. The culture of flue-cured tobacco. Tobacco. 30 BULLETIN 16, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. In seasons of normal growth, under the conditions existing in the Old Belt, when all the leaves of the plant mature at approximately the same time, quite likely the crop may be most economically and satisfactorily harvested by cutting the entire plant at one time. But when, as in 1912. a prolonged drought causes the bottom leaves to turn yellow and waste away while the top leaves are still quite green, there can be no question that it is much better to prime off the leaves as they ripen, as was actua
. The culture of flue-cured tobacco. Tobacco. 30 BULLETIN 16, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. In seasons of normal growth, under the conditions existing in the Old Belt, when all the leaves of the plant mature at approximately the same time, quite likely the crop may be most economically and satisfactorily harvested by cutting the entire plant at one time. But when, as in 1912. a prolonged drought causes the bottom leaves to turn yellow and waste away while the top leaves are still quite green, there can be no question that it is much better to prime off the leaves as they ripen, as was actually done by many growers. If priming had been universally followed in that year, undoubtedly it would have saved many thousands of dollars to the tobacco growers of the Old Belt section. Figures 9 and 10 show characteristic har- vesting scenes in the Xew Belt and Old Belt Fig. 9.—Tobacco harvest in the New Belt section. Stringing the primed leaves under the shade of a tree. CURING AND HANDLING. The expert curer exhibits his skill from the very first, as he begins to harvest the crop. He cuts or primes, having clearly in mind what he expects to accomplish in making the cure. For a uniform curing of good color, a first requisite is that the barn be filled with plants or leaves of uniform ripeness and character. The first step in curing is to yellow the leaf properly. This takes place while the plant is yet living but is slowly approaching death from starvation, since the food and moisture supply is cut off. To expose too long to the sun and air after cutting, even though actual sunburning does not result, greatlv diminishes the vitality of the cells of the leaf and it will not yellow so well. The tobacco should. therefore, be housed without excessive wilting or long exposure to the sun and Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjecttobacco, bookyear1913
