Tobacco Farming in Kentucky

[Buzz Saw]

The following is my life growing up on a Kentucky tobacco farm. It is a little lengthy, so I'll have to post it in a few sections. Hope you enjoy.

Having been raised on a Kentucky tobacco farm in the 60's, 70's and early 80's, this is my account of the heyday of the King of Crops, Kentucky air cured white burley tobacco. In this time frame, and for many generations before, tobacco was King. Tobacco kept the doors open and the lights on. Small town USA at its finest. Tobacco was the grocery store, the schools, the barber shop, shoe store, car dealer, farm equipment dealer, and yes, even the churches. Practically every dollar, not all, we and some others, were also dairy farmers, but by and large tobacco was king. It kept the small towns and even the larger cities in business. Now the little towns, the schools and churches at the crossroads are boarded up. The equipment dealers are gone, the car dealers likewise. All gone, victims of change, never to return.



My family and most others in this part of northeastern Kentucky, were tobacco farmers. Proud individuals one and all. Knowledgeable, hard working men who learned from their fathers and grandfathers, but who also were not afraid to try new methods as they learned themselves. These are persons of education, men and women of schooling, some with minimal formal education, some with high school and college degrees in agriculture, agronomy, business, and more. All with an education passed on to them from their ancestors, and all with an education in the school of hard knocks. Not only the men or patriarchs if you will, but the women too. Even the children, we were tobacco, that's what we knew. Generations before us were tobacco men and generations after us would be tobacco men. That's what my generation thought, we were wrong.



Kentucky burley is labor intensive. The crop year starts in March or early May, tobacco beds were burnt. This is the process of just what it sounds like. All year, every scrap piece of wood, tree branch, coal, etc. is saved, to be part of a roaring hot fire to be drug along a strip of ground about eight feet wide and as long as necessary in order to sterilize the soil. That is to kill dormant weed seeds in the ground that would compete with young tobacco seedlings. Tobacco seeds are broadcast in this “bed” and covered with thin cotton coverings to be tended, watered and weeded (a dreadful job). This process changed in the 70's, first to eliminate “burning plant beds” and instead used a chemical fumigant to sterilize the soil. Still later, the process was eliminated entirely in favor of plants grown in pods in greenhouses.

 

[Buzz Saw]

The fall of the year before, or spring of the current year the fields were plowed, then disced, drug and prepared for transplanting from the plant beds to the prepared fields in rows. The young plants, now about five or six inches long, were pulled from the beds, placed in bundles and transplanted in rows in the field, this is in late May, early June. Youngsters, seven, eight, ten years old, along with the adults, can all be used here. A young person, even at the ages mentioned above, can get a great sense of accomplishment because they know and can sense that they are a contributing factor to the families livelihood.



All through the above processes, and really at all times, the tobacco is tender and susceptible to disease, insects, too much water, not enough water, hailstorms, and on and on. Great care is taken of these plants, it is not a plant and forget type thing, although some things are up to Mother Nature. Now that plants are in the field, weed control is paramount. Every weed is robbing water and nutrients from the tobacco plant. Several cultivations, that is, going between the rows with a small tractor equipped with cultivators, or small shovel type attachments are done until the plant leaves are big enough to shade the ground. Many trips with a hoe are done, walking between the rows and hoeing out weeds between the plants. It seems to be a never ending battle fighting weeds. Once the plant is of size to shade the ground, the cultivation and hoeing stop but the constant inspection for disease, some of which are black shank and blue mold among others, insects, worms, aphids, etc., etc., continues. Treatments exist for some things, prevention and good management rule the day. Hopefully Mother Nature is kind and provides rain when needed, wind storms and hail storms can decimate a crop in seconds. I personally have seen wind and hail strip every leaf off a field and leave nothing but a bare stalk, total loss. Yes it does take a lot of faith to be a farmer, there are a lot of things that one can't control, and it is probably good we can't control it all. Farmers learn quick that they are just the caretaker, Someone else is really in charge.



In mid August the hopefully healthy plant will begin to flower, this is the plant trying to reproduce. Future leaf growth will stop because the plant is focusing on reproduction. This flower must be removed which will allow for the leaves, which is what we're after, to continue to grow and get thicker. Walking through the rows the top several inches of the plant is removed by hand, this is called “topping.” No problems here, right? It is really not a bad job. But wait, when the flower is removed, within a few days the plant will grow what is called “suckers”. These are tough unwanted growths that appear at the junction of the leaves and main stalk. They will curtail leaf growth and make the crop absolutely dreadful foe future handling. They must be removed. The old way was to walk each row and cut them out with a “sucker knife”. This had to be done several times as more suckers appeared. Rough work it is. In the late 60's or early 70's a chemical was developed to spray the plants after topping, thus no sucker growth occurred. I am not sure about chemicals on a crop for human consumption, it is said to be safe, but do we really know for sure. At any rate it is a boon to tobacco growers to eliminate the absolutely hateful job of suckering tobacco.



About three weeks after topping, the leaves are as thick and large as they will ever be and the leaves are turning from green to yellow. The tobacco is ripe for harvest. Plants will be about shoulder high. More work is ready to commence. Time to cut the tobacco and hang in the barns for air curing. Many a boy has become a man cutting and housing (hanging in the barn) tobacco. Plants are cut one at a time with a tobacco knife, also called a tomahawk, and speared through the main stalk on a split hickory stick, cut for this purpose. Depending on the farmer, his customs and barn space available, either five or six stalks of tobacco are speared onto one stick. There is an art to this and men take great pride in their ability. Sticks are dropped between the first two rows to be cut, laid end to end as one carries a bundle of sticks and walks between the rows. How big a bundle of sticks to carry to get to the other end? One needs enough to get to the end of the row but not so many as to have a lot of extra as they will have to eventually be picked up. Once the stick row is dropped, cutting can begin. Pick up a stick and stick it in the ground at about a 45 degree angle or maybe slightly straighter. Place spear, which looks like a small sharp pointed metal funnel, on the top of the stick. Grab top of plant in left hand, cut stalk off at ground level with tomahawk in right hand, grab bottom of plant with right hand, and “spear” stalk about a third of the way up from the bottom on to stick. Do this all the while not dropping your tomahawk, not breaking off leaves and please don't spear yourself in the cheek. Repeat five or six times, now you have cut your first “stick” of tobacco. Excellent tobacco men can cut 800 to 1000 sticks a day, that is 5 to 6000 plants...in late August heat and sun. Boys become men. The sound of cutting and spearing are unforgettable, as I write this I can still hear it, beautiful, like music.

 

[Buzz Saw]

After a period of time, one to three days, depending on conditions, the tobacco, now cut and speared on sticks is loaded on wagons and hauled to the barns for hanging and curing. More labor as wagons are loaded and then unloaded in the barns. The process goes like this...full wagon in barn, the barn is made up of rails, placed several feet apart, usually four layers high but sometimes as many a six, depending on the individual barn. Men stand on every other rail, man on wagon hands a stick of tobacco to man on first rail who spreads the stalks evenly on the stick and “shakes out” the stick to get the leaves hanging evenly to allow as much air flow around plant as possible. Next stick from wagon gets handed up as before, only now the first man hands stick to man above, who hangs his rail. Each man will hang two rails, the one he is standing on and the one directly above that. Repeat as necessary, hanging and handing up every other stick, or third stick if the barn is six rails high. This is probably something that one would need to see to understand how it works.



There is an art and science to properly curing tobacco. This is air cured, no heat involved. The barn shutters are managed during the curing process depending on conditions to achieve proper air flow and thus proper curing of the leaf. During this time of curing the leaf will change color from greenish yellow to golden brown or red. When the leaves are cured, around eight to twelve weeks, depending on weather conditions, temperature, humidity, etc., the tobacco is ready to be “taken down” and stripped.



The tobacco can only be handled now in periods of high humidity, in order to soften the leaves to avoid crumbling. This is called being “in case”. When the tobacco is cured and in case, it can be removed from the rails, dropped in piles and the sticks removed, now the process of “stripping” is upon us. This involves stripping or removing the leaves from the stalk. Once again the whole family is involved. When I was on the farm we stripped in three grades, the bottom third, more or less, is called trash, this is lesser quality leaf, the middle third is lugs, which are the thick, heavy leaves, and the top third, called tips or red, due to the reddish color and smaller, tip shaped leaves. The leaves are stripped in grades as above, kept separate and tied in “hands”, which is a fist sized bundle of leaves secured with a leaf from the same bundle. These hands of tobacco were placed in large baskets for delivery to the auctions. In later years the leaves were baled in an air operated baler to make a bale that weighed around 80 to 100 pounds.



I mentioned the auction. Finally payday. This would be late November to mid January. The completed crop is transported to a warehouse, where it is placed in rows with other farmers tobacco. Each basket of leaf is graded for quality and auctioned to the tobacco companies. Ligget and Meyers, Reynolds, American, Southwestern and others at that time. Several of these companies are gone now, as is the auction system. Now the grower contracts with the buyer before the growing season. The leaf was sold by the hundredweight to the highest bidder, although some said the process was rigged. I have seen a buyer from one company buy every bit of tobacco in the warehouse one day, while all the rest had their hands in their pockets. The next day another company would do the same. Makes one wonder.



I hope you enjoyed my ramblings, this was written out of respect for those men and women who raised the crop and supported their families. I'm proud to have had the opportunity to be a small part of it. It made me who I am today.

 

[username]

Thank you for posting this. It was interesting to hear a first hand account of it.

 

[OzPiper]

Thank you for your excellent in-depth firsthand account of tobacco farming and processing.

I have driven through northern Victoria (Oz) for many years. The flat plains were the heartland of the Australian tobacco and hops industry. Alas no more. Derelict tobacco barns still dot the landscape.

In their place are vineyards - Increasing in acreage year by year. At least, agriculture is still the prime occupation there.

 

[Ahi Ka]

Beautiful retelling of your memories. Thank you for sharing.

 

[Chasing Embers]

From 13 to 17, been there. You brought back a lot of memories.

 

[JOHN72]

Thank you, sir, for this beautiful narrative. I love these stories about tobacco and the people who lived those experiences.

 

[newbroom]

You may have answered some questions about the continuity of quality as farming methods have changed and become more chemically and technologically dependent.

 

[Toast]

I really enjoyed reading that. Thank you.

 

[OldWill]

Great story! Great memories for me, too. Although not a tobacco farmer, I grew up on a Missouri grain and livestock farm where much work was unmechanized, and Grandpa didn't believe in chemical answers. Yes, boys become men. In the fields was where I wanted to be.

 

[makhorkasmoker]

Thank you so much for this story. The history of air curing fascinates me and I’m always looking for new accounts of it. So it was a real treat to read this morning.
One thing I wonder about is the fermentation of the dark burley or upper leaves. So these were never piled and allowed to ferment, sorta like cigar tobacco?

 

[scloyd]

Great read, very interesting. Thanks for posting.

 

[bullet08]

One of my friends grew up in tobacco field. He used to say that's the main reason why he doesn't smoke. After working on the field, his hands will be covered in tar. NC still has small fields here and there. Sort of like waking up at 0400 to assemble NY Times. That's why I never read newspapers.

 

[jttnk]

Thanks for sharing, great read. Curious, what types of tobacco did you grow? All one kind, or different varieties? We’re these for cigar, cigarette, pipe, chew, or all of the above? Or, is that irrelevant, the buyers used the same tobacco in different products.

 

[Ag®o]

Thank you for this beautiful story of yours, mine was a peasant family and I remember the effort, the sacrifices, and unfortunately sometimes the compromised crops.
There is a temper of steel in these people.

 

[Buzz Saw]

Thank you so much for this story. The history of air curing fascinates me and I’m always looking for new accounts of it. So it was a real treat to read this morning.
One thing I wonder about is the fermentation of the dark burley or upper leaves. So these were never piled and allowed to ferment, sorta like cigar tobacco?

Not by the grower, I really don't know how the leaf was handled after it was sold.

 

[Buzz Saw]

Thanks for sharing, great read. Curious, what types of tobacco did you grow? All one kind, or different varieties? We’re these for cigar, cigarette, pipe, chew, or all of the above? Or, is that irrelevant, the buyers used the same tobacco in different products.

We grew Kentucky Burley. I was always told it was for cigarette but I am not sure. I do know the companies that bought it were involved in cigarette manufacture. They may have had other products as well but I am sure a lot went to cigarette production.

 

[Casual]

Interesting. Where I grew up in Canada the job that paid well to the teenagers was priming, where you pick off leaves as the plants are still growing. It looks like you guys didn’t do that.

 

[FurCoat]

Thank you for writing this account of your upbringing. I live in North Carolina and have seen the slow decline of tobacco here. I too have worked tobacco in my youth and am grateful for the experience. Around here it was a right of passage. The largest auction house in the world at the time was in Smithfield right next to Mark Ryans old place. My wife worked tobacco in Tennessee. Last year I posted pictures of the tobacco fields surrounding my house. Brings a smile to my face when the tobacco season starts around here. Again, thank you, it brought back some really good memories.