February 3, 2010

I am a Mailbox member of the BELL COUNTY KY HOMEMAKERS. 
The program for January is on:   TOBACCO AND CANCER

" Most people want to quit smoking..the only legal product whose intended use is known to cause cancer...nicotine is as addictive as cocaine..acts on the brain and nervous system...creates a pleasant feeling that leaves the smoker wanting to smoke more...nicotine is a drug...risk of lung cancer not reduced among those smoking 'light cigarettes'...one in five deaths in the US caused by tobacco...smoking is the single most preventable cause of death in our nation"

Tobacco was a cash crop for many small and large farm enterprises following the Great Depression into the late 1980's  Growing up we knew that smoking and chewing tobacco was harmful to one's health.  Daddy forbade us to do it; and he didn't use tobacco. There was a popular song "Smoke, Smoke That Cigrarette" and I'm Just Driving Nails in My Coffin"  We knew that the Black Leaf 40 solution used on chicken roost was poisonous. But we did not have the scientific evidence that tobacco use was so dangerous.

Daddy had a small tobacco base on our farm.

Time to make the tobacco bed:  A suitable place might be a recently cleared new ground.  After plowing about a fifty' by five' area, piles of brush, stumps branches and wood scraps would be burned like a bonfire for several hours often overnight. When it had cooled the bed would be raked and cleared of all debris and raked until the area was soft and fine.  Then the very fine tobacco seed were  mixed with soil and fertilizer and broadcast over the bed. It had to be tamped to make the bed firm.  We often did this by carefully walking over the seed bed.

Daddy might plant tomato and cabbage seed at one end of the bed.  The weather was still freezing and cold at this time of year, so a cheese-cloth-like covering was used to protect the plants. This would not come off until the last frost had passed.

In late May or early June, the fields were plowed and raked and rows were laid off for the planting.  Freshly pulled plants were dropped about twenty inches apart.  Then they were watered and covered with firmly packed soil.  All the work was done by the family, including the children  Getting the plants in the ground was just the beginning!