Chapter XLVIII: Section VI (2)

Potash 12.14
Soda 0.07
Lime 45.90
Magnesia 13.09
Chloride of sodium 3.49
Chloride of potassium 3.98
Phosphate of iron 5.48
Phosphate of lime 1.49
Sulphate of lime 6.35
Silica 8.01
------
100.00

All the ingredients which are necessary to replace 100 lbs. of the ash of tobacco leaves are present in the following mixture:--

Bone dust, sulphuric acid 23 lbs.
Carbonate of potash (dry) 31 "
Carbonate of soda (dry) 5 "
Carbonate of Magnesia 25 "
Carbonate of lime (chalk) 60 "
------
144 "

The following is the result of an analysis of the fresh leaves of tobacco, by Posselt and Reimann ("Mag. Pharm." xxiv. xxv.):--

Nicotine 0.06
Nicotianine 0.01
Extractive matter, slightly bitter 2.37
Gum, with a little malate of lime 1.74
Green resin 0.26
Vegetable albumen 0.26
Substance analogous to gluten 1.04
Malic acid 0.51
Malate of ammonia 0.12
Sulphate of potash 0.04
Chloride of potassium 0.06
Potash combined with malic and nitric acids 0.90
Phosphate of lime 0.16
Lime in union with malic acid 0.24
Silica 0.08
Woody fibre 4.96
Water (traces of starch) 87.21
------
100.10

Dr. Covell, in "Silliman's American Journal," vol. vii., shows its components to have been but imperfectly represented in the above German analysis. He found in tobacco by chemical examination--1, gum; 2, a viscid slime, equally soluble in water and alcohol, and precipitable from both by subacetate of lead; 3, tannin; 4, gallic acid; 5, chlorophyle (leaf green); 6, a green pulverulent matter, which dissolves in boiling water, but falls down again when the water cools; 7, a yellow oil, possessing the smell, taste and poisonous qualities of tobacco; 8, a large quantity of a pale yellow resin; 9, nicotine; 10, a white substance, analogous to morphia, soluble in hot, but hardly in cold alcohol; 11, a beautiful orange red dye stuff, soluble only in acids; it deflagrates in the fire, and seems to possess neutral properties; 12, nicotianine. According to Buchner, the seeds of tobacco yield a pale yellow extract to alcohol, which contains a compound of nicotine and sugar.

M.M. Henry and Boutron Charlard found in 100 parts of

Cuba tobacco 8.64 of nicotine.
Maryland 5.28
Virginia 10.00
Ile et Vilaine 11.20
Lot et Garonne 8.20

quantities from 12 to 19 times more than were obtained by Posselt and Reimann.--"Ure's Dictionary of Arts and Manufactures."

The following are the results of a series of experiments made by Messrs. Cooper and Brande, for the purpose of ascertaining the quantity of soluble matter in eight samples of tobacco, of detecting the presence and quantity of sugar contained in them, and the nature and relative proportions of their inorganic constituents. An important paper on the state in which _Nicotine_ exists in tobacco, and on the relative proportion of it furnished by different varieties of the plant, has been furnished by Schloessing ("Ann. Ch. et Ph." 3ieme Ser. XIX. 230).

__________________________________________________________________
|P s |P & |P t o |P s a|P s a|P m t|P o i|P m o|
|e o |e c |e r f |e o s|e o c|e a h|e b n|e a b|
|r l |r . |r e |r l h|r l i|r t e|r t f|r t t|
| u | | a a | u .| u d| t | a u| t a|
|c b |c i |c t m |c b |c b |c e a|c i s|c e i|
|e l |e n |e m o |e l |e l i|e r s|e e i|e r n|
|n e |n s |n e n |n e |n e n|n , h|n n o|n e|
|t |t o |t n i |t |t |t .|t e n|t d d|
|. i |. l |. t a |. i |. i t|. a |. d .|. e |
| n | u | . | n | n h| s | | d a|
Tobacco dried |o |o b |o w |o |o e|o |o f |o u l|
at 212 degs. |f w |f l |f i |f w |f h |f s |f r |f c c|
| a | e | t | a | y a| i | o | e o|
|e t |w |a h |m t |m d s|i l |a m |s d h|
|x e |o i |s |a e |a r h|n i |l |a o|
|t r |o n |h c |t r |t o .|s c |c f |c f l|
|r . |d | a |t |t c |o a |o e |c r .|
|a |y w |a r |e i |e h |l , |h r |h o |
|c | a |f b |r n |r l |u |o m |a m |
|t |f t |t n | | o |b & |l e |r |
|, |i e |e a | t | r |l c | n |i t |
| |b r |r t | h | i |e . | t |n h |
|& |r . | e | e | c | | e |e e |
|c |e | | | | i | d | |
|. | | | | | n | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
------------------|----|----|------|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
1. Light Missouri}|49 |54.9|20.97 |2.17 |11.73| 5.9 | -- | -- |
leaf and stalk}| | |white | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
2. Light Missouri}|50 |47.7|19.7 |1.77 |12.83| 5.1 |0.75 |1.50 |
leaf only }| | |white | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
3. Dark Missouri }|50 |52.4|16.47 |4.2 |10.14| 2.13| -- | -- |
leaf and stalk}| | |white | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
4. Dark Missouri} |51 |50.6|13.8 |2.17 | 8.73| 2.9 |0.35 |0.71 |
leaf only } | | |white | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
5. Light Virginia}|51.5|53.1|16.4 |2.53 | 8.54| 5.33| -- | -- |
leaf and stalk}| | |gray- | | | | | |
| | |white | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
6. Light Virginia}|54 |46.1|11.97 |2.0 | 6.86| 3.11|1.045|2.09 |
leaf only }| | |green-| | | | | |
| | |gray | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
7. Dark Virginia }|48.5|51.8|14.7 |4.8 |8.40 | 1.5 | -- | -- |
leaf and stalk}| | |gray | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
8. Dark Virginia} |52 |49.8|12.53 |2.63 |8.20 | 1.7 |1.46 |2.93 |
leaf only } | | |gray | | | | | |
------------------------------------------------------------------

1. The samples were dried and the woody fibre and extract were also
dried at 212 degs. The watery infusions of all contained ammoniacal
salts. The salts from the ash, which were soluble in water,
consisted of sulphates, carbonates, phosphates, and chlorides; the
bases being potassa and lime. The solution by hydrochloric acid
contained lime, alumina, phosphate of lime, and oxide of iron.

3. Contained oxide of manganese in small quantity; sulphates in
watery solution of ash abundant. Hydrochloric solution contained an
abundance of lime.

4. A trace of manganese; a trace only of phosphoric acid in watery
solution.

5. Contained abundance of oxide of manganese.

6. Abundance of oxide of manganese.

7. A mere trace of oxide of manganese, and a trace of oxide of iron;
only a trace of alumina.

8. A trace of oxide of manganese; quantity of oxide of iron very
great; only a trace of alumina.

In rich loams, where the solution of the minerals of the soil is rapid, and where 10 to 20 per cent, of vegetable matter is incorporated in the earth, tobacco may be obtained for many years, but it is always an exhausting crop. It has been stated that 170 Lbs. of mineral matter are removed in less than three months from one acre of land, by a crop of tobacco. This is very much more than wheat or other grains abstract from the soil in eight or nine months.

Tobacco is now very extensively cultivated in France and other European countries, in the Levant, the East and West Indies; and a little is grown at the Cape and in the Australian Settlements.

A good deal of tobacco is raised in Mexico, but only for home consumption, as its export is prohibited. It forms an article of culture in Brazil and some of the South American republics, and is grown to a small extent along the Western shores of Africa. It is from North America, however, that we derive the bulk of our supplies of this great article of commerce, which, with cotton, forms the chief agricultural wealth of the United States.

In 1821, the tobacco exported from the Brazils amounted to 29,192,000 Lbs., but its cultivation was greatly injured by the siege of the capital in 1822-23. Fresh seed was subsequently obtained from Cuba, and in 1835 the exports were 6,051,040 Lbs.

131 cases of Princeza snuff were shipped from Bahia to Lisbon, in 1835; about 60,000 Lbs. per annum of this snuff being now manufactured at Bahia, with the aid of two steam-engines. The exports of tobacco from Bahia increased from 2,048,000 Lbs. in 1833, to 6,051,040 Lbs. in 1835. The average shipments are about 21,000 bales and rolls.

The army of smokers in Great Britain and Ireland consume yearly about six millions of pounds worth of tobacco. The duty alone paid upon snuff and tobacco for the people of Great Britain, averages four-and-a-half millions sterling a year! The quantity consumed--smoked, snuffed, or chewed--during the same period, is about 28 millions of pounds weight, or about four pounds weight per annum for every male adult. Ireland annually pays not less than £800,000 of duty on tobacco and snuff, and only about £30,000 on coffee. For every pound of coffee that the Irish people use, they smoke away about _four pounds of tobacco_.

North America produces annually upwards of 200 million pounds. The combustion of the mass of vegetable material used in this kingdom would yield about 340 million pounds of carbonic acid gas; so that the yearly produce of carbonic acid gas from tobacco smoking alone cannot be less than 1,000,000,000 lbs.--a large contribution to the annual demand for this gas made upon the atmosphere for the vegetation of the world. Henceforth let no one twit the smoker with idleness and unimportance. Every pipe is an agricultural furnace,--every smoker a manufacturer of vegetation,--the consumer of a weed that he may rear more largely his own provisions.

In the year 1842, 605,000,000 of cigars were made in the German Commercial Union.

In 1839, the revenue on tobacco in this country was about £3,600,000. Of this it has been estimated eleven-twelfths are drawn from the working classes, and one-twelfth from the richer classes. The following is a calculation of the consumption of tobacco per head of the population, estimated from the number of pounds on which duty was paid:--

Consumption per head.
Rate of duty. ozs.
1801 {1s. 7 3-10d. England } 17
{1s. 0 7-10d. Ireland.}
1811 2s. 2 13-20d. 19½
1821 4s. 0d. 11 45
1831 3s. 0d. 12 35
1841 3s. 1 8-10d. 12 4-5
1851 3s. 1 4-5d. 21

Thus it will be seen the consumption is materially affected by the rate of duty.

A memorial presented to the First Lord of the Treasury a few years ago, by the American Chamber of Commerce, and signed by Mr. Thomas Todd, the chairman, furnishes some valuable information, and I am therefore tempted to give it entire:--

The American Chamber of Commerce of Liverpool desire respectfully to
bring under the consideration of her Majesty's Government the
impolicy of the present high rate of duty on foreign tobacco, and
the benefit to commerce, as well as to the revenue, which would
arise from such a reduction as would remove the temptation now held
out to the smuggler.

The cost of tobacco, including freight and all charges, is from 3d.
to 4d. per lb., and the duty is 3s. per lb., being 900 per cent, on
the value. A duty so enormously disproportioned to the cost offers
an irresistible premium to the illicit trader; for the expense of
smuggling tobacco by the cargo, including the first cost, does not
exceed 9½d. per lb., and it has been ascertained that the smuggler
receives 6d. per lb. less than the duty, or 2s. 6d. per lb., which
yields him a clear profit of 1s. 8½d. per lb., to the injury not
only of the revenue, but of the fair trader.

The effect of this heavy duty in diminishing the consumption of
duty-paid tobacco is further exemplified by the fact that, while all
other articles of general consumption have progressively increased
with the increase of the population, tobacco alone forms an
exception, as will appear from the following:--

COMPARATIVE SCALE OF POPULATION AND CONSUMPTION OF TEA, COFFEE,
AND TOBACCO, IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, COMPILED FROM PARLIAMENTARY
PAPERS.

Population Tea Coffee Tobacco
1801 16,338,102
Duty, 65 a 95 per ct 19d. per lb. 19d. per lb.
& 12½ per ct. & 12½ per ct.
Lbs., 23,163,999 871,846 16,895,752
1811 18,547,720
Duty 96 per cent. 8d. per lb. 26½d. per lb.
Lbs., 24,461,308 6,895,619 21,376,370
1821 21,193,458
Duty, 96 a 100 per ct. 12d. per lb. 4s. per lb.
Lbs., 26,043,257 7,593,001 1,823,365
1831 24,271,763
Duty 96a 100 per ct. 6d. per lb. 3s. per lb.
Lbs., 30,648,348 22,740,627 19,418,941
1841 26,855,928
Duty, 26¼d. per lb. 6d. per lb. 3s. per lb.
Lbs., 36,396,073 28,420,980 22,094,772

The consumption of tobacco in the island of Great Britain, excluding Ireland, and the duty thereon, were in

Consumption. Duty.
1801 10,514,998 lbs. 1s. 7d.
1811 14,923,243 " 2s. 2½d.
1821 12,983,198 " 4s. 0d.
1831 15,350,018 " 3s. 0d.
1841 16,083,593 " 3s. 0d.
1851 28,062,841 " 3s. 0d.

In the last two periods five per cent is added to all the duties.

Thus, while the consumption of tea and coffee has increased even
beyond the ratio of the population, the consumption of tobacco has
decreased.

This table also exemplifies the greater productiveness of a low duty
compared with a high one; for instance, coffee in 1801, at 1s. 7d.
per lb., yielded £77,654; in 1821, at 1s. per lb., £379,650; and, in
1841, at 6d. per lb., £710,524; tobacco in 1821, at 4s. per lb.,
yielded £3,164,673, and 1841, at 3s. per lb., £3,314,215. But the
difference in duty in the latter case was not sufficient to curtail
the profits of the smuggler to any material extent.

Cigars afford a remarkable example of the amount of duty being
increased by diminishing the rate. In 1828, when the duty was 18s.
per lb., duty was paid on 8,600 lbs. only, yielding £7,740. In 1830,
when the duty was reduced to 9s. per lb., duty was paid on 66,000
lbs., yielding £29,700; and such has been the increase of
consumption, that, in 1841, duty was paid on 213,613 lbs., yielding
£100,899.

We would further illustrate the position by the following facts:

In 1798, Ireland, with a population of 4,000,000, consumed 8,000,000
lbs. of tobacco, and now, with more than double the population, she
consumes about 3,000,000 lbs. of tobacco less than at the former
period. The reason is obvious: in 1789 the duty was 8d. per lb; now
it is 3s. In 1798, England and Scotland, with a population of
10,000,000, consumed 10,000,000 lbs. of tobacco, being one half of
the relative consumption of Ireland at the same period; the duty in
England and Scotland being then 1s. 7d. per lb., and in Ireland only
8d.

But the quantity of tobacco on which duty is paid does not even
approximately show the quantity consumed. If the duty now paid on
tobacco in the United Kingdom retained the same relative proportion
to the population that it held in Ireland in 1798, the duty in 1841
would have been actually levied upon 53,711,856 lbs., instead of
22,094,772 lbs.; and such we believe to be about the actual amount
of consumption, the great bulk of the supply being furnished by the
illicit trader.

In Prussia, it appears that the consumption of tobacco is at the
rate of three pounds per head; while, in England, if we were to
judge from the amount on which duty is paid, it is considerably less
than one pound per head.

Assuming the actual consumption at only 45,000,000 lbs., or two
pounds per head, we believe that a reduction of duty to 1s. per
pound would so effectually destroy the illicit trader, that the
revenue would gain by the change, not only by bringing upwards of
30,000,000 lbs. under duty, which at present escape, but by the
great increase of the consumption consequent upon the encouragement
given to the fair trader.

We would not, however, treat the question merely as a matter of
revenue. We would strongly represent the injustice which this
exorbitant duty inflicts upon those who pursue a legitimate trade,
by enabling the smuggler to lessen the extent of their transactions
by more than half what they would otherwise be; and we would further
earnestly urge upon your consideration the demoralising tendency of
such a systematic and extended violation of the law, not only upon
those engaged in the illicit trade, also upon those parties who are
found to connive at the practice from a sense of the gross injustice
and impolicy of a duty so disproportioned to the value of an article
of such extensive consumption.

We would refer to the opinion of a committee of the House of Commons
on the growth of tobacco in Ireland, in 1840, as follows:--'That it
further appears, from the evidence, that smuggling of foreign
tobacco is at present carried on to a great extent, and that all the
measures now adopted, at great expense to the country, are and will
be ineffectual to repress it so long as the temptation of evading a
duty equal to twelve times the value of the article on which it is
imposed, remains."

We beg, therefore, respectfully to express our opinion, that if the
duty on tobacco were reduced to one shilling per pound, it would be
alike beneficial to the interests of legitimate commerce; to the
consumers, who consist almost entirely of the poorer classes; to the
revenue, by increasing the productiveness of the duty, and by
greatly diminishing the expenditure so ineffectually incurred to
suppress the illicit trade; and to the general morals of society by
removing a powerful inducement to infringe the laws.

The imports of all kinds of tobacco for the last five years have been as follows:--

| 1848. | 1849. | 1850. | 1851. | 1852.
| lbs. | lbs. | lbs. | lbs. | lbs.
Unmanufactured|34,090,360|41,546,848|35,166,358|31,061,953|33,205,635
Manufactured | | | | |
and snuff | 1,512,714| 1,905,306| 1,557,618| 2,331,886| 2,930,299
|----------|----------|----------|----------|----------
|35,603,074|43,452,154|36,723,876|33,393,839|36,135,934

Gross duty received:--

| 1848. | 1849. | 1850. | 1851. | 1852.
| £ | £ | £ | £ | £
On raw tobacco| 4,267,579| 4,328,217| 4,337,258| 4,386,910| 4,466,533
Cigars, snuff,| | | | |
&c. | 97,655| 96,814| 92,873| 98,858| 94,298
|----------|----------|----------|----------|----------
| 4,365,234| 4,425,031| 4,430,131| 4,485,768| 4,569,831

The amount of tobacco consumed is so limited that the trade will not admit of an excessive growth. In the two most thickly populated countries in Europe--France and England--not more than a certain quantity finds its way there. In France the trade is monopolised by Government, which gives out contracts to deliver a stipulated quantity at certain prices; in England the duty imposed is so enormous that only a limited quantity of certain descriptions can be imported without risk of loss. In Germany and Holland, where the trade is more extensively carried on than elsewhere, the duty imposed is almost nominal, and all classes of their citizens are enabled to use the weed at prices very little higher than its first prime cost. The tobacco trade constitutes so large a staple of American produce that it is singular greater efforts are not made upon the part of that Government to cause a reciprocal duty to be imposed, that more favor may be shown by European Governments to this particular article. England, from the duty imposed upon it alone, derives a revenue of £4,500,000, being about £160 to the hogshead, or from ten to sixteen times its original cost. France makes the trade a monopoly, from which she derives an income of £3,000,000 sterling.

STATEMENT OF IMPORTS, SALES, AND STOCKS OF TOBACCO AND
STEMS, IN BREMEN, FROM 1840 TO 1850.
----+---------------------------+-----------------------+
| MARYLAND | VIRGINIAN |
----+------+------+------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| | | | S | | | | S |
| S | | | t | S | | | t |
| t | | | o D | t | | | o D |
| o J | I | | c e | o J | I | | c e |
| c a | m | | k c | c a | m | | k c |
| k n | p | S | e | k n | p | S | e |
Y | u | o | a | l m | u | o | a | l m |
e | 1 a | r | l | a b | 1 a | r | l | a b |
a | s r | t | e | s e | s r | t | e | s e |
r | t y | s | s | t r | t y | s | s | t r |
----+------+------+------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
1840| 4,890|14,570|18,399| 1,061| 245| 3492| 3422| 285|
1841| 1,061|19,629|18,321| 2,369| 285| 3466| 3025| 726|
1842| 2,369|20,821|19,067| 4,123| 726| 6729| 5898| 1557|
1843| 4,123|18,483|15,004| 7,602| 1557| 5541| 4242| 2856|
1844| 7,602|16,978|18,338| 6,242| 2856| 5092| 4282| 3666|
1845| 6,242|24,251|24,571| 5,922| 3666| 1588| 3099| 2155|
1846| 5,922|26,785|23,788| 8,919| 2155| 2386| 2456| 2085|
1847| 8,919|21,743|20,681| 9,981| 2085| 911| 2079| 917|
1848| 9,981|12,084| 9,935|12,130| 917| 847| 1054| 710|
1849|12,130|19,285|22,112| 9,303| 710| 1173| 1734| 149|
----+------+------+------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+

----+---------------------------+-----------------------+
| KENTUCKY | STEMS |
----+------+------+------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| | | | S | | | | S |
| S | | | t | S | | | t |
| t | | | o D | t | | | o D |
| o J | I | | c e | o J | I | | c e |
| c a | m | | k c | c a | m | | k c |
| k n | p | S | e | k n | p | S | e |
Y | u | o | a | l m | u | o | a | l m |
e | 1 a | r | l | a b | 1 a | r | l | a b |
a | s r | t | e | s e | s r | t | e | s e |
r | t y | s | s | t r | t y | s | s | t r |
----+------+------+------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
1840| 181| 3,803| 3,699| 285| 2853| 3362| 4564| 1651|
1841| 285| 5,206| 4,941| 550| 1651| 7085| 7054| 1682|
1842| 550| 9,407| 8,939| 1018| 1682| 4151| 5386| 447|
1843| 1018| 7,485| 6,441| 2062| 447| 3969| 3447| 969|
1844| 2062| 9,736| 9,569| 2229| 969| 4753| 5513| 209|
1845| 2269|11,439|10,328| 3340| 209| 5273| 4152| 1330|
1846| 3340| 5,028| 6,099| 2269| 1330| 6092| 4716| 2706|
1847| 2269| 3,816| 5,013| 1072| 2706| 6788| 8038| 1456|
1848| 1072| 4,448| 4,980| 540| 1456| 4912| 4473| 1895|
1849| 540| 4,620| 4,746| 414| 1895| 5188| 5083| 1000|
----+------+------+------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+

_Culture and Statistics in the United States_.--Tobacco has been the great staple of the States of Virginia and Maryland from their first settlement. About the year 1642 it became a royal monopoly, and afterwards, in order to encourage its growth in the colonies, and thereby increase the revenue of the Crown, Parliament prohibited the planting of it in England. The average quantity shipped from the North American colonies to the parent country, for ten years preceding the year 1709, was about twenty-nine millions of pounds. For some years prior to the American revolution, about 85,000 hhds. were exported, then valued at little more than four millions of dollars, and constituting nearly one-third the value of all the exports of the British North American colonies. From 1820 to 1830 tobacco constituted about one-ninth in value of all the domestic exports of the United States. It finds a market principally in Great Britain, France, Holland, and the north of Europe.[55] The crop of tobacco produced in the four principal States, was in--

1838. 1839.
hhds. hhds.
Virginia 26,000 45,000
Kentucky 27,000 35,000
Maryland 16,000 16,000
Ohio 3,000 4,000
------ -------
72,000 100,000

The whole crop of 1840 was 219,163,319 lbs., which, at the estimate of 1,200 lbs. to the hhd., would be equal to 182,636 hhds., and at the average price of that year, 81 dollars 5 cents. per hhd., would make the value of the crop of the United States 14,802,647 dollars 80 cents. The average annual export for the ten years ending with 1840, was 96,775 hhds. The actual exportation of 1840 was 119,484 hhds. The principal exports are formed of the produce of Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Maryland, and North Carolina. The exports are chiefly to the following countries--about 30,000 hhds. annually to England, 15,000 hhds. to France, 20,000 hhds. to Holland, 25,000 hhds. Germany, and about 22,000 hhds. to other countries. The whole crop for 1845 was put down at 187,422,000 lbs. In 1839, it was ascertained that one and a half million persons were engaged in the cultivation and manufacture of tobacco in the United States, one million of whom were so occupied in the States of Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri. In the city of New York the consumption of cigars is computed at 10,000 dollars a day, a sum greater than that which the inhabitants pay for their daily bread; and in the whole country the annual consumption of tobacco is estimated at 120 million pounds, being 7 lbs. for every man, woman, and child, at an annual cost to the consumers of 20 million dollars (more than four million pounds sterling).

It is estimated that the manufacture of tobacco in the United States is increasing at the rate of 2,000 hhds. per annum.

hhds.
The quantity manufactured in 1851, was stated at 55,000
Exportations for the year estimated at 120,000
-------
175,000

The production for 1852 is supposed to be as follows:--

hhds.
Virginia 27,000
Maryland 33,000
Western States, including frosted 65,000
-------
Total production 125,000
Deficiency in the year's crop 50,000

The quantity produced in the United States, in 1847, was 220,164,000 lbs., worth, at 5 cents per lb., nearly 11 million dollars (more than two million sterling). The principal producing States were--Kentucky, 65 million lbs.; Virginia, 50 millions; Tennessee, 35 millions; North Carolina, 14 millions; Ohio, 9 millions; Indiana, 4 millions; Illinois, Connecticut, and a few others in smaller proportions.

The production in 1848 was 218,909,000 lbs., which, valued at four cents per lb., would be worth nine million dollars. From persons largely interested in the tobacco trade, and well informed in relation thereto, I have gathered the following general statements:--

The crops of tobacco to come to market in the year 1851, were
estimated as follows--

hhds.
Virginia 30,000
Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri, about 50,000
Maryland, about 22,000
Ohio, about 14,000

From the above estimate it will be seen that the quantity produced
in 1850 is less than two-thirds of the usual production in the
States named. The entire crop of Virginia will be required for home
consumption. About 15,000 hhds. Kentucky, and 5,000 hhds. Maryland
will also be wanted for home use. Owing to the increase of
population by immigration and otherwise, the domestic consumption,
which was a few years ago so small as not to be considered worthy of
notice, has now increased to a very important item, and affords a
steady home market for a large portion of the production.

The quantity of Maryland tobacco left for export to Bremen and
Holland, in 1851, will only be about 17,000 hhds., which is not more
than half the amount usually shipped to these countries every year.

Of the Kentucky tobacco contracted for last year by France and
Spain, through their agents in this country, less than one third has
yet been purchased, and those governments will this year require the
deficiency to be made up, in addition to their annual average
supply, which, with the quantity required for England, will take the
entire crop, leaving nothing for the rest of Europe, Africa, South
America, the West Indies, &c. The tobacco markets throughout the
world are in a much more healthy condition than has ever been known,
and it is thought prices will rule very high the coming season. In
Maryland, while the production has been not more than half an
average crop, the price is nearly three times as high as usual; so
that the planter will receive more for his diminished crops than in
ordinary seasons of plenty.

QUANTITY OF TOBACCO EXPORTED ANNUALLY FROM 1821 TO 1850.

Exports for Year ending hhds.|Stocks in Europe, year ending hhds.

September 30th, 1821 66,850| December 31st, 1821 --
" " 1822 83,169| " " 1822 --
" " 1823 99,000| " " 1823 --
" " 1824 77,889| " " 1824 --
" " 1825 75,986| " " 1825 --
" " 1826 64,099| " " 1826 --
" " 1827 100,020| " " 1827 --
" " 1828 96,279| " " 1828 69,485
" " 1829 77,136| " " 1829 63,670
" " 1830 83,810| " " 1830 50,672
" " 1831 86,718| " " 1831 54,690
" " 1832 106,800| " " 1832 61,868
" " 1833 83,153| " " 1833 50,543
" " 1834 87,979| " " 1834 53,413
" " 1835 94,353| " " 1835 57,458
" " 1836 109,042| " " 1836 68,918
" " 1837 100,232| " " 1837 38,703
" " 1838 100,593| " " 1838 31,067
" " 1839 78,995| " " 1839 38,715
" " 1840 119,484| " " 1840 37,623
" " 1841 147,828| " " 1841 50,880
" " 1842 158,710| " " 1842 62,496
June 30 (9 ms.) 1843 94,454| " " 1843 91,196
" (12 ms.) 1844 163,042| " " 1844 88,973
" " 1845 147,168| " " 1845 91,213
" " 1846 147,998| " " 1846 100,774
" " 1847 135,762| " " 1847 88,858
" " 1848 130,665| " " 1848 80,391
" " 1849 101,521| " " 1849 70,527
" ' 1850 145,729| " " 1850 66,777

It is a curious fact that, notwithstanding the variety of climate
and soil in the northern State;, every State and territory in the
Union produces some tobacco. In many of the States its cultivation
is, of course, a secondary object, and perhaps in several it is
attended to as a mere matter of curiosity; but in most of the
States, probably a sufficient quantity has been grown, to show that
with attention to this object, it might, in case of necessity, be
resorted to as a profitable crop. The States in which the great bulk
of the crop is grown lie between the latitudes of about 34 and 40
degrees.

There is a considerable increase of consumption of American tobacco
in Europe, as well as in the United States, which should encourage
the planters of Virginia and North Carolina to cultivate this
article more abundantly than they have done for several years past;
and, since the home manufacture has increased so much, and the
Virginia tobacco is preferred in many parts of the European markets,
they may safely count on getting good prices for many years to come.

It is not in the power of Virginia to make any three years together
more than 56,000 hhds., even with good seasons, and 30,000 hhds.
annually of this will be wanted by our manufacturers.

The planters, then, should enrich their lands, and aim to make full
crops.

The increased consumption in Europe is three per cent., and in the
United States four per cent. per annum.

The crop of the United States from 1840 to 1850 inclusive--say 11
years--averaged about 160,000 hhds.; this embraces the large crops
of 1842-43-44.

The consumption of Europe from 1829 to 1838 was 96,826 hhds.--it is
now 130,000.

An account of the quantities of unmanufactured tobacco, manufactured called negro-head, and cigars, imported into the United Kingdom in 1850:--

Countries from whence imported. Unmanufactured Manufactured
United States of America 30,173,444 1,191,001
Venezuela, New Granada and Ecuador 895,523 527
Brazil 12,138 56,802
Peru 8,649 6
Cuba 589,627 153,819
British West Indies, including Demerara
and Honduras 26,169 3,242
British Territories in the East Indies 14,500 25,332
Philippine Islands 12,233 51,210
Hongkong and China 2,706 2,340
Turkey, Syria, and Egypt 140,361 2,882
Malta 13,028 7,818
Italy, Sardinian Territories 431,939 17
Gibraltar 7 3,063
Spain 307,641 1,100
France 29,950 1,521
Channel Islands 149 1,342
Belgium 29,922 6,579
Holland 2,418,732 9,078
Hanseatic Towns 50,610 36,680
Other parts 8,930 1,980
---------- ---------
Total unmanufactured 35,166,358 1,556,321
Ditto manfactured 1,556,321
Snuff 1,197
----------
Total 36,723,876

From the tobacco circulars of Messrs. Clagett, Son, and Co., leading brokers of London, dated Feb., 1st, 1850, I take the following extracts:--

The exhaustion of the stock has resulted from the concurrence of a
gradually decreasing supply and increasing consumption, which may
be very clearly perceived by a reference, first to the official
returns from New Orleans of the yearly receipts of the western crops
in each of the last seven years; and secondly, to the consumption of
American tobacco in Great Britain and Ireland in the years 1847,
1848, and 1849, as compared with that of 1840, 1841, and 1842. We
have no means of exhibiting with similar accuracy the relative
consumption of Continental Europe in the latter as compared with the
former part of these last ten years, but it is quite reasonable to
assume that the increase, where there has been little or no duty,
must have gone on more rapidly than it has done here, under the
restraining force of a duty of 800 to 900 per cent.

The deliveries from London and Liverpool, independently of those
from Scotland, Bristol, and Newcastle, for the use of Great Britain
and Ireland, have been as follows:--In 1840, 15,037 hhds.; 1841,
15,019 hhds.; 1842, 15,468 hhds.; 1847, 18,091 hhds.; 1848, 18,595
hhds.; 1849, 18,738 hhds.

The highest estimates we have seen of the whole of the crops of the
United Slates in 1849, do not exceed 140,000 hhds., of which it is
not doubted that fully 45,000 hhds. will be required for consumption
there, and we estimate the supply required for the consumption of
Europe, South America, the West Indies, and Africa, at certainly not
less than 125,000 hhds.; if these estimates be realised in fact, it
will follow that the stocks at the close of this year must be 30,000
hhds. less than at the close of 1849.

We estimate the present consumption of American tobacco in Great
Britain and Ireland as follows:--

The deliveries in London and Liverpool in 1849, were 18,738 hhds.;
do. do. Bristol 1,400 hhds.; do. do. Scotland we assume at 2,800
hhds. Total 22,939.

Of Stripts, the deliveries in Liverpool last year were 8,544 hhds.,
of which about 300 were for exportation; the deliveries, therefore,
were--For the use of Great Britain and Ireland, 8,250 hhds. In
London we have no account of the deliveries of stripts, as
distinguished from leaf, for the whole of last year; it is doubtless
less than that in Liverpool, and we assume it at 7,000 hhds.; in
Bristol it was about 900 hhds.; in Scotland we assume it at 2,400
hhds. Total 18,550 hhds.

Now, assuming 1,500 hhds. of the deliveries in Scotland and Bristol
to be included in the coastwise returns in London and Liverpool,
then the consumption of Great Britain and Ireland would appear to be
about 21,500 hhds. of American tobacco, and 17,000 for these to be
stripts. The progressive increase which we have shown in the returns
of 1849, as compared with those of 1840, must still go on.

Without troubling you with any detail of the stocks in each of the
several markets, it may be sufficient to show that the summary of
the whole in all the markets of Europe, other than Great Britain,
consisted on the 31st December, 1849, of about 22,000 hhds.; of
which about 18,000 were Maryland and 2,000 stalks; and it is
important to notice especially the fact, that the stocks of the
manufacturers and dealers in Germany, Holland and Belgium are
unusually small. We have taken very considerable care to inform
ourselves on this point, and are fully satisfied that the usual
stocks in second or dealers' hands do not exist. The whole demand of
the year must, therefore, be supplied from those stocks in
importers' hands, from England or from the United States.

The following were the prices current in London in the spring of
1853:--Virginia Leaf, common, per pound, 3¼d. to 3¾d.; middling, 5d.
to 6d.; good and fine 6½d. to 7½d. Stripts, 5½d. to 10d. Kentucky
Leaf: common 3d., to 3½d.; middling, 3¾d. to 4½d.; good and fine,
5d. to 6d. Stripts, 5d. to 7d. Maryland, 3½d. to 9d. Negrohead and
Cavendish: common and heated, 4d. to 6d.; middling to good, 6d. to
8d. and 9d.; fine, 10d., 12d., 16d.; Barret's none. Columbian, 7d.
to 1s. 8d.; Brazil, 3d. to 6d.; flat, 5d. to 1s. 1d.; Manilla, 7d.
to 2s. 6d.; Havana, 10d. to 5s.; Yara, 11d. to 3s.; Cuba, 9d. to 1s.
1d.; ingars, 3s. to 16s.; cheroots, Manilla, 7s. 6d., nominal;
German and Amersfoort 4d. to 1s. 3d.; stalks, duty paid, 2s. 6d. to
3s. 4d.; smalls, 2s. 9d to 2s.

The shipments to Europe were 76,516 hhds. against 40,652 hhds. the
previous year, and 43,576 hhds. in 1850. The rapidity of sales, the
diminished stocks even now held in first hands, were taken as an
infallible index of the progressive rate of consumption; and of a
truth the quantity of hogsheads received in the principal markets of
Belgium, Holland, Germany, and the North, and as speedily relieved
from the control of the importers, was enough to control even those
who were alive to the existing necessities of Europe, and to give a
color to the rumour of almost inexhaustible consumption.

This extraordinary demand for tobacco on the continent has been
occasioned by three distinct causes; the first of which was the
pressing wants which, for the last two years, were well known to
have existed, and the constant willingness of consumers to act at
the very moderate rates which prevailed some time last spring. The
second was the compulsory purchases by the Austrian Government,
amounting, it is estimated, to 20,000 hhds., by reason that the
discontented Hungarians, for political considerations, abandoned
altogether the cultivation of tobacco, and which deficiency was
obliged to be replaced by American growths. The third cause also had
a political origin: the anticipation of the extension of the
Zollverein or German Customs League to the Kingdoms of Hanover and
Oldenburg, whereby the duties on tobacco in those countries would be
greatly increased, was a natural incentive to the dealers and
manufacturers there to lay in heavy stocks, to reap the benefit
thereon; and these last two causes, therefore, may be viewed in the
light of fortuitous circumstances, which have fostered a speculation
originally founded on the cheapness of money alone.

It has been shown, and the statistics of the past year fully confirm
the statement, that a plethora of money and prosperity among the
middle classes of society, while it induces to the consumption of
tobacco in general, rather curtails than otherwise the demand for
American growths. A poor man addicted to smoking takes his pipe not
from choice, but necessity; as he grows independent, the humble pipe
is abandoned and the more costly cigar assumed. We have frequently
heard this matter noticed, more especially after the disasters which
followed the railway speculations of 1846, when the demand for
English cigars sensibly declined; and we have now a further
verification of the assertion in the opposite sense, the sales of
cigar materials in Bremen having been extended more than 40 per
cent, in three years, viz., from 94,750 bales and cases in 1850 to
135,650 during last season.

From New Orleans we learn that the arrivals from the interior since
the 1st September had amounted to 18,043 hhds. against 5,165 hhds.
last season, and the stock on hand was 24,128 hhds. against 7,927
hhds. only.

The shipments from Virginia during the past year exceeded 13,700
hhds. In 1851 they were under 4,000 casks.

From Baltimore 54,272 hhds. have been exported. The official figures
for the previous year gave 35,967 as the total.

The aggregate stock of tobacco on the 1st of January last, in the
principal ports of America, was taken at 52,982 hhds. against 45,292
the year before and the growth of the Western States, Virginia, and
Maryland during 1852, to come forward for our supply the present
season, is estimated at 185,000 hhds., notwithstanding all the
unfavorable influences and curtailing causes which were said to have
prevailed.

The method adopted of cultivating tobacco in Virginia is thus described:

Several rich, moist, but not too wet spots of ground are chosen out
in the fall, each containing about a quarter of an acre or more,
according to the magnitude of the crop, and the number of plants it
may require.

These spots, which are generally in the woods, are cleared, and
covered with brush or timber, for five or six feet thick and
upwards; this is suffered to remain upon it until the time when the
tobacco seed must be sowed, which is within twelve days after
Christmas. The evening is commonly chosen to set these places on
fire, and when everything thereon is consumed to ashes, the ground
is dug up, mixed with the ashes, and broken very fine. The tobacco
seed, which is exceedingly small, being mixed with ashes also, is
then sown and just raked in lightly; the whole is immediately
covered with brushwood for shelter to keep it warm, and a slight
fence thrown around it. In this condition it remains until the
frosts are all gone, when the brush is taken off, and the young
plants are exposed to the nutritive and genial warmth of the sun,
which quickly invigorates them in an astonishing degree, and soon
renders them strong and large enough to be removed for planting,
especially if they be not sown too thick. Every tobacco planter,
assiduous to secure a sufficient quantity of plants, generally has
several of these plant beds in different situations, so that if one
should fail, another may succeed; and an experienced planter
commonly takes care to have ten times as many plants, as he can make
use of.

In these beds, along with the tobacco, they generally sow kale,
colewort, and cabbage seed, &c., at the same time.

There are seven different kinds of tobacco, particularly adapted to
the different qualities of the soil on which they are cultivated,
and each varying from the other. They are named Hudson, Frederick,
Thick-joint, Shoe-string, Thickset, Sweet-scented, and Oronoko. But
although these are the principal, yet there are a great many
different species besides, with names peculiar to the situations,
settlements and neighbourhoods wherein they are produced; which it
would be too tedious here to specify and particularise. The soil for
tobacco must be rich and strong; the ground is prepared in the
following manner:--after being well broke up and by repeated
working, either with the plough or hand hoes, rendered soft, light,
and mellow, the whole field is made into hills, each to take up the
space of three feet, and flattened at the top.

In the first rains, which are here called seasons, after the vernal
equinox, the tobacco plants are carefully drawn while the ground is
soft; carried to the field where they are to be planted, and one
dropped upon every hill, which is done by the negro children. The
most skilful slaves then begin planting them, by making a hole with
their finger in each hill, inserting the plant with the taproot
carefully placed straight down, and pressing the earth on each side
of it. This is continued as long as the ground is wet enough to
enable the plants sufficiently grown to draw and set; and it
requires several different seasons, or periods of rain, to enable
them to complete planting their crop, which operation is frequently
not finished until July.

After the plants have taken root, and begin to grow, the ground is
carefully weeded and worked, either with hand hoes or the plough,
according as it will admit. After the plants have considerably
increased in bulk, and begin to shoot up, the tops are pinched off,
and only ten, twelve, or sixteen leaves left, according to the
quality of the tobacco and the soil. The worms, also, are carefully
picked off and destroyed, of which there are two species that prey
upon tobacco. One is the ground worm, which cuts it off just beneath
the surface of the earth; this must be carefully looked for and
trodden to death; it is of a dark brown color, and short. The other
is a horn worm, some inches in length, as thick as your little
finger, of a vivid green color, with a number of pointed
excrescences or feelers from his head like horns. These devour the
leaf, and are always upon the plant. As it would be endless labor to
keep their hands constantly in search of them, it would be almost
impossible to prevent their eating up more than half the crop had it
not been discovered that turkeys are particularly dexterous at
finding them, eat them up voraciously, and prefer them to every
other food. For this purpose every planter keeps a flock of turkeys,
which he has driven into the tobacco grounds every day by a little
negro that can do nothing else; these keep his tobacco more clear
from horn worms than all the hands he has got could do were they
employed solely for that end. When the tops are nipped off, a few
plants are left untouched for seed. On the plants that have been
topped, young shoots are apt to spring out, which are termed
suckers, and are carefully and constantly broken off lest they
should draw too much of the nourishment and substance from the
leaves of the plant. This operation is also performed from time to
time, and is called "suckering tobacco." For some time before it is
ripe, or ready for cutting, the ground is perfectly covered with
leaves, which have increased to a prodigious size, and then the
plants are generally about three feet high. When it is ripe, a
clammy moisture or exudation comes forth upon the leaves, which
appear, as it were, ready to become spotted, and they are then of a
great weight and substance. The tobacco is cut when the sun is
powerful, but not in the morning and evening. The plant, if large,
is split down the middle, and cut off two or three inches below the
extremity of the split; it is then turned directly bottom upwards,
for the sun to kill it more speedily, to enable the laborers to
carry it out of the field, else the leaves would break off in
transporting it to the scaffold. The plants are cut only as they
become ripe, for a field never ripens altogether. There is generally
a second cutting likewise, for the stalk vegetates and shoots forth
again, and in good land, with favorable seasons, there is a third
cutting also procured, notwithstanding acts of the Legislature to
prevent cutting tobacco even a second time.

When the tobacco plants are cut and brought to the scaffolds, which
are generally erected all around the tobacco houses, they are placed
with the split across a small oak stick, an inch and better in
diameter and four feet and a half long, so close as each plant just
to touch the other without bruising or pressing. These sticks are
then placed on the scaffolds, with the tobacco thus suspended in the
middle, to dry or cure, and are called tobacco sticks. As the plants
advance in curing, the sticks are removed from the scaffolds out of
doors into the tobacco house, on to other scaffolds erected therein
in successive regular gradations from the bottom to the top of the
roof, being placed higher as the tobacco approaches to a perfect
cure, until the house is all filled and the tobacco quite cured, and
this cure is frequently promoted by making fires on the floor below.
When the tobacco house is quite full, and there is still more
tobacco to bring in, all that is within the house is struck, and
taken down, and carefully placed in bulks, or regular rows, one upon
another, and the whole covered with trash tobacco, or straw, to
preserve it in a proper condition, that is moist, which prevents its
wasting and crumbling to pieces. But, to enable them to strike the
cured tobacco, they must wait for what is there called a season,
that is rainy or moist weather, when the plants will better bear
handling, for in dry weather the leaves would all crumble to pieces
in the attempt. By this means a tobacco house may be filled two,
three, or four times in the year. Every night the negroes are sent
to the tobacco house to strip, that is to pull off the leaves from
the stalk, and tie them up in hands or bundles. This is also their
daily occupation in rainy weather. In stripping, they are careful to
throw away all the ground leaves and faulty tobacco, binding up none
but what is merchantable. The hands or bundles thus tied up are also
laid in what are called a bulk, and covered with the refuse tobacco
or straw to preserve their moisture. After this, the tobacco is
carefully packed in hogsheads, and pressed down with a large beam
laid over it, on the ends of which prodigious weights are suspended,
the other end being inserted with a mortice in a tree, close to
which the hogshead is placed. This vast pressure is continued for
some days, and then the cask is filled up again with tobacco until
it will contain no more, after which it is headed up and carried to
the pubic warehouses for inspection. At these warehouses two skilful
planters constantly attend, and receive a salary from the public for
that purpose. They are sworn to inspect with honesty, care, and
impartiality, all the tobacco that comes to the warehouse, and none
is allowed to be shipped that is not regularly inspected. The head
of the cask is taken off, and the tobacco is opened by means of
large, long iron wedges, and great labour, in such places as the
inspectors direct. After this strict attentive examination, if they
find it good and merchantable, it is replaced in the cask, weighed
at the public scales, the weight of the tobacco and of the cask also
cut in the wood on the cask, stowed away in the public warehouses,
and a note given to the proprietor, which he disposes of to the
merchant, and he neither sees nor has any trouble with his tobacco
more. The weight of each hogshead must be 950 lbs. nett, exclusive
of the cask--for less a note will not be given. Under the name of a
crop hogshead, however, the general weight is from 1,000 to 1,200 or
1,300 lbs. nett, but if the tobacco is found to be totally bad, and
refused as unmerchantable, the whole is publicly burnt in a place
set apart for that purpose. However, if it be judged that there is
some merchantable tobacco in the hogshead, the owner must unpack the
whole publicly on the spot, for he is not permitted to take any of
it away again, and must select and separate the good from the bad;
the last is immediately committed to the flames, and for the first
he receives a transfer note, specifying the weight, quality, &c.
This great and very laudable care was taken by the public to
prevent frauds, which, however, was not always effectual, for, even
with all these precautions, many acts of iniquity and imposition
were committed.

So little is this crop cultivated in the States north of Maryland, that scarcely any notice has been taken of it in the agricultural or other public journals.

In Connecticut, in some few towns of Hartford county, considerable attention has been directed to it for a number of years past. A ton and a-half the acre is said to be no uncommon yield. The tobacco is planted very thick, two feet and a half each way. The seed came originally from Virginia. It is cured in houses, without having been yellowed in the sun, and without the use of fire. It is said that the best Havana cigars (as they are termed) are often manufactured from mixed Cuba and American tobacco, and sold under that name in Connecticut.