Virginia had already enacted inspection laws which 

 regulated the quality of Virginia tobacco. Due to con- 

 trolled inspection, Virginia tobacco was thought to be 

 of substantially higher quahty than neighboring Mary- 

 land tobacco. But Maryland farmers were still packing 

 "trash" in their hogsheads and the merchants in Europe 

 were becoming irate and refusing to buy the tobacco. 



By 1740, more Marylanders were beginning to realize 

 that inspection laws were the only salvation. In 1743 

 an informant told Lord Baltimore that no improvement 

 was possible without inspection regulations that "will 

 prevent the sending to Market Such trash as is unfit for 

 any other use but Manure." 



The tobacco became so bad that in 1747 many 

 farmers began self inspection. Soon, all opposition to 

 inspection vanished. Public warehouses were erected 

 and placed in the authority of county-elected officials 

 who inspected the tobacco. After being surveyed, all 

 "trash" found in hogsheads was immediately burned. 

 Once the crop passed inspection, the planter received a 

 "crop note" that listed hogsheads by number, recorded 

 the gross weight, and specified whether the tobacco was 

 sweet-scented or Oronoko, stemmed or leaf. After in- 

 spection, the planter had the choice of consigning his 

 tobacco to England or selling it in the colonies. If the 

 planter turned in tobacco by the bundle rather than in 

 hogshead form, he received a "transfer note" entitling 

 him to the same type and quality tobacco which he 

 turned in. Transfer tobacco was usually left over from 

 hogsheads or was delivered in small quantities from 

 farmers who grew very little tobacco but wanted, 

 nonetheless, to cash in on what they had. 



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