162 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 3 



revolutionary war gave a check to the exporta- 

 tion of leaf tobacco from which it has never re- 

 covered; for until that period, as may be seen by 

 reference to the preceding .statements, the annual 

 average exportation increased regularly and stea- 

 dily. It was 37,780,000 lbs. greater tor the years 

 1763 to 1770, than for the years 1744 to 1746; and 

 lor the years 1772 to 1775, it was 31,594,785 lbs. 

 more than the annual average for the years 1763 

 to 1770. In other words, for the 31 years imme- 

 diately preceding the revolution, our exports of 

 leaf tobacco annually increased very nearly 2,328,- 



000 lbs., and for the 60 years since that period, it 

 has remained btationary, except when interrupted 

 by wars or other commercial embarrassments. 

 The reason is apparent. Before the revolution, 

 all Europe depended on us for supplies of the ar- 

 ticle; but, being cut oil' Irom the supplies, by the 

 war, Europeans turned, their attention to growing 

 it for themselves, and have continued to cultivate 

 it all over the continent. 



It will be observed that the exportation of manu- 

 factured tobacco and snuff has increased more than 

 forty-four iold since 1791, and more than three fold 

 since 1817 ; but the gross value has not proportion- 

 ably increased, at least since 1817. 



From a review of the subject, as above detailed, 

 it will be perceived, tiiat, if it were in nur power 

 to furnish a precise statement of the exports of 

 each description of tobacco, and the countries to 

 which it was exported, (althouji'h verv desirable on 

 many accounts,) it would not lurnish satisfictory 

 evidence that the consumption of tobacco gene- 

 rally, or of any particular description, had increased 

 or diminished in Europe, without knowing what 

 they grow, as well as what ice export. We have 

 devoted nmch labor and attention to this part of 

 the subject ; but, althouo'h we can learn generally 

 that the production of it in Europe keeps pace with 



1 lie increased consumption, yet our researches 

 have not enabled us to lay before you any useful 

 statement, either as to the quantity or the (|ualities 

 oTown, except lor three years in France, as fol- 

 lows : — 



Statement shoioing the quantity of Tobacco grown 

 in France for the years 1818 — 1820. 



This show.s an increased production ol" nearly 

 double in the three years. 



It will strike you with surprise, as it did us, 

 that the consumption of tobacco has increased so 

 much in our owii country, as to carry off the very 

 lar<«;e surplus grown beyond the foreign demand. 

 Formerly, when all the tobacco was grown in 

 Virginia and Maryland, we exported as'mnch as 

 we do now ; and now, in addition to those states, 

 which produce nearly, or (piite as much as they 

 did then, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee, together 

 with Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Mis- 

 souri, produce as much more. We must, there- 



fore, consume more than the quantity repuired for 



exportation. 



Remarks. — [f the preceding statements maybe 

 relied on as correct, it appears that there has been 

 a very surprising increase of the use of tobacco 

 in this country, and that the annual consumption 

 now amounts to upwards of 100,000,000 lbs. : — 

 giving about 7 lbs. to every man, woman, and 

 child. The sum annually paid by the consumers 

 of this quantity of tobacco in its manufactured 

 state, has been computed by a writer in "The 

 Portsmouth Journal,"' at ift20,000,000. 



The following passage is ex-fracted from Dr. 

 Mussey's "Essay on the Influence of Tobacco 

 on Li(e and Health. " — " Eighty thousand dol- 

 lars' worth of cigars, it was estimated, were con- 

 sumed in the city of New York in 1810; at 

 that rate, the present annual consumption would 

 amount to more than ^200,000. The statement 

 of Dr. Abbot, in his 'Letters from Cuba,' in 1828, 

 is that the consumption of tobacco in that island is 

 immense. The Rev. Mr. Ingersoll, who passed 

 the winter of 1832-3, in Havanna, expresses his 

 belief that this is not an overstatement. He says, 

 'call the population 120,000; say half are smo- 

 kers; this, at a hit (i. e. 12.', cents") a day, would 

 make between i2!7,000 ami .$8,000. Rut this is 

 too low an estimate, since not men only, but wo- 

 men and children smoke, and many at a larire 

 expense.' He says, that ' the free negro of Cuba 

 appropriates a bit (i. e. 12.^ cents) of his daily 

 wages, to increase the cloud of smoke that rises 

 from the city and country.' This, in 30 years, 

 would amount to i«!7,058 72, a respectable estate 

 for a negro, or even for a white man. 



" The Rev. O. Fowler, from considerable at- 

 tention to the statistics of tobacco consumption in 

 the United States, estimates the annual cost at 

 •S 10,000,000; time lost by the use of it, at ,S12,- 

 000,000; pauper tax which it occasions, at ^3,- 

 000,000. 



"This estimate, I believe to be considerably 

 below the truth. It has been estimated, that the 

 consumption of tobacco in this country is eight 

 times as great as in France, and three times a.? 

 great as in England, in proportion to the popula- 

 tion." 



According to an estimate given by the editor of 

 the "New York Commercial Advertiser," in a 

 late number oi' that journal, the cost of the tobac- 

 co smoked in the city of New York, is much 

 greater than is stated by Dr. Mussey ; but his es- 

 timate will probably be thought, by most readeis, 

 a great exaggeration. According to the " Com- 

 mercial Advertiser," 100,000 persons in the city, 

 (^aboul one-third of the whole population,) are 

 supposed to be smokers ; and the average cost to 

 each smoker is computed to be ten cents a day — 

 total daily cost, §10,000; and the annua! cost, 

 iS3,650,000. The annual cost ol" bread for the in- 

 habitants of the city, allowing thirteen ounces of 

 bread Ibr each person, and computing Hour at tea 

 dollars per barrel would amount to ij^3,493,050. 

 " Thus a little attention to the subject discloses the 

 painful and disgusting fact that in the clear-headed, 

 sharp-sitfhted, money-making city of New York, 

 the inhabitants pay more for tobacco than they do 

 for bread." 



