_Drying._—The drying-shed is prepared beforehand to receive the tobacco. When cultivating tobacco on a small scale, any shed will do, provided that it contains a sufficient number of doors and windows to admit of regulating the circulation of air. A roof made of straw seems to answer very well. The shed should be high enough to admit of hanging 3 rows of tobacco in it, one above the other. The bottom tier for the first row should be about 3–5 feet from the ground, according to the size of the plants, which should not touch the ground; the second tier should be 3–5 feet higher than the first; the third, 3–5 feet higher than the second; the whole being 10–17 feet high from the bottom of the shed to the highest tier. The tiers must be so arranged that the tobacco when hung on the upper tier should not touch that of the lower one, and that the rods on which the tobacco has been hung in the field fit exactly. The windows must face each other, and be placed between the tiers, so that the bottom part of the window is on the same level as the tier. When cultivating on a large scale, the same arrangements are made, but the building is higher, and is provided with a cellar, in which to place the tobacco for the purpose of stripping, &c. The drying-shed being ready, the plants immediately on arrival at the shed are transferred from the conveyance, on the rods, to the lowest tier. No rule can be given as to the distance the rods should be placed from each other, as it varies according to the species of the plant, the degree of ripeness, and especially the state of the weather. The purpose of hanging the plant here on the lower tier is to cause the leaves to dry gradually, and assume a good yellow colour, and to create a slight fermentation in them, while allowing such a circulation of air between the plants as will facilitate the gradual escape of the moisture from them, and prevent the injurious development of ammonia and other combinations that give rise to bad flavour in the tobacco. How to attain this, exercises the judgment of the cultivator, who, by frequent examination of the plants, and by careful observation of the changes going on in the leaves, will soon find out the right way.