Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/409

 were of extraordinary bulk, and in others of very small, thus making it difficult to place a load in the hold of a vessel to the greatest advantage in point of space. The hogsheads were required to be forty-three inches in length, with a head twenty-six inches in width. The gross weight of the full cask at this time was about four hundred and seventy-five pounds, but the complaints of the shipmasters show that it was very frequently in excess of these figures. Many years subsequent to this time, the masters of vessels, in order to store away in their ships cargoes as large as could be crowded into the hold, deliberately mutilated the hogsheads, diminishing the quantity of tobacco in them and damaging its quality. To such an extent was this illegal practice carried, that it had to be expressly prohibited by an act of legislation.

No tobacco was allowed to be planted after the 10th of July. If planted after that date, it could hardly ripen fully before the arrival of frost, and would only go to swell the volume of inferior grades. This was already sufficient to lower the prices of the annual crop. As a further means of improving the general character of the product, there were stringent regulations to prevent the tending of seconds, which, putting forth after the original leaves had been pulled from the stalk, were not only mean in texture, but, as a rule, had to be cut before