752 Notes on the Cultivation of Tobacco 
old habit, and partly as the result of recent experiments. The 
most primitive method is to place the garlands in heaps in the 
attics of the small farmhouses, which are commonly known as 
granaries, and to cover each heap with a layer of straw. The 
next advance upon this method is to place the layers of straw 
and the layers of the garlands of tobacco in a kind of sandwich 
fashion ; and the third and most approved system is to suspend 
the garlands of tobacco on wires, while carefully sheltering them 
on both sides with straw hurdles, such as I have already men- 
tioned. Under the first system the heaps require incessant 
attention, because if fermentation sets in at this stage the quality 
of the tobacco becomes irretrievably ruined. The slightest 
rise in temperature therefore necessitates the reconstruction of 
the heap, by placing outside what were previously the inside 
garlands. Under both the other systems there is less danger 
Irom this cause, and especially so under the last-named or 
vertical system. The straw absorbs the moisture under the 
horizontal system of layers, but currents of air help to carry it 
off under the vertical system. 
When this process has been carried sufficiently far, according 
to the judgment of the grower, he proceeds to the preparation 
of his crop for market. In Belgium and Holland — countries in 
which he may sell his tobacco as freely as any other farm-crop, 
there are no restrictions upon his method of procedure ; but in 
France the regulations of the Regie must be rigorously com- 
plied with. In practice, however, there is very little difference 
in the systems employed, for in all cases the first operation is 
sorting the leaves into qualities, and the second putting the 
assorted leaves into bundles of equal quality. It is impossible 
to describe the process of sorting with a view to guide novices. 
All one can say is, that the qualities sought for are good colour, 
fine nerves, tough and thin textures of the leaves, with good 
perfume. As the tobacco-leaves ought by this time to have lost 
at least GO per cent, out of their 88 per cent, of moisture, it is 
obvious that great care is required to achieve this result without 
setting up fermentation or developing mould while avoiding 
brittleness. It is to the interest of the fai-mer himself to 
classify his leaves to the best of his ability, because the 
merchant always takes off a far larger sum from the price 
which he would otherwise be willing to pay, than the cost to 
him of a subsequent re-classification. 
The next step is putting the leaves in bundles, and here again 
we see how much climate modifies all practices concerning the 
growth and curing of tobacco. In the Gironde each bundle 
must contain only 25 leaves, namely, 24 stalk to stalk, and one 
more to be used as a binder or tie ; and the principal part of the 
