Tobacco by Paula

At George Washington's Boyhood Home (where I'm the marketing director), we grow tobacco like the Washingtons would have done. I was in the garden Monday checking to see if the cotton bolls were open yet and saw this tobacco leaf. I confiscated it and a few seed pods and painted them later. A couple of the seed pods had holes in them and the seeds that kept falling out were as fine as ground black pepper. It is apparently difficult to get tobacco started from seed and the transplant failure rate it high, too, but it must have been worth it to the colonists since it became a huge cash crop. Our "field" is measured in feet rather than acres but visitors are always interested in seeing it grow. Watch this space for cotton when it's ready...