The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1886-01-08
HARVESTING ToBAcCO.

How the weed Il Cut, Dried and Assorted.
After the harvest is over, the time of
the laborers is given up en-
tirely to the tobacco. which has now
grown to q fair size. Their first task is
to sucker" it-that is, cut away the
shoots that spring up At the intersection
of each leaf and the stalk. and which Il
left to grown would absorb half the
strength Of the plant. They also ex-
anime the leaves very carefully, to de-
stroy the eggs and young Of the tobac-
co-fy. Day after day they 60 over the
same fields, find newly-1aid eggs and
newly matched young where only twelve
hours before they brushed their coun-
terparts off to be trampled under foot.
As the tobacco ripens, it becomes brit
tie to the touch and is covered with dark
yellow spots. and when this appearance
is still further developed the time for
cutting has arrived, which generally is
in the first month of autumn, and al
ways before frost, which is fatal to this
as to every other weed. The plant is now
about three feet in height, with eight
or nine large leaves, the stalk
having been broken off at the
top in the second stage of its
growth. On the appointed day dozen or
more men with coarse knives split the
stalk of each plant straight down its
middle to within half a foot of the
ground. They then strike the plant
from the hill and lay it on one side.
The leaves soon shrink under the rays
of the sun and fall. One of the labor
ers who follow the cutters then takes it
up and places it with nine or ten other
plants on stick, which is thrust through
the angle formed by the two halves of
the plant separated from each other
except at one end. 1t is deposited
with the rest in an open box ox-cart and
transported to the barn. In the barn
poles have been arranged in tiers from
bottom to topic support the sticks; and
when the building is full of tobacco the
laborer in charge ignites the logs that
fill parallel trenches in the dir. floor,
and high rate of temperature is soon
produced, and is maintained for several
days, during which watch is kept to
replenish the flames and prevent confla-
grafton. As soon as the tobacco has
changed from deep green to light
brown. it is removed on wet day to
general barn. The same process of
curing is going on in many barns on the
same plantation, and occasionally one
is burned down; for the tobacco is very
inllammable, stray spark from below
being sufficient to set the whole on fire.
The hands are as busy in winter in
manipulating the tobacco, which has
been stored away in one large barn,
and preparing it for market, the first
step toward which is to strip the leaves
from the stalk and then carefully sepa-
rate those of an inferior from those of q
superior quality. Although there are
many grades, the negroes are able to
distinguish them at a glance and assert
them accordingly. They are not en-
gagged in this work of selection continu-
Ously from day to day, but at intervals,
for they can handle the tobacco only
when the weather is damp enough to
moisten the leaf, otherwise it is SO brit
tie that it would crack and fall to pieces
under their touch. They like this work,
for the barn is kept very comforts
bic by large stoves, they do not
have to move from their seats, and they
can all sit very socially together, talk
ing. laughing and singing. Itcontrasts
very agreeably with other work which
they are called upon to do-namely, the
grubbing of new grounds, from which
they shrink with unconcealed repug-
nance, for outside of mine there is no
kind of labor more arduous or exacting.
The land cleared is that from which the
original forest has been cut, leaving
stumps thickly scattered over the sur
face. from which heavy scrub-growth
springs up. Active, quick and indus
trious as the negroes may be in the
corn or wheat fields, they show
here great Incidence, and move forward
very slowly with their hoes, axes and
picks. piling up. as they advance, masses
of roots. saplings, stumps and brush.
which, when dry, are set on fire and
The soil exposed is rich,
but thin loan of decayed leaves, in
which tobacco grows with luxuriance.-
LiDDincOu'S M00nzine