30 TOBACCO GROWING IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



neither power or effect over the transgressors 

 thereof : 



" Penalty encreased to £10 for every rod or 

 pole planted." 



That tobacco continued to be extensively grown 

 we know from several sources, notably from the 

 following passage in the " Gloucestershire Hang- 

 man's Request," written in 1655. The author 

 says : — " The very planting of tobacco hath 

 proved the decay of my trade, for, since it hath 

 been planted in Gloucestershire, especially at 

 Winchcourt, my trade hath proved nothing worth. 

 .... Then 'twas a meiTy world with me! for, 

 indeed, before tobacco was there planted, there 

 being no kind of trade to employ men, and very 

 small tillage, necessity compelled poor men to 

 stand my friends, by stealing of sheep and other 

 cattle, breaking of hedges, robbing of orchards, 

 and what not." 



In 1670 a third and still more stringent 

 Act was deemed necessary for preventing the 

 cultivation of this crop (which, in spite of heavy 

 penalties, still increased in importance), and for 

 regulating the plantation trade. " Whereas the 

 sowing, setting, planting, and curing of tobacco 

 within divers parts of the Kingdom of England 

 doth continue and encrease to the apparent loss 

 of his Majesty's Customs, and the discourage- 



