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

by E. R. Billings

The next operation to be performed in the tobacco field is known by the name of

TOPPING,

and is simply breaking or cutting off the top of the stalk, preventing the plant from running up to flower and seed. By so doing the growth of the leaves is secured, and they at once develop to the largest possible size. The leaves ripen sooner if the plant is topped, while the quality is much better. There are various methods of topping as well as different periods. Some growers top the plant as soon as the capsules appear, while others wait until the plants are in full blossom. If topped before the plants have come into blossom, the operation should be performed as soon as possible, as a longer time will be required for the leaves to grow and ripen than when topping is delayed until the plants are in blossom. In the Connecticut valley most growers wait until the blossoms appear before breaking off the top. Topping must not be delayed after the blossoming, in order that all danger from an untimely frost may be avoided. The top may be broken off with the hand or cut with a knife, the latter being the better as well as the safer way. Sometimes the rain soaks into the stalk, rotting it so that the leaves fall off, injuring them for wrappers. Top the plants at a regular height, leaving from nine to twelve leaves, so that the field will look even, and also make the number of leaves to a plant uniform. Late plants may be topped with the rest or not, at the option of the grower. This mode of topping refers more particularly to cigar rather than cutting leaf. Those varieties of tobacco adapted for cutting leaf should be topped as soon as the button appears; top low, thereby throwing the strength of the stalk into a few leaves, making them large and heavy. The number of leaves should not exceed fourteen. Let it stand from five to six weeks after it is topped. The object in letting it stand so long after topping is to have it thoroughly ripe. This gives it the bright, rich, golden color, entirely different from cigar leaf, but very desirable for chewing leaf. On account of the length of time it must stand after topping, it is desirable to take that which has been topped early, in order to have it ripen, and get it in before a freeze, although ripe tobacco is not injured by cold nights, and will sometimes stand even an ordinary frost.

The manner of topping in Virginia by the first planters in the colony, is thus described:—

"This operation, simply, is that of pinching off with the thumb nail[78] the leading stem or sprout of the plant, which would, if left alone, run up to flower and seed; but which, from the more substantial formation of the leaf by the help of the nutritive juices, which are thereby afforded to the lower parts of the plant, and thus absorbed through the ducts and fibres of the leaf, is rendered more weighty, thick, and fit for market."

Now the custom is to top for shipping from eight to ten leaves, for coal-curing from ten to twelve, according in both cases to strength of soil and time of doing the work.

In Mexico "as soon as the buds begin to show themselves the top is broken off. Not more than from eight to ten leaves are left on the plant, without counting the sand-leaf, which is thrown away," and destroyed in the same manner as the Dutch are said to do of spies. In some countries the plants are not topped at all, and the leaves are left upon the stalk until fully ripe, when they are picked.

The next labor following the topping of the plants is called

SUCKERING.

Immediately after topping the plants, shoots or sprouts make their appearance at the base of the leaves where they join the parent stalk. They are known by the name of suckers and the removal of them by breaking them off is called suckering. At first the suckers make their appearance at the top of the plants at the base of the upper leaves, and then gradually appear farther down on the stalk until they are found at the very root of the plant. The plants should be suckered before the shoots are tough, when they will be removed with difficulty, frequently clinging to both stalk and leaf, thereby injuring the latter, as the leaf very often comes off with the sucker if the latter is left growing too long. The plants should be kept clean of them and especially at the time of harvesting.