The following article appeared ih
the Greenville Daily Reflector. Th|e
article and the pictures used therein
i are used through courtesy of the
Reflector.
Since that Sumpter’s day 87 years
ago when Eli and Elisha Slade, twc
Person county farmers, dried tobac
co leaves with a wood fire and thus
began the production of flue-curdd
bright leaf tobacco, farmers from
Virginia to Florida have been striv
ing to find better and more economi
cal methods of curing their valuable
tobacco leaves for the auction mat
kets.
This year four Pitt county farmers
in cooperation with Assistant Agent
Sam J. Weeks are carrying out cur
ing experiments which may mean the
saving of thousands of dollars to to
bacco farmers of this area in the fu
ture.
The four farmers, W. Ray McLaw
hom of Ayden, J. C. Whitehurst of
Ayden and ,M. D. Moye and L. E.
Tumage of the Langs cross roads
community, have installed in their to
bacco bams a new type of controlled
ventilation which is designed to mote
exactly regulate the moisture in the
curing tobacco and cut fuel cost of
curing.
Until 1935 wood was the principal
fuel used in firing flue-cured tobacco
barns, but as the woods of the east
ern areas began to diminish, farmers
turned to oil and coal burners for to
t bacco barns.
In 1946, an extensive curing re
search program was begun by per
sonnel at Oxford^ agricultural experi
ment station. The tobacco specialists
began their research with a coal
stoker-equipped 16 x 16 foot barn
which had been properly insulated at
the top and on the sides to prevent
the escape of heat through the walls
and roof of the bam.
In this barn they installed at the
top a vent which could be opened and
shut to control the ventilation in the
bam. By making changes in the
vent at the top of the bam, the Ox
ford experimenters found that the
heat in the bam could be controlled
According to the moisture content o
the tobacco. Data kept on the cur
ing of tobacco in this barn show*
that the coal required to cure out th
bam was reduced from 2,4®*ound
to 820 pounds—a two-thirds deereas
in the amount of fuel required t
cure a bam of tobacco. The time re
quired for curing the bam of tobacq
was reduced from 115% hours t
95 hours and 5 minutes.
' In 1947 further curing experiment
were carried on at the station usiii;
both oil and coal as, fuel, and com
parable savings were shown in th
bams which were properly insulate
and ventilated.
fa 1948 the personnel at the Ox
fora experiment station1 took thei
curing ideas to the field on a fart
basis, and tested their method o
curing on farms in various section
of the state. The farm tests show
3S2****
' the vent and used no insulation in the
• bam.
I The Oxford type ventilator is con
i structed by building doors which will
i open and shut in the ridge of the
s bam. The doors are operated from
) the floor of the barn by levers or
■ cables, and can be opened or closed
) as is needed. By using this type of
> ventilation, .the entire bam may be
closed as soon as the danger of the
3 tobacco sponging has passed. With
r the bam closed tightly after the
- sponging stage is passed, considera
i ble fuel can be saved in the curing
1 process. i ‘ ’
_ When curing, the ridge vents are
- left entirely open until the leaves are
r partially dry. Approximately 36 per
\ cent of the moisture evaporates from
f the tobacco leaves in the yellowing
s stage of the curing. As soon as the
- leaf web is dry the ridge vents are
1' closed and remain closed until the
curing has been completed.
3 In order to keep a constant check
s of the exact percentage of moisture
I in the bam, the farmers conducting
5 the experiments use an instrument
known as the hygrometer. This con
sists of a wet-bulb and. a dry-bulb
thermometer, and a reading at any
given time will tell the farmer what
per cent of moisture is in the bam.
g Thus he can properly regulate the
„ vents of the bam.
“ H. D. Moye installed an Oxford
type ventilation in a 20 x 20 foot
. bam and insulated the sides and top
of the bam with fiber-glass mate
rial. Equipping the bam in thid
manner cost him approximately $150.
The first three bams of tobacco he
cured in this bam averaged 102 hours
and 20 minutes per barn. Each barn
averaged 923 sticks and the curing
has taken an average of 117.4 gallons
of oil for each of the three. The fuel
consumption has cost an average of
$14.08 per bam, or an average cost
of $1.62 per 100- sticks for curing the
three barns of tobacco. The fuel con
, sumption of the bams averaged 12.7
gallons per 100 sticks of tobacco.
J. C. Whitehurst, who has a farm
near Ayden, installed the Oxford type
ventilators in a 16 x 16 foot bam and
#1#
The inside of this tobacco ham on H. D. Moye’s farm has been insulated with a fiber-gfass insulation material,
This material holds the heat in the bam, and the Oxford type ventilator in the top of the barn controls the circula
tion of the heat in the bam and cuts curing time and the amount of fuel required; .The' dark pieces of cardboard
tacked to the insulation prevent the tobacco sticks from punching holes in the insulation. _ -
Telephone Business Office Will Be Closed
on Saturdays Beginning September 17th
Beginning’ Saturday, September 17th, the Telephone
Business. Office will be closed on Saturdays. This change
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has been decided upon after: giving fikll consideration to
insulated the top and sides of the
bam with siaalation type insulation
which consists of moisture proof
paper sprayed with powdered alumi
num. This silver-colored insulation
material serves to seal the barn and
also to reflect the heat from the oil
burners. Whitehurst spent approxi
mately $70 fixing the bam for con
trolled ventilated curing.
The first four bams averaged 608
.sticks of tobacco, the average curing
time was 101 hours and 28 minutes
per bam, and the average oil con
sumption' has been 90 gallons per
bam. The average cost of curing
tobacco has been $10.80 per bam for
Whitehurst, or an average cost of
$1.77 per 100 sticks of tobacco. The
insulated bam hks taken an average
of 14.6 gallons o foil per 100 sticks
of tobacco cured.
W. Ray McLawhom, who also lives
near Ayden, installed the ridge venti
lator in a 16 x 16 foot bam and in
sulated the roof and gable ends of
his bam with Kimsul type insulation.
■The body of the barn which was con
structed of heavy logs was left unin
sulated. The cost of filing the bam
was approximately $30.
The three bams cured in this bam
averaged 440 sticks per bam, aq aver
age of 81 gallons of oil was required
for an average fuel cost of $9.72 per
bam. Average curing time was 97
hours and 30 minutes. The average
oil consumption for the bam has been
18.2 gallons per 100 sticks at an
average cost of $2.20 per hundred
sticks.
L. E; Tumage of the Langs cross
roads community installed only the
Oxford type ventilator in one of bis
tobacco bams to determine what re
sults > could be obtained from curing
with the ventilators in an uninsulated
bam. Installing the insulators cost
Tumage approximately $15.
His first two curings in the bam
averaged 98 hours and 30 minutes
with an average of 549 sticks of to
bacco to the bam. The bam used an
average of 105 gallons of oil per cur
ing for an average fuel cost of $12.60
per bam or an average of 19.1 gal
lons per 100 sticks of tobacco for
an average cost of $2.30 per 100
sticks. «, *
Each of the {our ;bams -used in the
experiments this year in Pitt county
have shown an average curing cost
considerably under the state-wide
average which was secured in the
state field survey conducted in 1947
by tile personnel of the Oxford ex
periment station.
Using the same type of equipment
which the Pitt county farmers are
using, the state average -ftiel -con
sumption was 22.3 gallons of oil per1
100 sticks of tobacco, or’an average
curing cost of $2.36 per 100 sticks
of tobacco.
The average curing cost in the ex
in Pitt county
from an average of
sticks of tobacco to
of tobacco. The
the four ventila
ted barns in Pitt county, this year
show a fuel consumption of 16.1 gal
lons of oil per 100 sticks of tobacco
and an average cost pf $1.92 per 100
sticks of tobaece.
; Good Tobacco Obtained
In addition to cutting the cost of
curing operations, the pew curing
techniques which are being used by
these four farmers are showing good
results in the product of tobacco tak
en from the barra after the curing
The farmers have found that tobac
co cured by the new techniques is
equally as good as the tobacco which
is cured in the uninsulated bams with
old types of insulators.
Assistant Pitt county agent Sam J.
Weeks who helped the farmers fix
their bams for the new curing techni
ques and who has been compiling the1
information from the new type cur
ing commented, ‘The results from
these demonstrations indicate the
curing techniques used .by the re
search workers at the Oxford agri
cultural experiment station are ap
plicable to farming conditions in Pitt
county. It is also shown that consid
erable amounts of fuel can be saved
if farmers will make improvements
in their bams.
“It is realized from results of
these-demonstrations that neither in
sulation nor ventilation alone is the
ation through the bar a.
quality of the leaf cured
an, Weeks said, “Quality
i just as good from thefe
as from other barns on the
farms where other caring
ds have been used.”
bough many fanners are still
The county farm agent’s office has
had many inquiries about the ' new
curing techniques, and indications
from farmers in this area point to
the probability that many tobacco
barns will be insulated and equipped
with the new type ventilators before
the curing season rolls ground again.
From the outside this tobacco bam on H. E. Tu mage’s £arm near Langs
Crossroads looks about like, any other bam in Pitt county but on the inside
it has been equipped with new type ventilator which controls the moisture
and heat in the barn, and greatly reduces the amount of ;fuel required to
cure a bam of tobacco.
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.. *"7 • . -ZM-- ' I -~
It may look-odd from, this angle but this ridge ventilator in the top of a tobacco
is fast changing theiKMthod of tobacco curing. Th^Jimged trap door in the top of
closed from the barn floor by the lever arms attached. Hough insulation material tacked to the top of the bam
prevents heat from escaping and speeds up the curingprocess.
i is one of the type which
btpm can be opened and
i
'
SH &1
rua.like new ilyoti bring it