The aggregate area of land cultivated with tobacco in the States of the German Customs Union did not vary considerably during ten years, being 21,509 _hectares_ in 1863, and 20,918 in 1872, to which must be added the newly annexed provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, which bring up the total to 24,745 _hectares_. It appears that, with particular regard to the year 1872, the cultivation was carried on in 4067 different localities, by 94,916 taxable growers, and by 83,675 smaller growers, whose production, owing to its limited extent, was exempt from taxation. By far the larger number were small growers, the area cultivated by each not exceeding an average of 10 _ares_. In Prussia the aggregate of land cultivated during the year 1871 amounted to 5925 _hectares_, or 26 per cent. of the entire territory of the kingdom; the aggregate yield of the harvest in the same year was 198,890 _centners_. It appears that the extent of tobacco-growing land has, during the last fifty years, been gradually diminishing in Prussia, and that accordingly the expectations entertained in the beginning of that period of a great future development of this branch of agriculture have not been realized. The reasons for the 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 hand, the fact that the cultivation of beetroot for sugar, and of potatoes for distilling purposes, has proved to be a more profitable business than tobacco production. 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 North American sorts, the labour 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.