In Bavaria, as is well known, tobacco is cultivated very extensively, particularly in the Palatinate and in Franconia, viz. the districts around Nuremberg and Erlangen. The area of land in 1871 was 4721 hectares, which produced 144,153 centners. In Saxony but little tobacco is grown, the total area planted therewith in 1871 not having exceeded 6 hectares, upon which 130 centners were produced. Although in parts of Wirtemberg the soil and climate are said to be very favourable to the growth of the plant, the area of land cultivated is, upon the whole, a very limited one, and did not exceed 178 hectares. The yield of the harvest is given at 5571 centners. In the year 1858 the extent of production in Wirtemberg is stated to have been four times as great as it is at present. The Grand Duchy of Baden has at all times been the chief tobacco-growing part of Germany, and as far back as the end of the seventeenth century special laws for regulating the cultivation, preparation, and warehousing of this article were in force. The great importance accordingly attaching to this branch of agriculture and industry for so large a proportion of the inhabitants of Baden, renders it but natural that any project of increasing the tobacco tax should meet with very strong opposition amongst most classes of the Grand Duchy. The most prominent tobacco-growing districts of Baden are those of Carlsruhe, Mannheim, Heidelberg, Badenburg, Schwitzingen, and Lahr; the quality of the plant grown in these parts being a very inferior one. The produce of the districts mentioned is therefore applied chiefly to the manufacture of “cigar-wrappers,” and is exported in considerable quantities to Bremen, Hamburg, Switzerland, Holland, and even to America, for the use of the cigar-makers. The prices of the best kinds of Baden tobacco are consequently also, on an average, much higher than those realized by other German growers. The area in Hesse was 979 hectares, the chief district being around the town of Darmstadt; the production was 31,311 centners. The most prominent amongst the Thuringian States as regards tobacco production, is the Duchy of Saxe-Menningen; the land cultivated in 1871 in all of them put together was 202 hectares, the yield of the harvest in that year having been 4806 centners. In the two German states of Mecklenburg, 6106 centners were raised from 165 hectares of land. The most important district is that of Neu-Brandenburg, in Mecklenburgh-Strelitz. Only a small extent of land, viz. 69 hectares, is used for tobacco in the Duchy of Brunswick, the same being situated near the town of Helmstadt; the amount raised was 2391 centners.
In the recently acquired provinces of Alsace-Lorraine, tobacco cultivation has been extensively carried on for many years, more especially in the country around Strasburg, Mülhausen, Schirmeck, and Münster, and to a smaller extent near Metz and Thionville. The aggregate area of land cultivated in 1871 in both provinces is given at 3159 hectares, upon which 115,518 centners of tobacco were raised. According to the statistics and information furnished by Consul Ward, the quantity of tobacco produced in Germany in the year 1871 amounted to 713,845 centners, the whole being estimated in value at 60,284,210 dols., or about 9,042,613l. sterling.
A Consular report of March 31, 1885, remarks that one of the most prominent branches of agriculture in Baden is that of tobacco, of which about 300,000 to 350,000 cwt. annually are grown, whereof large quantities are exported. Owing to the comparatively high tax on production of 22½ marks per 50 kilo., the grower has been forced to seek a more rational system of cultivation, and a more careful treatment of the plant and the curing of the leaf. Government pays particular attention to this culture. A Commission has been appointed for the purpose of studying and investigating the treatment of tobacco in Holland, and the results are to be adopted and propagated, so far as the climate admits.
It is very doubtful whether the labours of the Commission will greatly influence the farmers, who are of a very conservative disposition; moreover, there is a greater obstacle to struggle against, namely, their desire to increase the quantity of the production, and with it their income, without regard to the question of deterioration of the quality of tobacco; the peasantry, like other classes, participates in the desire to better its material condition.
The surface of land occupied by tobacco plantations represented in 1883 for the whole of the empire the considerable figure of 22,068 hectares; this year a reduction is to be noted, as official reports bring the total to 21,108 hectares only.
The Grand Duchy of Baden participated in the above figures with 7788 hectares for 1883, and 7647 hectares for 1884.
Notwithstanding this difference, the result of the crop will not essentially be smaller (as regards the weight of the total), the new produce proving heavier in weight and in substance. While in 1883 the hectare produced about 1900 kilo., it is supposed that for 1884 it will yield from 1800 to 2000 kilo. These figures tend to prove that the 1884 tobacco is richer in quality, and consequently more durable, and less capable of treatment than that of the preceding years; although the quality is somewhat inferior to that of 1882 and 1883 it may fairly be considered as good.
The subjoined remarks deal with the tobacco trade of Bremen. The number of casks of Kentucky tobacco sold in 1884 fell considerably below that disposed of in 1883. This is explainable by the circumstance that lugs and cuttings were altogether wanting. The prices of leaf on the whole remained steady, except in October and November, when they soon regained their firmness through no more supplies from America being expected, owing to the continued demand for strong tobacco in that country. Business in Virginia tobacco also suffered from the want of inferior qualities. Prices, considered high from the beginning, showed even a rising tendency at the end of the season. Transactions in Maryland and scrubs exceeded the average of the last five years. Ohio and Bay suffered, as hitherto, from the protection afforded to home growths. Operations in stems were, considering the depression in trade, not unsatisfactory.
A good business was done in almost all descriptions of tobacco in serons, chests, bales, and baskets, and sales surpassed those of previous years.
The subjoined table presents a comparison of the transactions in the various sorts of tobacco during the last two years:—