in the tobacco patch is the story of elmer crummins. elmer is an old kentucky tobacco farmer. he is nearing sixty, and he is afraid he has missed the dream. his one big concern though is that the government keeps cutting his tobacco allotment. then he learns that his one son, jim henry, is dying of lung cancer caused by smoking cigarettes. now elmer's whole life is turned upside down. he turns things topsy turvy in the little county seat town of scarrsville because he quit growing tobacco and everybody said he would "sure as god starve to death." this book is dedicated to porter mayo, m.d. phd, a native of kentucky, who practised thoracic surgery in lexington for thirty years, then became professor of surgery at the university of kentucky medical center there. he is now writing a history of medicine and he has been helpful to the author of in the tobacco patch in defining the medical aspects of jim henry crummins' case. unknowingly, he sat for the pen portrait of doctor northcut in this story