Greenback Tobacco Farmer Dispenses Words of Wisdom

Source from:  by Elaine G. West Daily Times Correspondent 09/29/2004

Greenback tobacco farmer Calvin Scott has some advice for anyone considering setting out a couple acres of burley: "Get into it, or don't do it." The 79-year-old believes raising a tobacco crop isn't for the lazy, and he speaks from experience. He started helping his father and five brothers farm tobacco when he was six or seven years old. And his personal crop number 65 is curing in his barn on Lou Goddard Road. "If you ain't willin' to work hard, stay out of it," he said. "I've never had a sick day in my life. I guess hard work won't hurt you." Not only does Scott believe hard work won't hurt a person, he believes tobacco won't hurt anyone who leaves it alone. "They talk about (tobacco) killing people and makin' people sick," he said, "but I've been around it all my life and I've never had a stick jump out and hurt me. It ain't never hurt me. As long as they leave it alone, it won't bother them." Back before they had children, Scott used to smoke cigarettes, said his wife Mary Nina (Jones). He quit when the children were born, and switched to chewing tobacco, which he still uses. Mary Nina said neither she nor her children have ever smoked or chewed. Scott and Mary Nina believe hard work never hurt their 10 children, either. All 10 helped milk cows and grow tobacco. "When they got a little bit big enough to help, they helped," said Scott. "That's the reason they all work now." "We'd take a crib down there to the 'baccer barn, and I'd pull 'baccer," Mary Nina said. "They were raised in a 'baccer barn, really." The couple has been married 60 years and has 19 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. And when they all come to visit, Scott has learned that tobacco isn't the only thing that likes hanging around the barn. "I believe I got more than that when they all get here to the house," he said. "When they all get here, I have to go to the barn." The couple's twin sons sometimes help their parents with the tobacco, and sometimes their six daughters help. But nowadays, the couple mostly works their Burley 80 tobacco together, alone. "Part of 'em's too little (to help)," Scott said, "and part of 'em's growed up and got too big." Scott said the first job he had in the tobacco field was marking an `X' in the row where his brothers would set out a plant. His second job was helping slide the harvested tobacco plants on a stick after his brothers had split the plant stalk with an 'S' knife. And he remembers using a mule to plow the tobacco field. "I used to do it walkin' behind a mule all day. Now I do it with a tractor." But Scott said although plowing with a tractor is easier, he still longs for the old way of plowing. "I wish every time I start plowin' for my 'baccer, I wish I had a mule." And while he believes some things are easier for the tobacco farmer, Scott said some things are harder. "(The government's) tryin' to put us plumb out of business, and I don't know why," he said. "They're tryin' now to buy up all the allotments now, but they don't have the money." Although Scott said he doesn't want the government to buy the tobacco allotments, he facetiously said he might sell, for a price. "If they claim they want to pay $10 a pound for what you're allotted, I'd sell it. Then if I took a notion to plant some and sell it, that's what I'd do. There wouldn't be any government graders or price support, but it ain't been worth a nickel no-how." Despite what he calls government "aggravations," Scott said he continues to farm tobacco because it provides extra income. "If you're workin' on the farm, other things have got to where they ain't worth much -- you can't make no money on it. I've got a few cattle here, and the 'baccer crop is all I have to get extra income. It's the best cash crop the farmers have." Scott estimated he has between 3,000 to 4,000 pounds of burley curing in his barn. It should bring $6,000 to $7,000, he said. "Whenever you're takin' their price and don't get yours, you get disappointed," he said. "That's the way it is with the farmer. You take it to market and they give you what they want, not what you want. You either take it or leave it." In a few days, Scott and Mary Nina will begin pulling, grading and baling the burley. "That's the part you do when it gets ready," Scott said. "You don't do it when you get ready." The job takes about two months, Mary Nina said. Then, Scott will transport the bales to Sweetwater where it will be shipped to Robbinsville, N.C. Once his crop is weighed in Robbinsville, Scott can pick up his paycheck back in Sweetwater. But for the next couple of months, when you pass by Scott's barn, you'll more than likely see a light on in the barn where he and Mary Nina will be hard at work. "When it gets ready to pull and we go to pullin'," said Scott, "we go -- day or night." Enditem