238 AGRICULTLRK OX THE RHINE. 



Besides the land-tax there are, in Prussia, some produce- 

 taxes that press on the cultivation of the soil. One we 

 have noticed, that on tobacco. In Prussia tobacco grown 

 in portions of land exceeding six roods (about -^ acre) is 

 taxed at four different rates according to the soil. The first- 

 class soils pay about 7|c/., the second 7d., the third G^d.j 

 and the fourth 6d. per six roods, or from 1/. 5s. to 1/. per 

 acre. The immediate effect of this tax is to exclude 

 tobacco to a great extent from the rotations of the farmers 

 in Rhenish Prussia. In Baden, Hesse, and Rhenish 

 Bavaria, where no tax is incurred by its cultivation, 

 tobacco is extensively grown, and is found to be a very 

 profitable crop. 



Wine is also taxed in Prussia, after fermentation, at 

 rates varying according to its quality, from 35. 6d. to 9d. 

 per eitner .fifteen English gallons). For the sake of these 

 two duties, which bring in about 60,000/. annually to the 

 Prussian exchequer, the whole ]»nnciple of the ' Zoll- 

 verein ' is set aside, and the free internal traffic between 

 the various States is constrained. Tobacco and wine 

 pay a differential duty on importation into Prussia from 

 the other German States that have not adopted the same 

 system of taxation. Large quantities of tobacco are an- 

 imally sent into Prussia from Baden and Bavaria. In the 

 greater number of German States there are taxes on the 

 transfer of land and houses, that would very much inter- 

 fere with the marketable value of land if the forms of 

 transfer were not otherwise easy, and the titles conse- 

 quently good and clear. The stamp j^aid in Prussia for 

 the contract of sale which, when registered, ibrnis the 

 title-deed or conveyance, is one per cent, on the pur- 

 chase-money. In Nassau a tiix of two per cent., besides 



