DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 59

fungus organisms such as frog eye and brown spot in the
curing barn. This latter environmental condition will also cause
the soft rot organisms to develop within the curing barn.
All of these conditions lower the final quality of the cured
leaf.
 Thus, the recommended range needed to overcome poor cures
are dependent upon ripeness of leaf, amount of moisture in
leaves, and the quality of the ripe leaf as related to leaf
disease organisms, all of these are closely allied in affecting
a good or poor cure. Under most conditions a 95-100 F.
temperature with an approximate 80 to 85 relative humidity
has given best results for yellowing.
 Some "Do's" and "Dont's" in Curing Tobacco
DO
 (1) Know your tobacco. All varieties do not ripen the same.
 (2) Harvest ripe tobacco.
 (3) Harvest as often as necessary. Overripe tobacco is
 chaffy and light.
 (4) Provide adequate ventilation in both the top and bottom
 of the barn.
 (5) Separate ripe and overripe tobacco during the stringing
 operation. This helps in market preparation and de-
 cidedly increases market value.
 (6) Examine all cold spots in the curing barn for wet
 stems before completing the curing process.

DON'T
 (1) Crowd tobacco in the hand, on the stick or in the barn.
 (2) Bruise by clamping tobacco under arm in harvesting.
 (3) Sit or ride on green tobacco leaves.
 (4) String tobacco more than 2 or 3 inches down on the
 stem or web.
 (5) Rush the curing process.
 (6) Harvest green tobacco. It is hard to find a home for
 green tobacco.
 (7) Permit harvested tobacco to lie or hang in the sun.
 (8) Bulk green tobacco for long periods of time, green
 tobacco heats very easily.