MABKETING TOBACCO. 279 



and carried to market. The weight of such a tierce, 

 packed, is about 250 pounds. Larger tierces are used in 

 Virginia and North Carolina, which hold from 400 to 

 600 pounds of loosely packed tobacco. 



The day it is offered for sale, the larger head is 

 taken out and the tierce inverted. The tobacco slips 

 out and stands without support on the floor of the ware- 

 house. If two different grades are put in the same 

 tierce, some strips of paper are laid between them. 

 Each grade is placed in a separate pile on the floor of 

 the warehouse, with a card showing the owner, weight, 

 warehouse, number, etc. The leaf is sold according to 

 the farmer's grades, and just as he directs. The prin- 

 cipal markets, however, prefer to have the leaf carefully 

 assorted in grades of a specified character, established 

 by the rules of the board of trade. No receipt is given 

 a farmer if he comes in a wagon and delivers his to- 

 bacco, attending to the sale himself. But if shipped in 

 hogsheads, tierces, or open crates, by freight, the farmer 

 sends to the warehouse his bill of lading. The ware- 

 house then pays the freight, deducting it from his 

 sales account. 



On auction days, these warehouses are filled with a 

 crowd of buyers and curiosity seekers. The auctioneer 

 stands on a box set on wheels, which admits of its being 

 easily moved from pile to pile. At each one he solicits 

 bids ; that is, you are told, if you are a stranger, that he 

 is doing so. At all events, he is using his tongue, his 

 hands, and his body to the best advantage. His jargon 

 is unintelligible to all but the initiated. Meanwhile, 

 the buyers are pulling the piles apart, and examining 

 the character of the tobacco, as the bids are made and 

 cried by the auctioneer. As fast as a pile is sold, a 

 clerk takes down the price and puts upon the card the 

 name of the buyer. The hired employees of each buyer 

 take up the piles as they are sold, in large, square bas- 



