AMERICAN TOBACCO TYPES, USES, AND MARKETS 61 
TOBACCO MARKETING METHODS 
Methods by which growers dispose of their tobacco vary widely. 
Briefly summarized, they include: (1) The auction, or loose-leaf floor 
system; (2) the hogshead market; (3) country sales; and (4) coopera- 
tive marketing. 
Tue Auction MARKET 
The auction, or loose-leaf market, is now the prevailing system of 
selling tobacco in all tobacco-growing territory from southern Ohio 
and Indiana southward, in which are included all States south of the 
Ohio and Potomac Rivers in which tobacco is grown on a commercial 
scale (except for the cigar-leaf districts of Florida and Georgia). 
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FiGuRE 29.—View in a large modern auction warehouse showing large number of 
skylights. The glass used is finely ribbed to give a soft and diffused light. 
For flue-cured and light air-cured types a large amount of light is provided. 
For some of the dark types, especially fire-cured, the volume of light admitted 
is, in comparison, greatly reduced. 
Reduced to its simplest terms, an auction floor is a place where growers 
may deliver their tobacco and have it auctioned off to the highest 
bidder, the bidders being buyers for manufacturers, dealers, exporters, 
or speculators. The system is of vast proportions, represents a large 
total outlay of capital and the employment of large numbers of people, 
and provides the means for selling more than a billion pounds of 
tobacco annually during the months from August to April. (For list 
of auction markets, see appendix.) 
