Waterbury evening Democrat., 1892-05-09
FROM SEED PATCH TO SMOKE.

Tho Process of Cultlvating and Curing To-
baccO.
Few persons know the trouble in
raising tobacco, and that work never
ceases from the time it's seed is sovn I'M
til the smoker or chewer disposes of the
leaf. The seed is about the size of that
OF mustard, and is raised in what is
known as plant patch. To prepare
this small piece of wet land in piece
OF woods is selected and cleared up
and huge piles of wood and brush are
placed thereon and burned, in the early
spring. This is to kill the grass roots
and loosen up the soil. The ground is
then carefully ralked and prepared for
the seed, which, when sown, is covered
with brush to protect the loose, dry
soil and light seed from blowing away,
and from birds, etc. A seed patch of
one-half acre will plant any ordinary
planters crop for the year.
The ground is next prepared in the
Held for transplanting the plant, and
when the season arrives, hills about
three feet apart are made, and the
planter then, awaits rain to set out his
plants. AS soon as he finishes the last
of his field, the little plant has begun to
suffer from that pest of tobacco-prow-
ers, the worm. Then he begins to hoe
and pillow and worm" all at the same
time, and as fast as he gets through his
field at one end he goes back where he
started and has to go row by row and
turn up each leaf and pick off the
worm, which will in a nights time eat
the leaves sometimes of the entire plant.
Some of the old planters in Virginia
used to raise large f1ocks of turkeys,
which would be taken into the field as
soon as half to two-thirds grown and
driven through it to eat the worms.
After a few days they would as soon as
put into field of tobacco seem to know
just what was wanted, and scatter out,
taking row for row, and quietly walk
under a large plant, look up, and as
carefully take the worms off as trained
hand could. This worm usually hangs
on the under side of the leaf.
The turkeys, after eating the small
worms, kill the larger ones, dropping
them into the rows, and will do so for
an hour or so at Il time, both morning
and evening. They are taken out of the
field when found tagging or tired and
kept penned in the shade until the cool
of the afternoon, when they are again
allowed to walk back through the diff
ferent portion of the field, thus greatly
assisting in one of the most tiresome
and tedious parts of raising this valu-
able crop.
When the tobacco plant is ripe, that
fact is settled by pressing the leaves to-
gether. If they snap and the leaves
split it is ready to cut. A field seldom
all ripens at one time, and it has to be
cut in sections. AS fast as a plant
ripens the field has to be gone over and
the ripe plants cut. From the verv
moment plant becomes ripe it begins
to lose in weight. When cut it is car
ried to barn and fred a couple of DAYS
to cure it. Then it has to be taken
down, packed in bulk and stripped of
its large stalks, then bundled and
handled. The oftener handled-with a
little grease used on the hands as
leaves are passed through them-the
better the color. From this point it is
packed in hogsheads and shipped to the
commission merchant, who sells to
manufacturers, and sweated, handled
and moistened until made into cigars.
into boxes and sold through
retailers. Work has never ceased until
the leaf is consumed by the smoker or
Y. Times,