Lennie Callaway of Weston began housing tobacco for others when he was 14. By the age of 20, he was raising tobacco on shares. Now, more than three decades later, he is still growing tobacco and keeping the local tobacco tradition and history alive.
Tobacco was a side job for his immediate family. His grandmother’s father and his uncles raised tobacco. Today, Lennie is the only member of his family still involved with tobacco.
When he was six years old, his uncle, Ernest Callaway, was raising a tobacco crop and Lennie accompanied his family throughout the tobacco process.
“While stripping the crop, I admired my grandma, Della Mae Callaway, as she preached to me, ‘Keep them ends neat, boy,” Lennie said. “Although tobacco interested me while growing up, it wasn’t until I graduated high school that I decided to raise tobacco myself.”
After his friend’s father, Dave Smith, rented a crop of tobacco to him on shares, his first crop was 2 1/4 acres, which produced about 6,000 pounds. His rented acreage expanded to 6 acres, then to 10 acres, until he reached his largest crop of 24 acres, which produced about 70,000 pounds.
“When I raised on shares, the landlord supplied the land, the chemicals, the fertilizer, and sometimes even the equipment, Lennie said. “As tenant, I provided the labor. When the crop sold, the profits were shared 50/50. Crop share arrangements varied widely.”
When settlers arrived in Weston from Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee, hemp was the leading cash crop and at times Weston led the nation in hemp. As labor intensive as tobacco, hemp production came to a halt with the Emancipation Proclamation.
In 1894, tobacco began to replace hemp as a cash crop in Weston. By 1912, Weston had its first established tobacco market and it lasted 90 years as the only tobacco market west of the Mississippi River.
In Weston steamboat days, tobacco was floated to St. Louis or Cincinnati, Ohio, to be sold. Later it was shipped to Glasgow, Mo. to be sold. Railroads came into existence and tobacco was loaded into rail cars and shipped to the southern states.
In the mid-1800s, 8 million pounds of tobacco found its way south.
There were tobacco warehouses in Weston, Dearborn, Branson and Glasgow at different times.
Due to regulations in the United States, and the government taking away a price support system, along with the lack of labor, U.S. tobacco production has significantly decreased. Weston still has two tobacco warehouses, but their major purpose is no longer tobacco production.
Lennie is now raising 2,000 pounds of Connecticut Broadleaf and 4,000 pounds of Burley.
“I have only raised one acre of Connecticut Broadleaf and one acre of Burley Tobacco the past two years,” Lennie said. ”This is only the second year that Connecticut Broadleaf has been raised in the state of Missouri. I had only raised Burley prior to that.”
Connecticut Broadleaf is used as a tobacco binder/wrapper, whereas Burley is primarily used in the production of cigarettes. While it is raised similarly in the field, Connecticut Broadleaf is a shorter plant that spreads widely and matures earlier than Burley. It also is much darker green in appearance which makes it more susceptible to sunburn. Handling carefully is a must when working with Connecticut Broadleaf.
Tobacco is a very intensely hands-on crop taking 250 man-hours of labor to produce an acre from start to finish. And the quality of the crop is tied very closely to the quality of the producer.
The labor-intensive, basic process for raising tobacco takes a dedicated, hard-working producer.
“Around mid-March, coated tobacco seeds are started in the greenhouse in styrofoam trays that float on fertilized water for approximately two months,” Lennie said. “Both the temperature and the humidity of the greenhouse must be carefully regulated while seeded trays are inside the greenhouse. Plants are trimmed with a suspended mowing system to toughen and even them up before transplanting in the field.”
Plants are set in the field via a mechanical transplanter in late May. While being pulled with a tractor, crew members ride along while feeding plants into the setter. Each plant is also watered by the setter upon placement.
“After tobacco is set into the field, it is generally cultivated twice, manually hoed to remove remaining weeds, inspected often for insect damage, and sprayed approximately every two weeks for insects,” Lennie said.
As tobacco matures, it produces a bloom at the top of the plant which is snapped off manually to force growth into leaves rather than flower and seed production. The tobacco also requires a chemical application at this time to prevent secondary growth of “suckers.”
Depending on the tobacco type, at 3-4 weeks after plants have been topped, it is time to begin harvest. Four-feet long wooden sticks are carefully placed between two rows of tobacco. After the sticks have been dropped, the cutter jams the stick upright into soil with a removable metal spear on the end of the stick. A tobacco knife, similar to a hatchet, cuts the stalk of the plant at ground level. Six stalks are impaled upon each stick. The tobacco is allowed to wilt (time varies per outside temperature), then it is manually picked up, loaded onto wagons, and hauled to the barn.
“Inside the barn, the sticks of tobacco are handed up to men that are straddling the rails, and the sticks are carefully spaced on the rails to allow it to cure properly,” Lennie said. “After it is hung, it takes approximately two months to cure. The color of leaves changes from green to yellow to brown and the leaf stem will be dry when it is fully cured. Once it is cured, on a foggy day, the tobacco is then taken back down out of the barn, bulked on the barn floor, and covered tightly with plastic to maintain moisture. A foggy day allows the cured leaves to become pliable so that it can be handled without being damaged.” The wrapper leaf is currently curing in Lennie’s barn.
Then, an armload at a time, the tobacco is taken into a stripping room where the leaves are manually removed from the stalk and separated into grades. Depending on tobacco type, tobacco is either baled or placed into cardboard boxes. It is then ready for market.
“At this time, the grower is hopeful that all of his hard work pays off,” Lennie said.
The tobacco plant matures beginning from the bottom up.
“With both types of tobacco raised in Missouri, it is stalk cut, therefore, all leaves are harvested at the same time,” Lennie said. “The maturity has a large influence upon the grades while stripping.”
As Lennie raised tobacco through the years, he wanted a place he could call his own. “Just before my 30th birthday, Louis Smithers (co-owner of New Deal Tobacco Warehouse in Weston) told me about a farm for sale just north of Iatan, with two tobacco barns and the proper soil to raise good tobacco,” Lennie said. “I purchased the 82 acres and built a home that has been mine for 22 years now.”
Many people are surprised by the benefits of tobacco. It’s a very effective insect repellent and has many medicinal uses, including treating skin rashes, Eczema and rheumatism. Native Americans used tobacco leaves to make poultices to place on the skin to relieve pain.
Scientific studies are also being conducted to research nicotine’s benefit for those who suffer from Alzheimers and Dementia.
It saddens Lennie that many growers have stopped producing tobacco in the area due to a lack of contracts to sell the tobacco and a lack of labor to help raise the tobacco. In 1994, the Weston market produced its largest crop ever, selling more than 8 million pounds for more than $14 million. Only a small number of local residents now raise tobacco.
”It is a loss of a huge part of our heritage and our culture,” Lennie said. ”Very few remain that have knowledge about growing tobacco or the importance that tobacco had on our area.”
Lennie said the three biggest challenges for him in tobacco growing now are weather, his age and the lack of labor, if he ever chooses to expand.
His greatest rewards are watching the plants grow from tiny seeds to mature plants, to leaves on the stripping room table and knowing that it is a result of his hard work.
“Tobacco requires diligence and dedication,” Lennie said. ”The grower must act when the tobacco is ready, not when it fits into his schedule. Every step builds upon the last. You must have a passion for tobacco in order to be a success. I take great pride in being a Weston, Mo. tobacco farmer!”