The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1908-01-03
Total ano 4ersunal.
Good Work of the Tobacco
Growers Association.

In the first week of January the new
" elected directors of the Maryland
Tobacco Growers Association will
meet in Baltimore and confer with the
special committee on legislation, to the
end that the wishes of the growers may
be ascertained and properly communi-
Gated to the General Assembly.
In speaking of the work of the asso-
citation and of general crop conditions,
MIR. Franklin Weems, secretary of the
association, said:
Chased on the proposition that any
system of warehouse inspection of to-
baeco which does not include record
of the result of such inspection and a
report of the same to the grower must
of necessity be incomplete and must fall
short of it's greatest usefulness, the &C
ton Of the Maryland Tobacco Growers
Association in establishing its grading
bureau was important, because it sup
piled feature not provided for in our
present system of State inspection and
tobacco-warehouse management and
avoided by cur commission merchants
admittedly on account of the trouble
and expense attached thereto.
after an experience covering only
part of one season-say, from April l
to December 1, eight months-we find
that the value of complete crop record
rod h11t tho
contrary that the amount of information
heretofore unobtainable which is now
furnished by the records of the grading
bureau is of great present value and,
further, that its value to our growers
will increase as it becomes more and
more cumulative, enabling com parisons
to be made one crop with another, one
section with another, one type with an
other and one method of handling with
another.
ssTnere is coming into the minds of
the growers of tobacco everywhere
more and more positive conviction that
the information regarding the character
of their crops and the marketing of
them which will be at all times the most
reliable and \the most useful to the
growers is that which comes from
sources identified with themselves and
not entirely, as heretofore, from the
side of the buyers.
"With the purpose of indicating to
some extent the character of the facts
as shown by the records of the grading
bureau and of the deductions that may
be made therefrom, I have compiled
some of the information so as to present
it in an available shape. At this time
the complete figures for this year are
not available, but we know that the to
tai Maryland crop marketed in 1906 was
about 81 900 hogsheads, while in 1907 it
is about 81 900, a falling off of one third
in number of hogsheads and more than
that in number of pounds, as the hogs
heads were lighter in weight than usual
This shortage was partly caused by de-
creased acreage owing to the low prices
obtained for tobacco in 1905 and scare
;ty of labor, but more so by the remark
able character of the weather in the
growing months of July and August,
1905; which prevented proper cultiva
ton and housing of the crop at the
proper time 1t wasted in the field very
greatly and chang ed from firm crop leaf
to seconds of overripe trashy leaf
rough, ugly and hard to handle.
ALLOWING for what is known as Up
per Country tobacco, we have left ap-
proximately 10000 hogsheads as the
Southern Maryland crop marketed in
1907.
about one sixth of this passed
through the hands of our grader, and
his record is amply sufficient to estab-
lish the accuracy of corresponding es
innate for the entire crop, which would
be as follows:
Per Cent Hogsheads
French A.. ....... 1 200
Holland A and Sec
onds A.. ....... 7-1e 140
French B and Hol
land B 10 10 460