214 The Soverane Herbe 



be undermined. The first English colonies were 

 formed by and through tobacco, and the herb also 

 played no unimportant part in the Revolution of 1688, 

 the expenses of William III.'s expedition to England 

 being defrayed by an increased tax on tobacco in 

 Holland. There is no other article — a luxury, but so 

 much in demand as to be a necessity — that could 

 take the place of tobacco as a source of revenue. 



In most Continental countries the manufacture and 

 sale of tobacco is a State monopoly. Such is the 

 case in Austria- Hungary, Italy, Spain, and France. 

 At a ball in the Tuilleries in 181 1, Napoleon noticed 

 a lady wearing magnificent diamonds. On inquiry 

 he was told that she was the wife of a tobacco manu- 

 facturer. Learning from this brilliant display the 

 lucrative character of the trade, the Emperor on the 

 following day issued a decree making tobacco a State 

 monopoly in France. France now obtains more 

 money from tobacco than does any other State ; in 

 the last year the profits of the R^gie were ;£'i 5,7 15,000. 

 In Germany and Holland, where tobacco is largely 

 cultivated, the duties are very low. 



It is estimated that 1,000,000,000 acres of land 

 are devoted to the cultivation of tobacco throughout 

 the world, and the annual crop of the civilized world 

 at more than 2,000,000,000 pounds, valued at (exclusive 

 of duty) ;^45,ooo,ooo sterling. 



A third of this comes from America, of which 

 590,000,000 pounds are grown in the United States, 

 where 1,000,000 acres are devoted to its culture. The 

 State of Kentucky is responsible for 1 85,000,000 pounds 

 of this. Cuba produces about 60,000,000 pounds of 



