tarpaulin for protection. It is delivered to the loose-leaf sales warehouse, where it is by the warehouseman packed into large shallow baskets or piles, according to the quantity to be offered, being then disposed of at auction. If sold under the second method, it is "prized" (trade name for packed) into hogsheads. Such tobacco is sold by sample, so that careful assorting and prizing are necessary if the highest market prices are to be obtained. Tobacco in condition for winter handling will not keep through the spring, but will mold when warm weather sets in, unless it is reconditioned by again hanging it up to dry out. It is then ready for taking down and packing in favorable weather, and if properly done it will then keep indefinitely.

In a general way, the loose-leaf method of selling prevails, wherever it is conveniently possible for the grower to haul his leaf to the warehouse door, while the "prized" method obtains where railroad or water shipment is necessary to market. A larger proportion of the American crop is sold loose now than formerly. It has always been the prevailing custom in Virginia, and has recently been gaining favor in the Western districts. Many causes have contributed, of which the chief is the improved character of country roads and the wider use of motor-propelled trucks. The co-operative marketing associations make it their rule to assort the leaf of members into many grades so as to obtain best prices. They prefer the leaf to come to the warehouse floor loose, rather than packed, and as the co-operative marketing is gaining tremendously it carries with its growth an increased favor for looseleaf sales.

There is, however, much opposition to sale of leaf which is not bundled into "hands." In certain markets, buyers have fallen into the habit of offering the farmer a lump sum for his crop before being assorted and before being bundled, the only requirement being that he shall deliver it at the warehouse door. So great became this evil that one State (South Carolina in 1922) enacted a statute to require an annual license fee of $5,000 (to be turned into the county school fund of the local county) for any warehouse that trades in tobacco that is ungraded and untied.

Tobacco sales methods are the source of much bitterness, there existing between growers and buyers a tension of feeling such as

is to be found in no other farm staple. At times, particularly in the burley districts of Kentucky and Tennessee, outbreaks of lawlessness result, in which effective boycotts are instituted, tobacco is deliberately destroyed or rendered unfit for manufacture, and tobacco barns and warehouses are burned by mobs. To establish the grower on a plane of bargaining power equal to that of the buyer, large co-operative selling organizations have sprung up, the principal one being the Burley Tobacco Growers' Co-operative Association (centering in Kentucky, Tennessee and Southern Indiana), and the Tobacco Growers' Co-operative Association (North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia). Both of these work under the slogan "A Non-Profit Co-operative Association to Sell our Tobacco Intelligently." These associations "shall handle, process, dry, cure, condition, manufacture, treat, store, ship and deliver the tobacco delivered to it by and at the order of the association."

The operators of these associations, during the last three seasons, have introduced many reasonable sales methods. "To sell tobacco intelligently" means, of course, carefully to sort it, grade it, concentrate odd lots into commercial lots of uniform quality, all to be held in readiness for sale and spot delivery, when market conditions seem most favorable. These associations, as a result, receive from the grower his tobacco in the loose form but, in turn, prize it at the association's warehouse, the packing being done as a final step in assorting and grading. It is, therefore, quite probable that sales methods will return more and more to the former method of offering hogshead-prized lots. These associations are prepared to carry the leaf of their members "over the season," in fact, for two or three years. In order to do this economically it will be necessary to pack the leaf in hogsheads, this being the only manner in which tobacco can be stored in "tobacco shed" warehouses.

The tobacco sales-warehouse is to be found at every center throughout the tobacco-growing sections of the country. Important centers have many such warehouses. These sales-warehouses are large flat-roofed structures, with an unbroken expanse of floor space. The roof is so constructed as to admit the most light possible. In some sections (for example, Eastern South Carolina).

basements are provided for grading and tying tobacco, these being the type of sales-warehouse for which the 1922 statute of that State requires annual license fee of $5,000, in an effort to drive them out of the business. Generally, throughout the growing States, the farmers themselves roughly grade their leaf and tie into hands before hauling from the farm to the sales-warehouse. When the leaf reaches the sales-warehouse, it is weighed and placed on shallow baskets, each of the grower's rough grades by itself. The baskets are arranged on the warehouse floor, each ticketed to indicate its weight and ownership. The baskets contain from 50 to 1,000 pounds as extreme quantities, but the average is about 150 to 200 pounds. The auctioneer and the buyers, at the appointed hour, pass down the rows of these baskets. After award of bid is made, both grower and buyer are allowed a certain time within which to reject the bid or the leaf, respectively, should dissatisfaction be felt. At a number of the larger markets, such as Richmond, the trade has an organization with rules and regulations to govern the operation of sales-warehouses and the conduct of the daily auctions.

In the more Western growing districts, a number of variations of sales methods are found. At one time (at such markets as Owensboro and Henderson) loose tobacco was sold by auction based on samples. An inspector drew from each lot a sample of each grade (leaf, lugs and trash), made estimate of the weight of each in the lot, and carried his samples to the sales-warehouse. They were displayed on tables and at appointed time the lot auctioned. The grower than drove his wagon to the private warehouse of the buyer for delivery of the lot. This method has today been everywhere superseded by the loose-leaf sales method.

In a few localities of Western Kentucky (such as Mayfield in the Black Patch) sales-warehouses have not been introduced. The auction system at those places is known in the trade as "chute sales." The farmers' wagons with their leaf pass through a shed or passage way, with suitable platforms for buyers and auctioneer. The tobacco is inspected by each buyer as it halts before the platform and then auctioned. Even at such districts the quantity of tobacco sold through the "chutes" is a small proportion of the total crop, it being largely limited to such farmers as have been

unable to bargain with buyers on the farm. Under the growth of the co-operatives, the whole system of tobacco selling has been revolutionized. These associations have acquired what were formerly sales-warehouses and now utilize them for receiving tobacco from members. The member's lot is graded in the warehouse, where formerly it was auctioned. He is paid a certain proportion of the value in cash and given a participation receipt (the certificate) for his share in the pool for each grade.

Sampling and Grading Tobacco.-Tobacco in hogsheads may be sampled and graded by licensed inspectors as it is prized into the container. In that case the grade is certificated (Form 38) and the leaf used as the sample for grading is officially sealed with wax. The tag (Form 39) shows gross and net weight, marks of the lot if any. It is secured to the sample used in determining grade by means of heavy twine, passed through two holes in the tag, the twine being so wrapped about the sample that leaf may not be abstracted without mutilation. The knot is sealed with hot sealing wax, with imprint of the inspector's seal and number in such manner that tampering is impossible without breaking the brittle

wax.

If the tobacco to be sampled has been already prized into the hogshead, sampling is possible only by opening the hogshead. The head and hoops are removed from the head-end of the hogshead. It is set on the head, and the cask lifted off, leaving the pile of tobacco in a mass on the floor. This compressed mass of the leaf is broken with a "breaking-bar" at three places so as to divide the whole into about equal fourths. At each "break" samples are drawn so selected as to represent that portion of the hogshead. After determination of grade by the inspector, this sample is sealed and tagged as already described. In either case the sample is placed in the re-packed hogshead at the top, so that for further inspection (as for arbitration of grade) the sample may be obtained without the expensive process of opening up the whole hogshead and breaking the mass.

In a historical way, such has always been the manner of sampling American tobacco. Within twelve years of the settlement at Jamestown, the colonists of Virginia organized a selling pool for

Licensed Inspector, Grader, and Weigher.

Form 38. Combined Grade and Weight Certificate for Tobacco Stored with a Warehouse under Federal License