 
Regulations issued to growers in a few of the French Departments showed mo 
that the words used to signify the same thing difiered so much iu the several 
Departments, that such an attempt on the part of a foreigner would be simply 
misleading to students. 
