Transplanting tobacco to the field with a hand planter. 



growers of most crops to mechanize 

 and do less hand work, but with tobac- 

 co, almost every step to improve qua- 

 lity has called for more instead of less 

 hand labor. It takes approximately 440 

 man-hours of labor to produce, harvest 

 and market an acre of tobaccc^ of 

 which about 132 man-hours are account- 

 ed for in the harvesting. 



The laborious job of harvesting 

 flue-cured tobacco begins during the 

 latter part of June in Southeastern 

 North Carolina and continues thn3ugh 

 the middle of September in the Pied- 

 mont section of the State. In harvest- 

 ing flue-cured tobacco, each leaf has 

 to be primed individually as they ma- 

 ture and ripen. This is accomplished 

 by priming the crop over each week, 

 pulling 2 to 4 leaves from each plant 

 every week, depending upon the ripe- 

 ness of the leaves. As the leaves are 

 piimed, they are put in narrow sleds 

 which are pulled between the rows. 

 When a sled has been filled it is car- 



Cultivation 



Growing good tobacco is a highly 

 specialized business which is guided 

 largely through experience and re- 

 search. Tobacco is a clean cultivated 

 crop which requires a large amount of 

 fertilizer, 800 to 2,000 pounds per acre, 

 and much hard work. Cultivation of 

 the crop is started soon after the 

 plants are set in the field. The rows 

 of tobacco are harrowed or plowed from 

 3 to 5 times, during the first 5 or 6 

 weeks after transplanting, to keep the 

 grass and weeds down, and to loosen 

 the soil and push it to the tobacco 

 plants. The last plowing, known, as 

 "laying the crop by," is usually done 

 about the time the plants are knee 

 high. 



A few weeks after the crop has 

 been "laid by" the plants of tobacco 

 begin to bloom. These blooms are bro- 

 ken out so that the top leaves on the 

 plants will develop^ 



There are njany insects and pests 

 that prey on tobacco during the grow- 

 ing season, which must be kept under 

 control or the crop of tobacco will be 

 destroyed. Growers have^o spray and 

 dust their tobacco with poisons several 

 times dbring the growing and harvesting 

 season to keep these insects and pests 

 under control. 



Harvesting 



Harvesting tobacco is one of the 

 most laborious tasks that exists in 

 Morth Carolina, and probably in the 

 United States. Competition has forced 



eit 



^^V. 



Tobocco fields are plowed to keep grass down and to push dirt to the plants. 



A field of tobacco in full bloom i 



be topped. 



