Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce

by E. R. Billings

Modern Virginia Shed.

"The barn which is appropriated to the use of receiving and curing this crop, is not, in the manner of other barns, connected with the farm yard, so that the whole occupation may be rendered snug and compact, and occasion little waste of time by inconsiderate and useless locomotion; but it is constructed to suit the particular occasion in point of size, and is generally erected in, or by the side of, each respective piece of tobacco ground; or sometimes in the woods, upon some hill or particular site which may be convenient to more than one field of tobacco. The sizes which are most generally built where this kind of culture prevails, are what are called forty-feet, and sixty-feet tobacco houses; that is, of these lengths respectively, and of a proportionate width; and the plate of the wall, or part which supports the eaves of the roof, is generally elevated from the groundsel about the pitch of twelve feet. About twelve feet pitch is indeed a good height for the larger crops; because this will allow four pitch each to three successive tiers of tobacco, besides those which are hung in the roof; and this distance admits a free circulation of air, and is a good space apart for the process of curing the plant. There are various methods in use in respect to the construction of tobacco houses, and various materials of which they are constructed; but such are generally found upon the premises as suffice for the occasion. And although these sizes are most prevalent, yet tobacco houses are in many instances built larger or smaller according to the circumstances of the proprietor, or the size of the spot of ground under cultivation.

Virginia Shed 150 years ago.

"The most ordinary kinds consist of two square pens built out of logs of six or eight inches thick, and from sixteen to twenty feet long. Out of this material the two pens are formed by notching the logs near their extremities with an axe; so that they are alternately fitted one upon another, until they rise to a competent height; taking care to fit joists in at the respective tiers of four feet space, so that scaffolds may be formed by them similar to those heretofore described to have been erected in the open field, for the purpose of hanging the sticks of tobacco upon, that they may be open to a free circulation of air during this stage of the process. These pens are placed on a line with each other, at the opposite extremes of an oblong square, formed of such a length as to admit of a space between the two pens wide enough for the reception of a cart or wagon. This space, together with the two pens, is covered over with one and the same roof, the frame of which is formed in the same way as the walls by notching the logs aforesaid, and narrowing up the gable ends to a point at the upper extremity of the house, termed the ridge pole. The remaining part of the fabric consists of a rough cover of thin slabs of wood, split first with a mall and wedges, and afterwards riven with an instrument or tool termed a froe. The only thing which then remains to be done, is to cut a door into each of the pens, which is done by putting blocks or wedges in betwixt the logs which are to be cut out, and securing the jambs with side pieces pinned on with an anger and wooden pins. The roof is secured by weighing it down with logs; so that neither hammer, nails, brick, or stone, is concerned in the structure; and locks and keys are very rarely deemed necessary.

"The second kind of tobacco houses differ somewhat from these, with a view to longer duration. The logs are to this end more choicely selected. The foundation consists of four well hewn groundsels, of about eight by ten inches, leveled and laid upon cross sawed blocks of a larger tree, or upon large stones. The corners are truly measured, and squared diamond-wise, by which means they are more nicely notched in upon each other; the roof is fitted with rafters, footed upon wall plates, and covered with clap-boards nailed upon the rafters in the manner of slating. In all other respects this is the same with the last mentioned method; and both are left open for the passage of the air between the logs.

"The third kind is laid upon a foundation similar to the second; but instead of logs, the walls are composed of posts and studs, tenoned into the sells, and braced; the top of these are mounted with a wall-plate and joists; upon these come the rafters; and the whole is covered with clap-boards and nails, so as to form one uninterrupted oblong square, with doors, etc., termed, as heretofore, a forty, sixty, or one hundred feet tobacco house, etc.

"The fourth species of these differs from the third only in the covering, which is generally of good sawed feather-edged plank; in the roof, which is now composed of shingles; and in the doors and finishing, which consist of good sawed plank, hinged, &c. Sometimes this kind are underpinned with a brick or stone wall beneath the groundsels; but they have no floors or windows, except a plank or two along the sides to raise upon hinges for sake of air, and occasional light: indeed, if these were constructed with sides similar to the brewery tops in London, I think it would be found advantageous. In respect to the inside framing of a tobacco house, one description may serve for every kind: they are so contrived as to admit poles in the nature of a scaffold through every part of them, ranging four feet from centre to centre, which is the length of the tobacco stick, as heretofore described; and the lower ties should be so contrived as to remove away occasionally, in order to pursue other employments at different stages in the process of curing the crop."

In Ohio, the tobacco barns are built in a manner similar to those in Virginia; constructed of logs and provided with trenches for fires in curing the tobacco. The tobacco sheds for hanging the tobacco cured by air-drying, are built of the same material without trenches, as smoke is not employed in curing "seed-leaf" tobacco. The sheds for both kinds of curing tobacco are large structures, varying in size according to the area of tobacco planted. Sometimes the sheds are built near the woods where fuel can be procured, and in the immediate vicinity of the tobacco field. The tobacco houses are built in the strongest manner and of the most durable material, and are well fitted for the purpose designed. In the counties bordering the Ohio River, where a large quantity of tobacco is raised, the tobacco sheds are to be seen on every hand, the smoke issuing from the sides of the building, giving a stranger the idea of a burning building rather than the curing of a great staple.