CUEING. 127 



As to the size, form, and materials of the hogsheads. In 

 Virginia, the size of the hogsheads is prescribed by law. 

 They must be made of seasoned pine or poplar. They 

 must be 4 feet 6 inches long ; 3 feet 6 inches in diameter, 

 at one end, and 3 feet 4 inches at the other. This 

 difference of diameter is to allow the tobacco to be in- 

 spected. This may be something new to persons of the 

 North, therefore I will explain the mode of inspecting 

 tobacco in the hogshead. An inspector is appointed by 

 law to inspect or examine the tobacco prized in hogsheads. 

 His first step is, to place the hogshead big end upward. 

 He then removes the lining, and takes out the head. He 

 next inverts the position of the hogshead, that is, puts 

 the little end up, and raises it entirely from the tobacco. 

 The mass of prized tobacco stands before him without a 

 covering. The outside may be all right, but his sworn 

 duty is to examine it through and through, as well as 

 round and round. For this purpose he drives an iron 

 bar to the middle, near the top of the mass, prises up and 

 takes out a handful of bundles. He repeats that operation 

 on two other points of the mass. He then inspects or 

 examines the parcels extracted, and rates the whole hogs- 

 head according to their quality. The hogshead is re- 

 placed and made secure. The hogsheads and the samples 

 taken from them bear corresponding marks, and the 

 former is sold by the latter. The staves of the hogshead 

 must not be wider than 5, nor narrower than 3 inches, 

 f inch thick, and dressed on the inside. The heading 

 must be seasoned pine or poplar, and 1 inch thick, with 

 8 hoops. Such a hogshead will well answer in other 

 States as well as in Virginia. 



