B2—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 17,1982
BY SALLY BAIR
Staff Correspondent
Abram M. Barley, Conestoga R 2,
has just finished stripping his
fiftieth crop of tobacco. Asked if be
enjoys it, he says simply, “I’ve
done it all my life. I grew up betr
ween two rows of tobacco.”
Indeed, the fifty crops he refers
to are the fifty he has worked on
since he’s been growing the crop on
his own. There were many more
crops pnor to that. He remembers
helping bis grandfather since the
tune he was about seven years old,
or “ever since I could stand down
and look up. I can remember when
my Grandfather grew an acre
where he lived. He planted it by
hand.”
Over the years. Barley has
raised from six acreas to a high of
32 acres. He recalls, “That was the
year I bought this farm in 1962 and
I needed the money. I had to hire a
lot of help - a lot were school boys.”
The last few years he has grown
about 12 acres and still needs a lot
of help, but has it close by in the
seven grandchildren who are old
enough and near enough to help.
Abe now considers the tobacco
fanning something that is “bet
ween my grandchildren and
myself.”
They work mostly in the field,
Tom, left, and brother Robert work alongside Grandpa in
the stripping room. Close supervision ensures proper han
dling, an important consideration for Barley.
helping with the planting and
topping and cutting; but they also
take a turn in the tobacco stripping
room.
The seven grandchildren who
help are the children of sons
Abram and John, operators of Star
flock Holstein Farm. It is on their
land that Barley grows tobacco,
now that they have taken over the
family farm.
The grandchildren are: Abe, Jr.,
15; Abbey, 14; John, 8; Robert, 12;
Tom, 11; Susie, 9; and Cindy, 7.
Christopher, 1, doesn’t yet work in
the fields.
The grandchildren not only
share in each step of the process,
they also share in the profits.
Barley explains that he takes only
what he is allowed to maintain his
Social Security, and the children
divide the rest of the profits.
Barley acknowledges that his
biggest help is his wife, Grace.
“My wife and I stripped almost all
of it,” he says. That’s not to say the
children are left out of the strip
ping. Often after school work and
other farm chores are done they
will be in the stripping room and
Barley takes great pride in
teaching them to work
methodically and neatly. He says,
“This is one of those things that
you can do as easy right or wrong.
'golden' tobacco crop
between grandpa and
y
IS
I’m very particular in getting it in
the bales straight."
One of the secrets of having
children help in the stripping
room, according to Barley, is not to
allow more than two there at a
time. “That allows ample
supervison.”
Barley emphasizes, “You can
take a poor crop and make it look a
lot better with proper handling or
you can take a good crop and can
spoil the appearance with im
proper handling."
He is justifiably proud of the
time he delivered tobacco to the
warehouse and was told, “You
have it handled to perfection."
Barley got into tobacco farming
on his own as a part time job while
he worked in the silk mills,
something he did for the first 13
years of his marriage. His first
crop was six acres, although prior
to that he had farmed on the shares
with his father. He went into
general farming in 1940 and
started milking cows in 1943. He
says, “1 was bom and raised on a
farm. I never knew anything else.”
Grace was also raised on a farm,
so helped with tobacco as “long as
I can remember anything." Barley
says proudly, “She started right in.
She did as much tobacco as I did."
Grace adds, “I’d rather have
been in the field than in the house. I
enjoyed it." She worked in the high
school kitchen for 13 years, but not
until the last of their six children
was in college. All six children
learned to work in tobacco as they
grew up.
The Barleys recall, of course, the
The most consistent team during the stripping season is
Grace and Abe who spend up to ten hours daily in the
stripping room. This year they sorted their crop, something
they haven’t done for many years.
After SO years of
« Abram and Grace enjoy the time icy spend
with their eight grandchildren both in the
tobacco field and on joy rides with Abram's
newest additions - these two mules he pur-
years when all tobacco had to be
sized. “When 1 started, we had to
sort, then size. The tobacco was
sized in two inch increments, then
tied in heads.” Barley adeptly
demonstrated all of this in a way
that shows the art is not easily
forgotten.
If is not difficult for him to recall
the worst price he ever received
for tobacco. It was in 1932-33, when
he got eight cents for number one
and two cents for fillers. And that
was good! He explains that the
price had dropped to four cents for
number one grade and one half
cent for fillers. “My Dad and I held
out and kept it until the next crop
came in. We lost some weight
through holding it, but we came out
with more than if we had sold.”
Usually Abe sells his tobacco
during Farm Show week, but this
year his crop was sold in
November, because “I had the
opportunity to sell it if I sorted it.”
So he and Grace spent the Winter
sorting, a job which Abe estimates
added one third more time to the
stripping process. He got $1 for the
first grade and $.85 for the second
grade—and the sorting brought
him enjoyment. “I take pnde in
looking at a nice leaf.”
He believes that sorting may
become more popular in the future
and may even be required by
some. “Sorting is a coming thing.
It will add to the cost (of producing
and sfripph
kntim
thrives
it) if you must hire help.” Only
grandsons Abe, Jr., and Robert
were allowed to helpsort.
The Barleys spend long hours in
the stripping room, but Abe says,
A “perfc jcco. ty
and tying hands, a requirement for all tobacco growers years
ago, now becoming an unnecessary art.
7 grandchildren "
chased to “play with." Pictured are, I to r,
Tom, Susie, John, Tom, Cindy, Christopher,
Abbey, Abe Jr., Abram and Grace.
wmesfead *
c Untps
; v
-*> *» •> ;;“"^'-r
- <* '
*1 like it here when it’s snowing |
and blowing outside.” Grace 1
agrees, “It’s a nice place to be in |
winter.” Working a ten hour day
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