TOBACCO VALLEY

[Music] [Applause] [Applause] this is the Connecticut River Valley USA a valley food shared in the first of the nation in which today is the background for a most remarkable agricultural enterprise tobacco is grown in even the remote corners of the earth but the story of tobacco Valley is more than the raising of a crop or this is a story of human progress and a never ending battle with nature an agricultural development less than a half a century old which today produces the finest cigar wrapper tobacco raised in America have you ever noticed the smooth brown outside wrapper of a fine cigar chances are it was made from the mild and delicately flavored tobacco leans grown right here in tobacco valley leaves which wrap eight of every 10 cigar smoked in america today belong and even a pleasant aroma and fine taste which men look forward in a smoke for all products of just the right soil and junk oil and just the right plant tobacco Valley has that soil through some quirk of nature a strip of land 20 miles wide and less than 75 miles long it's the only place in America where just the right qualifications are found nowhere else has it been possible to duplicate the superior quality of the Connecticut Valley meet the climate of tobacco Valley is another thing typical New England climate which varies from day to day an hour to hour not ideal conditions for tobacco which requires weather both humid and tempers topical weather to be exact Mark Twain's lived in the valley once remarked that everybody talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it the farmers along the Connecticut River and climate they said why bring that climate to the valley and bring it they did by covering thousands of acres of land loosely woven cotton cloth the world's largest air-conditioning system underneath the acres of billowing cloth the tobacco leaves are shielded from the burning rays of the Sun in a man-made tropical climate they grow to be the fine cigar wrapper which brings buyers from all over the continent to this little strip of land called tobacco Connecticut is not considered an agricultural state in connection with this area we think of insurance and busy factories turning out products which range watches to airplane where then will the shade farmers of the valley find the thousands of agricultural workers which are necessary to raise nine thousand acres that she's grown tobacco where will they find men to raise and set the posts for the tents where will they find Plowman who will take care of the thousands of seedling plants where will workers be obtained to pull the plants from the bed and in the busy harvest where can more and still more ends be found the answer to these questions once more the shade drawers found the solution the farmers are lucky to have most of the workers living right in tobacco Valley and many of the live on farms the year-round with typical resourcefulness and with the aid of state and federal agencies additional helpers recruited to the island of Jamaica British West Indies finally for the harvest season no more helpers enlisted from vacationing high school and college students who come both from tobacco Valley and as far away as Pennsylvania and Florida a migration of workers like this provides problems for our farmers living quarters must be provided ample provision must be made for good food recreation and supervision must be carefully planned the folks from other states and other lands will make the tobacco farms their summer homes and clean comfortable dormitories make their stay Pleasant and enjoy north and south work together in peaceful harmony people of other states and other lands pitch in on a common problem the Connecticut farmers solution to his labor problem represents a triumph in social relations of national and international significance [Music] first signs of spring are eagerly awaited with his labour assured housing for the migrant workers ready plans for good food and careful supervision complete trucks and buses inspected and approved by official agencies for safe transportation of workers the farmer of tobacco Valley looks forward to the drawing scene spring is worth looking forward to in the valley the air is sweet with blossoms and newly turned silent Brooks which have hidden under ice wind their way to the river a good time to get spring fever ah not for the tobacco farmer this is his busy season quotes and wires are the first chore framework for the gloss tents you quotes new wires for new fields maintenance and repair for the old 5,000 square yards of cloth for each acre will cover this great network the giant air conditioning system I mentioned earlier for countless centuries the plow has been the symbol of the farmers trade Agricola era said the ancients of rawl the farmer plows tobacco farming is no different from any other in this respect and intelligent horses are still used to plow between the posts where machines are inefficient the ploughman too retains his skill the skill as ancient as any time-honored track [Music] but for the most part modern mechanized equipment moves swiftly across the fields to prepare the land for planets the file may be an ancient implement but the methods of modern tobacco racing are the methods of science while the fields are being prepared skilled technicians are working in up-to-the-minute laboratories of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in Windsor what are they doing these men of science through analysis of the soil they determine its ability to grow better a plant-based few fertilizers to get better yields from average land new ways to grow better and finer leaves experts like dr. Paul J Anderson have devoted their lives to one purpose that of maintaining the leadership of the crops which come from tobacco that the successful battles against disease and pestilence are fought for these been in the laboratory and the farmers in the field what about the seed for this queen of tobacco plants it's not very big in fact it's so tiny that technically a quart milk bottle for would plant all the farms in the south to get it so carefully controlled that only the finest strains are saved from year to year [Music] these seeds were saved from specially selected plants which were allowed to go to seed after last year's crop was harvested but these drawers have shade tobacco must be sure that the seeds will sprout and spring is often late in the many things throughout the valley the seed is mixed with shredded coconut fiber and dampen to start the first operation in a risky business has begun the first of a long series of hazards and uncertainties which will continue and increase throughout the growing season [Music] the steady warmth of the kitchen stove is as effective today as it was in grandfather's time in four or five days the almost microscopic sprouts will be visible now the fields are ready for that air conditioning system about which so much has been said the cloth tents which bring the climate of the tropics to New England are new every year there's enough cloth there to make big tops for all the circuses in the world 50 million square yards are necessary to put tobacco Valley literally in the shade the show which goes on under these tents is interesting and exciting and it's just about to begin these cloth tents protect the tobacco leaves just as the parasol protects the delicate skin of the lady who carries it if a section of cloth is burned or blown away it must be replaced at once even a single day under the Sun without the tent protection will pick of the exposed leaves and destroy their delicate texture [Music] after the cloth is laid across the wires wooden pegs hold the edges together until they can actually be solved and then using a lock stitch nimble feminine hands to the actual sewing this is a little different from dress making but it requires justice much skin side walls of the tents are made of three or four thicknesses of last year's cloth the only part of the tent which are carried over from the year before [Music] now the tents are finished tents which will shade the plants and increase the average humidity tents which have brought the right climate to the farmlands of the Connecticut Valley fertilizers are applied to assure the plants of proper dyes nitrogen pod a calcium magnesium must be returned to the soil each year if a better leap is to be grown shade-grown tobacco is indeed an expensive each acre of land what about the jar left by the kitchen stove by now the tiny shells of practice and the sprouts are ready to begin their lives in the ground but so many tiny seeds and so small a space can't be sown like wheat her earth if they were they would surely come up in clumps so the sprouted seed in the jar must be thoroughly mixed with sand before it is sown in seed bed it takes a great many of these seed beds to start in the plants for the average farm hundreds of glass-top frames under which the tiny plants would be carefully nurtured until they are enough to take their places in the bees not so very big now are they just tiny green shoots barely visible to the eye but in a few short weeks the growing plants are already crowding each other in the bed now the farmer begins his fight against insects and disease this is where the scientists in the laboratory have helped him he fights with the most modern tools and weapons of agricultural warfare [Music] in the fields everything is ready for planting the tents are up the Sun is warm and the land pear the plants have been in the seed bed six to eight weeks now and are ready to plant in the field they've been safeguarded during the early spring month say from from any of the pranksmen can be played by New England weather carefully and gently they are pulled from the beds and placed in baskets for the plants the season is underway [Music] water for the planning machine boat aboard the baskets of plans no time to lose now the tobacco must be shed in the fields without delay ingenious planning machines crawl slowly across the fields for experience centers right behind and drop the plants into furrows with a steady rhythm automatically this mechanical Marvel digs the furrow supplies just enough water and closes the trench around the roots of the plants at just the right depth it would take months to plan all of tobacco Valley by the old can vendors machines do the job in weeks the slow motion camera analyzes the process a combination of skilled workers and the age of invention the ultimate in scientific agriculture [Music] days go by and the growing season moves ahead plants which do not survive are replaced with new ones war against insects and disease goes on as special poisons are applied to combat the ever-present cutworms spring gives way to summer in the valley still more fertilizers are applied quick-acting ingredients to give the plants of Bhoots cultivation is continual between the long rows and hose propelled by busy hands keep back the weeds and aerate the soil now the weary farmer keeps an ever watchful eye on the weather so far he has controlled made it work for it but New England weather can be a tricky enemy too especially in summer the biggest worry now is a furious wind or hail storm which can wipe out his entire year's work in a single hour one more risk which must be taken in the growing of shade-grown tobacco this looks like a bad one clouds piling up fast the first gust of heavy wind and rain and here it comes nature on the rampage [Music] $1,000,000 death much of the work to do all over again luckily the plants for the most part are unharmed but the tents are in rags what did the tobacco farmer do after a catastrophe like this starts over again of the voice as a matter of fact he considers himself lucky if the plants have been larger the hail would have torn them to shreds pull up these leaning posts replace the broken one tighten those sagging wires put up new cloth where necessary ready for another round these farmer friends of ours for the show must go on midsummer and with the harvest just around the corner the high school and college girls model state are arriving at the campus they'll work in the curing but for the most part they consider their stay on Connecticut tobacco farms and interesting vacation work experience some of the camps are on lakes others in the rolling Connecticut countryside but wherever they are they provide the opportunity to work play and learn the basic principles of getting along with people without the help of these young people the local workers could never handle the crop at the speed with which it must be harvested good food comfortable dormitories and competent supervision are the secrets of success the farmers dream come true tobacco Valley has pioneered in the venture which should set an example to agriculture throughout the country and this is Sunday morning in the valley the people of Connecticut have extended typical New England hospitality to their gift the visitors repay with a service they can rent [Music] plants are growing up now high school boys break off the small suckers produce finer and more shapely bean repeat it dusting to keep away insect pests which plague the crop from its infancy even the airplane is pressed into service do the dusting as quickly and as thoroughly as possible with the plants just about full grown all buds are picking an operation called buddy one more test to force still more nourishment into the ever hungry leave the thousands of year-round workers are not enough now so additional help comes from the cities and towns in the valley their transportation is in itself a big job but the growers using every precaution with the aid of the state police and motor vehicle departments provide safe and dependable vehicles to carry the seasonal health to and from the farms confidence supervises most of them local school teachers are recruited by the State Extension Service and paid by the growers to accompany the young people during the transportation and to supervise them on the farm and now the curtain is about to go up on the big performance everything that has gone on under the tents has been only a prelude to the final picking of the lead workers swarm over the fields four to six pickings are made as the leaves reach their maturity the lower leaves ripen first and are picked first into white canvas baskets they go and as each one is filled it has taken to the edge of the field for collection and delivery to the curing shed [Music] [Music] each successive picking is higher as the leaves ripened upward on the stalks and the last picking is from the very top [Music] Farmar can breathe his first sigh of relief now his crop has been raised the risks of weather insects and disease have been beaten but tobacco is in although the tobacco is now comparatively safe it has only begun the processing which will make it a cigar wrapper the long curing process begins the tobacco sheds which are at prominent in the countryside as are the great tents the women from the surrounding villages and the schoolgirls employed during the summer goes the work of stringing the leaves on wooden laths for hanging feminine hands are well adapted for this light job with lightning light speed the needle and string moves of the tobacco with all the skill of the professional scene [Music] boy do their part to tier on tier of the lads with their precious burdens are suspended from the sturdy crossbars the rich green of the leaves will not last long gradually it will change to the pale golden brown which characterizes fine wrapper tobacco it isn't easy to provide for every comfort in the fields and sheds but provision is made for essential conveniences the State Board of Health and local health officers lend their supervision while the farmers who operate to accommodate the folks who harvest the crops [Music] it takes about eight weeks to complete the carrying of tobacco in the shed during this period charcoal fires are lighted in the sheds to help drive the moisture from the lead experienced men we handle this operation men who've done the job for many seasons the sheds are tightly closed and within 36 hours the leaves lose 90% of their way [Music] but ventilation is all important in this curing of tobacco sheds are especially built to allow free circulation of air it won't be long now the crop is almost ready for its cooked to the warehouses while the curing goes on the last tasks are being done in the sleeping fields the stocks of the tobacco plants now stripped of their leaves are quickly cut down the tents come down the student workers have returned to school the big show is over for another year [Music] with the curing finished the year-round workers wait for the proper amount of dampness in the air before taking down the leaves now pliable the lasts of tobacco are taken down and placed in pilots carefully built and covered to retain the moisture later the leaves are removed from the lads tied in bunches called hands and tapped in wooden cases off to the warehouse for processing the operations in the warehouses are the finale to all that has gone before leaves must begin with the proper amount of moisture and a conditioning machine is an important piece of warehouse equipment great piles of tobacco coal boats are then built piles weighing more than a ton where the means ferment until all the gum is thoroughly dissipated thermometers take the temperature of these boats through long pipes which reach to the very center when the temperature reaches a certain point the books are taken down and rebuilt until all liens are uniformly fermented [Music] once more of the conditioning room restores moisture to the means on they go to the sorting Road train girl sorts the leaves into more than 20 different grades according to color texture and soundness of leaf one of the most important and difficult of all warehousing processes accurately controlled temperature and humidity are absolutely essential now each greatest sized according to length and tied in neat bundles or hand [Music] back in the wooden cases for aging the leaves were spent several weeks in a warm room before they can be bathed in uniform rose the hands of tobacco are now packed in bales giant presses and carefully sewn mats a sure convenient handling and proper aging even when finally packed the bales of fine wrappers must be moved for several weeks and then sample before they can be sold [Music] there any now ready to travel from tobacco Valley to the far corners of the earth makings of good cigars are here born of the Connecticut River Valley improved by the science of man brought it to the soil product of thousands of men and women product of science and inventor product of America [Music] beauty of a New England fall has changed the valley though brilliant shimmering colors have replaced the spectacle of the tempest the harvest helpers from other states have returned to their home the youngsters of the valley have returned to their study [Music] pollyannish people Valley is ready to rent it will have completed a great task for the first time in months the farmer has his chance to relax what do you suppose he's thinking about this party pioneer who did something about the weather why a bigger and better crop for a next year their plans for a brighter future the future of tobacco