Video: Tobacco Valley Connecticut River Valley

Credit: Periscope Film. Opening credits: The Shade Tobacco Agricultural Association presents TOBACCO VALLEY, the story of Shade Grown Tobacco as told by Lowell Thomas (:08-:28). Connecticut River Valley. A tractor goes down a paved road between tobacco crops. A worker moves around. Men in the tobacco crop field. A man breaks down tobacco. A cigar on an ash tray (:29-1:33). Animated map of Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont. Land gets plowed. Connecticut River Valley is the Tobacco valley. Clouds in the sky. Fall in New England. Aerial valley shot. People tent the tobacco in the valley. Men plow the tobacco field and then pick the leaves. Connecticut capitol building in Hartford, CT Factory smoke stacks. Train on the rails. Men plow the fields. Women pick leaves. Horses pull a wagon. Men unload the wagon. A New England home. Men in the tobacco field. A family roam the tobacco crops (1:34-4:01). Housing quarters for the workers. First sign of spring on the trees. Flowers in the grass, trees bloom in the valley. Small water fall as leaves run down it. Workers set up the framework for the cloth tents. Horses plow the ground. A tractor plows deep into the soil. Rotors rip the soil. CT Agriculture Station in Windsor, CT. Scientists do experiments (4:02-7:14). Seed for tobacco plants are weighed. Then poured into a tiny envelope. Worker in the tobacco field. Hand holds the seeds. A woman mixes seeds with coconut fiber and then a man pours water into it. He puts it into a jar. Workers put the cloth tents onto a wagon and horses pull it into the fields. The tents are hung in the field. Men hang the tents (7:15-10:15). Aerial shot of the tented field. Lush green trees. Workers pour fertilizer and plow the field, dropping i into the soil. The jar is poured into a larger tube and mixed by a worker. Frames are placed over the tobacco and the crop is watered. Crops start to grow green. Men water. Tents are up, sun is shining. Women start to pull leaves. Giant barrels of water are poured. Planting machines grow slowly across the fields. How the tobacco leaves are planted is shown (10:16-13:31). Growing season goes on as more leaves are placed in the soil. More fertilizers are applied. Horses plow. A hoe rakes the soil. Clouds move in, dark clouds. A woman removes clothes from the line. Lightning. Newspaper speaks of storm damage the next day, tents are ripped. Farmers start all over again, fix the tents. Women dip their feet in the water on the CT River. Camp for the women. Women row and play. Some women play at the piano. Women eat at their picnic tables. Sunday morning at Simsbury Methodist Episcopal Church in Simsbury, CT. Women attend Sunday service at church. Women stand in church and prepare to sing. Stained glass windows at the Church (13:32-17:22). A worker works in the crop on a sunny day. Fertilizer is put down. A small plane goes by dusting the crops. Workers climb onto a truck. Women get onto a school bus. Men go over to the tents and start to pick the leaves. Men sit and pick. Men walk and pick through the crop. Horse and wagon in the distance. Horse pulls up a wagon (17:22-20:07). Cases of the crop. A tractor drives by. Women place the giant leaves in piles. Women sew the leaves together. Bars of the leaves sewn together are hung in the rafters of the shed. Women and men drink. Charcoal fires are lit to dry the moisture from the leaves inside the shed (20:08-22:41). Sheds are made sure to have proper ventilation. Plowing goes on. Tents come down. The leaves are taken down from the she'd rafters, dried out. Leaves are placed into a warehouse. Piles weigh more than a ton. All leaves are properly fermented. Conditioning room restores moisture to the leaves. Leaves are sorted by women and bound together (22:42-25:31). Leaves are put together in bales. A worker reviews them with a clipboard. A man makes a cigar. A cigar is made in a machine. Boxes of tobacco are shown. Fall in New England in CT. Cars drive by. Foliage in the trees. A man walks towards the trees. Sunset as a man walks near it (25:32-28:04). No end credits. This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k.