gshead
to stand upon during the operation of prizing. This must be
laid upon a solid foundation, levelled, upon hewn pieces of
wood as sleepers; and so grooved and perforated that any wet
or rain which may happen to fall upon the platform may run
off without injuring the tobacco. Blocks of wood are
prepared about two feet in length, and about three or four
inches in diameter, with a few blocks of greater dimensions,
for the purpose of raising the beam to a suitable purchase;
and a movable roof constructed of clap-boards nailed upon
pairs of light rafters, of sufficient size to shelter the
platform and hogshead, is made ready to place astride of the
beam, as a saddle is put upon a horse's back, in order to
secure the tobacco from the weather while it is subjected to
this tedious part of the process.

[Illustration: Prizing in olden times.]

"That part of the apparatus which is designed to manage and
give power to the lever is variously constructed: in some
instances two beams of timber about six feet long, and
squared to four by six inches, are prepared; through these,
by means of an auger hole, a sapling of hickory or other
tough wood, is respectively passed; and the root thereof
being formed like the head of a pin to prevent its slipping
through the hole, the sapling is bent like a bow, and the
other end is passed through the same piece of wood in a
reversed direction, in which position it is wedged. These
two bows are in this manner hung by the sapling loops upon
the end of the prize beam or lever; and loose planks or
slabs of about five or six feet long being laid upon these
suspended pieces of timber, a kind of hanging floor or
platform is constructed, upon which weights are designed to
act as in a scale. A pile of large stones are then carted to
the place, and a sufficient number of these are occasionally
placed upon this hanging platform, until the lever has
obtained precisely the power which the crop master wishes to
give it by this regulating medium.

"The prizing or packing by the old planters must have been a
tedious affair, and far different from the quick work made
by the screw-press now owned by all well to-do planters. The
size of the hogsheads containing the tobacco was regulated
by law to the standard of fo