DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2375#0456
448
A JOURNEY FROM MADRAS THROUGH
CHAPTER times get water once in four days; and even again on the 20th
xx- day, should the rainy season not have then commenced. At the
June i& end of the month the whole field is hoed, and the earth is thrown
toward the plants in ridges. At the end of the second month this
is repeated, and at the same time all the leaves, except from six
to nine, are pinched from every plant; and all new leaves, that
afterwards shoot from the centre, are once in eight or ten days
removed. When it begins to whiten, the tobacco is fit for cutting.
After having been cut by the ground, the stems are allowed to lie
on the field until next day, when they are spread on a dry place,
and exposed to the sun. Here the tobacco remains nine days and
nine nights. On the 10th morning some grass is spread on the
ground ; on this heaps of the tobacco are placed, and the roots are
turned toward the circumference. The heap is covered with straw,
and pressed down with a large stone. In these heaps the tobacco
remains for nine days. The stems are then removed from the
leaves, of which from six to ten, according to their size, are made
up into a small bundle. These bundles are again placed in a heap,
covered with straw, and pressed with a large stone. Every evening
the heap is taken down ; and, each bundle having been squeezed
with the hand, to make it soft, the whole is again replaced as
before. On the fifth evening the tobacco is spread out all night to
seceive the dew. Next day the heap is rebuilt, and this process of
heaping, squeezing, and spreading out to the dew, must be in all
performed three times; the tobacco is then fit for sale. The larger
leaves of this tobacco seem to me to be well cured for the European
market, being not so dry as usual with that cured in India, but
moist and flexible : of the flavour I am no judge. A Wocula land in
a, Tarkari garden produces twenty Mounds of cured tobacco, Avorth,
according to the merchants, 140 Fanams. According to this, an acre
produces about 6 cwt. 2 qrs. 25 lb. worth 61. \5s. %\d. The cultivators,
however, only value their tobacco at five Fanams a Maund. The
tobacco is cut in the l»t and 2d months afters the autumnal
A JOURNEY FROM MADRAS THROUGH
CHAPTER times get water once in four days; and even again on the 20th
xx- day, should the rainy season not have then commenced. At the
June i& end of the month the whole field is hoed, and the earth is thrown
toward the plants in ridges. At the end of the second month this
is repeated, and at the same time all the leaves, except from six
to nine, are pinched from every plant; and all new leaves, that
afterwards shoot from the centre, are once in eight or ten days
removed. When it begins to whiten, the tobacco is fit for cutting.
After having been cut by the ground, the stems are allowed to lie
on the field until next day, when they are spread on a dry place,
and exposed to the sun. Here the tobacco remains nine days and
nine nights. On the 10th morning some grass is spread on the
ground ; on this heaps of the tobacco are placed, and the roots are
turned toward the circumference. The heap is covered with straw,
and pressed down with a large stone. In these heaps the tobacco
remains for nine days. The stems are then removed from the
leaves, of which from six to ten, according to their size, are made
up into a small bundle. These bundles are again placed in a heap,
covered with straw, and pressed with a large stone. Every evening
the heap is taken down ; and, each bundle having been squeezed
with the hand, to make it soft, the whole is again replaced as
before. On the fifth evening the tobacco is spread out all night to
seceive the dew. Next day the heap is rebuilt, and this process of
heaping, squeezing, and spreading out to the dew, must be in all
performed three times; the tobacco is then fit for sale. The larger
leaves of this tobacco seem to me to be well cured for the European
market, being not so dry as usual with that cured in India, but
moist and flexible : of the flavour I am no judge. A Wocula land in
a, Tarkari garden produces twenty Mounds of cured tobacco, Avorth,
according to the merchants, 140 Fanams. According to this, an acre
produces about 6 cwt. 2 qrs. 25 lb. worth 61. \5s. %\d. The cultivators,
however, only value their tobacco at five Fanams a Maund. The
tobacco is cut in the l»t and 2d months afters the autumnal