elp of the nutritive juices, which are thereby afforded
to the lower parts of the plant, and thus absorbed through
the ducts and fibres of the leaf, is rendered more weighty,
thick, and fit for market."

[Footnote 78: Many of the Virginians let the thumb nail
grow long, and harden it in the candle, for this
purpose: not for the use of gouging out people's eyes,
as some have thought fit to insinuate.]

Now the custom is to top for shipping from eight to ten leaves, for
coal-curing from ten to twelve, according in both cases to strength of
soil and time of doing the work.

In Mexico "as soon as the buds begin to show themselves the top is
broken off. Not more than from eight to ten leaves are left on the
plant, without counting the sand-leaf, which is thrown away," and
destroyed in the same manner as the Dutch are said to do of spies. In
some countries the plants are not topped at all, and the leaves are
left upon the stalk until fully ripe, when they are picked.

The next labor following the topping of the plants is called

SUCKERING.

Immediately after topping the plants, shoots or sprouts make their
appearance at the base of the leaves where they join the parent stalk.
They are known by the name of suckers and the removal of them by
breaking them off is called suckering. At first the suckers make their
appearance at the top of the plants at the base of the upper leaves,
and then gradually appear farther down on the stalk until they are
found at the very root of the plant. The plants should be suckered
before the shoots are tough, when they will be removed with
difficulty, frequently clinging to both stalk and leaf, thereby
injuring the latter, as the leaf very often comes off with the sucker
if the latter is left growing too long. The plants should be kept
clean of them and especially at the time of harvesting.

An old writer on tobacco says of Suckers and Suckering:--

"The sucker is a superfluous sprout which is wont to make
its appearance and shoot forth from the stem or stalk, near
to the junction of the leaves with the stem, and about the
root of the plant and if these suckers are permitted to
grow, they injure the marketable quality of the tobacco by
compelling a division of its nutriment during the act of
maturation. The planter is therefore careful to destroy
these intruders with the thumb-