160 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 3 



rials. The corn is cut by the play of the sickles in 

 a breadth of 4 ft., and at the desired height. 

 (L^Echo da Monde Savant, Dec. 13, 1837.) 



From the National GazL'tte, October 6th, 1836. 

 TOBACCO TRADE. 



It was desired by several, of our friends, who 

 are largely interested in the trade of tobacco, that 

 we shoukl endeavor to obtain and forward to them 

 a statement of the exports of that article, and of 

 its various kinds, viz. : Ohio, Kentucky, Mary- 

 land, and Virginia, lor a series ot 15 or 20 years, 

 to enable them to lorm some opinion as to the pro- 

 bable increase or falling off of the consumption of 

 tobacco, and of the parlicular description increased 

 or diminished in consumption in particular coun- 

 tries. Such a statement would not only be highly 

 useful to dealers, but also to planters; but there are 

 no data irom which it can be compiled, as the re- 

 cords of exports seldom or never designate the 

 description of tobacco exported. In the course of 

 our efforts to obtain the desired information, we 

 became possessed of all the facts relating to the 

 growth and exportation of tobacco which are to 

 be obtained from the records of our own country, 

 and the published documents of others, so far as 

 they were accessible. 



A letter of the Governor and Council of Virgi- 

 nia, dated James City, January 20th, 1622, says, 

 " that there v/as not above 60,000 pounds made 

 in the colony," but in 1639, only 17 years after- 

 wards, the Grand Assembly passed a law, which 

 recites, that, " Whereas, the excessive quantity 

 of tobacco of late years planted in the colony, 

 has debased the quality," and enacts, "that all 

 the tobacco planted this present year, and the two 

 succeeding years, in the colony of Virginia, be ab- 

 solutely destroyed and burned, excepting and re- 

 servingso much in equal proportion to each plan- 

 ter, as shall make in the whole just the quantity 

 of 120,000 lbs. of tobacco, stripped and smoothed, 

 &c. In consideration whereof", the creditors of 

 the planters were compelled to '' accept and re- 

 ceive 40 lbs. of tobacco so stripped and smoothed, 

 in full satisfaction of every 100 lbs. now due 

 them." It is not important to ascertain whether 

 this law was re-enacted at the end of the 3 years 

 named in it; for we find in an official report to the 

 commissioners, that the yearly exports oi' tobacco 

 ibr ten years ending in 1709, were 28,868,666 lbs. 

 of which 11,260,659 lbs. were annually consumed 

 in Great Britain, and 17,598,007 lbs. in other 

 countries of Europe, In 1744 — 1776, the ave- 

 rage annual exportation was 40,000,000 lbs., of 

 which 7,000,000 lbs. were consumed in Great Bri- 

 tain, and 33,000,000 lbs. in other European coun- 

 tries. The annual average exportation from 1768 

 to 1770, both inclusive, was 67,780 hhds. of about 

 100 lbs. each, or 67,780,000 lbs. As we have 

 now approached tlie period when the exportation 

 of tobacco arrived at a point from which it has 

 vibrated, (sometimes a little above or below it,) 

 we subjoin a statement of the exportation for the 

 years 1772-1775, inclusive, which will furnish the 

 remarkable fact that (compared with any succeed- 

 ing four years since that period) the annual ex- 

 portation of tobacco )ust before the revolution, 



was about the same that it has been at any time 

 since, in our most prosperous periods. For al- 

 though 1790-1792 were three years of very hea- 

 vy exportations, tbey fell ol^' in 1793 nearly one 

 half^ making the annual average exportation not 

 materially difl(?reiit from 1772-1775; 



Statement shoicing the quantity of tobacco export- 

 ed from the United Colonics from 1772 to 1775 

 inclusive. 



Total exportation for the four years, 397,497,- 

 139 lbs., or an annual average of 99,374,785 lbs. 

 This brings up to the period of the Revolution. 

 The following will exhibit the exportation of the 

 article during that period. 



Statement showing the quantity of tobacco ex- 

 ported from the United Colonics, from 1776 to 

 1782, inclusive. 



Total exportation for the 7 years, 86,649,533 lbs. 

 or an annual average of 12,378,504 lbs. Of the 

 total 7 years' exportation, 33,974.949 lbs. were 

 captured by the British during the war. 



The following table exhibits the exports of to- 

 bacco from the United States, for the years 1787, 

 1788, 1789, immediately preceding the adoption of 

 the present constitution. 



Statement shoiving the quantity of tobacco ex- 

 ported from the United States from 1787 to 

 1789, inclusive. 



Pounds export'd 



Pounds consumed Pounds consumed 



or remainini; on 

 hand in Great 

 Britain. 



or remaiinnj; on 

 liand in other 

 countries of Eu- 

 rope. 



1787 

 1788 

 1789 



Tot. 



99,041,000 

 88.595.000 

 88^675,000 



267,311,000 



45,379,795 

 39,600,404 

 48,831,232 



44,661,205 

 48,995,186 

 39,843,768 



133,811,431 133,500,159 



*Tliis year Great Britain exported to tfie continent 

 nearly 26,000,000 lbs. of old stock. 



fGreat Britain exported this year to the continent 

 6,000,000 lbs. of former stock. 



