184 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 193. 



Large growers, notably growers of shade tobacco, ship some tobacco 

 to dealers and manufacturers, but very little tobacco is shipped by far- 

 mers. Most of the tobacco is sold by the farmer to local packers who 

 pack, sweat and sell it in the case, or in the bundle to other packers, dealers 

 or manufacturers. The steps in marketing performed by the farmer are 

 now ended. Before the packers are ready to market the crop it must go 

 through several stages of preparation, which will be discussed in the next 

 few pages. 



Description of Packers' Preparations for Market. 

 Functions of the Packer. 



The first function of the packer is to purchase from farmers the quantity 

 of tobacco of the grade desired by the trade which he supplies. He does 

 this himself or through his local agent. The local agent is usually a 

 prominent grower who owns a building equipped for receiving, sorting, 

 packing, sweating and storing tobacco. Frequently these buiMings, 

 fully equipped, are built by dealers for their local agents. In other cases 

 they are leased for a period of years, but usually they are owned by the 

 local agent, who receives a fixed price per pound or case for packing the 

 tobacco. 



The second function of the packer is to receive the tobacco at the 

 sorting shop. Ver}^ frequently it is purchased in the field long before it 

 is ready to harvest, and naturally there is no assurance as to the con- 

 dition of the crop when it comes from the curing shed. When tobacco 

 is delivered at the warehouse it is inspected, and if too much damaged is 

 refused or accepted at a reduced price. Much damage may result from 

 taking down tobacco too dry or too damp. Farmers are usually paid in 

 full as soon as the tobacco has been accepted and weighed at the packer's 

 warehouse. 



The third function of the packer is to open the bundles and deliver 

 the tobacco to the sizers, who separate the leaves one by one according to 

 length. Then the different sizes are taken to the sorters who grade them 

 according to quality and color. 



The fourth function is sorting. As a rule, no attempt at sorting is 

 made by the farmer. He simply delivers his bundles of stripped tobacco. 

 The sorting is usually done by some one hired by the packer. This agent 

 gets his help ready to begin about November 10, and continues until 

 about the first week in April. 



For the fifth function the tobacco thus sorted is tied with short tops 

 into hands. These hands are placed in stalls properly labeled, and covered 

 with blankets to keep the tobacco "in case." 



The sixth function is packing and sweating. From these stalls it is 

 put into cases lined with paper, and the tobacco is so placed, with the tips 

 toward the center, as to lap from 4 to 6 inches. The lap is necessary in 

 order to start sweating. The cases are then moved into the sweat room. 



