CONNECTICUT VALLEY CIGAR LEAF TOBACCO. 



187 



Sampling. — Sampling is generally done by a special sampler appointed 

 by his firm, though sometimes it is done by a local packer appointed by 

 the company for which he packs. The sampler charges 35 cents a case, 

 one-half of which goes to the sampler and the other half to his firm. This 

 fee of 35 cents does not include handling. It is estimated that it costs 

 15 cents to handle the cases and to deliver the samples to the manufac- 

 turer, making the total charge 50 cents per case. 



Tobacco is sampled as soon as it comes from the sweat room by taking 

 six hands from different places in a case. Beginning at the bottom a 

 sample is taken from about every fourth layer of tobacco. From these 

 six samples four are selected to represent the quality of the bale, and are 

 tagged and numbered to correspond to the number on the bale from 

 which the sample was taken. This sample is guaranteed anx-^vhere in 

 the United States to represent the quality of tobacco in the case. 



;<8 



No ±38o. 



stripped Sample 



WARRANTED 



-^So -■ 8o 



FiQ. 13. — Tobacco sample tag, tied to the hands, and guarantees the tobacco anywhere in 

 the United States. The number of the case here is 4380, the gross weight 450 pounds 

 and the tare 80 pounds. 



Amount of Tobacco assorted. 



There were 7,280 cases of shade-grown tobacco assorted, sweated and 

 stored in the warehouses of Massachusetts in 1917-18, and 35,971 cases of 

 sun-grown tobacco, representing a combined total of 11,883,200 pounds. 

 In 1917-18 there were 44 sorting shops open in Massachusetts which 

 handled about 270,070 pomids per shop on an average. Some of these 

 shops do a much larger business than others, depending upon the size of 

 the shops and the number of laborers emploj^ed. 



Nearly one-half of the Massachusetts tobacco is grown by Poles, and 

 from one-half to three-fourths of the laborers employed in the sorting and 

 packing shops are of Pohsh descent. In Connecticut Polish labor is not 

 so important as in Massachusetts. Three-fourths or more of the tobacco 

 in Connecticut is grown by natives, and over one-haK of the labor em- 

 ployed in the sorting shops is native. The Polish farmers utilize the help 

 of the whole family during the growing season and in the sorting shops 

 during the winter months. 



