Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/469

 latter were then inscribed upon each. The weight of the average cask increased with the progress of the century, ranging from five hundred to one thousand pounds, the object of the increase being probably to lessen the burden of the tax of two shillings imposed upon every one sent out. The larger the size of the hogsheads forming the cargo, the smaller the amount of duty to be paid, because the duty had respect to number and not to weight. The latter was ascertained by means of a pair of great still-yards, an instrument that was frequently included among the items of inventories of estates.

The final disposition of the tobacco depended upon a variety of circumstances. If the owner was not in debt to merchants for previous advances of clothing and other necessaries, he either sold it to some local trader, or shipped it to a correspondent in England or one of the Colonies. In the majority of cases it was delivered to the receivers of merchants in accord with formal contracts made long beforehand, under the terms of which the planters had obtained goods in anticipation of crops to be produced. The receiver was simply an agent, but it was important that he should have had experience in observing and handling the leaf, as without it he was likely to become the victim of numerous impositions. There were many complaints about the knavishness of this class of men. In the absence of special agreements, the