Abstract: A harvesting apparatus adapted to be towed by a standard tractor, and capable of automatically removing tobacco leaves from their respective stalks. The removed leaves are fed to a cart also being towed by the tractor. The tobacco leaves are stripped from the stalks by a pair of rotating defoliators centrally positioned in the harvesting apparatus, and transported up the outside walls of the harvester by way of a plurality of associating spaced transport belts, and are dropped onto a conveyor system for delivery to the towed cart. Also disclosed is a mechanism by which the spacing between the towing tractor and the defoilator blades can be adjusted to change the tobacco row undergoing harvest. Furthermore, there is disclosed a mechanism by which the towed harvester can be adjusted so as to strip all of the tobacco leaves off of the stalks or to remove only the leaves in select regions of the stalks.