352 EXTENT OF CULTURE. 



States, will give some idea of the amount cultivated and used 

 in Germany : 



" The aggregate area of land cultivated with tobacco in 

 Prussia during the year 1871, amounted to 5.925 hectares (a 

 hectare being equal to 2.47 English acres). It appears that 

 the extent of tobacco-growing land has, during the last fifty 

 years, been gradually diminishing in Prussia, and that accord- 

 ingly the expectations entertained in the beginning of that 

 period of a great future development of this branch of agri- 

 culture, have not been realized ; for whilst the area of land 

 planted with tobacco in the year 1825 was 12.374 hectares, 

 it amounted in 1871 to less than one-half this amount. The 

 reasons for this gradual decline are considered to be, on the 

 one hand, the growing competition of the South German 

 growers, and the increase in the importations of American 

 tobacco ; on the other, the fact that the cultivation of beet- 

 root (for sugar manufacturing) and of potatoes (for the dis- 

 tilleries) has proved to be a more profitable business than the 

 cultivation of tobacco. It has, moreover, been found by 

 many years' experience, that whilst the quality of the tobacco 

 cultivated in most parts of Prussia is not such as to enable 

 the growers to compete successfully with the importers of 

 foreign (particularly of North American) sorts, the labor 

 attending its cultivation and its preparation for the market, 

 as well as the uncertainty of only an average crop, are out of 

 proportion, as a rule, to the average profits arising therefrom. 

 The cultivation of the plant has, consequently, gradually 

 become restricted, chiefly to those districts of the country 

 where either the soil is peculiarly adapted for the purpose, 

 or where it is carried on for the private use of the producer." 



With regard to the various provinces of Prussia, it appears 

 that " In East Prussia the extent of tobacco land is only a 

 limited one, and is confined to the district around Tilsit, 

 where about two-thirds of the entire cultivation is in the 

 hands of peasants, who consume their own produce. In 

 West Prussia (the western portion of the province of Prussia 

 proper) the cultivation is rather more extensive, particularly 

 near trie town of Marienwerder ; the tobacco, however, is 

 very inferior. The most important districts of the province 

 of Posen are those of Chodziesz and Meseritz. In Pomera- 

 nia, next to Brandenburg the most important tobacco-grow- 

 ing province of the kingdom, the area of land cultivated is 

 very large. The principal districts are those near Stettin. 

 In Silesia the most important districts are those around 



