Tobacco and Tools

A Tableau of the Crop and Assorted Implements

 

One does not usually think of Connecticut when considering states that produce tobacco, that honor lies with Virginia and farther South and West; but Connecticut farms have grown the crop used primarily for cigar wrappers for centuries. While the Windsor area was most prolific, farms in towns around the state also produced tobacco.

 

Here we see, next to the thermometer advertising 'Tru Ade' soft drink, tobacco hung for drying. Tobacco is traditionally dried in specially built barns with slat-like openings for ventilation. Once the tobacco is nearly dry, the barns are heated to 'cure' the product. Below area line of cigar boxes and tobacco tins, and a machine labeled,

TOBACCO LATH

PULLING MACHINE

BUILT BY

LEVITRE BROS

HATFIELD MASS

 

The device in the center foreground is a combination radio receiver and record player: a two-in-one or "Twonky." The wheeled cart is a portable tank probably used for fertilizer or pesticides.

 

Done