Burley tobacco is a labor intensive crop. After the plants are set out by, and hoed three times over a period of weeks, it is left to grow for a period of weeks. But when it reaches head high, and the most profitable main leaves are taking on size and weight, it also produces a sucker leaf, usually between the stalk and each main leaf. It also produces a seed pod at the very top of the plant. Both the suckers and the seed pods have a purpose in nature, but they also serve to deplete the energy going to the main leaves, thus lessening the value of the crop.
In old times, before the advent of chemicals that would kill the suckers and seeds, as well as, the soil itself, farmers painstakingly walked their entire fields removing the suckers and pods by hand. It wasn’t such hard work, but rather long and tedious. While chemicals were available to Dellie in the mid-1970s, she chose to do the suckering the old-fashioned way. It was cleaner and decidedly less expensive, plus, she had the time and loved the work.
When I first met Dellie Norton, she was still growing burley. She was seventy-six years old at the time and could recall growing her first crop of tobacco when she was sixteen. She talked of having some money of her own for the first time in her life and she used it to buy herself some nice dresses and other clothing. At the time, ca. 1915, in a place as small and isolated as Sodom, it was revolutionary for a young woman to make her own money and be able to spend it any way she liked.
A couple of weeks ago I called the Farm Extension office hoping to locate some tobacco growers in the county. I am working on another project and have a need for tobacco leaves. The extension agent couldn’t think of any county farmers that were still growing the crop.
I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I’m certain we’re better off without it. Yet, it’s also easy for me to be nostalgic about those times. The connection people had with their land. The time spent with neighbors and friends helping them cut, hang, and hand their leaves. The vital economic benefit tobacco brought to the county and the sense that all corners of the community were united in its importance.
I think often of Dellie and wonder how she would navigate our present world. My sense is she would find a way, she would adapt. She wouldn’t be growing tobacco, and she certainly wouldn’t be the only woman making and spending their own money. But she would be doing something revolutionary, it’s who she was.
