a 
66 CIRCULAR 249, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
existing supplies, export demand, manufacturing requirements, and 
quality, which collectively constitute supply and demand. 
The disadvantages of the system relate to those phases of auction 
selling which subject the individual grower to undue hazards in dis- 
posing of his crop. Notwithstanding the stability always inherent in 
averages and the degree with which average prices respond to the 
conditions of supply and demand, the very conditions surrounding the 
sale result in some lots being sold perhaps for more than their worth, 
and others at much less than their worth. Such instances may be 
traced to a variety of causes which are not in themselves fundamental 
but the net results of which point to a weakness in the auction mar- 
keting system. 
Among the causes that may result in tobacco being sold below its 
proper average, or the current average for tobacco of the same grade 
or quality, may be cited the following: 
VARIABLE LIGHT 
By the use of large numbers of skylights the effort is made to achieve 
a uniformly diffused light throughout the warehouse, but this result is 
only partly obtained. Beginning at the center of the floor the light- 
ing effects vary as the side walls are approached and from one side 
of the warehouse to the other, because of the varying angles at which 
the light strikes the skylights on opposite slopes of the roof, and the 
change from forenoon to afternoon sun. A variation in light may 
occur from one pile to the next, because of nearness of roof supports, 
skylights, etc. (fig. 29). Even more important is the change from a 
bright to a cloudy day. These variations in light may be relatively | 
imperceptible, and yet they are seldom without importance in view 
of the part that fine gradations in color sometimes play in influencing 
the buyers’ judgment. Tobacco that in one light may appear dull 
and lifeless may present an opposite appearance under more favorable 
conditions. 
WEATHER 
Tobacco is remarkably responsive to weather conditions. Exposed 
to dry atmosphere it quickly becomes so brittle as to break up with 
handling. With a change to humid weather the leaf becomes soft, 
pliable, and elastic. If the weather turns cold, the tobacco that was 
soft and pliable quickly becomes hard and rustles to the touch unless 
it is in very high order. Buyers are accustomed to these changes in 
weather and are trained to allow for the resulting changes in the 
physical condition of the tobacco, yet errors in judgment are unavoid- 
able. The changes in physical condition effect changes in the appear- 
ance of the tobacco with respect to such factors as color, luster, and 
‘life,’ and errors in appraisal may therefore arise with reference to 
the texture or other characteristics appraised by the sense of touch, 
as well as those appraised by the eye. 
RAPIDITY OF SALES 
Rapidity of sales causes several kinds of error. When from 350 to 
600 or more lots are sold in an hour the number of seconds devoted 
to a given lot is small, and the conditions are such that not all buyers 
have ready access to the tobacco. Buyers usually pull several hands 
of tobacco from the lot at a time, hold it in different angles to the light, 
smell it for mold, test it by touch for body or thickness, gum, and 
