THE HOGSHEAD MARKET 
Previous to the development of the '"loose-leaf" auction system of sales, 
growers packed their tobacco in hogsheads for delivery to commission agents for | 
selling. This was much the same procedure as was followed in the very early 
days of the country. Originally, the grower received a negotiable receipt for 
each hogshead delivered, before inspection and final sale, but soon after the 
beginning of the last century, the practice of selling the hogsheads of tobacco 
by auction after sampling became established, and this constituted the first 
form of sale by the auction system. 
Today, the only such "hogshead" market in operation is the "closed-bid" 
auction at Baltimore, Md., which sells a small quantity of the Maryland type of 
tobacco. After the tobacco is delivered to the marketing association there, 
which operates as the commission agent, State inspectors take samples from the 
hogsheads and make them available for examination by prospective buyers after 
affixing the State seal to the hogshead. The buyers submit "closed" or sealed 
bids on such tobacco as suits them; these bids are opened at a specified time 
and the highest bid is accepted subject to grower approval. 
Since the establishment of the loose-leaf markets in Maryland in 1939, 
most of the tobacco grown in the State has been sold on the auction floors. 
CIGAR-LEAF MARKETING (COUNTRY SALES) 
In most of the cigar-leaf tobacco districts, farmers contract for the sale 
of their tobacco at the farm, a system known as "barn-door" marketing. This 
may be done during the growing or curing season, but in recent years, practically 
all is sold after it has been cured, stripped, and baled. Buyers may be cigar 
manufacturers or independent packers, or their representatives. Although com 
petitive bidding exists in the sense that various buyers inspect the tobacco 
and make offers, competition is not as apparent as in the auction method of 
sales. 
The buyers ride over the producing districts from time to time during the 
growing season, and note the progress of the individual crops, as well as the 
changes in the acreages and crop prospects as compared with other years. In 
this way they keep themselves informed on the location of desirable crops. 
Sales.may be at a flat price per pound for the entire crop; or, as is more 
common, at separate rates per pound for the two main groups made at stripping: 
(1) those suitable for cigar-manufacturing purposes, and (2) those (known as 
stemming grades) suitable primarily for the manufacture of scrap-chewing. 
Cigar wrapper is grown under almost every kind of arrangement imaginable. 
Sometimes the buyer rents the land, hires the owmer as foreman, and has him 
grow the tobacco for his (the buyer's) account; and in some cases the buyer and 
farmer each contributes certain specified items of cost and each shares in the 
proceeds in relation to his contribution. A common practice is the growing of 
the tobacco by the manufacturer himself on his own land. Sometimes a farmer, 
who thinks he has an unusually fine crop and believes the prevailing market 
will improve, has his tobacco sorted, sweated, packed, and stored for sale at 
a future time. 
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