TOBACCO-CULTURE IN SCOTLAND.

It is quite right for agriculturists to do what is possible in the direction of introducing new kinds of crop that may possibly turn out remunerative; and in this view, some interest is attached to recent experiments in the culture of tobacco. If the North Americans can compete with British farmers in the production of good beef and mutton, Britain may possibly maintain the equilibrium by cultivating the weed of which the New World has long had a monopoly. Potatoes were introduced into this country from America, and have proved to be a rich benefit. It is just possible that tobacco also may turn out to be a not less lucrative gift to the producer. More than a hundred years have elapsed since a trial was made in Scotland, principally, but not exclusively, in the south-eastern counties. It failed at that time, through the combined influences of a bad season, the interference of the government—believed to be at the instance of Glasgow merchants—and ultimately of a rapid fall in the price of imported tobacco, a combination of circumstances not likely to occur again.

Of the trial made towards the close of last century, a detailed account has been left on record by the Rev. Dr Somerville of Jedburgh. In consequence of the war with America, tobacco had continued to rise in price, till, in 1781, it reached the unprecedented price of two shillings the pound. Dr Jackson, a gentleman who possessed a small estate near Kelso, had for two years previous laid out a few acres in the culture of tobacco, the science of which he had learned from long experience in America. In 1781, his whole crop had been sold at the extraordinary rate of two shillings and sixpence a pound. His example and reputed success led others to follow in the same line. Even the minister of Jedburgh had five acres of his glebe laid out as a tobacco plantation; and his statement is that, in 1782, many thousands of acres in the counties of Roxburgh, Berwick, and Selkirk were planted with tobacco, nearly every farmer in these counties having devoted some considerable part of his arable land to this adventurous speculation. In Berwickshire, complaints were made that many acres of the best land were occupied with tobacco instead of being cropped with grain.

The year 1782 is notable as having been one of the most inclement seasons either in the eighteenth century or the present. Snow, which had fallen plentifully during the winter, remained so long on the ground that the sowing of grain was delayed at least a month after the ordinary time. The summer was uncommonly wet and cold; the harvest was so late that even in early districts corn was not cut down till October, while a great part of it was reaped only in November; and much of it in the higher grounds never ripened at all. Tobacco, like other crops, suffered from the cold rainy season; and its destruction was completed in the month of August by a thunderstorm of unusual violence, accompanied with a great fall of hail. The succulent leaves were riddled; many of the most luxuriant plants were destroyed; and the prospects of speculative farmers were seriously blighted.

The discomfiture of tobacco-planters, begun by the unpropitious season, was completed through the interference of Glasgow merchants. The tobacco trade in that city had gradually grown to large dimensions. It had begun in a small way soon after the union with England in 1707. At first, Glasgow merchants had no ships of their own, but were dependent on English vessels; and not till 1718 did the first Glasgow ship cross the Atlantic. Gradually the tobacco trade of Glasgow increased, till it roused the jealousy of merchants in London, Liverpool, Bristol, and Whitehaven, who made strenuous but unsuccessful efforts to crush those enterprising Scottish traders. The traffic continued to flourish till in 1775 there were fifty-seven thousand one hundred and forty-three hogsheads of tobacco imported from Virginia, Maryland, and Carolina. At the instance of these Glasgow merchants, the government officials came to understand that the revenue would suffer if tobacco grown in Scotland were carried free of duty into England. Accordingly, an Act was passed in 1782 permitting the use and removal of tobacco, the growth of Scotland, into England for a limited time under certain restrictions; but liable to duties similar to those due and payable on the importation of such tobacco, the growth and produce of the British colonies or plantations in America.

By a subsequent Act, provision was made for granting relief to the proprietors of such tobacco, in consideration of the inferior quality thereof, or any accident or defect that may happen in the growth or culture of the crop so as to render the same not marketable or worth the duties imposed thereupon. For this purpose, it was enacted that the Commissioners of Customs at Edinburgh might allow, and order to be paid to the owner or proprietor of such tobacco, out of any revenue under their management which is applicable to the payment of incidents, at the rate of fourpence for every pound-weight thereof, for which the owner or proprietor thereof shall refuse to pay the full duties imposed by the said recited Act, provided the commodity shall be given up and burned, the owners being compensated at the rate of fourpence a pound. Even at that moderate figure, it was said that thirteen acres in the parish of Crailing brought one hundred and four pounds sterling, or about eight pounds an acre. The return would have been three times as much, but for the Act of Parliament which fixed the rate of compensation so low. Altogether, the county of Roxburgh was believed to have lost fifteen hundred pounds by the arrangement. The experiment was not renewed in 1783, one reason for which is doubtless indicated in the announcement made on the 21st of March that year, that ‘tobacco has fallen fourpence a pound this week.’

The more recent experiments of growing tobacco near Kelso were, we understand, quite successful so far as plant-production of a good quality was concerned, but excise difficulties prevented the utilisation of the crop. It only remains for us to assure our readers that a tobacco plant, grown in a pot, is a pretty household ornament.