Topping And Suckering Tobacco

[redeli]

I cropped tobacco on foot,then on string harvester,and on buck harvester.. enjoyed every minute of it... especially string harvester if you had a good looking gal stringing for you

 

[Jethro8410]

Yep, I have seen that as well. Lots of ole farm folks chewed tobacco and dipped snuff. If you got stung by a wasp or yellow jacket one of the men that had a chaw would grab you and put some tobacco spittal on the sting. It did help or it seemed to.

I still do this. I put some on my 5yo lil girls arm last week

 

[WaltL1]

I'm not talking about sitting on a tractor baling hay. I'm talking about walking through the field as fast as you can in 90 degree heat chunking 100-lb bales on the back of a truck one after another, then packing it into the oven-like barn, and winding up covered in hay stuck to your sweat down inside your clothes. Seemed like too, you were always putting it up while a big black cloud of a thunderstorm was brewing on the horizon, and they would be hollering at you the hurry! hurry!

Our process was - the square baler was connected to the tractor and the stacking wagon (long flatbed on wheels) was connected to the square bailer. 2 guys stood on the stacking wagon and as the bales came up the chute from the square bailer, you grabbed them and turned around and stacked them up.
Was tough but your way sounds alot more back breaking.

 

[NCHillbilly]

Our process was - the square baler was connected to the tractor and the stacking wagon (long flatbed on wheels) was connected to the square bailer. 2 guys stood on the stacking wagon and as the bales came up the chute from the square bailer, you grabbed them and turned around and stacked them up.
Was tough but your way sounds alot more back breaking.

Some of the hayfields around here were so steep that you had to walk beside the baler and catch the bales as they came out so that they didn't roll off down the hill into the creek.

 

[Artfuldodger]

This one is older`n I am. Should probably be in an Old South museum.






View attachment 1044163

I'd never seen one of those.

 

[Artfuldodger]

I cropped tobacco on foot,then on string harvester,and on buck harvester.. enjoyed every minute of it... especially string harvester if you had a good looking gal stringing for you

I remember my eyes being about level with their knees,lol. The other kind with the stringers up top was OK during the hot pants era. Not quite as fun though.

 

[WaltL1]

Some of the hayfields around here were so steep that you had to walk beside the baler and catch the bales as they came out so that they didn't roll off down the hill into the creek.

We didnt have to deal with "steep". We were basically at the bottom of a valley topography wise. Just unbelievable solid black, rich soil.

 

[NCHillbilly]

We didnt have to deal with "steep". We were basically at the bottom of a valley topography wise. Just unbelievable solid black, rich soil.
View attachment 1044465

That's some pretty farmland. Where is that?

 

[WaltL1]

Conne

That's some pretty farmland. Where is that?

Connecticut River Valley.
Otherwise known as "The Type of Yankee Land Not Alot of People Think About When You Hear Yankee Land"

 

[Artfuldodger]

Conne

Connecticut River Valley.
Otherwise known as "The Type of Yankee Land Not Alot of People Think About When You Hear Yankee Land"

They grew "Shade" tobacco, I've read about that. Has anyone ever grew with that system?

Color postcard shows a typical Connecticut River Valley shade tobacco farm scene. Wooden tobacco sheds line one side of a dirt lane opposite an extensive field of nearly full grown shade tobacco plants under cloth netting.

 

[WaltL1]

That's some pretty farmland. Where is that?

Oh and I know you are into Native American stuff.....
The locals were the Podunk. A camp with cooking pits etc was found right down the street from me when I was a kid.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podunk_people

 

[WaltL1]

They grew "Shade" tobacco, I've read about that. Has anyone ever grew with that system?

Color postcard shows a typical Connecticut River Valley shade tobacco farm scene. Wooden tobacco sheds line one side of a dirt lane opposite an extensive field of nearly full grown shade tobacco plants under cloth netting.

Most of the farms grew shade grown. Different type of tobacco. I just always worked at a broadleaf farm which was out in the open.

 

[Artfuldodger]

Grown in the northern state of Connecticut, Connecticut Shade is agreed as the best wrapping leaf available. The state of Connecticut has great soil for growing tobacco. “The Valley has been producing tobacco for more than 300 years.

Looks like they grew some in Georgia.

"Tobacco growth and exports really exploded in the region with the introduction of the railroad into the small town of Havana in 1902. This region of Florida, along with a few others in Connecticut and southern Georgia, were once responsible for close to 95 percent of the nation’s shade tobacco production."

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/shade-tobacco-museum

 

[Artfuldodger]

Shade Tobacco in Connecticut is cured in unheated sheds and barns.

 

[WaltL1]

Grown in the northern state of Connecticut, Connecticut Shade is agreed as the best wrapping leaf available. The state of Connecticut has great soil for growing tobacco. “The Valley has been producing tobacco for more than 300 years.

Looks like they grew some in Georgia.

"Tobacco growth and exports really exploded in the region with the introduction of the railroad into the small town of Havana in 1902. This region of Florida, along with a few others in Connecticut and southern Georgia, were once responsible for close to 95 percent of the nation’s shade tobacco production."

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/shade-tobacco-museum

You could drop an anvil in that dirt and a anvil tree would grow. The kind of dirt a farmer dreams about.