The condition of the leaf, according to Pursley, may be judged in the following manner:—“When the tobacco is ripe, it has a yellow faded colour, and becomes brittle; the surface of the leaf is rough and ridged. By bending the leaf short between the fingers, it will break before it will double. The sticks to hang it on should be in readiness. The best mode of hanging or stringing is with a V-shaped spear, made of iron or steel. The spear has a socket, large to admit the end of the stick. The sticks should be sharpened at one end, to fit the socket; should be 4 feet 6 inches in length, 2 inches wide, and 1 inch thick. A stick of these dimensions will hold 8 plants. The tobacco should be cut off just below the bottom leaf, then turn the plant upside down, and let it remain so till the sun wilts it. When it is wilted it can be handled without breaking; then it should be taken up and laid in piles of 8 stalks each, placing the butts of the stalks towards the sun, to prevent it from sun-burning. When it is sun-burnt it turns black, and it cannot be cured any other colour than black, which ruins its sale. The sticks should be strewed along, one stick to a pile; place the spear on the end of the stick, and set the stick upright; then take up the tobacco, one stalk at a time, and thrust it on the stick, letting the spear pass through the stalk, about 6 inches from the butt end; then take the spear off and take up the stick, and shake the tobacco out straight, and set the stick up with the butts towards the sun.” Some tobacco-growers, remarks Pursley, “prefer splitting the stalk from the top down to within about 6 inches of the butt, then hang it on the sticks. But I cannot agree with them, for it is more difficult to handle, and is apt to slip off the stick, when moving it; besides, the tobacco cured in this manner is not so heavy as if it was speared. It dries out quicker by being split, but the substance evaporates instead of remaining in the leaf. I am not certain that it injures the taste of the tobacco, but I am certain that split tobacco is lighter than that which is speared. Some prefer hanging the tobacco on scaffolds in the field until it is ready to be put in the barn and cured by fire. But it is the safest to house it as soon as it is strung on the sticks. Scaffolding is done by placing poles on forks, about 4 feet apart, and 4–5 feet from the ground; then hang the tobacco between the poles, letting the ends of the sticks rest on the poles. This procedure is unsafe, for the rain may come and saturate the tobacco and wash off the gum, thus making it light and chaffy.”