This Month's Cover

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 94, Issue 3, 15 March 1957, Page 217

This Month's Cover

A scene during the harvesting of tobacco at Riwaka, Nelson, is the subject of this month's cover from a colour photograph by R. V. Francis Smith. The tobacco leaves are being tied on to sticks by seasonal workers. The sticks of leaves are then hung in a J(iln for curing and drying under carefully regulated temperatures. This process takes 5 to 6 days. Only a very small percentage of the leaf is now air-dried. Commercial tobacco growing has shown considerable progress since a Tobacco Board was formed in 1936 and production is now about 500,0001 b. annually. Mechanisation of the industry is increasing, but picking and tying of the leaf are still done by hand.

New Zealand Department of Agriculture HEAD OFFICE: Dominion Farmers’ Institute Building, Featherston Street, Wellington DIRECTOR-GENERAL: E. J. Fawcett ASSISTANT DIRECTOR-GENERAL: R. B. Tennent DIVISIONAL DIRECTORS: ’ Animal Industry . . J. E. Mcllwaine Animal Research . . . . J. F. Filmer Dairy . . .... . . H. A. Foy Extension P. W. Smallfield Horticulture . . . . A. M. W. Greig Editor: G. J, Neale