210 TOBACCO PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 



Dark shipping tobacco is prized to weigh from 1,200 to 1, COO pounds of leaf and from 1,400 to 1,800 pounds of lugs, 

 and air-cured from 800 to 1,200 pounds. Yellow is always packed lightly. It injures the sale of this grade to prize 

 so tightly as to stick Ilic leaves together, as they should shake out loosely when opened. 



In colonial days, and until 1800, or later, Virginia planters delivered their crops in market and sold before 

 Christmas. From 1810 to 1830 the common practice was to prize and sell in the early spring or summer; but after 

 that period, and until 1800, the greater part of the crop was sold during the summer months. Since 1865 an entire 

 change in the time and manner of marketing has taken place, planters now selling their tobacco at any time during 

 the year, as necessity may compel or prices induce. Most of the loose tobacco sales are made eari\ in the spring, 

 unless prices are very low. 



Loose tobacco is sold in Richmond arid in Petersburg during the winter, and in March and April; prized 

 tobaccos are sent to these markets in the summer and fall. 



In the up-country markets planters commence selling in a small way as soon as the tobacco is cured, disposing 

 of lugs, primings, and poor leaf first and the better grades afterward. 



Fanners in Henry, Franklin, and Patrick counties sell mostly to country manufacturers, who purchase for 

 cash "at the barn door". What local manufacturers do not require is shipped or hauled to the nearest market,. 



LOOSE TOBACCO HOW SOLD. 



Warehouses for the sale of loose tobacco are of recent origin. In construction, arrangement, and fixtures they 

 are very different from those in which prized tobacco is inspected and sold, being generally spacious structures, with 

 ample floor room, abundantly lighted on either side and above, having covered ways for unloading tobacco from 

 wagons, and most of them have accommodations for the teams and the drivers of the farmers' wagons. 



On the arrival of a wagon loaded with tobacco it is driven upon the covered way, some three feet lower than 

 the adjoining warehouse floor, and the tobacco is taken from it by the warehouse employe's, assisted by the driver 

 or owner, and is placed upon trucks in round piles, heads outward and tails to the center, until the truck is tilled 

 or all of any one grade is placed thereon. The loaded track is run upon a scale platform and weighed, and 

 thence to the proper place on the floor, where the tobacco is skillfully dumped, without disturbing the symmetrical 

 packing of the pile. A card, with the appropriate warehouse number, name of owner or seller, and weight of the 

 lot, is put into the cleft of a stick thrust into the pile, and as far as possible each grade, according to size, color, and 

 quality, is placed in separate piles. 



When the piles have been arranged upon the warehouse floor, at a given hour an auctioneer proceeds to sell ai 

 public outcry, beginning at the end of one of the rows of piles and disposing of each lot in turn until all are sold. 

 The regulations in all such warehouses allow the owner to " take in " his tobacco if the price is not satisfactory, 

 and he may again ofler it at public sale or sell privately, at his option. 



The charges for handling, selling, and delivering loose tobacco in the several markets of Virginia, are: For 

 receiving and weighing, per pile or lot, 10 to 15 cents ; auction fee for selling under 100 pounds, 10 to 15 cents ; over 

 100 pounds, 25 cents : commission for selling, 2i per cent. In some warehouses a charge of 5 to 10 cents is made 

 for delivering. 



The buyers remove the tobacco from the warehouse as soon as the sale is over, large, flat bottomed baskets, 

 holding from 200 to 300 pounds, being used for this purpose, and care is taken to keep the several lots, as soli I , separate, 

 each lot retaining its appropriate ticket. This precaution is to prevent disputes if there should be any cause tor 

 reclamation. 



In the up-country markets, when tobacco is received by rail or otherwise, in hogsheads, tierces, boxes, or crates, 

 the packages are broken and the tobacco is sold loose in the same way as above described. 



PRIZED TOBACCO HOW SOLD. 



In Richmond and Petersburg, where there are regular inspection warehouses, the hogsheads or other package* 

 are first stripped off. the tobacco broken in three or more places, and samples are drawn from each break. The 

 samples from each package are tied together, sealed, and stamped with the name of warehouse, number, owners' 

 name, weight (gross, tare, and net), and date of inspection, and the tobacco is then sold, either at auction, on 

 'change, or at private sale. 



The system of state warehouses, under the control of inspectors appointed by the governor, which existed for 

 two hundred years has recently given place to free inspection, under rules and regulations adopted by trade 

 boards or associations. 



The average charges, to be paid by the seller, are : Storage, four months, per hogshead, $1 ; after four months, 

 per month, 10 cents; inspection, 75 cents to $1; review, $1 50; commission for selling, 2 per cent.; payable by 

 the purchaser is a charge for outage of $1 per hogshead. The samples are guaranteed by the inspectors, and 

 reclamations for non-conformity of package with sample are settled by committees of arbitration elected or 



appointed by the boards of trade. 



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