some of the finest are used as wrappers— but, for the 

 most part, binders now come from reconstituted tobacco 

 sheets. 



This is the result of a technological development, per- 

 fected about a dozen }'ears ago. The process takes sound 

 tobacco, much of it formerly impractical for use in 

 cigars, and converts it into a flat sheet from which 

 binders of correct size are cut. Natural binder types, 

 according to the Department of Agriculture, go princi- 

 pally into a form of chewing tobacco. A considerable 

 part of Connecticut Valle\- binder leaf has been ex- 

 ported annuall)-. Tobacco accounted for around 6 per- 

 cent of tlie casli receipts from Massachusetts field crops 

 in 1970. 



N 



ature's aides 



Making a crop of tobacco, any tobacco, means a 

 routine of exacting labor that takes most of each \'ear. 

 Whole families are frequently inxolved in the prepara- 

 tion of fields, cultivation, harvesting, curing, and pack- 

 ing for deli\'ery to warehouses. On many farms there 

 will be other crops as well, together witli dair\'ing and 

 care of livestock. 



For the most part binder tobacco farms in Massachu- 

 setts are small, the average being four or five acres. The 

 plants of the binder type, variously referred to as "out- 

 door," "open field," or "sun-grown," are cut down, stalk 

 and all, when mature. The stalks are then speared onto 

 sticks in groups of five or six plants, and after lying on 

 the ground long enough to wilt, are removed to barns 

 for air curing. 



