<p>"Selling time," yells Bob Cage, the 78-year-old tobacco auctioneer, signaling the beginning of the day's bidding at the Planter's Tobacco Warehouse in Upper Marlboro.</p>
<p>Mr. Cage has been at the center of Maryland's annual tobacco auction for 50 years, he says, and his rising and falling singsong voice announces the prices with a fluidity borne of experience.</p>