Northern Ohio journal. [volume] (Painesville, Ohio) 1872-1896, 1874-02-07

NOT q man IN hundred who bites Oft
delicious square inch of plug tobacco,
and rolls the sweet morsel under his |
tongue. ever thinks of the number of |
hands employed in its growth and man
ufacture, nor the number os negro feet |
that have walked over 1t in the driving
room.
The tobacco manufacturing interest |
exceeds all others in Richmond. The /
amount Of revenue paid to the Govern
ment by the Richmond manufacturers
aggregates nearly two million dollars |
per annum. The bulk of the tobacco |
manufactured here is raised within a |
radius of hundred miles OF the city, |
although large quantities come from !
North Carolina and the region border |
ing the Blue Ridge Mountains. Not
withstanding the heavy government tax |
of 20 cents per pound for all kinds of to- |
baceo, the production gives constant |
employment to tens of thousands of la |
borers, and the profits are fully as great
as under the light taxation before the |
war. The consumers finally foot the
bill, just as they foot every other bill of
taxation, whether they know it or not.
The large buildings which served dur
ing war times as prisons are now noisy
with the hum OF tobacco manipulators,
and rank with the swell of the weed. A
| visit to any of them will repay the tour
| iSt in more ways than one. At all
events, he will be likely to use less to-
| bacco thereafter.
Most readers know how tobacco is
grown. They have seen it in the fields,
and perhaps sweat over it in stlltry days
The younger ones, especially in Ken
tucky, are 10 doubt acquainted with the
process of taking two sticks and going
out into the green and inviting tobacco
| fh<a (,,. 81,
peculiar green worm which loves the
weed almost as much as man, and
| slaughtering that animal, lest he eat up
| the profits of the crop.
| After the tobacco is cut and properly
dried, it is packed in hogsheads and
brought to Richmond. First it is ele-
vated 10 an upper story in the manufac-
turing establishment, then placed in a
room as near air-tight as possible, and
given steam bath until it is soft, moist,
| and altogether pliable. 1t is then taken
from the ''Bath." placed in piles on the
| floor, in large room, and covered with
blankets until the ''stemmers'' are ready
for It. The stemmers are women and
children, almost Invariably negroes (for
oui African fellow citizens naturally
take to tObacco), and their business is to
"stem" the leaves-that is, take. the
stems out. The leaves are then tied in
small bundles with a stem, and thrown
on one side.
Ofcourse, all the stems cannot he used
for wrappers, and the surplus is shipped
TO Bremen, where they are ground into
snuff to be e'dipped, ,'by Southern ladies,
and snuffed up into the nostrils of nerv-
GUS gentlemen and old women.
The "stenImers," like cotton-pickers,
are paid according to the amount they
accomplish. Fifteeh-year-old boys and
girls, for instance, make from So to Sc
aweek, other hands more.
The bundles of stemmed leaves are
hung in the large and airy drying-room
until dry. They are then ready for the
application of syrup and licorice, which
gives sweetness and flavor to the weed
not possessed in its natural state. The
mixture of syrup and licorice is pre-
Il pared in large iron kettle, over fire,
and kept at boiling heat. Into this the
bundles are dipped as they are brought
from the drying-room, the heat causing
the pores of the leaf to expand, and the
sweet but not altogether clear-looking
syrup penetrating every fibre.
4 The bundles, all sweet and dripping,
are then carried out on the roof of the
factory to enjov the sunlight and dry.
The sun is altogether the best drying ap-
paratus that can be used. In addition to
drying the tobacco, it imparts sweet
ness which nothing else will. After
the sun-bath the bundles are taken into
another and a better drying-room, where
the temperature. is kept at ninety de-
grees during the day and run up to l20
at night. This dries the tobacco thor
oughly, and the next application is that
of the best New England rum, together
with several flavorins extracts.
After the RUNNING and flavoring, the
1 weed is piled on the floor covered with
horse blankets, and patiently awaits the
coming of fthe''lumpers" andsftwisters,"
as the next round of operations is styled.
The Jumpers and twisters take it to the
"twist-room," and lump it and twist it.
! A "twister" grabs handful of leaves
and rapidly molds them into shape, ty-
/ ing them with green leaf in lunches
i weighing about half a pound each., The
1 twisters make more money, perhaps,
! than any other class of hands connected
with the factory. their wages averaging
i $12 and SIS week. s...r
L. The twisted Jumps next go into the
i hitting cases, iron compartments, which
i they exactly fit and fill up. In these
they are pressed until they resemble the
finished plug, although the pressing
process receives them, aud they are
/ again pressed until they are hard plugs
and ready for package and sale.
This is the last you see of the tobacco
unul opened by the retailers in distant
regions, and peddled ont to their clean
iy-mouthed customers.
Il AS a rule visitors are not welcomed
in the Richmond tobacco factories. Tie
more a man sees of the method of man.
ufacture, the less of the weed he will
/ consume, and demand will fall OF accor-
dinghy.