249. AGRICULTURE, Tobacco.—
Tobacco
is a culture productive of infinite
wretchedness. Those employed in it are in a
continual state of exertion beyond the power
of nature to support. Little food of any kind
is raised by them; so that the men and animals
on these farms are badly fed, and the
earth is rapidly impoverished. The cultivation
of wheat is the reverse in every circumstance.
Besides clothing the earth with herbage,
and preserving its fertility, it feeds the
laborers plentifully, requires from them only
a moderate toil, except in the season of harvest,
raises great numbers of animals for food
and service, and diffuses plenty and happiness
among the whole. We find it easier to make
an hundred bushels of wheat than a thousand
weight of tobacco, and they are worth more
when made—
Notes on Virginia. Washington ed. viii, 407.
Ford ed., iii, 271.
(1782)
