18 TOBACCO GROWING IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



and tufts, protecting fi-om cold, gathering the 

 leaves as they ripen, wilting, drying, and curing, 

 — a programme of work which may well fill the 

 philanthropic landowner with renewed hopes for 

 the future of his tenants and dependants, while 

 securing to himself the advantages naively 

 described in the following words by a local 

 authority, as accruing to Blandain : " Cette cul- 

 ture a fait jusqu' aujourd'hui la fortune de 

 Blandain, et lui permit de traverser fi^rement la 

 crise agricole. Je suis merae tout porte a croire 

 qu'elle ne fera qu' augmenter si on a le bon esprit 

 de s'inspirer un peu plus de la science, ce qui 

 manque encore a nos planteurs du cru." 



But beyond this let it be remembered by the 

 " food supply " objectors that, whereas the acreage 

 under wheat alone, up to 1884, in the United 

 Kingdom was 2,749,470, only 40,000 acres (pro- 

 ducing 40,000,000 lbs. of tobacco at the rate of 

 1000 lbs. per acre) will suffice to yield enough 

 shag or common roll to supply the entire home 

 consumption, leaving scant room for fear that 

 the cultivation of tobacco will interfere in any 

 appreciable degi'ee with the cultivation of com. 



In answer to the universally quoted objection 

 of climate, let us glance at some of the countries 

 where tobacco flourishes, and leai-n from the 

 statistics furnished by the Customs returns what 



