The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1885-12-05
OUR SOUTHERN BUDGET.

Tobacco is an Indian weed.
And Z was the devil sOwed the weed"
That's the way the old-time rhyme
classifies and gives the origin of the to-
bacco plant. The devil certainly has a
great deal to answer for, but am ac-
quainted with great many people who
wouldn't be so very angry at his satanic
majesty even if they knew that he really
did the sowing referred to, for they not
only have hankering after the weed
itself as a means of solace or comfort,
but they manage to get plethoric pocket
books out of its cultivation, manufacture
and sale.
Memory is weighed down with very
vivid recollections of first experience in
the tobacco business. Many men who
once were boys have similar recollec-
tions. 1t doesn't take a large quantity
Of the manufactured weed you know, to
make a lasting impression, unless you
are so fortunate as to be copper-lined.
My early days were spent on a pretty
little farm. in Wayne county, Pennsyl-
vania. i well remember when the
farmers all concluded that they would
try their hands at raising tobacco. The
experiment was also tried on our farm.
The plants grew, like Mr. Finney's cele-
brated turnip, which
grew behind the barn,
And II grew, and Ii grew,
And it tne'er did any harm"
When frost came they were still growing
thick, heavy, soggy, gummy leaves,
greener than cabbages. The plants were
cut, but nobody knew what to do with
the wonderful product. 1t was finally
hung up and dried like so many bundles
of herbs; but it didn't count for very
much, as the tobacco manufacturers
wouldn't buy it at any price. l knew
one farmer who took his entire crop to
manufacturer who made ii up in cigars
for him. That farmer and his sons
| lived high that winter. They smoked
cigars every day, and tradition says that
they sometimes got up in the middle of
the night to enjoy quiet smoke. And
they all felt happy. The farmer said, l
remember, that the only trouble with
them was that they were ''jest leetle
might strong, and they would snap and
go off like little guns all the time"
Tobacco farming was soon abandoned
in that part of the Keystone State.
Without a doubt North Carolina will
soon take the lead among the tobacco
growing States. Much of the soil, es-
pecially in the middle section of the
State, seems peculiarly adapted to to-
bacco culture. Tobacco is n cash crop.
and it pays the farmer better than al
most anything else he can raise. All
he has to do is to cure il properly, un-
derstand how to separate the different
grades, and he has no trouble in finding
a ready market, as the cities are full OF
warehouses for the sale of the weed, and
new ones are being built in almost every
smart little village in the tobacco belt.
Factories for the manufacture of tobacco
keep pace with the farmers efforts and
the increase of warehouses.
The most particular part of the tobac.
co culture is the curing process. Oh
course more or less care is required in
making the plant-bed, selecting and pre-
pairing the soil for the young plants, ,des-
troying the worms that feed on the
growing leaves, topping, cultivating, ,and
the other minutia incident to the grow
ing crop. But after a fine crop has been
grown it is no uncommon thing for no
vices to have it all spoiled by improper
curing. Flue-cuing is the process most
in use down here, and a few words
about the barns in which the tobacco is
cured, and the process of curing may
not be out of place.
. Tobacco barns are built mainly OF
logs, carefully chinked, and pointed
with mud or clay. They are II 1-2x
II 1-2 feet square, with four firing tiers,
holding about four hundred and fifty
sticks. These sticks are 1-2 feet long,
and will hold seven medium sized plants
each, which are placed on them in the
field and taken by the wagonload to the
barn. The furnace is on the ground,
and is fired and fed from the outside of
the building. The flues are made of
wrought iron and are very cheap, and
but little more trouble is experienced in
! putting up lot of flues than is usually
experienced in setting up stove and
joining the pipe.
Supposing that you have barn with
furnace and tlues all correct, and it is
filled with tobacco. Then "comes the
tug of war;" The cuTer, like the Juror,
who is 'the judge of the law and the
evidence" must be the judge of the
! curing process. No accurate rule can
be laid down. The thermometer must
be watched constantly. The heat is
started at from 90 to 100 degrees, and
kept there for 30 or SO hours. Only
, trusty watchers must be kept on guard.
, The leaves then begin to yellow, and
the heat must be increased degrees
every two hours until the temperature
of ll5 degrees is reached. Small aper-
lures must then be made near the bot
tom of the barn so that the tobacco can
have air. Continue to increase the heat
D degrees every two hours until the tenn
, perature of l35 degrees is reached, after
which for twelve hours il must be kept
at that height. The heat must then be
raised degrees every hour and halt
until it reaches $50 degrees. The to-
bacco will then be cured, and ready tC
be moved to packing barn, or a tight
, house, where il Is at once bulked down.
At proper seasons the leaves are stripped,
tied in bundles of six leaves each, placed
in bulk again, when it is ready for the
warehouse.
That it pays TO farm tobacco is proved
by the fact that many towns have been
built in the South where this industry
was the sole impetus. Farmers have
become wealthy by carefully cultivating
a few acres. In my second letter from
this one L shall give some figures on to,
bacco profits that will interest the spec
ulative reader.
, If you are smoker, and have beer
interested enough to read what is writ
ten above, why it is now time for you
10 fill your pipe and enjoy yourself.
+. p. WOODWARD.