Tobacco Cultivation Audio Interviews

Featured Farmers:

Harold Malcomb, Arthur Hamilton, Helen Bourne, Gary Hunter, Junior Grisham, David Smith, James Cammack, Patrick Kennedy and Glenn Dunavent.

Tobacco cultivation is number three in the production process and is presented in three panels. Plowing/cultivating was done with horse-drawn plow in the early days and a tractor in more recent times. It is done when the plants are small and fertilize is added to stimulate growth. Chopping out Tobacco shows a family chopping and removing the weeds. This job was dreaded by most children and adults. Topping tobacco was done by walking through the field and using your hands to remove the flowers from the top of each plant. The Hi-boy sprayer was driven through the field and its long arms sprayed the tobacco with chemicals to prevent suckers from growing. Irrigation systems allowed farmers to pipe water to the fields during the hot, dry summer months.

This mural is located about 1 mile on the left after turning onto Highway 368 from US Highway 127 near Monterey.