DARE Interview : Brandywine, Maryland; Primary Informant DC005

Fieldworker

Cassidy, Frederic G.

Date

• 1966

Publisher

Dictionary of American Regional English

Summary

• Informant Data:
• DC005: Black; male; age: 62 (old); education: grade school; community type: rural
• Media Files:
• Full Interview 1 (Tape 0222-S1). [Additional speakers: Adult male]
• Content:
• 00:20 Preparing seedbed in fall to kill weed seeds. Only plow down 4", put down a sheet to keep out weed seeds
• 05:30 Spread seed very thinly, and do it a second time to make sure you get everywhere. Protect it from flies with cotton
• 08:50 Have to watch for blue mold or black shank, especially when transplanting to fields
• 12:20 Prime tobacco plants, make sure all the plants in a field are the same size
• 15:35 Larger plants will shade smaller ones, wind will blow them over, and can get black shank, wilt, or mosaic
• 19:30 Flies, aphids, and worms will kill plants. Describes removing worms by hand, and with turkeys or crows. Moth stage of worm lays eggs
• 26:20 Harvesting in August or September. Have to remove flower when it appears
• 29:55 [Adult male contributes] Removing leaves with a tobacco knife, putting five stalks on a stick
• 33:25 Tape end
• Full Interview 2 (Tape 0222-S2). [Additional speakers: 1 or 2 adult males]
• Content:
• 00:05 Hanging tobacco in barn, how to keep ventilation just right
• 07:10 Once cured, need the right weather to strip the tobacco, bundle it, and carefully stack the bundles
• 12:15 Have to keep track of weather while curing; stacked into a basket before sent to auction
• 16:00 Grade of tobacco affects the price. Getting seeds for next year from 10-15 plants
• 20:30 Some experimentation with cross-breeding. Broad- vs. narrow-leaf varieties
• 23:45 How easy it is to ruin a crop—hail, moisture, etc. Very labor-intensive crop, because farmer handles each individual plant about six times
• 29:00 Tape end