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The World's Commercial Products 



eighteenth century had reached considerable dimensions, for not only was the Dutch market 

 itself of great value, but the geographical position of the Dutch ports and the flourishing 

 condition of her mercantile marine rendered Holland a very convenient distributing centre 

 ,for the principal smoking countries of Europe. Large quantities of leaf were imported into 

 Amsterdam from Virginia, and soon supplies came also from the West Indies — Jamaica, 

 St. Vincent, Antigua, Dominica, Cuba, and Brazil. Further, the home cultivation of tobacco 

 rapidly increased and, before long, practically every suitable area in the Utrecht, Gelderland, 

 and Ameersfoort districts was planted up in tobacco. It was not long, however, before the 

 inevitable reaction set in, and in a very few years large numbers of the tobacco merchants 

 and planters were ruined. This debacle was not the result of decreased consumption, but was 

 the natural consequence of over-production, deterioration in the quality of the article supplied, 



and excessive competition, 

 the latter being especially 

 encountered at the hands of 

 the merchants of Bremen, 

 who were now also endeav- 

 ouring to share in the import 

 trade. Further, the German 

 states at this time levied 

 heavy import duties on 

 Dutch tobacco, and, when 

 similar imposts were made 

 in Belgium, two of the most 

 important of the Dutch 

 markets were closed. By 

 1760, however, the trade 

 had somewhat revived, and 

 during the American War of 

 Independence the stoppage of 

 supplies from Virginia led to 

 a great impetus being given 

 to the home plantations. 



It would be difficult to 

 find more confirmed smokers 

 than the Germans, and after 

 its introduction into the coun- 

 try in the sixteenth century, 

 the use of tobacco spread with 

 extraordinary rapidity among the people. Neiner says "from the moment they {i.e., the people) 

 made the acquaintance of tobacco, the habit of smoking spread so rapidly that there was no 

 farmer's cottage where the tobacco pipe was not found ; they sometimes smoke the herb, some- 

 times chew it, and sometimes use it as snuff, and we can only wonder that it has not occurred to 

 anyone to put it into his ears ! " At the magnificent Court of Frederick I tobacco was smoked, 

 and after the Seven Years' War, Frederick II, one of the greatest users of snuff of his time, 

 tried all means in his power to foster the cultivation of tobacco in his dominions ; he consulted 

 the most celebrated botanists and chemists as to the best methods of procedure, and followed 

 the example of France, Holland, Spain, and other countries, in establishing tobacco culture 

 as a prerogative of the Crown. 



The measures adopted for the suppression of tobacco-smoking were exceedingly drastic 

 in several continental countries. In Russia the herb was solemnly cursed and declared unclean 

 by the ecclesiastical authorities, and in 1630 its use was forbidden by royal proclamation. 



HARVESTING THE LEAF 



