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rillilcul, A~CIHIAPTiER, INI AMER1CA"S'~~ INDWIS1fRIlAIL GROWTH ®

In no part of' the world is more Burley tobacco grown than in Kentucky. For more than, a century it has been a cash crop of', the Bluegrass State. Zhe. 1975 harvests of Burley grown on Kentucky farmss in nearly all I of the state's 120 ~ counties totaled over 430 million pounds. Burley leaf is one of the major ingredients in blend'edlcigarettes and, in less though~ substantial quantities, in~ smoking, and' chewing: tobaccos. Four other types of tobacco are grown in Ken- tucky; two fi're-cured types and two dark air-curedd types. 1~'he cash ~value of producers' leaf sold at auction in the 1974-75 season came to over $484' millionL Of this total, Burley leaf accounted for over $460, million. Production of'! Kentucky tobacco1 is shared by more than 1 164,000 farm families plus sharecropperss and allotment renters and seasonal helpers. A considerable labor force is emplbyed l in processing plants, auction, warehouses, tobacco factories, andl by various services. About a fifth of all cigarettes manufactured in the United State& were made in the state as well as a considerable quantity of smok- ing and chewing tobaccos. Tobacco in its manufactured form also produces important~ revenues to both the state and federal governments. The state's~ cigareite tax alone has netted about $33'3.7 million, since its enactment in 1936. From the period of'the first known settlements in the late 1i8thi century tobacco has been closely woven into the economic and sociaL fabric of Ken- tucky: This bookl'et presents the record of'tobacco in the state! and describes its current agriculture and industry. Tobacco Historst Series. Fifth Edition, 0 THE TOBACCO INSTITUTE 1776 K', Street; N. W., Washington, D. C. 20006 1976

Kentucky &. Tabacco SOMETIME IN THE SPRING, OF 1787 a flatboat cargo began a momentous trip down the Mississippi from Louisville: An American general; James Wilk- inson~ later represented. as "the mystery man of the West,"' was responsible for the shipment Included in the several salable commodities in the cargo were ! some hogsheads of tobacco, a recent! product of Kentucky's virgin soil. Not much of cured leaf or anything else was in the shipment. Itt was the first successful venture of its kind, an experiment that hadl more than its.share.of normal hazards. The major one, indeed! the certain one, was that the cargo: would be seized atlrlatchez or New Orleans by the Spanish authorities. They were under strict orders to exclude foreign goods from Spanish ports on the Mississippi. Yet the flat- boat went It was up to Wilkinson to get its freightt through. The tobacco~ in the shipment NiadI been~ grown by planters who, not long before, had come to Ken- tucky from i North Carolina and'. Virginia. They, knew to.bacco; and they knew that the l'eafigxown in Ken- tucky's rich earth was of fine quality. All that was needed was a market That lay beyond the export barrier Spain had erected at New Orleans. Once the barrier waslifted,. Kentucky farmers would have access to markets inn the States and in Europe long, supplied by planters of the older tobacco areas in the southeastern states. Wilkinson had planned' his ventiure with skill I and, cunning. As expected, the cargo was seized. Yet Wilkinson not only effected its release but estab. lished ai trade outlet at New Orleans for commodi- ties produced! in Kentucky. The success of' his ven+ ture was described as "a miracle of miracles." The dramatic news Wilkinson, reported on his return re- sulted in a prompt and considerable expansion of tobacco acreage in parts of'I Kentucky: 1 ®

The Tobacco Industry in Kentucky Today THEPLANTEKS OF WILKINSON'S [DAY' could hardly have foreseen how enormously the culture of tobacco would develop. For a while,, though many years after the Wilkinson period, Kentucky became the largest producer of tobacco in the United States, and when writers referred to the "Tobacco State" they meant Kentucky:. IKing Burley For altnost a century now, Kentucky has maintained its place as the foremost producer of one type= Burley-officially classified aslight ai'r-cured tobacco. . The Kentucky harvest in 1975 totaled 4'30;320,000 pounds; by far, the most abundant crop of this type; CouAesy.o/ [ra E: Massie„UK'Cdl'ageodAgri¢ulture, Broadleaf variety of Burley, Kentucky's major, farm crop 2

Though once confined to the Bluegrass area, Bur- ley is now grown throughout the state: Blended' cigarettes would! taste different'-and' not nearly as good as they do-if they lacked Burley leaf! On ann average, a third of the tobacco ini cigarettes of American manufacture is Burley. The! leaf' is also usedlin domestic pipe and'chewing tobaccos. Leaf Quartette The production of tobacco in Kentucky is diversi- fied. In addition to.Burley; or type 3'1, there are fourr other types grown in, the state. The collective area inwhiah they are grown (includingsections of north- central to northwestern Tennessee) was long known as the Black: Patch. The types are:. • Eastern distri'cf fire-cured,, type 22, grown: in aa limited section of' southern Kentucky, east of the Tennessee River,, of which 9,000,000 pounds was harvested in the state in 11975.. • Westemi district fire-cured, type 23, plantedl in a, small area bounded by the Tennessee,. Ohio and. Mississippi Rivers, with a Kentucky crop total in 1975 of 5,198,000 pounds. Fire-curedltypes are strong(y flavored', and light- to dark-brown in color. • One Sucker, a dark air~cured tobacco, type 35, farrned'in small areas of south-central and western. Kentucky: The totaC crop in the state in 1975 was 7;525;000 pounds. The leaf has several, uses; in pHlg and twist chewing tobaccos,, in short filler cigars, and in an exported pipe tobacco: • Green River, ai dark air-cured tobacco, type 36, produced in the territory around the market towns of Owensboro and' W'enderson in northwestern. Kentucky and southward. A little over 4,500,000 pounds was producedl in 1975. It is an important ingredient (together with Burley) of fine-cut chew= ing tobacco, pipe tobacco:and snuff. Tillers and Toilers It. requires an i7npressiwe number of people to grow and harvest and cure Kentucky leaf and prepare it for market. A recent estimate indicates that there are about 246,000' of these early-rising, l'ate-abedding, farm families in Kentucky: That estimate includedl 3

landownersi, sharecroppers, all`otinent renters and seasonaL helpers. All but, about 15 percent of them were growers of' Bnrley:. There were more than 164,000 tobacco farm allotments for Kentucky in 1975. A few farms have more than one type allotment~ and more than one, family may be working on: many farms. At planting, harvesting andstripping times, the farm population is somewhat increased. A recent analysis showed an ~ average of' 280 to 320 hours of' labor an acre is required' to produce a tobacco crop in~ Kentucky. Cost exclusive of land~ and ailotment'charges and unpaid farrtil'y labor were approximately $1,400 to $1,$00'per acre, thus the expenses of Kentucky tobacco producers for pro= duction supplies were approximately $270 milliom Growers have to finance their farming operations, including wages to hired hands, until their crops are sold' at auction -their sole payday. Crop Procedure and Improved Research, "Maki'ng" a tobacco crop involves more hand l'abor, than any other majoragriculturaliactivity., Seeds are planted in a treated seedbed during, March, trans- planted to the fieldi in late May and early June.. Dis+ ease and insects are very destructive during, the summer and require careful attentiomby the grower: When the plants have reached the bloom stage, the flowers are removed so that full-bodied, highly aro- -,, i!;•~ J~~,~~ n~P, Courtesyy of Ira ~ E. Massie; UK Colpege o/ Agriculture ~~. Watering tobaccoplant bed 4

matic Burley can be produced. Suckers-small, buds at the point where a leaf is attached to the stalk- are not allowed to grow. The crop is cut by hand in September and placed in a barn built for this purpose. It is then air cured for two months. After curing, it is then re- rnoved from the barn, hand-stripped into grades and marketed (beginning late in PWovember)' to cig- arette manufacturers: The leaf'is then packed into: 1,000 pound hogsheads for the "long sleep:'" " After several years, the Burley is then, ready to be manu- factured into the blended cigarette with Flue-cured„ Maryland and' Turkish tobaccos. The Agriculturali College at the University of Kentucky has been engaged, in tobacco: research since before the turn of' the century. The current research andl extension, program began in 19':19,. This research has meant tobacco~ farmers can use the latest techni'ques in producing high quality tobacco for, the tobacco industzy. Tremendous progress has been made in the following, areas: Uarietiesc Development of varieties that are re- sistant to major diseases in Kentucky. Rotations: A,rotation plan has been incorporated that allows high quality Burley production and; at the same tirne improves fields on farms for other crops andi livestock. Fertilization: The generous use of nutrients too produce more tobacco on less land. This re- leases land for the production, of other crops and livestock on the farm. Courtesy ofita. E. Massie; UK Cdlege of Plgric.ultu,re Fertilizing field before transplanting ~ 5 W W. ©

Mnnagerrtent: A management program that qualifies the Burley grower as being one of the best production, managers of any group of farmers in the United States:. Intensive studies are now being done at the College of Agriculture, University of' Kentucky in the areas of'' mechaniaation, chemistry of the tobac- co plant, insecticides and residue studies on tobaccoo leaf~: agronornic studies in all areas of prod'uction, and economic aspects of production. r., :11107mml-~- . ~ xav 4r E, , _ Courtesy of Ira E Mbssie, UK Collpge, of Agriculture Experimental,tobacco varieties displayed'for evaluation TakingIn and'. Drying Out Meanwhile, the standard procedures are maintained in fields and barns. The plants are cut d'owna stalk and all. This method of taking in a crop appl'ies to all types grown in Kentucky: Five or six of the plants are then, speared onto sticks. B'urley,, Green River and, One Sucker tobacco plantsare hung,in bamsand!cured by air. The proc- ess, which starves the food reserves in the plant, takes four to lsix weeks. By then the leaves will have dried out andi have the desired color; tan to reddish brown. The matter of'. consumer taste is the simple ex- planation of why there is such a variety of tobacco commodities, such a multiplicity of brands. Some 6

users of' snuff, various sorts of chewing tobacco and strong ~ cigars,, for instance, prefer a ~ smoky flavor in these products. So long as they do, the leaf ingre- dient willlcontinue to be fire-cured. After the plants have had a~ few days ofl barn= curing; hards,vood' or hardwood sawdustfires, built on barn floors, are kept burning slowly and at low temperatures at first, for, a three- to ten-day period in some areas, from ten to forty in others. The cured leaves are stripped! from the stalk when humidity conditions are favorable. Fire-curing is a very old method'. The early colonists of' Virginia used the method, which wass commoni among some Indian tribes. But the fire- curing, of leaf as practicedl by colonial farmers had a special l purpose-to prevent deterioration of' to- bacco on long, sea voyages. Courtesy.o/!Ira E.: Massie. UKCoII'ege of Agdculture Transplanting tobacco seedlings into the field 7

Preparing for Market As the cured'l'eaves are strippedland sorted a singlee tie leaf is tied around the butts of a: number of them- to make small bundles called "hands." (Thouglih tied', tobacco prepared in this manner for sale has long been designated as "loose leaf,"' to distinguish it' from tobacco packed in hogsheads.) The hands are carefully stacked in bulks, tips in,, butts out, to retain moisture and then trucked to auction ware- houses. Not all Kentucky tobacco goes to auction. A part of'the fire-cured crops is sold by farmers on their farrns~ This is called "barn door sales." Courtesy.of IraE: Massie, UK Collegeof Agri¢ulture . Full bodied, aromatic Burley:grows to maturity: Bid and 1'ake There have been little or no changes during the past few years in the number of markets, ware- houses or selling periods in the Kentucky tobacco- sales towns: The.1'975 auction seasoni was, there- fore, a typical one. The colorful, exciting annual event took place in 208 sales warehouses of 30 Burley markets during the 4975-76 season. Auction salesbegani near the end ofI November, and con- cluded from mid-January to early February except 8 I I r