_Stripping and Sorting._—Quantities of leaf-tobacco are shipped in a condition deprived of their stem and midrib, and are then known as “stripts.” Those which are not received in this state, after having been damped, are passed through the hands of workmen, who fold each leaf edge to edge, and rip out the midrib by a deft twirl of the fingers, classifying the two halves of each leaf, and ranging the sorts in separate piles as smooth as possible. The value of the leaf greatly depends upon the dexterity with which the stripping is done, as the slightest tear deteriorates it. Stripts require sorting only. The largest and strongest leaves are selected for cutting and spinning; the best-shaped are reserved for the wrappers of cigars; broken and defective pieces form fillers for cigars; and the ribs are ground to make snuff. For the manufacture of “bird’s-eye” smoking-tobacco, the leaves are used without being previously stripped. [Illustration: FIG. 14.] [Illustration: FIG. 15.] [Illustration: FIG. 16.] [Illustration: FIG. 17.] _Cutting._—Cutting is the process by which the damped leaves, whether stripped or not, are most extensively prepared for smoking in pipes and cigarettes. The tobacco-cutter which is in general use in this country is shown in Figs. 14 (side elevation), 15 (sectional elevation), 16 (front elevation), and 17 (plan). The main frames _a_ are united by stretcher-bolts _b_; _d_ is a wooden-surface feeding-roller, on which the tobacco is pressed and cut; _c_ are the upper compressing- and feeding-rollers, mounted in _e_, carriage-plates extended backwards, forming the sides of the feeding-trough, and hinged to the axle _m_; _f_ are levers; _g_, links by which the weight _w_ presses down the upper rollers; _h_, a crank, and _i_, a connecting-link for working; _j_, the cross-head to which the knife _k_ is fixed; _l_, side-levers or radius-bars for guiding the knife, hinged on the eccentric ends of the axle; _m_, an axle held in bearings at the back of the machine; on its middle part, which is concentric with its own bearings, are hinged the top roll carriage-plates _e_, whilst on its projecting ends, which are slightly eccentric, the knife-levers _l_ are hinged; _n_ is a worm-wheel segment; _o_, a worm; _p_, a hand-wheel for turning the eccentric spindle _m_ through a part of a revolution in its bearings, for adjusting the contact of the knife with the nose-plate _q_; _r_, a worm; _s_, a worm-wheel; _t_, a worm-pinion for giving simultaneous movement to all the rollers; _u_, a spindle, “universal jointed” at both ends, for driving the upper rollers in positions varying with the thickness of the feed; _v_, a saw-toothed ratchet-wheel, moved intermittently by a catch _x_, link _y_, and stud-pin _z_, _v_ being changeable, and the eccentricity of _z_ variable, for the purpose of regulating the fineness of the cutting. Both ends of the knife move at the same speed, and its