352 EXTENT OF CULTURE. 
States, will give some idea of the amount cultivated and used 
in Germany :— 
“The aggregate area of land cultivated with tobacco in 
Prussia during the year 1871, amounted to 5.925 hectares (a 
hectare being equal to 2.47 English acres). It appears that 
the extent of tobacco-growing land has, during the last fifty 
years, been gradually diminishing in Prussia, and that accord- 
ingly the expectations entertained in the beginning of that 
period of a great future development of this branch of agri- 
culture, have not been realized; for whilst the area of land 
planted with tobacco in the year 1825 was 12.374 hectares, 
it amounted in 1871 to less than one-half this amount. The 
reasons for this gradual decline are considered to be, on the 
one hand, the growing competition of the South German 
growers, and the increase in the importations of American 
tobacco; on the other, the fact that the cultivation of beet- 
root (for sugar manufacturing) and of potatoes (for the dis- 
tilleries) has proved to be a more profitable business than the 
cultivation of tobacco. It has, moreover, been found by 
many years’ experience, that whilst the quality of the tobacco 
cultivated in most parts of Prussia is not such as to enable 
the growers to compete successfully with the importers of 
foreign (particularly of North American) sorts, the labor 
attending its cultivation and its preparation for the market, 
as well as the uncertainty of only an average crop, are out of 
proportion, as a rule, to the average profits arising therefrom. 
The cultivation of the plant has, consequently, gradually 
become restricted, chiefly to those districts of the country 
where either the soil is peculiarly adapted for the purpose, 
or where it is carried on for the private use of the producer.” 
With regard to the various provinces of Prussia, it appears 
that “In East Prussia the extent of tobacco land is only a 
limited one, and is confined to the district around Tilsit, 
where about two-thirds of the entire cultivation is in the 
hands of peasants, who consume their own produce. In 
‘West Prussia (the western portion of the province of Prussia 
proper) the cultivation is rather more extensive, particularly 
near the town of Marienwerder; the tobacco, however, 1s 
very inferior. The most important districts of the province 
of Posen are those of Chodziesz and Meseritz. In Pomera- 
nia, next to Brandenburg the most important tobacco-grow- 
ing province of the kingdom, the area of land cultivated is 
very large. The principal districts are those near Stettin. 
In Silesia the most important districts are those around 
