iiG THE crf/rruK of rojiACCO. 



f'lr tlie sale, tlie toliaucn must Cdiitain just eiiuugk iiioiature so tliat 

 it will not lireak in handling, and so that it will stretch <iut 

 smiMith like a kid glove \Ylien placed under tension. 



As soiiii as the fanner brings in his toljacco it is unloaded, 

 and each grade weighed and placed in a ]jile by itself. The 

 weights are recorded in a Ijook, and each pile is labelled with a 

 card liearing the seller's name and the weight of the pile. At a 

 hxed hour the toliacco is auctioned off, the auctioneer passing rapidly 

 from pile to pile, and the buyers crying their bids. As soon as 

 the liidding lags, or the highest bid appears to have been reached, 

 the pile is declared sold tothe highest bidder. The buyer calls to 

 the clerk to affix his private grade mark to the lalsel, and a record 

 of the transaction is made in the warehouse liooks ; in the mean- 

 time, the next pile is Ijeing sold. A'ery shortly employees of the 

 buyers loacl the tobacco into baskets, place it on wagons, and haul 

 it away to their packing houses, so that nearly as soon as the last 

 ]jile is sold, the warehouse is cleared of tobacco, and ready to be 

 tilled again. 



The sales (.f the ditfereut warehouses are arranged in succcs.sion, 

 so that as soon as one .sale is completed the buyers move on to 

 the next v.areli<aise. t)ften there will be two sales in the one ware- 

 house during the day. During the busy season the sales sometimes 

 continue from early in the morning until late at night, and as much 

 as fift}' or sixty thousand pounds may lie sold in one warehouse, 

 so that in a tiiwn like Danville, Virginia, with nine warehouses, a 

 large i|uantity of tobacco may V)e disposed of in one day. The 

 l)an\"ille niaiket sells from fort\' to fifty million pounds of loo.se 

 tobacco during a season. 



The buyers, who are representatives of manufacturers, exporters, 

 and speculators, must rajjidlj' determine the value of a pile of tobacco, 

 for the sale is usually only a matter of seconds. To do this they use 

 all their senses, particularly those of sight, touch, and smell. They 

 must mentally determine the length, width, and texture of the leaf. 

 The texture is a.scertained by feeling the leaf with the hand, and the 

 stretching of it is to determine its elasticity. The odour must be taken 

 note of and attention paid to the matter of moulds. The extent to 

 which the tobacco smells of smoke must also be noticed and allowance 

 made for it, as well as for any over-weight due to excessive moisture. 

 The pile is also rapidly examined to see if it is uniform in grade. 

 Eival buyers often try to run the bids of each other up very high, and 

 then let the tobacco go to their competitor to lessen his margin on the 

 finished product. Several buyers will often clique together and 

 attempt to control prices. The jjrices of any one market cannot be 

 ke|it h.wer than those of other markets for any length of time, for the 

 farmers will soon change their .selling point. ' The'buvcrs must settle 

 in full with the waiehouseinan some time during the dav of the sale, 

 or be refused further privileges on the market, 



The farmer is charged a warehouse fee of 7d. a pile and a weighing 

 fee of 7d. a hundred, as well as a couiinission of two and a half pei-^cent" 

 on all sales. When the tobacco is delivered at the warehouse thi' 

 farmer may give to the warehou.seman his reseiwe price, and the sale 

 is ncit made unless the bidding i eaches the figure named.' The fanner 

 himself may follow the .sale and refuse to let his toliacco go unless th.' 

 price is satisfactory. As soon as the sale has been made the fanner 

 may go to the warehouseman and icccicc a cliequc for the amount due 



