CONNECTICUT VALLEY CIGAR LEAF TOBACCO. 189 



Cost of Sorting, Tying, Storing, Packing, Sweating and Sampling. 



Nearly all the sizing, sorting and tying is done by the piece, the laborers 

 getting so much per hundred pounds of tobacco sorted and tied. In 

 1917-18 sorters got about $1.30 per 100 pounds of tobacco sorted, and tiers 

 about $1.25. An average laborer can sort or tie about 225 pounds of 

 tobacco in a day. Some can sort considerably more than this, but, to 

 insure accuracy and careful handling, a limit is generally placed on the 

 amount of tobacco a laborer can sort or size in a day. This amounts to 

 about the same as paj^ing a daily wage. The packers are paid by the day. 



The average daily wage paid in 1915-16 was as follows: sorters, $1.75 

 per day; sizers and tiers, $1.50 per day; and packers, from $2 to $2.50 

 per day. In 1916-17 sorters were paid $2.50; sizers and tiers, $2.25; 

 and packers, from $2.75 to $3. During the season of 1917-18 sorters were 

 paid $3; sizers and tiers, $2.75; and packers, from $3.25 to $3.50. 



The wages for 1917-18 were about 50 cents more for each class of labor 

 than they were in 1916-17. The packers in certain localities agreed upon 

 the wage they would pay. 



Table 27. — Sizes and Costs of Cases for Shade-grown Tobacco. 



.32-inch case 

 34-inch case 

 36-inch case 

 38-inch case 

 40-inch case 

 42-inch case 

 44-inch case 

 46-inch case 

 48-inch case 



$1 50 

 1 55 

 1 60 

 1 65 

 1 70 

 1 75 

 1 80 

 1 85 

 1 90 



Cases for shade-grown in 1917 and 1918 cost about $2.50. The matting 

 to wrap the tobacco costs 17| cents per mat, and three mats are necessary 

 to a case. One handicap of the packers of shade tobacco is the fact that 

 they can no longer get manila twine, which has been used for tying the 

 hands of tobacco. Instead they use cotton twine, which is less satisfactory. 



