The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-19
IRELAND AGAIN
To GROW TOBACCO
Funds Granted to Enc0ur-
age the Industry
SOIL IS FAVORABLE
Irish Tobacco Was Once Excellent But
Government Bonus Hindered
Planting-New Scheme Has
Been Worked Out
SOIL IS FAVORABLE
~ II. x. CULLEN

BY IT. X. CULLEN
Dublin January 1s.-(Speciall-Wi
Ireland take its place as one of the
tobacco growing countries of the world
This question will probably be answered
within the next month or two by the
settlement of the dispute which has
arisen over the distribution of the gov
ernment grant to encourage the revival
of the industry in this country.
The trouble has arisen over the changed
method of giving government aid to
growers. A few years ago, after long
years of agitation, the government was
induced to do something to help in the
revival of tobacco growing in those parts
of Ireland where the soil is specially fa-
vorable to the plant. The first plan was
a rebate of % cents per pound on the
duty of Irish grown tobacco and this
worked very we'll for three or four years.
The doctrinaire free traders. however,
who ran the English government, smelt
protection to a home Industry In this
and finally insisted on Irish tobacco pay
ing the full duty charged on the for
eign leaf Then another plan was
worked out by which a bonus of $3.50 an
acre was paid to growers, but the de-
velopment commissioners, who have
charge of the administration of the grant.
found that instead of encouraging tobac-
co growing 1t was really hindering il.
The reason was that tobacco is a crop
which requires a lot of labor to grow
properly and some Irish farmers found
that 1t paid them to plant tobacco of
any sort, let 1t grow as it pleased and
lat ha ha
that the general reputation of Irish to-
bacco suffered.
New Scheme Worked Out
Now a new scheme has been produced
under which s350000 has been set aside
to encourage tobacco growing and the
commissioners promise $4,000 year for
10 years. This is to be distributed to
growers and handlers at the rate of s125
an acre and it is over the rules laid
down for the distribution that the trou-
BILE has arisen. The commissioners insist
that not only shall the crop be of good
quality but that the leaf must be proper
ly handled and cured and. to insure this
the grant is paid only through approved
handlers. So far there are only two of
these, Col. Sir Nugent Everard and Lord
Dunraven. Both these men have taken
an active interest in the tobacco grow
ing revival from it's inception and have
ling sheds.
Under the new arrangement they are
given the handling of the grant. They
are compelled to buy all the tobacco pro-
duced which comes up to the standard
quality. at the market price, and 20 pay,
in addition, $50 an acre to the grower.
The other SIS they are allowed TO keep
| toward the cost of curing. handling and
marketing.
1t is hoped in this way to give the
farmer an incentive to do the best he can
with his crop. For instance, under tho
scheme some growers only obtained 500
pounds of tobacco to the acre. while
others. on similar land. by liberal manur-
ing using plenty of labor and up to date
methods. secured 100 pounds. As the
market price of the uncured leaf is from
10 to u cents pound the difference
amounts to about sl00 an acre, or more
than the curer's share of the grant.
Most of the opposition to the nsw
scheme comes from group of small
growers in Wexford, who have erected
curing and handling sheds of their own.
They do not like to see this plant going
to waste, but the commissioners have
decided that they have neither the capital
nor the experience to do justice to the
reputation which it is hoped to obtain
from Irish tobacco.
Irish Tobacco Not Joke
A good many people have been disposed
to regard Irish tobacco as a joke, but
some of them would be surprised to know
that they had been smoking it under
the impression that 1t was the best Nir-
ginia or Turkish. AS a matter of fact
the general quality of the Irish crop has
been excellent and 1t has been eagerly
bought at good prices. by the two big
Irish manufacturers. Gallaher of Belfast,
who has the largest single tobacco fac
tory in the world and Goodbody of Dub
lin.
Considerable reputation has been OBJ
tanned already by the Turkish cigarettes
made from tobacco grown in Ireland from
Turkish seed and If the Irish growers
are alert they ought to capture
a good share of the Turkish trade during
the years of short crops which must fol-
low the ruin wrought by the war in the
Balkans. Experts in London have de-
clared that 1t Is impossible to detect the
difference between the best Turkish and
the finest growths OF Thrace and Mace
donia.
IT may be generally known that %
bacco growing was once an industry of
some Importance in Ireland. Sir Walter
Raleigh introduced the weed and planted
1T on his estate at Youghal. Gradually
the cultivation was taken up by other
landowners and the Irish tobacco indus
try grew to such an extent that tho Bris-
tol merchants saw their trade with. Vir-
ginia dwindling. They appealed to the
English parliament which promptly for
bade the growth of the weed in Ireland
In the interest of the famous merchant
venturers in Bristol