258  Tobacco  Culture  in  Pennsylvania.  {^i™;?*™' 
also,  belong  to  the  order  Lepidoptera.  The  larvae  are  very  destruc- 
tive to  the  leaves,  and  I  have  known  instances  in  which  one  worm  has 
eaten  an  entire  plant  in  a  single  night.  They  are  watched  very  closely, 
picked  off  by  hand,  and  destroyed. 
Of  late  years  a  very  destructive  enemy,  in  different  species  of 
4t  Arma  "  (Arma  modesta,  macula,  &c),  has  been  noticed.  These  belong 
to  the  order  Hemiptera,  or  half-ringed  insects,  and  deposit  their  eggs 
in  patches  of  thirty  to  fifty.  When  the  young  are  hatched,  they 
puncture  the  leaves,  and  suck  the  juices  of  the  plant.  When  a  leaf 
has  been  punctured  by  these  insects,  it  rapidly  withers,  and  presents 
the  appearance  of  having  been  scalded.  As  yet  no  practical  method 
has  been  adopted  for  the  destruction  of  this  enemy. 
When  tobacco  is  ripe,  or  fit  to  cut,  it  assumes  a  peculiar  yellowish- 
green  color,  and  when  the  under  side  of  the  leaf  is  bent  it  is  brittle, 
and  breaks  easily.  When  in  proper  condition  to  be  gathered,  it  is  cut 
off  close  to  the  ground,  and  hung  up  to  dry.  Various  methods  have 
been  proposed  for  hanging  it  up,  but  the  most  approved,  and  the  one 
generally  adopted,  is  to  pierce  the  base  of  the  stem  by  a  steel  spear,  in 
which  is  fitted  an  ordinary  plastering  lath.  By  this  means  five  or  six 
stalks  are  slipped  on  one  lath,  and  handled  and  hung  up  as  easily  as  one. 
The  largest  growers  have  sheds  built  purposely  for  drying  and  curing. 
These  are  closed  in  by  alternate  boards  hung  on  hinges,  so  that  they 
may  be  opened  for  the  free  circulation  of  air  on  favorable  days.  To- 
bacco, when  dried  and  cured,  is  of  a  brownish-yellow  color,  very  crisp 
and  brittle,  and  easily  broken  when  handled,  but  when  moistened  it 
becomes  quite  pliable. 
After  the  1st  of  Deccember  the  tobacco  is  "stripped."  By  this  is 
meant  the  separation  of  the  leaves  from  the  stems.  They  are  then 
assorted  into  two  grades,  viz.,  "  fillers  "  and  <c  wrappers."  The  for- 
mer consists  of  "  ground  "  leaves,  and  those  which  have  been  torn  or 
worm-eaten  ;  the  latter,  wholly  of  fine,  perfect  leaves.  These  names 
are  derived  from  the  relative  positions  the  grades  take  in  cigars.  The 
different  grades  are  then  bound  into  small  bundles,  by  wrapping  one 
leaf  around  the  bases  of  a  dozen  others.  After  being  pressed  in  cases 
it  is  ready  for  market.  The  term  "  stripping,"  as  applied  by  the  culti- 
vator, should  not  be  confounded  with  the  same  term  used  by  the  man- 
ufacturer, which  refers  to  the  separation  of  the  midrib  from  the  leaf. 
I 
