THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



35 



Maryland ; Hon. Walter Coles of Viriri n ia 

 Hon. Wni. I). ]Merricl<, ol' JVIary'and ; lion. 

 John .laniopnn, oC Missouri; and Tliomae F. 

 Uowie, E-^q. of JMaryliind. 



Alier which, ilie report and resolutions were 

 adopted. 



From the Richmond Whig. 

 THE EUROPEAN DrXIES ON TOBACCO. OPI- 

 NIONS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF TH E QUES- 

 TION. 



[We have at several different limes piihlished 

 onicles in opnosiiion to the European pys'em of 

 hiiih duties on this important produet of Virginia. 

 We shall now present a piece taking opposite 

 views of the question. — En. F. K.] 



I see from the papers, that much interest seems 

 to be lei' by ihe tobacco growers in Virginia (I 

 shall confine my remarks to the interest of the 

 Virjjinia planters) on the subject of high duties 

 r barged on the article of tobacco, by some of the 

 European governments, and particularly by Great 

 Britain where our finest and highest priced tobac- 

 roes are used ; and France and Italy, where it is 

 a government monopoly, and where our next best 

 and highest priced iobaccoee are used. The im- 

 pression seems to prevail with the planters, and, 

 probably, the politicians of our stale, that if tiie 

 duty on tobacco was reduced, or done away en- 

 tirely in those countries, that the demand fi)r the 

 article grown in Virginia would be greatly in- 

 creased, and that prices would thereby be hiaher, 

 thereby greatly benpfiting the planter and increas- 

 ing the wealth of Virginia. Now, I believe this 

 opinion to be erroneous, and that some liew (acts 

 are wonh a thousand theories, and may satisfy 

 many that, in some things, free trade is not always 

 the best for every body. In the first place, Vir- 

 ginia only raises about one-third of the tobacco 

 made in the United States, and nearly one-half ol 

 it is manufactured at home, and the labor put 

 upon It doubles the value — a good deal of which 

 is exported in the manufactured state with the 

 increased value, and is of a quality to command 

 a preference, and in consequence of the high 

 duties paid in the European markets named, par- 

 ticularly England, completely excludes them from 

 compeiini; with us in all the lesser markets in the 

 world where the articles used are admitted at 

 moderate duties or free. Again — tobacco is raised 

 in Hungary and France and many other places 

 in Europe and South America and the VV. 

 Indies, and very near, if not quite as much tobac- 

 co is raised in Europe and European possessions, 

 as there is in the United States. Do our planters 

 know this fact ? 'J'obacco can be raised in Ire- 

 land to a great extent, and even in par's of Russia. 

 Why has not more been raised in Europe, espe- 

 cially in Ireland, France and Holland? Simply 

 because theirs is an inferior article to ours, and as 

 such, could not pay the high duty that ours can 

 bear. But look at Holland and Germany, where 

 the duty is very inconsiderable, almost no'hinir, 

 and you find tobacco so low in price, that these 

 markets are worth nothing to the Virginia planter, 

 except merely to take off some 5 000 or 10,000 

 hocrsheads of Iu2s and inferior leaf, annually, at 

 $31 to $41 and 0.5. And why is this ? Because 



they use tobacco principally Hjr smoking, and an 

 inlL'rior, cheap article will do ; and, as there \a 

 little or no duly, the moment prices get above $3^ 

 10 $5, they resort to the use of their own irrowili 

 —but at $3^ to ^4 to $5, they give the preli'rence 

 to American tobacco- Suppose the trade in Great 

 Britain, France and Italy, placed upon the same 

 looting of Holland and Germany, is it not reason- 

 able to believe that all Europe, where tobacco can 

 be raised, will raise it? — lor labor is cheaper 

 there than here. 'I'he conspfpi.^nce wouM be, 

 more tobacco would be raised and more would be 

 consumed; but thegruwers in Virginia would have 

 to take what they could raise it lor in Europe; (or 

 we must bear this (act in mind, that in Europe, 

 (except in great Biiiain) tliey do not chew to- 

 t»acco — they smoke and snuff. The Virginia to- 

 bacco is used principally (or chewing and mixing 

 with other tobaccoes to make enuff; very little 

 of it is used in smoking, and yet much the larger 

 portion of tobacco used in the world, I presume, 

 IS consumed by smoking. There is now, and has 

 been for years past, a demand (br Virginia tobacco 

 beyond her ability to raise it, and at pricts paying 

 the cultivator of the soil better than anything 

 else. Let the planters, then, raise more if they 

 can, and when the product becomes so great that 

 they find it necessary to increase the consumption, 

 and they are willing to compete with the European 

 growers, by selling their crops at ^3 to ^4, and 

 S'5 to ^6 per 100 lbs, — then, indeed, it may be 

 well to seek to have the duly taken ofl\ But it 

 does seem to me, that unless we can gel foreign 

 governments to take the duty ofl^" of a!l American 

 tobacco, and to prohibit the cultivation of it by 

 their own subjects, and to keep the duty on all 

 tobacco raised in Europe, we have no right to 

 complain, but should be well satisfied to find our 

 better article protected by a duty so high as al- 

 most to exclude their inferior article, raised at 

 home, and which, if used to any ffreat extent, 

 must reduce the value of ours. It is not the 

 interest of our planters to cultivate double the 

 quantity of ground, and exhaust their lands to 

 make a large quantity of inlerior tobacco, to sell 

 at ^3 to S5 ; they had much better cultivate half 

 the quantity of land, make good tobacco, and get 

 for it $4 to SIO, as they now do. Those, gentle- 

 men, are my views on this subject, hastily sketched 

 no doubt erroneous some particulars — but in the 

 general, I believe to be correct. JMy only object 

 in presen'ing them is to benefit the tobacco grow- 

 ing interest and the trade of Virjiinia. 



ANSWERS TO INQUIRIES RESPECTING THE 

 MANURING AND ROTATION OF CROPS OF 

 WORCESTER. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



JVestnver, January \3lh, 1S41. 

 As I am now housed ti-om incessant rains, 

 enough almost to produce a flood, I have been 

 looking back over the numbprs of the ' Register' 

 lor the last year; and find in the August number 

 a communication with the signature ' R.,' asking 

 of me information wiih regard to the application of 

 iny manure, under the change of system (r-om the 

 mur to the five-field. I owe the author of the 

 [)iece an apology (or my remissness in not paying 

 iliat attention to his wishes that he po much de- 

 served at my hands ; and now thank him (or the 



