The Brown Farm annually grows about 70 small plots of experimental tobacco varieties in an attempt to increase yield and to breed characteristics that are resistant to blue mold and nemotodes in the crop.

Growing Connecticut shade tobacco, even without the obstacles that Mother Nature throws in the way, is an intricate and labor-intensive process. Netting that provides shade to allow the tobacco to grow in diffused light is put up in early May, completely enclosing double rows of earth that have been raised about 18 inches and populated with young tobacco plants that were started in flats inside a greenhouse and transplanted. Each plant is attached to the netting's frame by a small wire to provide the delicate plants with support.

"When you have these big elephant-ear leaves, it doesn't take much wind to knock the plant over," Martin says. The crop is irrigated with a drip system that also allows precise application of fertilizer, fungicides, and pesticides.

The harvest begins in July and is over by the end of August. A given plant will be picked by hand six or seven times, with two or three leaves taken during each pass. "On some varieties," Martin says, "you can get 16 leaves. On others you can get 20 to 25 leaves, depending on the characteristics you are breeding for."

To minimize damage to the delicate tobacco, leaves are taken out of the field in small bunches using manually driven bicycle-type devices that operate a lightweight polyurethane conveyor belt.

After harvest, the tobacco is cured for about seven weeks in open-sided sheds that are heated by small natural gas stoves. "You need to look at the leaves as they are curing a couple of times a day," Martin says. "How quickly they are curing dictates whether you turn the fires up or down or turn them off. Curing tobacco is not a science, although we would like it to be."

At the height of the harvest, the Brown Farm likely will have 340 employees on hand. The farm operates a camp for up to 200 seasonal workers, which is full from the middle of June until the end of August. Seasonal workers who can't be recruited locally typically are brought in from Florida, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico.

"We have to have a wide door when it comes to hiring," Martin says.

Ironically, Cuban tobacco growers searching for knowledge about the tobacco that originated in Cuba more than a century ago have been among the visitors to the Brown Farm. "They came to see how our curing process worked," Martin says. "We do things differently than they do. They have more climate control. Their curing sheds are air tight. Our sheds are partially open. We do it more naturally. "You'd think it would be just the opposite."

Family members supervise the various aspects of the growing, harvesting, and curing processes, some taking time off from other jobs as they are needed.

Although tobacco farming is labor intensive, like his father before him, Stanton Brown says that dealing with the ravages of nature is the biggest challenge to operating a successful tobacco farm. "One day you can have a beautiful, vibrant crop and the next day after a violent thunderstorm there may be very little if anything left," he says.

Martin can tick off on her fingers the natural disasters that have struck the Brown Farm over the years. "There was the hurricane my grandfather's first year. We had a freak snowstorm in May 1977. All the tent cloth was up. The poles broke in half. And then there was a tornado where we lost six sheds. Besides all that, we've had hail and flood and droughts - just about any weather that you can imagine."

Ruefully, she adds: "Most of the things that you remember are the disasters."

But there is also the satisfaction that comes from the hard work that goes into growing a crop like tobacco even though sacrifice is required, Martin says. "In a family-owned farm you have such an immediate personal stake in its success that it becomes part of you," Martin says. "It is very difficult, particularly during the summer and fall, to separate it from family life."

And every season and every different part of the individual seasons are different. "During the harvest, just when you get a little tired of doing something, everything changes. The harvest is a very intense time. We start at 6 a.m. and work until 6 at night. And if it rains during the week, we'll work on Sunday to catch up. You get into a routine and it's very hectic. But you know, it's for a very short period of time.

"There's an art to curing tobacco along with the science," Martin says. "You need to watch the leaf as it's curing. My dad is an expert. A tobacco plant will grow an inch a day. And it doesn't wait for you. You have to pick it when it's ready."

Art or science, the traditions of the Brown Farm are likely to continue for as long as there is demand for Connecticut shade wrapper from cigar aficionados who appreciate the best.

"We love the battle because if you don't have a battle you can't have a victory," says Brown. "And we live for the victory."