y of leaf is very fine; her product
has been as high as 5,500,000 pounds.

In Asia tobacco has long been cultivated, and is one of the greatest
products of the country. In both Asiatic and European Turkey the
annual production is about 43,000,000 pounds. In China and Japan large
quantities are grown, as well as in Persia, Thibet, and other portions
of Asia. In the Philippine Islands its cultivation is carried on by
the Spaniards, as it has been for upwards of 250 years. Bowring says
of its culture:--

"The money value of the tobacco grown in the Philippines is
estimated at from 4,000,000 to 5,000,000 of dollars, say
1,000,000l. sterling. Of this nearly one half is consumed in
the island, one quarter is exported in the form of cheroots
(which is the Oriental word for cigars), and the remainder
sent to Spain in leaves and cigars, being estimated as an
annual average contribution exceeding 800,000 dollars. The
sale of tobacco is a strict government monopoly, but the
impossibility of keeping up any sufficient machinery for the
protection of that monopoly is obvious even to the least
observant. The cultivator, who is bound to deliver all his
produce to the government, first takes care of himself and
his neighbors, and secures the best of his growth for his
own benefit. From functionaries able to obtain the best
which the government brings to market, a present is often
volunteered, which shows that they avail themselves of
something better than the best. And in discussing the matter
with the most intelligent of the empleados, they agreed that
the emancipation of the producer, the manufacturer and the
seller, and the establishment of a simple duty, would be
more productive to the revenue than the present vexatious
and inefficient system of privileges.

"In 1810 the deliveries were 50,000 bales (of two arrobas),
of which Gapan furnished 47,000 and Cayayan 2,000. In 1841
Cayayan furnished 170,000 bales; Gapan, 84,000; and New
Biscay, 34,000. But the produce is enormously increased; and
so large is the native consumption, of which a large
proportion pays no duty, that it would not be easy to make
even an approximative estimate of the extent and value of
the whole tobacco harvest. Where the fiscal authorities are
so scattered and so corrupt;--where communications are so