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Thus it appears that the planter learned from his own experience to top tobacco, and that it was a laborious though profitable task. It has been said that topping was first used as a means of limiting the production of tobacco to the very best grades by the planters as early as the 1620's. Only a planter with considerable experience could tell when the plant was ripe for harvest.
Throughout the 1620's many planters neglected to grow corn or wheat, preferring to obtain their food supply by barter or seizure from the Indians, or by purchase from planters who were willing to divert their labor to such crops. Who would bother with grain when tobacco sold for as much per pound as grain did per bushel?
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