The Wilmington morning star., 1947-09-21
SKIES TALKS
Continued From Page One)

houses on the wallace
Market, and my fog-hurricane-,
typhoon-, baguio-' willowaw-,
monsoon, and humidity-bound
friend, Mr.. Paul Hess, the Will
mington weathervane.
First, Mr.. Hess (translating
freely In October the Summer
shower conditions are over and
the Winter rainy season has not
arrived. Heat has passed into the
limbo of Summer romances and
there's no particularly high hui
midity for plain folks to say Of it
is and amt the heat. Emphasizing,
rainfalls diminishes and the days
lead up to the dryest month OF
the year, November. It is the
finest season for getting up early
of a morning full of human ener-
gy unfrosted by the nippy chill
of winter and unslugged by the
oppressiveness of Summer heat.
Now, the Messers. Blanchard,
Rackley, and Hussey: (still trans
lating freely.) During October
the sogginess and damage has
been cured, by the crisping,
clearer, and cooling weather, out
of the tobacco leaves. They (the
leaves) present their true and
best form in color, grain, and
quality-feel, as well as aroma
during the month. Tobacco stays
in better condition during Oc-
tober. 1t looks better on the
warehouse floors.
Now, my own deductions.
(still translating freely.) During
the hot, humid days of Septem-
Der the buyers, who, after all,
are human, are bound to get
their tempers ruffled because of
the extreme heat that assails
them as they plod up and down
the rows of tobacco during sales.
I've seen these buyers so
drenched with sweat during
sales that they looked as wet
and damaged as the tobaccos
that were offered. I'm of the
opinion the buyers, however
earnest and conscientious they
naturally are, cannot be in as
good a frame of buying mind
while their clothes are clinging
to their smoldering bodies as
they can be on clear, crisp days
when they're not oppressed with
excess heat.
Thus, my advice to farmers to
sell their tobacco on the Wallace
market during October. Their
tobaccos will be in better order,
the buyers tempers will be as
sweet and serene as a clear, SUM-
shiny October day. And, a very
important consideration, the Wal
lace warehouse floors will not
be as crowded as they are now.
All these things add up to better
prices for the farmers during
October. And prices-the top
dollar-are what the Wallace
warehousemen believe the farm
ers should get for their tobaccos
which they've spent thirteen
months" to make.
Now, for a few statistics about
the Wallace market. To date,
after 10 actual days of sales
the Wallace market has been
rocking along for four weeks as
of yesterday, but sales are con.
Quoted only five days each week
and there's one off this year be-
cause of the Labor Day holiday
the market has sold 6,250,000
pounds of tobacco, according to
my estimates. If I wanted to be
a lying figure and just pick out
the best and highest-priced sales
that have been made, I could use
some dodge and tell you that a
lot of these tobaccos have aver
aged between $50 and $50 per
hundred pounds.
Well, a lot of them have. I
know one farmer who averaged
$60.69 per hundred for more
than a thousand pounds of to-
bacco one day last week. But
juggling the figures that way
and trying to lead you to believe
that was a typical sale would
be like picking out Lana Turner
and trying to make you believe
she's the typical American girl.
Actually in Wallace this year.
as in all tobacco markets, there
have been so many piles of poor
quality tobacco, and wet and
damaged and nondescript tobac-
co that sold from two to 10 cents
per pound that the general aver
age will do we'll to hit the $4,000
pa hundred mark. Even so,
some two million and a half dol
lars, probably some thousands
more or less, have been distribu-
ted among farmers of this area
so far this 1947 marketing seas
on. That's on up past $500, 900
week-a pretty good amount of
dollars.
5000, there're the figures and
the tub-thumping for October as
the best tobacco-selling month.
See you in Wallace in October,
my farmer friends. (Of course,
if you insist on visiting us dur
ing the remaining days of Sep
TENDER we'll be might proud to
see you and do everything we
can to keep you and your to-