I picked shade tobacco in Windsor CT from 1972 to 1975(age 14-17). Started out at 1.38 an hour the 1st year and got up to 1.95 the last year.
Had to get up at 5:30 and walk 2 miles to the bus stop. With 2 PBJ sandwiches in a bag and a jug of Kool-Aide in my hands.
The season was about 10 weeks long. The 1st week was suckuring, picking off the little useless leaves on the plant.You were sitting on the rocky ground for 8 hours going from plant to plant. Rain or shine.
When the plants started getting big enough to pick, They took a ruler measured at 14 inches and drew a line on your arm and you picked the leaves that were that size and longer.
It was hot and dirty work. Tobacco is sticky. After 8 hours your hair on your arms and head are coated with the sticky tars. It took 20 minutes of showering to wash off the filth.
Back then it was a right of passage for the local kids to work the farms and make good money. By the 80’s the kids stopped working that job. The farms started bringing more migrants in to do the work. This type of farming will never be automated even today because the fragility of the tobacco leave.
If you ever read MLK’s autobiography, he devoted a chapter of his time working in the same tobacco fields of Connecticut.
I knew quite a few teens from Uniontown PA who took advantage of this summer ritual.