22 TOBACCO GROWING IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



this tobacco does find a ready market in Eng- 

 land — in spite of the heavy duty which renders 

 it an expensive article — our own growth would 

 be equally saleable in point of flavour, and much 

 more saleable in regard of reduced price ! 



Such being the positive facts — countries far 

 colder than England and Ireland, to wit, Holland 

 with its yearly frozen canals, Austria with its 

 piercing winds, and Germany with its inter- 

 minable winters — if these can produce tobacco 

 and make a lively trade by exporting it, why, it 

 may well be asked, should England, with her 

 sea-tempered climate and her boast of national 

 freedom, be debarred from trying her chances 

 against the rest of the world ? or is she alone 

 too ill-favoured by nature, too oppressed by 

 Government, or, perhaps, too prosperous in 

 her commercial enterprises, to be allowed her 

 venture in the market ? 



What is it we ask for but freedom of cropping, 

 — the chance given us, if one crop fails, of try- 

 ing another ? 



Our very ports, except those approved by 

 the Commissioners of Customs, are closed to 

 the reception of the tobacco grown in the coun- 

 tries whither our gold is sent to enable their 

 Goveraments to pay their labourers and apply 

 the newest inventions of science ! Do these 



