average 21 cents per pound had been paid for Associa- 

 tion Burley. Warehouses in Burley districts in Kentucky 

 and other states had been acquired by the Association 

 which also graded, redried and stored tobacco. For the 

 first six years of its existence the Association sold more 

 than 100 million pounds annually. 



Then, from about 1925, members began to withdraw 

 from the Association and from other pooling organiza- 

 tions. There were several reasons for the lack of mem- 

 bership interest and the consequent decline of coopera- 

 tive groups. Chief of these lay in the simple fact that a 

 farmer selling directly at auction was paid at once for 

 his product. When his leaf went to the cooperative pool 

 he had to wait for a brief period after it was sold. A 

 majority of Association members refused to sign a new 

 five-year contract in 1926, whereupon the organization 

 discontinued its operations. Yet it retained its properties 

 and continued its corporate structure. 



T 



he modern look 



The last hogsheads of leaf sold at auction in Kentucky 

 had been rolled off the warehouse floors during the 1929- 

 1930 season. No one, except perhaps the coopers, was 

 sorry to see them go. In varying sizes they had been on 

 the farm scene in tobacco colonies since their earliest 

 settlements. They had made the primitive routes for land 

 passage that developed into major highways. Now that 

 they were gone, everyone concerned with growing and 

 selling tobacco agreed that loose leaf in hands, placed in 

 baskets on auction floors, looked better, smelled "sweet- 

 er," and sold better than in hogsheads. 



Other changes were taking place. For some time the 

 area just south of Henderson had been known as the 

 "stemming district," as tobacco from that section had 



58 



