Newspapers / Jones County Journal (Trenton, … / July 15, 1965, edition 1 / Page 1
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'acing Revolutionary Changes In the past 30 years — since the invention of the first suc cessful oil-burning tobacco cur er — there have been many changes in the job of converting the tiny tobacco seed into the aromatic weed leaf that winds up in the tobacco hogshead. There is some body of evidence to indicate that other, and more radical changes are not too far away in this growing, harvest ing and curing end of one of our nation’s oldest business. All tobacco farmers who keep in fairly constant touch with their industry are aware of the continuing efforts that have been made in the general direction of bulk curing. So far no sys tem that is economically and mechanically feasible has been found. Some ways have been found that cure tobacco as well as the old fashioned curing barn, and just as economically, but tobac co is basically a crop of small acreage for the vast majority of those engaged in its growth. This tends to hinder most of the bulk curing systems that have been put on the market up until now. The tobacco harvester has been with us for many years now, and mahy improvements have been made in the original design of these gadgets that crawl through the field, collect ing the ripened leaves of tobac co. Oil, coal, natural gas and bot tled gas have practically elimi nated the original curing system which included wood by the cord and heavy brick furnaces that required almost constant tending, and mending. Nearly all of the major tobac co manufacturing companies have their own experimental farms. One of the largest of these is at Merry Hill in Bertie County. It is owned by R. J. Reynolds Company of Winston Salem. For more than four years this largest cigaret manufacturer has been pouring money into this farm, while keeping the tightest kind of security wrap on what it was seeking to do with its experiments. Some newsmen say it’s far easier to get into Cape Kennedy than into Reynolds’ Merry Hill Farm. But despite fences, guards and tight-lipped officials there are some aspects of this experimen tation that the Reynolds folks cannot cover completely. Among these is its importa tion of vast amounts of electri cal equipment and the mainte nance of a staff of electronics engineers. Also it is no secret that they have been working closely with both private and government geneticists in an effort to de velop a flue-cured tobacco va riety that will ripen all the way from the lugs to the tips at the same time. Dr. Hoyt Rogers, vice presi dent of the Coker Seed Compa ny, at Hartsville, S. C. told a Lenoir County group last month that his company already had numerous varieties of tobacco that would ripen all the way up the stalk at the same time. Dr. Rogers also said his com pany had provided at least four of the major tobacco manufac turers with these types of seed, and was working closely with them in this direction. Dr Rogers said that among these experiments in test plots was mechanical cutting of root structure at a given point in the growth, but he admitted that this presented quite a prob lem under many field conditions and was less practical where stones and other foreign mat ter made such an operation more difficult and in some areas impossible. Putting tobacco varieties that ripen all the way up the stalk at the same time together with vast collection of electronical equipment and electronic en gineers adds up very quickly to once-over harvesting and cus tom curing. When enough brains, enough money and enough time are spent on this combination a break-through is inevitable, and some say very near at hand. Others say the tobacco man ufacturers are near that point where they will deliver a spec ific type of seed to a selected group of farmers and either con tract for their whole crop or agree to pay a premium for its delivery. This is nothing new in agri business circles since many pro cessors of agricultural products have been doing this for a very long time to assure the particu lar type and quantities that they need for their sales com mitments. No one would suggest that this is something that will hap pen to next yar’s crop, but the day is not so far off when flue cured tobacco will be harvested like burley tobacco, cured in ei their centralized plants or on mobile units, whichever is prov en to be most practical and of fers the greatest economy. The savings to the farmer is obvious, providing the curing costs can be kept even with what it is today per pound of tobacco, and there is a strong likelihood that it will be much less when done on a great vol ume basis. Elimination of auction sales houses will obviously hurt the handful of operators of these in each community, but the sav ings to be earned by either or both the grower and the manu facturer are equally obvious. Putting tobacco in this cate gory will make it comparable to corn; as a crop that can be grown and harvested mechan ically. :THE JONES COUNTY JOURNAL NUMBER 9 TRENTON, N. C., THURSDAY, JULY 15, 1965 VOLUME XVH Tobacco Trucking Another Profession Hit by Automation This happy young man belongs to a- profession that with many another is suffering from the spread of automation to tfie tobacco fields. He' was captain of the ship that sailed between the waving fields of tobacco'and the home port on the shady side of the curing barn. He was not bound to the back-breaking lot of croppers in the field, nor the tedious handing to the loopers at the barn. He, the, horse, the mule and the unique “truck” he captained are fast becoming a cherished memory, and there are indications that his professioh will soon join that of the buggy Tobacco Barning No Longer That Time Of Toil and Frolic of A Generation Ago By Jack Rider Once upon a time “puttin’ in bacco” was a lot of fun. For some it still may be, but nothing like it was in those tight, tired times between the two World Wars when tobacco was just a part of Eastern North Carolina farm life and not the shaggy tail that wagged the en tire farm dog. The rich, sweet smell of oak logs sending their heat through the thick-walled furnace to yel low and dry the long leaves hanging in the barn. That is one small part of “puttin’ in time” that’s gone forever. The women around the loop ing horses under the shelter by the barns, with the old folks and children “handing” off the truck as the squeak-squeak of tightened leaves punctuated the stories, the ribbings and the dreams of “selling time” were told and re-told. . . The clop-clop of the horse or mule as he was guided in with a fresh load of the gum my leaves; presided over by the luckiest of the youngsters who was doing the “trucking.” He was not only the engineer, conductor and fireman aboard that creaky four-wheeled tobac co express, but was also the news media who commuted be tween the men, cropping in the fields and the luckier ones in the shade around the barn. He told the field hands how long it was before dinner, how many sticks were hung, and brought along jars of cool wat er to replace the sweat pouring from their bodies. From the fields he brought to the barn predictions about how many more truckloads would “get over,” and if he were a top “trucker” in. the worst of the afternoon heat he’d bring in a watermelon or two that had been cooling in the creek; wait ing to make its contribution to the workday. And then when the last gum my load came wobbling to the barn, the tired men came to josh the women and children and begin the even hotter job of transferring the sticky stuff from the hanging racks to the curing barn. The spread-eagle stance of the men on the tier-poles, with sweat running down their legs to drip on those below. And with the barn full came a collective sign of relief and a huge supper with mountains of ' tender fresh vegetables, crusty cornbread, buckets of tea and lemonade, with huge chunks of crystal-clear ice from the old ice box. And then at night, in the glow of oak logs and a smoky kerosene lantern around the barn tender ears of corn were roasted, for dessert and fantas tic tales were told about the graveyard by the road, to crowd the small ones closer to the light. And when the last barn of the season had been filled and the fires started the big black pot was scrubbed and polished and children were busy running down fat hens while the women rolled out stacks of “pastry” for the stew that always marked the end of barning. Today some of this remains, but not much. Spindly looking praying man tis machinery chugs slowly through the fields, with the loop ers and hangers and pilot on the hurricane deck and the croppers swinging from bucket seats in the hot shade of crowd ed alleys. There is talk as there was be fore, but it muted in deference to the mixture; where before it was more racy in the fields and at the barn. There is still good country eat ing — but not at the barn — which smells of kerosene or bot tled gas and is deserted except for occasional checks by the man who has that responsibili ty. Forty years ago tobacco was farming. Today it is a big, com plex business, involving expen sive machinery, high-priced fer {tilizer, curing equipment and even more expensive labor. Farmers make more money from it today, but they had a helluva lot more fun with it way back then . . .
Jones County Journal (Trenton, N.C.)
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July 15, 1965, edition 1
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