in the North- West of Europe. 
751 
as to obtain the requisite amount of dryness without brittleness, 
and the best colour possible without the development of mildew. 
The more modern system of drying consists in suspending the 
garlands from iron wires instead of cross-bars ; these lines of 
wire are parallel to each other, and are fitted with straw-thatch 
roofs in short lengths, so as to be easily removable. These roofs 
project over the garlands on both sides, and protect them from 
the dew, thus doing away with the necessity of a shed or hovel 
at the end of the drying ground. In case of rain, straw hurdles 
are placed at the sides of the garlands, and form a very efficient 
protection. These straw hurdles abound on every tobacco- 
growing farm, being used for shelter of all kinds, and even as a 
bed for the man who sleeps in the drying-ground as a protection 
from theft. In every other respect the drying process out of doors 
is the same as on the other system, but there are slight differences 
of detail on nearly every farm. 
The Belgian system is essentially the same as the French, the 
principal differences being that the drying places are temporary 
straw-hurdle erections, and that the garlands are more generally 
hung in festoons, suspended at both ends, than vertically from 
one end. When the whole plants have been harvested as such, 
the leaves are not separated from the stem until after they have 
passed through the stage of yellow colour to that of brown, 
which in no case should be allowed to assume too dark a tint. 
In the district of Grammont, where th's method of harvesting 
is in vogue, the first drying is, as already described, upon the 
soil itself during the heat of the day, being afterwards completed 
by the suspension of the entire plants in granaries. Economy 
in labour and saving of the cost of drying-poles and wires seem 
to be the chief reasons for this method of procedure. 
In the Netherlands, the horticultural method of drying assumes 
its extreme development, because the leaves are not made into 
garlands at all. Each leaf has its midrib split to enable it to 
be strung on a pole or stick, which rests horizontally upon two 
vertical supports. These structures have somewhat the appear- 
ance of a number of towel-horses placed parallel to one another ; 
they are small and easily moveable, as the tobacco is not allowed 
to remain so completely in the open air in Holland as in France 
and Belgium. As I have seen the curing process in the first- 
named country there is always a drying-shed with vertical louvre- 
like shutters, by means of which the access of the sun, wind, and 
moisture may easily be regulated. 
The third stage in the curing process may now be described. 
Its chief object is to develop the colour of the leaves without 
setting up a precocious fermentation. Here again there are a 
Variety of methods of procedure, partly adopted by reason of 
