The Durham recorder. [volume] (Durham, N.C.) 1879-19??, 1889-06-26

its OIL anu WAX cell coIiiplett Will
it's organized resistance to decay
in perfect form, it can then resist
moisture; the damp air can strike
it on the outside but cannot pene-
trate, because repealed by the oil
and wax which nature has pro-
vided it with Gs a shield, and
which $50 degrees of heat neces-
sary to cure the worthless stalk
utterly destroys, rendering the
leaf mere puff, the wax melted,
the oil dissipated, the albumen
hardened, the fibers brash and
with its vegetable albumen intact,
brittle, the leaf dry, and to repair
the damage our plug manufac-
turers have become mere pur-
veyors of molasses and licorice on
which We pay the government 8
cents per pound revenue tax,
while those who use the weed are
looking the world over for some
thing better. Nor can we blame
them. Forty years ago, when to-
bacco was air cured, things were
different This tlue curing in lit
tie tight huts at $50 degrees has
done the business. Ithas stuffed
our markets with millions of
pounds OF worthless trash, both
in leaf and manufactured stock,
the sale of which hurts ourforeign
trade and should beprohbited by
law at home as a sanitary meas
ure.
This evil can beremedied in two
ways. We can return to the old
method OF air curing, which pro-
duced infinitely less poor tobacco
than the present system, or we
can adopt the modern barn pro-
cess, which will transform the
trash anu nondescript stuff into
ripe, we'll cured tobacco, void OF
the evils incident to and inseper-
able from the stalk cure. When
the crop oftobaeco has been cured
as above described and bulked in
the right order, the whole crop
should be taken into the curing
barn. The curing sacks should
be raised overhead, the room, 16
x20 feet, is now clear, a false floor
is laid over the open curingfoor,
the light is overhead and strikes
the sorting table just right, the
whole crop should now be re.
moved to the curing barn and
bulked in three sides OF the room
The ground or basement floor
should be we'll sprinkled with
water, the heat put up to so de
grees, with all doors and windows
closed; the tobacco should be
bulked in a compact mass without
any stick or wiresinit. The barn
will store as much as it will cure
in a seasonal the basement is kept
warm and damp. The heat and
moisture will soon penetrate the
whole mass OF tobacco, the bulks
OF tobacco soon become pliable
the moisture cannot escape, tn,
humidity of the room is such al
to penetrate the whole pile ant
soon sets the chemical changes al
work. The anous May sweat
has got alongin December and a.
the tobacco was not massacreeC
in the curing, it has aged in thre,
months time ready for the manu-
facturer. No fear of funking, al
there is no water or any otheI
foreign substancein the pile. TIL
oil ferments the whole mass, til,
tobacco ripens, theleaf toughens
a gloss appears on the face, tn
color brightens as it lays in {
lgentle moist summer heat. If
man was to spend 81 900 in con
structing a sortingroom, hecoulC
not beat the modern barn. Thu
farmer can class his tobacco il
any kind Of weather, his crop Il
always ready for market, always
on exhibition in good handling
order. The modern barn ha,
come to emancipate the farmel