cheesecloth

Whoever wrote this caption was used to Southern tobacco harvesting where the entire plant was cut, leaves and all , and hung to dry. Connecticut Shade was harvested leaf by leaf ("Primings" - usually 3 leaves at a time as they matured; 5-6 "primings" a season) and the leaves dried. The photo shows end of the harvest; the shade cloth sidewall has been taken down & the plants knocked down to rot into the soil as a green fertilizer. The shade top cloth will come off next and be recycled as sidewall the next season. You can see that the pole rows haven't been cut down yet - the plants are still pushing the top cloth up - they had to be cut by hand w/ machetes.

There is a 1961 film, Parrish, that I saw on AMC last month. I knew about the Connecticut tobacco but did not know the shade process. The movie is more of a soap opera but is great about describing the process and area.

Accompanying note: "The tobacco crop is never in the sun. Cheesecloth shields the growing plant from the direct rays of the sun. The crop is harvested in the shade and carried to the drying barns in covered wagons."