An essay upon the curing, management, and cultivation of tobacco;

DUKE

UNIVERSITY

*

AN ESSAY

L'POJf

THE CURING, MANAGEMENT,

£3D

ui/nvATio.\ of

d . J '

BY D. G. TUCK,

i

tended as a Guide to those who may undertake to carry into effect his
Patented System, or Modes of Procedure, for the Curing1
and Drying1 of that Article.

TOBACCO ;

M. D.

tutored according to the Ac' of Congress, in the year eighteen hundred and thirlw-two, by
f DAVID G. TUCK, in the Clerk’s ottice of the District Court of the Eastern District uf
t Virginia.}

WASHINGTON:

PRINTED BY GALES AND SEATON.

Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2016 with funding from
Duke University Libraries

https://archive.org/details/essayuponcuringm01tuck

4,33. 'Tl

TW&

507623

INTRODUCTION.

My first experiments in the curing of tobacco were
made in the year eighteen hundred and twenty-eight.
Those experiments, and the conflicting modes of ma-
nagement pursued by the planters, even by those who
were the most intelligent, soon convinced me that the
subject was but very imperfectly understood, and that
there was great need of some regular system by which
the greater part, if not the whole of a crop, could be
so cured as to be of good quality.

With a view to the discovery of such a system, and
under the guidance of those principles, in the economy
of vegetables, which are well known and established,
numerous and accurate experiments were made in the
three succeeding years, from which has resulted the
system I now offer.

D. G. Tuck

SECTION I.

Of the drying-house or barn — the thermometer — the distribution of
the tobacco — the fuel— the stoves or kilns, and flues, for heating the
drying-house— the scaffolds, or platforms, for diffusing the heat.

The house in which the tobacco should be stored
away for curing, may be of any figure or dimensions
the planter may choose, but the walls and gable ends
should be as tight as possible; and the latter, unless
tighter than usual, should be lathed, and crammed with
dirt or mortar. The roof should be of shingles, or of
slabs nailed or pegged to laths; and should have suffi-
cient apertures in it, or intervals between the shingles
or slabs, for the escape of the vapor arising from the
tobacco whilst the process is in operation. Such a
roof as is common to barns will answer very well. In
roofs already made, if too tight, I would advise that
small apertures be made on each side of the ridge-
pole, or top; which openings should be so covered as
to keep out rain. The door should also be very tight,
fitting its facings closely, and having an inside and an
outside bolt. Double doors, with an interval of a foot or
more between them, one of them opening inside, and
the other outside of the house, and both fitting close-
ly to the opposite edges of the same facing, would, in
all cases, be found advantageous. With such double

6

doors, the air can be excluded more effectually from
the tobacco; the first can be closed before the se-
cond is opened, and the process, consequently, can be
conducted with the greater accuracy. Open houses,
such as are ordinarily used, are extremely objection-
able. When tobacco is housed for the purpose of
being dried, heat , and not air, is the element which
should be employed to effect that object. As soon as
the vital principle of the plant is gone, it has no fur-
ther need of air beyond the quantity which is unavoid-
ably afforded it; all it requires is', that quantity of heat
which will dry it in the best manner, and a house suf-
ficiently open to permit the escape of its extricated
vapors. The tier-poles for supporting the sticks hold-
ing the tobacco, may be arranged as the planter
chooses; the floor should be level, and one or two
windows in the body or gable ends of the house, will
be found very convenient for various purposes; and
these, like the door, should be tightly fitted. Equi-
distant from the corners of the house, and eight or ten
feet high, there should be another window, large
enough to receive a small pane of glass, which should
be fitted in it as closely as possible. This window
may be on either side of the house; the side next to
the door, however, will be found most convenient. A
small opening should be made in the door, or in some
other convenient place, for the purpose of viewing,
when necessary, the interior of the house. This open-

7

ing, as well as the windows, should have a tightly fil-
ing shutter or stopper.

The house being in the requisite condition, a ther-
mometer should be suspended in the centre of it,
eight or ten feet from the floor. It will be best to at-
tach it to a string passing round pulleys or rollers, so
arranged that the thermometer may be drawn for in-
spection towards the small glass window in the side
of the house, and passed back to the centre, at plea-
sure. One of the pulleys or rollers should be outside
of the house, just over the glass, and the other just
beyond, or near the thermometer, and the strings
around them should fit closely into the holes in the
house through which they pass.

The tobacco should next be stored away, and, if
very large and full of sap, six or seven plants will be
sufficient for a stick; if very small, ten or twelve; sup-
posing the sticks to be four and a half feet long, which
is, I believe, the most common length. All very large
plants should be cut or split into two at the time of
cutting them in the field. When the stalk is very long,
it is best to divide them transversely; but when other-
wise, longitudinally. Each plant should occupy no
more than its due proportion of the stick, and the
sticks should be placed from six to twelve inches apart,
according to the size and sappiness of the tobacco.
A similar space should also be left between the to-
bacco and the walls of the house. Hanging it thin,

8

is of much consequence when the tobacco has a re-
dundancy of sap. Care should be taken to avoid
bruises, to pull apart all leaves adhering together,
and to prevent the tobacco from being in contact
ith any thing but the stick that supports it. Whilst
storing, a space of a foot or more, should be left be-
tween the thermometer and the glass window, so that
the former may be drawn backwards and forwards
without obstruction. In every instance in which I have
used the thermometer, a space of four or five feet
square has been left around it, and was extended down-
wards to the scaffold or floor. If there should not
be tobacco enough to fill the house, the thermometer
should first be surrounded by it, in the proper man-
ner, and the remainder be equally distributed from
the centre. •

Well dried hickory, or oak, wood should be prefer
red as fuel for the process, when it is intended to ad-
mit the smoke; when it is to be excluded, other de-
scriptions will answer. It will be found best, however,
always to have the wood dry, even when the smoke
is excluded.

The next thing for consideration is the heating of
the drying house. Any stove or kiln will be sufficient
for that purpose, (in which a fire can be made that will
raise the temperature of the house to 160 degrees, or
thereabout, of Fahrenheit’s thermometer,) under the
circumstances and within the period that will be here-

9

after mentioned. A stove or kiln of the following
description will answer well in a house of the ordinary
height and size — say of twenty feet square — and com-
bines such advantages, in regard to economy and sim-
plicity, as to enable any person to use it: Raise a
brick or stone pen, with its walls as thin as they can
be made, so as to preserve the necessary strength; it
may be eight feet long, in the clear, three wide, two
deep, and arched over with brick, or any other suit-
able material, so as to make it three feet high in the
interior, when it is finished. In each side of the kiln
or pen, near the floor, there should be five or six
holes, equi-distant from each other, and about double
the size of a brick, to let out heat when the fire is
raised. Its ends should point towards the gable ends
of the house, and in each should be an opening for the
supply of fuel; and its centre should cover the centre
of the floor, or thereabouts. It should be so situated
as to afford the greatest facilities for equalizing the
temperature of the house when the fire is raised. If
the house should be larger, the stove or kiln should
be enlarged accordingly, or more kilns must be pro-
vided. The heating of the drying house, by this kiln,
although much safer to the barn and to the tobacco,
and in all other respects better than the mode by open
fires, usually adopted, is, nevertheless, in some re-
spects, objectionable. When the door is opened for

the purpose of supplying the fire with fuel, the ad-

2

10

mission of the atmosphere impairs the equability of
the temperature of the house, and, to a slight extent,
interferes with the success of the process, particularly
when it is conducted without double doors. Besides,
when the fire is intense, and fresh fuel is added, it
emits a dense, black, sooty smoke, which, in some
degree, impairs the value of the tobacco. Except at
those times, the combustion is more effectual, and but
very little smoke escapes from the kiln. If the barn
should be so very tight as to prevent the admission of
a sufficiency of air to keep an active flame in the kiln
when required, ventilators should be used for that pur-
pose. They will, however, be but seldom necessary.

If it should be desired to exclude the smoke en-
tirely, which I think should always be done, it may
be easily effected, and the house be sufficiently heated
by flues or kilns passing entirely through it. In a
house of twenty feet square, and of ordinary height,
two flues, with an interior of two feet and a half
square, will be sufficient. The arch and walls should
bo as {hin as the necessary strength of the flues will
allow; and in one end of each should be an opening
for the supply of fuel; in the other end, a perpendicu-
lar flue or pipe, of brick or metal, eight or nine inches
in diameter, and five or six feet long, for the escape
of the smoke. Unless the walls be very thin, the
transmission of heat through them will be very slow —
an inconvenience that may, in some degree, be re-

11

moved by covering the* kilns wholly, or in part, with
sheet iron. The flues, or stoves, should extend in the
direction of the gable ends of the house, and be placed
on its floor in such a manner as will make them dif
fuse the heat most equally. By this mode, however,
of raising the heat, much more fuel is required than by
any other — perhaps six or eight times the quantity —
particularly when the flues are not covered with sheet
iron; when thus covered, the quantity of fuel required
is very much lessened. This mode is objectionable in
other respects. Whenever the wind is high, and ad-
verse to the draught of the flues, they cease to draw, or
draw very badly, and the tobacco becomes injured by
the unavoidable suspension of the process. This dif-
ficulty I have known frequently to arise.

The drying house may be also sufficiently heated
by stoves or kilns erected within its walls, so con-
structed as to carry off the greater part of the smoke,
and require much less fuel than tight flues. Such a
kiln or stove as the one first named, supplied with an
appropriate pipe, at each end, for' carrying off the
smoke, and sheet iron, or other shutters, to close the
ends, when required, I have found to answer tolerably
well, though liable, in part, to the objections of that
kiln. Any mode of raising the heat which makes it
necessary to enter the house frequently, is objection-
able. Such a kiln, however, is much to be preferred
to open fires, or such kilns as admit the smoke and
other vapors.

12

Such scaffolds or platforms should be employed as
will diffuse the heat most equably. In a house of
twenty feet square, one scaffold, eighteen feet long
and ten wide, erected over such a kiln as the one
which was first and last described, I have found to
answer well. It should be about six feet high, and may
be made of rough plank, placed loosely upon poles:
the planks, however, should always have an inter-
val of one or two inches between them, for the ascent
of the heat. Two scaffolds, of the same length and
height, and about four feet wide, erected over the flues
which have been described, will also answer the in-
tended purpose. They may, however, be placed
lower, provided there is no danger from the fire: the
nearer they are to the flues the better they will oper-
ate in equalizing the heat. By raising the fire, and
suspending thermometers in different parts of the
house, their capacity in this respect may be easily as-
certained. This should always be done, particularly
when the size or figure of the drying house is differ-
ent from the one just named. .Such an experiment,
however, never should be made after the tobacco is
housed.

I will again return to the heating of the drying
house. In the Fall of eighteen hundred and thirty, I
constructed a flue, or flues, for which I obtained let-
ters patent of the United States, independent of the
patent obtained for the system of curing. These flues

13

have completely overcome all the difficulties present-
ed by those before named. Their draught is not at all
dependent upon the direction of the winds: they ex-
clude or admit the smoke, as may be preferred; enable
the attendant to command promptly any required tem-
perature; and very much economise the quantity of
fuel, when compared with other flues which exclude
the smoke. The following is a description of them,
in the words of the specification of the patent: —

“ The material of which I usually construct the
said flues or stoves, is common brick; as, under most
circumstances, it is most readily obtained, and less
costly than any other. They, however, may be made of
stone, iron, fire bricks, slabs, or tiles, made and baked
in the manner of brick, or of any other material. The
dimensions of my said flues or stoves must be varied
to suit the size of the barn, or drying house, in which
they are to be used; and they will also admit of con-
siderable variation in this particular, in a house of any
size, whilst the principle of construction may yet be
retained. For the sake of description, I assume cer-
tain dimensions, which I have found to answer the in-
tention perfectly, but do not intend to establish any
limit in this particular.

“ These flues are to be so constructed that they
may be supplied with fuel from the outside of the
house, and that the smoke, and other vapors from the
fire, which it may*be desirable to exclude from the in-

14

terior of the building, shall, after passing through the
large flue, or stove, in which the fire is contained, to
a spot near the centre of the building, return through
a second or smaller flue, which may be parallel to,
and in contact with, that first named, and be deliver-
ed, or have its exit, near the opening for feeding the
fire.

“ Suppose my house to be twenty feet square, and
of the ordinary height: near the middle of one end
or side of the barn, I make an opening for the mouth
of my flue or stove; this flue or stove is a square or
arched trunk, about thirty inches in width, and the
same in height. It is built horizontally upon the floor
of the barn, and extends within it to the distance of
about seven feet from the wall. To receive the in-
ner end of this flue, a square, or other formed pen, or
box, is erected, of brick, or other materials. This pen
or box may be four feet in length, and two in width,
and of the same height with the larger flue or stove,
which terminates in it. It should stand at right an-
gles with the flue or stove, which is to enter it in one
of its broad sides. The smaller flue, through which
the smoke is to return, also opens into this box or
pen, alongside of the larger flue, and may return, and
pass through the building in the vicinity of the fire-
place, or feeding door. This second flue may be
made of the same materials with the former, but need
not be more than one-fourth of its size. From the

15

end of it a flue or pipe is erected, perpendicularly, to
the height of five or six feet, to serve as a chimney, to
furnish a draught and carry off the smoke. The interi-
or diameter of this chimney need not exceed seven or
eight inches, and an iron plate, or some other flat arti-
cle, must be provided to stop the draught, when re-
quired, by being placed upon the top of the said flue.

“ It is manifest, that, in a structure of this kind, a fire
may be made, and that the smoke will pass out at the
chimney; but, as soon as the wood is charred, and the
fire burns clearly, it is intended to admit the heated air
into the barn, and to stop the draught through the flue,
or chimney. For the purpose of admitting the heated
air, the pen or box, before described, is provided with
an iron or other door or stopper, opening from it into
the barn. This door may be twenty inches square:
it may be fixed by hinges, or otherwise, so that it may
be opened as soon as the smoke has ceased to escape
from the chimney, and, at this time, the top of the
chimney may have its cover placed so as entirely, or
partially, to stop the draught through it.

“ A second flue or stove, constructed exactly like
the one just described, with all its appurtenances, is
to be erected on the opposite side of the barn. The
pens or boxes', forming the termination of each of the
flues or stoves, will thus leave a passage of about two
feet between them, on the centre of the building.

“ These flues or stoves may be used either sepa-

16

rately or conjointly; it will be found best, however,
always to make a fire in each, as there will then be no
interval in which the heated air from the fire may
not be admitted directly into the barn.

“ The manner in which the heat may be regularly
distributed, and applied to the curing of tobacco, is
fully described in the specification of a patent for a
new mode of curing tobacco, which was granted unto
ine on the first day of October, eighteen hundred and
thirty. To the system, or modes of procedure therein
described, these flues or stoves are particularly adapt-
ed; but they may also be used when tobacco is cured
in the ordinary way.

“ When flues are carried entirely through a barn, or
drying house, the draught cannot be advantageously
managed, and most of the heat is lost — a difficulty ob-
viated by flues or stoves constructed upon the princi-
ple above described.

“ What I claim, as my invention or discovery, is the
application of flues or stoves, constructed upon the
within described principle, by which the heated air
from the fuel may be admitted directly into the barn
or drying house, for the purpose of drying and curing
of tobacco, whilst the smoke maybe entirely excluded.
I also claim the returning of the draught of the flue
or stove, by means of which the draught of the fire is
readily and perfectly managed, so as to produce great
economy in the use of the fuel. The escape flue,

17

however, may be carried out at any part of the build-
ing, although not with equal advantage. It may, for
example, be carried directly through the house, and
yet the main object of my patent, that of admitting the
heated air, without the smoke, may still be attained.”

The planter will always find it better to have these
flues or stoves covered with sheet or cast iron, and to
have the return flues as large, or very nearly, as those
in which the fires are contained. He will also find it
better to have a shutter to the feeding door of each flue.

The construction or figure of these flues may be
varied in such a manner as to answer the purpose
for which the scaffolds are employed, or very nearly
so, and thus to supersede their use. One of them,
with holes in its sides for letting out heat, and suffi-
ciently enlarged to pass all around the house, within
four or five feet of its walls, has been found, by a
friend of mine, to answer admirably well. The addi-
tional expense is the only objection to this variation.

Instead of constructing the flues in either of the fore-
going ways, I have made them in a form still more
simple, cheaper, and, so far as I have tried them,
have found them to answer equally well. The follow-
ing is the plan alluded to: I build a flue, the sides of
which are of brick, or other suitable material, and
with a covering of sheet iron; which flue I extend en-
tirely across the house, from one side to the other.
This flue or trunk maybe from thirty inches to three
3

18

feet in height, and about two feet six inches in width,
from end to end. It is furnished with a door at each
end for feeding the fire; this being done at either
or both ends, according to circumstances. Within the
walls which fill up the openings at the sides of the
house, and form the mason work at each end, I carry
up a small chimney, to the height of about two feet, for
the escape of smoke, which is allowed to pass through
an opening in front, about six inches square. This
opening, being at right angles with the ascending part,
carries oft'the smoke or sparks directly from the house.

From the upper part on each side of the main flue,
and at each of its ends, I carry down a small flue,
opening near the floor of the barn; which opening may
be stopped by a brick, or other means. These open-
ings are for the purpose of admitting the heated air
into the barn, as soon as the wood has ceased to give
out smoke, which is done by merely removing the
brick, or other stopper. The feeding doors should
also, at such a time, be nearly closed, and the open-
ings for the escape of smoke perfectly so.

The sheet iron used for covering the kilns may be
made in three or four lengths, and be moveable, mere-
ly lying upon the walls of the flue. They will then
answer for other drying houses, as they may be re-
moved as soon as the leaf is cured, the ignited coals
being sufficient to continue the heat for the curing of
the stem and stalk. *

19

SECTION II.

Of the degrees of heat or temperature, for curing — their various ef-
fects— the different states of the tobacco — and the general principle
of the system.

The degree of heat, or range of temperature, that
should be applied in the process, must depend upon
the size and substance of the tobacco, its state, and
upon the particular quality which the planter may aim
to make. When it contains eight or nine leaves to a
plant, and the leaves are about twenty-four inches in
length, the following table of heat, with such varia-
tions as will be hereafter designated, will serve as the
best guide in curing the leaf.

During the first four hours, the mercury in the ther-
mometer should be made to rise in the most gradual
manner, from its atmospherical altitude, to 100 de-
grees, or thereabouts. During the next four hours, it
should be made to rise, in like manner, to 110 de-
grees, and then, in the same ratio, ten degrees for
every four hours, as nearly as can be done, until the
leaf is thoroughly dried. A variation of eight or ten
degrees from this range of temperature will do but
little, if any, mischief, unless persevered in too long;
but a greater one should be promptly arrested by the

20

appropriate means. Removing wood from the fire is
a much better mode of effecting this than opening the
door.

The time that will be occupied in drying the leaf,
will depend upon its substance, or the quantity of sap
to be thrown off. If it should be very thin and well
matured, and, of course, contain but little sap, firom
twenty to twenty-four hours will generally be sufficient;
if otherwise, from twenty-four to thirty hours. The
green tobacco, however, loses its sap much more ra-
pidly, in proportion to its quantity, than that which is
well matured, owing, no doubt, to the sap being more
diluted, and the leaf more porous.

As soon as the process has commenced, the attend1-
ant should draw the thermometer towards the glass
window, to see if it is within the proper limit, and
regulate his fire accordingly; after which, he may
watch its progress through the hole in the door, re-
placing the shutter after each observation. When he
goes in to supply the fire with fuel, or for any other
purpose, the door should be cldisd instantly, and se-
cured by the inside bolt. The same precaution should
be taken when returning; never suffering it to stand
open a moment longer than is absolutely necessary
for passing and repassing. The frequent admission
of the air, when the vapor arising from the tobacco is
passing through the roof of the house, is always ob-
jectionable, particularly when the tobacco is extreme-

ly yellow; by such admission, the escape of the vapor
is checked, it becomes more or less condensed, and
not only produces the phenomenon, called “ sweat-
ing,” but a chemical action upon the properties of the
tobacco, which gives to the leaf a variety of shades,
and very much impairs its texture.

When the leaf is thoroughly dried, the planter may,
if in want of the thermometer to carry on the process
in another barn or drying house, have it removed, and,
whilst drying the stem and stalk, regulate the temper-
ature sufficiently well without it. The temperature
that completes the drying of the leaf will suit very
well for that purpose, unless it shall be desirable to
dry the stem and leaf of the same color; if so, the
mercury should be made to rise gradually, in the ratio
mentioned, until the stem is dried. The attendant
may easily know when the leaf is dry, by examining
some of the largest plants. The top leaves, from
which the vapor escapes more slowly than from the
others, and which are, consequently, the last that dry,
should be his guide. When I speak of top or bottom
leaves, it is with reference to the plant as it stands in
the field. It will be found best, however, always to
retain the thermometer as a guard against too high a
degree of heat. Essential oils, when removed by dis-
tillation from the plants containing them, evaporate at
about 212 degrees of Fahrenheit’s thermometer; and
tobacco, containing such an oil, although in combina-

22

tion with its other constituents, will lose it in part at
the same, or even a much lower temperature. Re-
peated experiments have proved, beyond doubt, the
truth of this proposition; and when it is desirable to
reduce the tobacco, so as to suit a smoking market,
it may be done in this as well as many other ways.
Moreover, when the temperature is much too high, it
will impart to the tobacco a smell of fire, which, if
slight, will soon leave it; but it will also give to the
woody fibre of the leaf, a stiffness or rigidity that will
very much impair its value. The opinion is too com-
mon among planters, that, when the leaf is dry, but
little or no injury can be sustained by the violent fires
which are generally used in curing the stem and stalk;
an error productive of as much mischief, perhaps, as
any hitherto committed in the process. I would great-
ly prefer to come under the temperature which com-
pletes the drying of the leaf, than to transcend it whilst
drying the stem and stalk. The time generally occu-
pied in effecting their desiccation, is from two to three
days, and is nearly the same for small and large to-
bacco. The small tobacco being much thinner than
the large, is more liable to injuries from a high de-
gree of heat, and should, consequently, have its stem
and stalk dried bv such a temperature as will accord
with its comparative fineness of texture. Fine tex-
tures, of any description, receive the smell of fire much
more readily than coarse ones, from high temperatures.

23

However, when the tobacco is parting with its vapor
most rapidly, the attendant should watch the fire with
much care, and see that the temperature is sufficiently
high. The thermometer may probably stand much
lower than might be expected from the intensity of
the combustion; the reason of which is, that a large
portion of heat, at such a time, is rendered latent, by
entering into chemical combination with the vapor that
is rapidly passing off, and thQs fails to give that alti-
tude to the mercury which it would otherwise produce.
Unless the fire should be well attended to at this pe-
riod of the process, the leaf will sustain some injury.
It should also be watched with equal care, as soon as
most of the vapor is thrown off; the heat then becomes
more free, and the fire, which had just failed to raise
the mercury to 120 degrees, will produce a tempera-
ture of 200 degrees, or more, which will very much
impair, if not destroy, the quality of the tobacco.
These facts are important,, and should be well recol-
lected.

The aspect of the tobacco, when the process is end-
ed, will entirely depend upon its condition when the
fire was applied. If it was extremely yellow and well
matured before it was cut, and if its component parts
have not, by exposure to the sun or a warm atmos-
phere, acquired too strong a tendency to decomposi-
tion or reaction, .it will be as follows:

The back of the leaf will exhibit the same green

21

color, or very nearly, as it did before it was dried, and
the whole will appear nearly transparent, when held
between the light and the eye; an aspect which proves
that but little, if any, chemical action has been excited
or produced upon its constituents whilst its vapor
was passing off, and that it retains its essential and
aromatic properties in the highest degree. The pre-
servation of the natural color of well matured plants,
directly after they are dried, is generally the best test
of the retention of all their valuable properties. When
tobacco of this description is thus cured, exempt from
any chemical action upon its properties, it will soon,
through the agency of atmospherical heat and moisture,
lose its greenish color, and become a fine yellow. Its
yellowness, however, when it is thus changed by
heat and moisture, will be in proportion to its yellow-
ness when cut; and the tobacco will require a time to
lose its greenish color, proportioned to its degree, or
the deepness of its shade; when it has no shade of
yellow in the field, the green color will, ultimately,
be nearly or wholly lost in a dark one, and the leaf
will have little or no transparency. These proposi-
tions are fully confirmed by samples now in my pos-
session, which were cured more than a year since.
If much of the leaf should not be transparent, and
retain its natural color, or approach it very nearly,
when the desiccation is effected, it will be evidence
that the temperatures were raised too slowly, or too

25

rapidly, to cure the tobacco of the character just men-
tioned. When they are raised too slowly, it will have
dark or reddish shades, or spots, particularly on the
upper part of the leaves; in such places the texture
of the leaf will be coarser, more spongy, have the ap-
pearance called by the planter, “ grain,” and will im-
bibe moisture more freely than the other parts of it.
In those places the alkaline property of the plant has,
probably, in some degree, neutralized its oil, to its in-
jury or benefit, as the tobacco merchant may hereafter
determine. The bottom leaves, which dry first, will
be most transparent, and, in proportion to the advance
towards that range of temperatures which would have
dried the whole of the plant, exempt from any injuri-
ous chemical action, will be the quantity of this de-
scription. When the temperatures are raised too ra-
pidly, colors nearly similar to those just mentioned
will be produced, though generally darker, and much
more glossy; the texture in those places will be finer
than elsewhere, will receive moisture more slowly,
and, in proportion to the approach towards that range
of temperatures which will dry the plant of a uniform
character, will be the diminution of these appearances.
These effects of the temperatures should be well re-
collected; they will serve as important guides in the
subsequent curings; when the heat is raised a great
deal too rapidly, some parts of the leaves on the plants
will be dried with a muddy, dingy-green color, and
4

26

most of the valuable properties of the plant will be
thrown off with its vapor; consequently the rule should
be rigidly observed, never to apply a greater degree
of heat, or a higher range of temperatures for curing,
than is absolutely necessary to bring the tobacco to
the desired state and color; by this precaution, its
texture will be preserved from injury. If the to-
bacco, however, shall have acquired, by re-action upon
its properties, any additional yellowness in the interval
between cutting and the application of the fires, it will
be difficult to dry it uniformly transparent by any table
of temperatures. If the additional yellowness on the
leaf should be very slight and partial, it will ensure a
yellowish piebald appearance; but if it has been al-
lowed to become uniformly yellow throughout the leaf,
it will have a uniformly reddish, or mahogany, color,
after it has undergone the usual changes by moisture.
In proportion to the re-action that has taken place,
will it approach to, or recede from, a uniform trans-
parency. One day’s exposure to a hot sun or atmos-
phere, will frequently so much change the properties
of the plant as to defeat the end proposed, and cause
the tobacco to dry with a piebald aspect. Hence the
propriety of always housing tobacco which has well
yellowed in the field as soon as possible, particularly
if the weather should be warm; and hence, also, the
necessity of raising the fires immediately. The ine-
quality of the action of the sun and dews on tobacco

27

before it is dried, renders exposure to them objection-
able, particularly as all the variety of colors of which
it is susceptible may be produced with much more
ease and certainty in the house, where any required
climate may be attained.

Tobacco that is brought to the knife in a state that
the planter calls “ ripening green,” and of the size
and substance before mentioned, will, like the yellow
tobacco, when it is dried by the table of temperatures
before named, present an aspect entirely dependent
upon its condition when they were applied. If no
change has taken place among its constituents, and
they are exempt from that susceptibility of change
which is generally produced by the causes before
mentioned, it will, immediately after being dried, have
very nearly its natural color. The face of the leaf,
however, I have generally found with a faint shade of
yellow. Whether such tobacco, thus dried, should
be preferred to that whose properties have partially,
or extensively, reacted upon each other before or
whilst drying, or, in other words, have chemically
changed, is a question that must hereafter be deter-
mined by the tobacco merchant and consumer. At
present, a partial, or slight change upon the proper-
ties of such tobacco, such a one as will give it a va-
riegated aspect, is preferred by them; an effect that
may be produced in various ways. The following
variation, however, in the table of temperatures, is
preferable to all other means for producing it.

28

As soon as the tobacco is housed, the mercury
should be raised quickly to about 100 degrees, and
should be kept there until the tobacco has acquired
a slightly yellowish cast; after which it should be rais-
ed in the same ratio that has been recommended for
the yellow tobacco. By this mode of yellowing the
tobacco, it frequently happens that some of the yel-
lowness produced by the preparatory steaming is re-
tained, particularly when it is very slight, before the
appropriate temperatures are raised upon it. If a
much lower table of temperatures than I have recom-
mended should be applied after the yellowing, the top
leaves, and those next to them, will be dried very bad-
ly, and the plant will have but little uniformity. The
variation recommended in the table of heat, is admi-
rably suited to old bottom land, or tot land tobacco,
which comes to the knife with a green color. Forty
or fifty hours steaming, I have generally found amply
sufficient to produce the requisite changes upon the
very greenest tobacco. Such tobacco, however, never
can be made of fine quality by any process. If the
tobacco should be larger or smaller than the size un-
der consideration, the temperatures for steaming
should be increased or diminished accordingly. 110
degrees I have found amply sufficient for the largest,
and 80 for the smallest. When the weather is cool
and windy, scaffolding such tobacco in the shade,
(that which has a green color) will sometimes prepare

4

29

it tolerably for the requisite changes, as well as cause
it to lose a great deal of its sap, which would other-
wise have to be thrown off by the fire; but, on account
of the uncertainty of the weather, and for the reasons
before given, such an expedient should not be resort-
ed to, unless made necessary by a want of house
room, or by a pressure of business.

When the color of the tobacco, at the time it is cut,
is an intermediate one, partaking of yellow and green,
there should be such variations in the application of
the means for producing the requisite changes in its
properties, as will correspond to its approximation in
color to the one or the other. When it is consider-
ably yellow, it requires less of the means that pro-
duce re-action, owing to its greater tendency to run
into that state; when it is otherwise, more of them.
The following variations, in the table of heat, I have
found to answer well for the intermediate colors.

When the tobacco has a very slight shade of yel-
low, it should be steamed by a temperature of 100
degrees, or thereabouts, thirty or forty hours, or until
a visible additional yellowness takes place; after
which, the table of temperatures, before named, should
be raised upon it.

When it has a rather deeper shade than the one
last mentioned, the same temperature for steaming
should be raised upon it, but should not be continued
longer than from twenty to thirty hours, before the
raising of the table of heat.

30

When the shade of yellow is still deeper, the period
for steaming should be proportionably shortened be-
fore the appropriate temperatures are raised.

When the tobacco is extremely yellow, the table of
heat first named should be applied in the manner be-
fore directed.

When, however, it shall be desirable to cure any
description of tobacco with a uniformly reddish or
brownish color, its properties should be so changed
as to give it a deep yellow hue, by any of the appro-
priate means; after which, it should be dried by the
temperatures recommended. Crowding, and expos-
ing it to a temperature of 80 or 90 degrees, will soon
produce that state, particularly if the barn floor should
be made damp or wet. A wet floor, or moist atmos-
phere, very much facilitates its tendency to yellow;
but, as the natural juices with which the plant is im-
pregnated, are generally sufficient to effect that state,
the wetting should not be resorted to unless the to-
bacco should be very green when cut, as in other res-
pects it is objectionable. When it has thus yellowed,
some of its shades may be retained for a short time '
after it is dried; but they will ultimately be lost in a
reddish or brownish color. If, after yellowing, in this,
or any other manner, to the extent just mentioned,
the tobacco should be dried by very low temperatures,
it will become what the planter calls “ sour, or taint-
ed,” and have a darkish dingy color, with coarse fibre

31

and swelled texture. The additional yellowing of
tobacco that has matured with a yellow color, is, I
think, a deeply rooted error, that has done much mis-
chief to the planter, particularly in the making of fine
Virginia chewing tobacco. Such a change, although
the first visible approach towards that state of decom-
position by which all vegetable matter loses its dis-
tinctive properties, may be beneficial to tobacco not
fully matured; but is, I am well persuaded, always in-
jurious to that in an opposite state.

If the tobacco should be stored away in the house
more closely than I have recommended, there should
be a slight increase in the temperatures for curing; if
more thinly, some diminution. When it is hung very
closely, it requires more heat, as the vapor escapes
from it with more difficulty; and, in proportion to the
quantity to be thrown off in a given space, will be the
difficulty of attaining particular results — a fact that
should teach the planter never to let his tobacco be
caught in rain, be hung very closely, or be exposed to
dews; and always to have the floor, house, and wood, as
dry as possible, except when otherwise directed. The
vapor arising from such sources will be more or less
injurious to the tobacco; and will considerably inter-
fere with the raising of the required temperatures — a
great deal of the heat becoming latent by entering in-
to a chemical combination with it.

If the tobacco should be larger or smaller than the

32

size under consideration, the appropriate variations
should be made in the temperatures for curing. When
it is larger, the intervals between the various points
in the table of heat should be contracted; but when
it is smaller, they should be lengthened, one, two,
three, or four hours, according to the size of the to-
bacco. If both should be cured under the same pro-
cess, the large or the small tobacco must unavoida-
bly sustain an injury; they should, therefore, be sepa-
rated, and the process carried on in distinct houses.

The most appropriate time for this separation is
when cutting or hanging the tobacco on the sticks. The
large may be placed between the rows on the right,
the small between those on the left, and the middling
size in the centre. By this little trouble, and the ne-
cessary attention to the laborers who hang it on the
sticks, no further assortment will be required, even
after it is cured, if the tobacco shall be equally good
in the field; and each may get, without difficulty, its
appropriate quantity of heat. This division, or sepa-
ration of the tobacco into three classes, may be easily
reduced to two, and sometimes to one, by dividing
transversely, or splitting the largest plants into two.
If, from unavoidable circumstances, this assortment
cannot be made, and the house should be filled, as is
commonly the case, with large and small tobacco, a
medium range of temperatures for curing should be
resorted to, unless the planter prefers a partial sacri-

83

fice of the one part, for the benefit of the other. The
time of cutting will also be the most suitable one for
separating, when necessary, the yellow from the green
tobacco. These assortments, however, will seldom
be necessary; when the crop is tolerably even, and
uniform in color, no such trouble need be incurred.

“ The difficulties which I have aimed to remove
are such as have resulted from the empirical mode
in which tobacco has been heretofore cured, the con-
sequence of which has been, that the quality of the
article produced has not depended upon its goodness
when cut, but upon events altogether accidental; no
regular system having been pursued, or understood,
nor, indeed, the means adopted necessary to carry such
a system into effect.

« The principle upon which I have proceeded, is,
that, whenever a vegetable substance is to be desiccated
by heat, in order to its being brought into a particular
state, there is a certain period of time within the limits
of which the process must be effected, or a spontane-
ous re-action of the constituents of the vegetable will
take place, which re-action must necessarily prevent
the attainment of the end proposed; and that there
are certain limits of temperatures, above or below
which we must fail in inducing the desired state.
When articles, similar in their properties, are subjected
to the influences of circumstances which do not vary,
the result may be predicted, after it has been rigor-
ously ascertained in a single instance.

5

34

“ The means which I have adopted are such as
were intended, and which experience has proved to
be effectual, to place within my reach the control of
those circumstances which must concur in producing
the end at which I have aimed, namely, the develop-
ment and preservation of all those properties in the
tobacco plant, which give to it its highest value in the
market.”*

* Extract from the specification, of the patent.

35

SECTION III.

The management of the tobacco from the time it is cured until deli-
vered in the market.

In the making of fine Tobacco, much depends upon
a knowledge of this branch of the subject; it should,
therefore, be well understood; and command the most
particular attention.

When the process of curing is ended, the door and
windows should be opened for the purpose of cooling
the house and putting the tobacco in a state for re-
moval. If, however, there should be need of removing
it quickly, it may be taken out dry, or the barn floor
may be made wet with water, the evaporation from
which will soften it in a short time without doing it
the slightest injury. Such vapor, if the floor shall be
cleared of all decaying matter, is as pure as that
which is derived from any other source.

The house to which it is removed should be open;
the tobacco, if it is dried with a green or greenish color,
should be stored away thinly, and should thus remain
until it becomes highly saturated with moisture, or, in
planters’ phrase, “ high in order;” after which it may
be removed elsewhere, or stored away more thickly.
When it is thus saturated with moisture, and the

36

weather is warm, it will soon lose most of its greenish
color, and the properties of the plant will undergo
changes by which it will acquire the usual scent of
tobacco. Until these changes take place, which are
produced by atmospherical heat and moisture, its
smell resembles that of other recently dried herbage;
these changes, however, may be produced by the arti-
ficial application of those agents. I have frequently
removed the green color of very green tobacco, when
it was highly saturated with moisture, and stored away
thickly in a tight house, by drying it with a tempera-
ture of 90 or 100 degrees. If it should be slightly
bruised, it loses its green color still more rapidly.
The bruise, although it very much darkens its color,
seems to fix its oil, and renders the texture and woody
fibre of the leaf much less destructible. The atmos-
phere, however, with its heat and moisture, will ge-
nerally be sufficient to effect the necessary changes
upon cured tobacco.

When the tobacco is dried with a reddish, a dark-
ish, or yellow color, it should be managed differently;
it should then be removed to a tight house, stored away
thickly, or laid into bulk as soon as practicable. If
it is afterwards much exposed to the influence of the
atmosphere and its^ moisture, the texture of the leaf
will be weakened^ much of its volatile property will
be lost, the reddish and darkish colors will increase,
and the yellow one will be lost in a pale mahogany

37

red. Nothing is more common than to hear the plan-
ter, early in the fall, boast of his fine yellow or yellow-
ish piebald tobacco, and in the ensuing winter or
spring, complain that it has all become reddish or dark-
ish. The quantity of moisture that will be necessary
for placing reddish, darkish, or yellow tobacco, in bulk,
for “ stripping” or packing in the hogshead, will be
amply sufficient to effect all the changes in its proper-
ties which it may be desirable to produce. If, how-
ever, tobacco with these colors shall have been dried
by open fires, or flues which admitted to it all the
vapors arising from the combustion, it will be better
to let it hang longer in the barn than I have recom-
mended; the atmosphere lessens, in a very slight de-
gree, the injury done by those vapors. I will here
make a short digression, and speak more particularly
of these effects.

When all the products of the combustion are ad-
mitted to the tobacco, it has a strong acrid taste or
smell, which is generally denominated by the planter,
“ the taste or smell of smoke,” and is believed by him
to be the effect of that vapor; the opinion, however,
is incorrect. The smoke or soot deposited on the
tobacco may be brushed or washed off, in the most
effectual manner, and yet the strong acrid taste or smell
will exist. The whole of the smoke may be con-
sumed, by flues constructed for that purpose, and it
will still remain. (A flue whose draught has its exit

38

into the house, and passes through a metallic pipe,
heated to redness by another flue, will effectually con-
sume the smoke.) This strong acrid taste or smell
is produced by the pyroligneous acid, which is evolved
with the smoke in the first stage of the combustion;
it insinuates itself into, and alters the properties of,
the tobacco, chemically or otherwise, and is difficult
to be removed by any process. When this pyrolig-
neous acid is excluded from the tobacco, and carbonic
acid, which escapes during the latter stage of the
combustion, is admitted, its taste and smell are very
different; its flavor is then very fine, and, perhaps, in
all respects, equal to, if not better, than the flavor of
tobacco from which the whole of the products of the
combustion are excluded. These vapors have little,
if any thing, to do with the preservation of tobacco;
its oil, or, in planters’ phrase, “ its strength,” is its
principal preservative property. This I have ascer-
tained by ample experience. “The richer the to-
bacco, the better it will keep,” is a well settled maxim
among the planters.

When the leaf is pliant, and most of the stem un-
yielding, the tobacco is then in a suitable state for
bulking, “ stripping,” or prizing. The “ stripping,”
however, may be done whilst the tobacco is in higher
“ order,” or before it is bulked; but, generally, it will
be found most convenient to do it afterwards. A
house, of the following description, I have found to

39

answer well for bulking, and it will very much lessen
the expense of barn building: The house I have used
is thirty feet long, eight wide, ten deep in the body,
and built of logs; the roof is of slabs or planks, and
made very tight by dirt or straw put on, or in it; a
door in one end, with a shutter fitting very tight, and
the whole, when finished, as nearly air proof as such
a building can be easily made; within it is a suitable
scaffold, a foot from the floor, for bulking the tobacco
on. Such a house will be found very useful and con-
venient in the management of the crop, and will pre-
serve much of the valuable properties of the tobacco
which would otherwise be lost.

When the tobacco is placed in bulk, the next thing
to be attended to is the “ stripping,” or the removal
of the leaves from the stalks for the purpose of being
tied into bundles. The bundles should contain about
six or eight leaves; the leaves in each should be as
nearly of a length and color as possible, and the various
sizes and colors should be kept to themselves. The
yellow should constitute one class of bundles, the pie-
bald another, the red and dark the third. If the crop,
however, should be first rate in the field, and cured in
the best manner, these assortments will not be needed;
all the inferior will be required to tie up the good
tobacco. In such a house as I have just described,
the “ stripping” can be carried on at any period of the
winter. The tobacco may be kept soft by wetting

40

the floor and raising a temperature in the house, by
flues or otherwise, of 50 or 60 degrees; and the ne-
cessary assortments can be made by admitting light
through a small glass window. By heat and moisture,
thus created, the planter may make his own seasons,
produce all those changes upon the properties of the
tobacco which have been before mentioned, and might,
possibly, by a more extensive application of them,
prepare the article quickly for consumption. The
principal art in manufacturing chewing tobacco con-
sists in the proper application of these agents, heat
and moisture. When the manufacturer puts his to-
bacco under press with too much moisture in it, those
agents produce incipient putrefaction, known most
commonly by the names, “ mould or funk,” which
entirely destroys the article as a luxury; when he puts
it under with too little moisture in it, the heat and
moisture fail to produce, in due time, that change in
its properties which is necessary to correct its objec-
tionably acrid and bitter taste; but, when he puts it
under with the proper quantity of moisture in it, and
the necessary heat is applied, this change quickly
takes place, and the tobacco is soon ready for the
market. It is this change in its properties, produced
by atmospherical or artificial heat and moisture, and
not by age, which gives to chewing tobacco its fine
quality.

When the “ stripping” is finished, the tobacco
should be rebulked; the bulk should be heavily

41

weighted, and its sides protected well from drying
weather by a tight house or some suitable covering;
after which the prizing may be done at any convenient
time. . *

There is no particular art in packing or putting the
tobacco into the hogshead; it should, however, be
placed straight, distributed equally, and not pressed
very hard. Hard pressing causes the leaves to adhere
so closely as to render the stemming difficult, and is
thus far objectionable. It perhaps does no injury to
the quality of the tobacco, particularly if it is intended
for chewing, but most probably improves it. The
effect of the press, in combination with the agents
before mentioned, heat and moisture , in improving
the quality of tobacco, is fully shown by a com-
parison of its opposite states. When it goes into
the hands of the skilful manufacturer, it may be
but ordinary, and almost unfit for use; but, when it
comes out, it is frequently of excellent quality; the
pressing is, therefore, not objectionable, except as re-
gards the adhesion of the leaves. The hogsheads
should contain, if intended for the Virginia market,
1,400 to 1,600 lbs.; and the prizing may be carried on
in any kind of weather, even in the winter, if the
planter is prepared with suitable houses for such busi-
ness. It will be found best, however, to select that
which is warm or moist. When the winter is ex-
6

42

tremely cold and dry, it will be most convenient to
postpone the prizing until the ensuing spring.

After the crop is prized and delivered in the mar-
ket, the time at which it should be opened, or exposed
to sale, should next claim the planter’s attention. If
his tobacco is very reddish, very darkish, or very yel-
low, the ensuing April or May will be a suitable pe-
riod; very nearly all the improvement in appearance
of which such tobacco is susceptible, will have taken
place by that time, particularly when it is put into the
hogshead in sufficiently soft order. If, however, these
colors should be considerably interspersed with shades
of green, it will be better, generally, to postpone the
time of selling until the next summer, or fall. By that
time, the shades of green, which are now objection-
able with many tobacco merchants, will be lost in . a
yellow, a yellowish, or darkish color, according to the
particular state of the tobacco at the time it was cut;
and its taste and smell will be very much improved.
This change in color, &c. is effected by what the to-
bacco merchant calls “ sweating,” which is but ano-
ther name for that mutual action of the constituents
of the tobacco upon each other, before spoken of, pro-
duced by the summer’s heat acting upon its moisture.
The improvement in such tobacco, after prized, by
this “ sweating,” or mutual action of its properties,
produced by heat and moisture, is obvious to every
observing tobacco merchant. For the want of this

43

knowledge, however, on the part of a number of them,
it frequently happens that the article is considered
inferior, sells for a low price in the winter, or spring,
and afterwards commands the very highest; I would,
therefore, advise the planter not to sell his crop pre-
maturely. If the hogsheads which contain it are well
dried and very tight, which should always be the case,
no fear need be entertained about its safe keeping.

In concluding this section, it will be proper to ob-
serve, that the management which I have recommend-
ed, is intended particularly for the Virginia planter,
and those of most of the Western States. In the
States of Maryland, Ohio, and other places, the ma-
nagement required, after curing, is very different. In
those States the tobacco is prized in very dry order,
and the hogsheads made to weigh not more than from
600 to 800 lbs. Their tobacco is intended princi-
pally for smoking and snuffing, and, therefore, requires
a different management; the principle, however, for
curing such tobacco, is precisely the same.

44

SECTION IV.

The Cultivation.

This, as well as the preceding branch of the sub-
ject, is important to the planter. Unless his tobacco
shall be of good quality in the field, it never can be
made so afterwards by any management, or process
of curing; the cultivation should, therefore, be well
understood.

Having had but a short period for observation and
experiment upon this part of the subject, I can say but
little practically about it: but, as it is a subject full of
contingencies, owing to its dependence upon the va-
rious soils and seasons, it becomes a fit one for spe-
culation, and it will be considered, almost entirely,
in that way. Before, however, entering into its de-
tails, it will be proper to premise, that every planter
should make himself well acquainted with the parti-
cular market for which his tobacco is destined before
he adopts any particular mode of cultivation; this he
should even do as regards curing. Having this know-
ledge, which may be easily obtained through his com-
mission merchant, he may vary his cultivation and
curing according to the requirements of that market.
This information I consider important, as the demand

45

for particular qualities of tobacco is more or less va-
rying every year. The planter’s object is gain; and
if even such tobacco as he may consider inferior,
should command the highest price, his aim should be
to produce it.

Among the first things that will claim the planter’s
care, in the cultivation, is the preparation, or seeding,
of his plant beds. The soil that should be selected
for them should be rich, moist, and as dense as can
be obtained; close land should be greatly preferred to
that which is porous. It should be sufficiently burnt
to keep down the spontaneous herbage; the ground
should be well broken whilst it is dry, and the seed
sown. A table spoonful, or rather more, to every
thirty feet square, is generally a sufficient quantity.
The most suitable time for preparing and sowing, is
in the month of January and February; when the land
is dry. Early and plentiful sowing should always be
preferred; the success of the crop is necessarily de-
pendent upon the success of raising plants. Covering
the beds is thought to be necessary by some planters,
but, by others, not. My own opinion is, that it is as
often injurious as beneficial. If the land should not
be very rich, manuring before or after the seed is
sown, will be advantageous. The kind of seed which
the planter ought to sow, must depend entirely upon
the description of tobacco which he may wish to make.
If he purposes to make very yellow tobacco, he should

46

select the seed from that kind; if very dark tobacco,
his selection should be made from that description
which has the least tendency to yellow in the field.
The difference, however, in the various kinds in that
respect is not very considerable. Either may be made
to yellow more or less, by proper cultivation. Seed
that is sown at the time and in the manner I have
recommended, will generally produce a sufficiency of
plants, of full size, to set the crop in good season.
From the first to the last of May will be found the
best time for transplanting, though later or earlier
sometimes answers well. Very early transplanting,
however, I have found sometimes objectionable.
When the spring is very cool, the plants vegetate
slowly, or, in planters’ phrase; “start very" badly.”
When this is the case, a more vigorous growth may
be given to them by transplanting the same plants in
the same hills.

The preparation of the field in which the crop is to
be grown, should, like the selection of the seed, de-
pend upon the quality of the tobacco sought to be
made, and, in some degree, upon the character of the
soil. If the land should be old and very rich, and the
planter should wish to make large long-leaf tobacco,
with coarse fibre and texture, heavy and gross in its
properties, he should prepare his land well by deep
ploughing, plant the tobacco three and a half or four
feet apart, in the hillfe, prime it high enough to se-

47

\

cure the bottom leaves from dirt, top it to eight or
ten leaves, and as early as the plant will bear it; keep
the field clear of grass and weeds, the ground well
broken, as long as the tobacco will afford room for
doing so, and select such tobacco as is known to grow
largest, and has the least tendency to yellow in the
field, ff the season should prove favorable to tobac-
co thus cultivated, it will grow very large, and yield
abundantly in weight to the planter; but never can be
made of that quality which is now considered fine.
If the season, however, should prove to be dry, the
tobacco will be much smaller and finer in its texture;
it will also be apt to acquire a yellow color; and un-
less the drought should be an excessive one, it may
be made of a better quality than when it is grown to
a very large size. But if the season should prove to
be very wet, which is frequently the case, the crop will
sustain a serious injury under such a mode of culti-
vation. The tobacco will grow rapidly, become sur-
charged with sap, and before it can arrive to maturity,
contract the disease, in planters’ phrase called the
“ spot or firing.” Such luxuriancy has never failed,
so far as my observation has extended, to produce
more or less of this disease. When it has passed into
this state, it must come to the knife, whether ripe or
green, and can never be made of any other than the
most inferior quality. If the season, however, should
be so very wet as to produce “ drowning,” and, of

48

course, a diseased yellow color, the tobacco should
be cut, if it has much size, as quickly as possible, and
exposed to the proper temperatures for drying it;
when it has passed into this state it is not susceptible
of further improvement. If it should be dried well,
its texture will be fine, fibres small, the leaf thin, and
transparent, extremely yellow, ivith but little strength,
though well flavored. Such tobacco will command
a high price for smoking, and should not be discard-
ed from the crop, as has hitherto been done in Vir-
ginia. It should be prized lightly, and as dry as pos-
sible, without crumbling. The luxuriancy just men-
tioned, and its consequences, when anticipated, may
be very much controlled and lessened by suffering the
suckers to remain on the plant a longer time than is
usual; they will act as exhausters, by imbibing in part
the juices of the plant, and must, consequently, very
much diminish its tendency to disease; but if, after-
wards, the planter s speculations upon the w'eather
shall induce him to believe that the season will be
dry, the suckers should be quickly removed. These
speculations should be indulged more or less through-
out the whole cultivation, though more particularly in
relation to the topping.

Should the planter wish to make large yellow' to-
bacco, he must select such as has the strongest ten-
dency to yellow in the field, and which grows to a
large size, and cultivate it in the manner recommend-

49

for the foregoing; with the exceptions of topping it
two or three leaves higher, and working the land less
after the tobacco has acquired much size. Late
working, particularly if succeeded by a rain, gives
new resources to the growth of the plant, and is too
apt to produce that morbid luxuriancy, and its conse-
quences, before mentioned; it but seldom fails to pre-
vent yellowing, so indispensable to the making of the
kind of tobacco under consideration. The soil should
not be broken after the tobacco has pretty well covered
the hill. The grass and weeds, which may be likely
afterwards to interfere with its growth, may be scrap-
ed off in the lightest manner. By this mode of culti-
vation, the planter will seldom fail in producing the
yellow color, particularly if the land is well suited to
the tobacco, and the plant should possess the slight-
est inherent tendency to that state. This mode, how-
ever, will probably be objected to, from a belief that
the plant will be poor, and never acquire sufficient
size; my experience and observation compel me to
think otherwise. I have known plants to spring up
as if they were spontaneous, grow luxuriantly, and
to a large size, even when very much shaded, without
having, at any period, a particle of soil stirred around
them. Such facts prove the strong adaptation of the
American soil to tobacco — the one in which it is in-
digenous— and suggest the probability, that it requires
much less aid from cultivation than is generally sup-
7

50

posed; when it is in its natural soil, few plants are
more tenacious of life, or more capable of self-pre-
servation; its broad and long leaves protect the soil
from which it is supported, keep it moist and soft, and
render it, when the plant has attained much size, un-
productive of the ordinary spontaneous herbage. The
following experiments in the cultivation give addi-
tional weight to this suggestion, particularly as re-
gards the cultivation of light, porous, new land.

In the year 1806 I had about 200 tobacco hills,
made upon land which had never before been culti-
vated; the ground was well broken, all the roots
removed, the tobacco then planted and cultivated in
what, in Virginia, is called the best manner. The soil
was kept light, and clear of grass and weeds, through-
out the season. In a similar soil, and exactly by the
side of the former, I bad small beds, or chops, made,
a little exceeding, in circumference, the size of a com-
mon hat. They were very little elevated above the sur-
face of the ground, and were about three feet and a
half apart. The hills just mentioned were also about
the same distance apart; and the whole, the hills and
beds, were planted on the same day. The number
of beds 800. The latter had two workings, and the
tobacco, in other respects, was managed like that in
the former. The first working of the tobacco in the
beds, consisted in drawing a small quantity of dirt to
the plant, from the unbroken ground between the

51

rows. The second and last working, consisted in the
same operation, though more extensive. By these
two Workings, all the unbroken land was stirred. The
last one was given about the time, or a little before,
the tobacco came into the top, and before its roots
could meet with much resistance from the unbroken
soil. That which was in the beds grew off somewhat
faster than that in the hills, owing, probably, to its be-
ing nearer to the surface of the ground, from which it
imbibed moisture more rapidly than that in the hills;
but when each* arrived at maturity, there was so little
difference between them in size, color, &c. that the
one could not easily be distinguished from the other.
The experiment was renewed in the subsequent year,
and followed by the same result. By the ordinary
mode of cultivating new land, it is broken several
times, and all the roots removed before the hills
are made. By the mode of beds, much of that
labor is saved, and the land less exposed to injury
from hard rains, and the exhausting influence of
the sun. If the roots and litter of the forest were
suffered to remain, and thq land broken only as the
roots of the tobacco require it, many of these injuries
would be prevented. The principal objection, per-
haps, to cultivating new land in this manner, is, that it
requires much more labor after the crop is planted,
and its principal recommendation, that it requires
much less before it is planted. It will, at least, suit

52

such planters as may want time to prepare their land
in the ordinary way. The roots and decaying mat-
ter in the new land, will, in some degree, perform the
offices of the plough, as well as afford nourishment to
the crop; they keep the soil light and porous, and al-
ways in a state to receive and give out moisture.
This mode of cultivation is worthy of further trial.

If, on very rich land, whether old or new, the plant-
er should wish to make short leaf yellow tobacco, his
mode of cultivation should be widely different from
that recommended for the other descriptions. The
tobacco selected for cultivation should be such as has
naturally the smallest leaf, stem, and fibre, and will
yellow easily in the field. It should be planted about
three feet apart, and in tolerably high hills, worked
but little, and that very early, topped high, and 'prim-
ed, so as to secure it from dirt. The topping is
much the most delicate part of the cultivation. If the
plant should be very luxuriant, so much so as to make
it probable that it will attain too much size and gross-
ness, it should be suffered to blossom, or nearly ap-
proach that state, before the bud is taken out. From
ten to sixteen leaves will embrace the various sizes,
after the plant is primed ; and the bud that is taken
out should always be a large one, even if it reduces
the plant to a less number of leaves than is recom-
mended. By suffering the plant to remain until such
a bud can be procured, its watery properties will be

53

less abundant, the leaves will be further apart, or, in
planters’ phrase, the stalk will become “ long jointed;”
they will be small, have a fine texture, and will sel-
dom fail, if the season is tolerable, to acquire that
yellowness and maturity which is all-important to the
good quality of the article. The leaves of the plant
will stand more erect than when topped otherwise,
and seem much impoverished, though, perhaps, not
really be so. Such tobacco, when it is dried and ma-
naged in the best manner, seldom fails to command a
very high price. After such topping, however, if the
season should become very dry, and the plant not like-
ly to sustain itself, as many of the top leaves as may
seem necessary should be taken off, when the laborers
are removing the suckers, or making the subsequent
toppings. The removal of the top leaves should
always be preferred to those on the bottom; they are
smaller, equally, or more, convenient, and more re-
mote from maturity. A belief that such topping will
retard maturation, and expose the crop to the hazard
of frost, may, perhaps, be urged as an objection to
this procedure. A short experience induces me to
think otherwise. The difference in the period of time
required for the ripening of that which is topped, by
the removal of a large bud, and that which is topped
by the removal of a small one, is too inconsiderable to
make it a matter of any consequence. The small bud
may be removed a week sooner than the large one,

54

and yet the plant losing the large one will come to
the knife as soon, or very nearly so, as the other:
this I have ascertained by repeated experiments.
How such topping produces such an effect is not
easily explained; nor is the knowledge of it of any
consequence to the planter, so that the fact be clearly
ascertained. The complicated operations of nature,
in relation to the growth and production of vegetable
matter, are too little understood to afford an explana-
tion. The greater facility with which such tobacco re-
ceives the air, light, heat, and moisture, and with
which it parts with its watery property, is most pro-
bably the cause. Such tobacco produces but few
suckers, and, consequently, the labor of cultivation is
very much lessened. Unfortunately for the art of grow-
ing fine tobacco, too many of its cultivators entertain
the opinion that it should be grown very large, have
long, broad, thick leaves, overflowing with sap, and of
a deep green color, or very nearly so, when it is
brought to the knife; forgetting that all this redundan-
cy must be thrown off by the process of drying, and
that the plant is to be left a mere skeleton of stalk,
stem, and fibre. Such tobacco, when dried, is coarse,
porous, badly flavored, and has but little essential oil;
the alkaline property is much more abundant, and the
tobacco, thus far, objectionable. The principles re-
commended for the cultivation of rich land, old or
new, will, by making corresponding variations, be ap-

55

plicable to all the different grades of soil. When the
soil is poor, the topping should be lower,, and the
working of the ground more considerable. A close,
dense soil, although it may be rich, requires much
more stirring and labor than one in an opposite state.

If the planter should wish to cultivate his crop in
such a manner as to make smoking tobacco, he should
very nearly reverse the method recommended for the
cultivation of the large, dark, or yellow tobacco. He
should select such as is known to contain the smallest
quantity of oil when it is matured, which grows rapid-
ly, yellows speedily, and has a fine fibre and texture.
He should crowd it in the field, top it very high, not
prime it at all, work it very little indeed, particular-
ly after it has acquired much size, and cut it as soon
as it has attained full growth and sufficient yellow-
ness, without regard to further maturity. If the land
should be very rich, and likely to grow the tobacco so
luxuriantly as to prevent it from yellowing, it should
not be worked at all after the tobacco has pretty well
covered the hills. When it is thus left to struggle
with the weeds and grass, the necessary yellowing is
more apt to be produced. I have been informed by
a gentleman of intelligence residing in the State of
Ohio, and who is a large dealer in the article, that it
is by this mode of cultivation that thejr finest yellow
tobacco is grown, particularly when it is planted on
new land. Such tobacco, when it is well cured, and

56

afterwards properly managed, commands, in the Bal-
timore market, a very high price. The tobacco is
generally known by the name of the Maryland yellow
kite-foot. If the season, however, should be unfavor-
able, and the tobacco not likely to become sufficiently
yellow before it acquires too much strength and coarse-
ness, it should be cut in its green state. When it is
cut in this state, and afterwards yellowed by the ap-
propriate means, it may be dried with a bright red-
dish color, and made to command a good price in a
smoking market. Those whose crops are likely to
be taken by trost, would do well to adopt such an al-
ternative. L nder this mode of cultivation, the objects
to be attained are, to grow the tobacco with as little
strength, or oil, as possible, to give it a deep yellow
colof, a fine texture, and small stem and fibre. When,
however, tobacco is intended for other purposes than
smoking, particularly for chewing, its state of matu-
rity should be widely different from that just men-
tioned: it should not only be ripe, and arrive to its
extreme growth, but it should remain in the field un-
til most of its watery property is lost. When tobacco
is well matured, the leaf will be more transparent than
when it is otherwise, somewhat brittle, a little uneven
upon its surface, and the whole plant will have, in
some degree, the appearance of wasting. Yellowness,
closeness of texture, a loss of the downy surface of
the leaf, and transparency, are the best evidences of

V

57

full maturity. When the plant is in this state, its pro-
perties are well proportioned, and it is susceptible of
being dried of a fine quality. If it shall be cut be-
fore much of its watery property is lost, the process
of drying will be much more difficult, and perhaps
some of its valuable properties will be thrown off with
its vapor, which would otherwise be retained. It
should, therefore, instead of acquiring weight, or, in
planters’ phrase, “ be gaining,” always be losing it at
the time it is cut. When it is redundant with juices,
or watery matter, its properties are badly proportion-
ed; and I am fully convinced, from ample experience,
that such tobacco can never be made of fine quality.
The remarks which have been made in relation to the
cultivation of smoking tobacco, are intended only for
the particular qualities that were mentioned. Most
of the markets, perhaps all, require some of their
smoking tobacco to be strong, and as well matured,
as possible, before it is cut.

The cutting of the tobacco is simple, and needs no
particular directions. After it has been cut, how-
ever, it should be removed, as quickly as possible,
from the influence of the sun, particularly if the wea-
ther be warm, and hung upon the sticks, in the man-
ner (hat has been directed. When this cannot be
done, it should be closely covered with bushes- whilst
on the scaffold, or in the heap; but as it spoils very
quickly when heaped together, it should not long re-
8

58

main in that state. Cool, cloudy, or windy days, should,
if practicable, always be selected for cutting. When
the heat of the sun is considerable, and the ground
very hot upon which the tobacco must necessarily be
placed, the exposure of it one or two hours will fre-
quently so much change and injure its properties as
to render it unsusceptible of being cured of good qua-
lity. It should, therefore, in such weather, be always
removed to the shade before it has become perfectly
limber, or, in planters’ phrase, “ well fallen.” The
operation of the sun on the plant, is always unequal,
fluctuating in its force, and must, necessarily, be more
or less prejudicial to it.

In concluding this section, I will remark, that the
opinion is erroneously entertained, that fine yellow to-
bacco cannot be produced unless it is grown upon
new land. I have occasionally seen the very best qual-
ity produced upon old land, that was dry, and very
rich. Such land is well suited to the production of
the article, and will, under the influence of a favorable
season, and a proper system of cultivation, grow the
tobacco to a full size, make it yellow, give it a fine
texture, make its most valued properties abundant,
and, I have no doubt, will proportion them as pro-
perly as in tobacco grown upon new land. When a
plant of tobacco has been thus grown and matured, it
will be of the best quality; and in estimating its va-
lue, no regard should be paid to the soil which pro-

59

duced it. In new land, however, that is rich and dry
the article will produce, of fine quality, with more cer-
tainty than in that of opposite descriptions, and it
should always be preferred. The best lands which I
have ever seen for the growth and production of fine,
large, yellow tobacco, is to be found in the barrens
and prairies of the western part of the United States
The soil is rich, light, and dry, and seldom fails to
grow the tobacco with a fine texture, and yellow
color. Notwithstanding these advantages, the article,
in that country, with occasional exceptions, is of an
inferior quality, evidently owing to the want of a pro-
per system for cultivation, curing, &c. When such
a system shall have been adopted, there cannot be a
doubt but the tobacco of the West may be brought
into a fair and full competition with that of Virginia,
or of any other State.

The following extract, from the claim attached to
the specification of the patent granted for the system,
contains the principal claims under that patent:

“ I do not claim the use of a thermometer for the
purpose of merely ascertaining the temperature of a
room, but, as it has never before been employed as a
means for carrying into effect a system of curing to-
bacco, upon the principles described, I do claim the
use of the thermometer, or of any analogous means
of regulating the temperatures, upon the principles,
and for the purpose, herein designated. It is, indeed,

60

possible to conduct the process without the use of a
thermometer, although less perfectly than with one; a
man, by habit, might judge of the temperatures, and
would, in my estimation, as actually violate my right
without, as with, the use of this instrument.

“ Scaffolds may have been used for the purpose of
defending the tobacco from the direct action of, and
danger from, open fires; to such, I do not assume any
claim — but I do claim the erection of scaffolds for the
purpose of diffusing the heated air, so that an equable
temperature may be preserved in every part of the
house, (or a near approach made to it) the same be-
ing essential to the curing of tobacco upon my sys-
tem.”

tHE END.

T889E

507323

f

333.71