Chapter XII: Tobacco Houses

The drying houses or sheds for the curing and storing of tobacco are among the most interesting objects to be seen on the tobacco plantation. These sheds vary in size from a small structure capable of holding only a few thousand plants to the immense sheds with sufficient capacity for hanging the products of several acres. In the Connecticut valley, the Southern States, at the West, and in the Philippine Islands these tobacco sheds are often several hundred feet in length, built in the most substantial manner and provided with suitable side doors and ventilators for the free passage of air, and the most perfect system of ventilation. The most substantial and finest tobacco sheds are to be found in the Connecticut valley, which are provided with every convenience for hanging and taking down or "striking" the crop. Many of them are painted and adorned with a cupola, which serves the double purpose of an ornament and a ventilator for the hot air to pass off from the curing and heated plants. Formerly, the tobacco being harvested was hung in barns and sheds, used for storing grain and hay, and better adapted to other purposes than to that of a tobacco shed, where thorough ventilation is necessary to avoid sweat and pole-rot, attending upon the curing of the plants. Of late, tobacco growers, throughout the world, have paid considerable attention to the method of curing, and to erecting more suitable buildings for the purpose. At the South and West, the log tobacco barns are giving way to the more substantial frame buildings, and better facilities are employed for "firing" the tobacco in the sheds. Formerly, the tobacco sheds at the South looked more like the rude huts of the herders on the pampas of South America, than buildings devoted to the curing of tobacco. Tobacco barns and sheds are built of a great variety of material, and in various ways, according to the manner of building where the tobacco is grown. Thus in the Connecticut valley, such sheds or barns are large and commodious frame buildings; at the South and West, many of them are built of logs; in Cuba, of slabs covered with palm leaves or thatched. In Turkey, of stones covered with rough boards, and daubed with mud.

In selecting a site for the tobacco shed, not only should its proximity to the tobacco field be considered, but also the ground on which it is to be built. It should always be erected on dry ground, rather than upon moist, so that no dampness may arise and injure the leaves in curing. The tobacco shed should also be built on an elevated spot, so that a free circulation of air may be had, which is hardly possible if built on low ground or among trees or in the woods as at the South. This applies more particularly to sheds where the method of curing is by air-drying instead of by "firing" or by "flues." In New England the strongest timber, as oak, is used for building, as the weight of the plants before fully cured is immense. The shed is braced at every point and generally rests upon stone posts so as to allow a good circulation underneath the building. Poles are used for hanging, either round or sawed, when the plants are hung with twine; when hung on tobacco hooks, laths are used, the hooks attached to the lath; more frequently the plants are strung upon the laths without the aid of hooks, the lath passing through the center of the stalk an inch or two from the end. The doors lengthwise of the building are simply the outside boards hung on hinges, every second or third being chosen according to the ideas of curing entertained by the grower. Some planters are of the opinion that the plants need all the air that can be obtained, and keep the sheds open during both day and night, while others open the doors only now and then--closing during warm days, and during a storm. Sometimes the doors are hung on hinges at the top--opening but partially and not allowing as free circulation as when hung on the sides.

Another building of late has been built by the growers in the Connecticut valley, called a stripping house. This building is frequently attached to the shed or near by so that stripping may be performed during all kinds of weather, without danger of injuring the tobacco, or the health of the stripper. Such buildings however are needed only in tobacco sections where the cold is extreme during the winter, when most of the tobacco is to be stripped. The stripping room or house is provided with a stove, a long table, or elevated platform, in front of the windows, of which there should be several to admit plenty of light, and a number of chairs to accommodate the strippers. On the stove a kettle of water is kept constantly boiling or heated, the ascending steam of which keeps the leaves of tobacco from drying and consequently from cracking or breaking. When in condition for "striking" or taking down, the plants are carried to the stripping-room, and covered with boards and blankets, when the operation called stripping commences. Many of the stripping-rooms are built large enough to contain the cases after the tobacco is packed, thus answering a double purpose.

In Virginia and the other tobacco-growing states of the South, the tobacco barn is built altogether different, as the method of curing is by fires or flues instead of air curing. The height of the building is usually twice its width and length. In the center of the smooth earthen floor, is the trench for "firing," while around the sides of the building runs an elevated platform for placing the tobacco leaves in bulk; and, commencing at a safe distance from the trench, up to the top of the building, reach beams stretching across for the reception of the pine laths, from which are suspended the tobacco plants. Many of the tobacco sheds at the South, are built like those of New England, but many log structures are still to be seen and many planters prefer them to those made like other frame buildings. The old Virginia planters of a hundred years ago, built rough log sheds for housing the plants, which afforded little protection from wind and rain, which, in consequence, injured much of the tobacco hanging around the sides of the building. Tatham gives the following description of the "Tobacco house and its variety" in his work on tobacco.

"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.

"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.

The following account of constructing tobacco barns in Missouri, is from a St. Louis paper:

"We believe in small barns for any kind of curing. A house
built 16 feet inside and divided into four rooms and six
tier high in the body is the preferable size for flue or
coal curing. For flues they should be built on a very
slightly sloping place; just enough to make the flues draw
well. Flues four inches lower at the eye than the chimney
will be slope enough. The door should always be between the
flues and in the end of the house, to prevent the drip from
falling before the door and the eye of the flues. The tiers
should begin eight feet above the ground and be placed two
feet above each other to the top. They should be placed
across the house so that the roof tier can conveniently be
placed above them. The door, three feet wide and six feet
high, furnished with a good, close shutter. A barn of this
size will cure 800 sticks of common size tobacco, which
will weigh about 1200 lbs. The proper construction of flues
is of great importance; they should be built of any stone
that will stand fire without bursting. White sand-stone,
bastard soap-stone, or any other that does not contain
flint. The size of a flue for a sixteen foot barn, is
generally about 12 inches wide by 14 inches high inside. Not
much care need be taken to have them smooth on the outside.
If stone can be had to make the inside smooth so as not to
obstruct the putting on of wood, it is all that is
necessary. They should be run just far enough from the
house-side not to set the house on fire, and there is not as
much danger of this as may be supposed. Run the walls of the
house-side all around, running the stem out at the middle of
the upper side. The stem should be run far enough above the
wall of the house to avoid danger of sparks from the
chimney. The height of the inside of the flue should be
preserved its whole length. The width may be slightly
decreased from the elbow to the chimney. The inner wall is
carried all around. But too much explanation bewilders; we
think we have said enough. As before said, we like small
barns; where too much tobacco is together, it all can not
receive the heat alike, which is our main objection to large
barns. As to the number of barns necessary, we would say
that there ought to be enough to receive all the crop
without moving any. Say one sixteen-foot barn to every 8,000
hills of tobacco planted. As a general rule, plant one
thousand hills for every hundred sticks house-room. That is,
if you have three barns plant 24,000 hills, and if it is
common tobacco, they will receive it. A much larger quantity
may be saved in this number of barns by curing and moving
out, but it is very troublesome."

In Kentucky and Tennessee the tobacco barns resemble those of Ohio and the other Western states, and are large, commodious structures, provided with every facility for curing the plants. In other tobacco-growing countries the tobacco barns and sheds differ but little from those in America, the only difference being in form and building material. In countries where tobacco is a government monopoly, large and comfortable buildings are provided for the crop with all the necessary accessories for the curing, packing, and storing of the tobacco. In South America many of the sheds are large and low, built on the plantation, and close to the tobacco field. In Cuba, the curing houses are located on the _vegas_, and as soon as the tobacco is cut it is placed on the poles to dry or cure. In Asia, a large quantity of the tobacco is cured in the peasants' huts, where the smoke is said to impart additional flavor to the already fragrant leaves. In the Philippines the largest tobacco sheds are found, described by Gironiere as "vast sheds," and of sufficient capacity to hold acres of the leaves. In Persia, where the celebrated Shiraz tobacco is grown, the sheds are simply covered buildings without any boards on the sides, the only protection afforded from the weather being supplied by light, thorny bushes, so that the plants may be exposed to the wind. After fully curing, the tobacco is removed to another drying-house and turned every day. The drying-houses in other tobacco-growing countries differ but little from those described, while the manner of curing is similar, the plants being "fired," sun-cured, or air-dried--the three modes now employed in drying the leaves. If the tobacco of the tropics is fragrant while growing, it is doubly so after being harvested and carried to the sheds. The odor from the well-filled barns is borne on the breeze alike to friend and foe of the plant. As the process of drying goes on, the plants gradually lose the strong perfume emitted during the earlier stages of curing, and by the time the leaves are "cured down" and the sheds closed, but little odor issues from the plants, and this continues to be the case until the leaves are entirely dried.