ured, and they at once develop to the largest
possible size. The leaves ripen sooner if the plant is topped, while
the quality is much better. There are various methods of topping as
well as different periods. Some growers top the plant as soon as the
capsules appear, while others wait until the plants are in full
blossom. If topped before the plants have come into blossom, the
operation should be performed as soon as possible, as a longer time
will be required for the leaves to grow and ripen than when topping is
delayed until the plants are in blossom. In the Connecticut valley
most growers wait until the blossoms appear before breaking off the
top. Topping must not be delayed after the blossoming, in order that
all danger from an untimely frost may be avoided. The top may be
broken off with the hand or cut with a knife, the latter being the
better as well as the safer way. Sometimes the rain soaks into the
stalk, rotting it so that the leaves fall off, injuring them for
wrappers. Top the plants at a regular height, leaving from nine to
twelve leaves, so that the field will look even, and also make the
number of leaves to a plant uniform. Late plants may be topped with
the rest or not, at the option of the grower. This mode of topping
refers more particularly to cigar rather than cutting leaf. Those
varieties of tobacco adapted for cutting leaf should be topped as soon
as the button appears; top low, thereby throwing the strength of the
stalk into a few leaves, making them large and heavy. The number of
leaves should not exceed fourteen. Let it stand from five to six weeks
after it is topped. The object in letting it stand so long after
topping is to have it thoroughly ripe. This gives it the bright, rich,
golden color, entirely different from cigar leaf, but very desirable
for chewing leaf. On account of the length of time it must stand after
topping, it is desirable to take that which has been topped early, in
order to have it ripen, and get it in before a freeze, although ripe
tobacco is not injured by cold nights, and will sometimes stand even
an ordinary frost.

The manner of topping in Virginia by the first planters in the colony,
is thus described:--

"This operation, simply, is that of pinching off with the
thumb nail[78] the leading stem or sprout of the plant,
which would, if left alone, run up to flower and seed; but
which, from the more substantial formation of the leaf by
the h