K 



lue- cured gets a start 



After the turn of the century the cotton industry 

 found itself in jeopardy due to the devastating onslaught 

 of the boll weevil, a destructive insect that had already 

 ruined millions of dollars worth of Southern cotton. This 

 was really the catalytic factor that helped generate the 

 flue-cured tobacco industry in Georgia. Without cotton 

 as a key source of income, Georgia farmers were lost. 

 The boll weevil hadn't hit the state full strength yet, but 

 many far-sighted tobacco promoters knew well what 

 was in store for the cotton industry. With a thriving 

 tobacco crop, the farmers could rebound from any losses 

 incurred by the boll weevil. It was the job of these 

 pioneers in Georgia tobacco growth to prove that good 

 quality and marketable tobacco could be produced in 

 the state. 



In 1892, H. H. and W. O. Tift of Tifton set out 50 

 acres of flue-cured tobacco. With the help of W. H. 

 Snow, a North Carolinian who developed a special 

 "Snow" tobacco curing process, they harvested and 

 cured the first successful Bright tobacco crop in the 

 state. Coincidentally, the very same land the Tifts used 

 to plant their tobacco is now the site of the Georgia 

 Coastal Plains Experiment Station. In fact, one of the 

 Tifts' original curing barns still stands and is being used 

 as a storage house. 



In 1909, there was an attempt to establish an auction 

 market in Pierce County, but the prices were too low 

 and it failed. By 1910 tobacco was being cultivated in 

 Coffee, Effingham and many other Georgia counties, but 

 all of it had to be marketed in the Carolinas. 



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