1. Verification
2. Better Buying

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The Project Gutenberg e-Book of Tobacco Author: E. Billings.The Project Gutenberg EBook of Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture,Manufacture and Commerce, by E. BillingsThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and withalmost no restrictions whatsoever.

You may copy it, give it away orre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License includedwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.netTitle: Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and CommerceAuthor: E. BillingsRelease Date: January 31, 2008 EBook #24471Language: EnglishCharacter set encoding: ISO-8859-1. START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOBACCO; ITS HISTORY, VARIETIES.Produced by Ted Garvin, Christine P.

Travers and the OnlineDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected, allother inconsistencies are as in the original. The author's spellinghas been maintained.Page 62-63: The part between = obviously did not belong in that placeand has been removed, 'From this time forward the Plantation seemed toprosper, Charles granted lands to all the planters and adventurers whowould till them, upon paying the annual sum of two shillings payableto the crown for each hundred acres.

=direction, appointing thegovernor and council himself, and= Before the death of King James,however, the cultivation of tobacco had become so extensive that everyother product seemed of but little value in comparison with it, andthe price realized from its sale being so much greater than thatobtained for 'Corne,' the latter was neglected and its culture almostentirely abandoned.' Page 115: The verse 'And can but end with time;' was missing and has been added. CHAPTER VII.PIPES AND SMOKERS.

Xv) CHAPTER IX.CIGARS.New York Cigars — Havana Cigars — Quality of Havana Cigars— Relative Value and Size — Cigar-Makers — Cuban Cigars— Cigar Manufactories — Preparation of the Tobacco —Sorting the Leaves — Sales, etc. Tobacco is a hardy flowering annual plant, growing freely in amoist fertile soil and requiring the most thorough culture in order tosecure the finest form and quality of leaf. It is a native of thetropics and under the intense rays of a vertical sun develops itsfinest and most remarkable flavor which far surpasses the varietiesgrown in a temperate region. It however readily adapts itself to soiland climate growing through a wide range of temperature from theEquator to Moscow in Russia in latitude 56°, and through all theintervening range of climate.The plant varies in height according to species and locality; thelargest varieties reaching an altitude of ten or twelve feet, inothers not growing more than two or three feet from the ground.Botanists have enumerated between forty and fifty varieties of thetobacco plant who class them all among the narcotic poisons. Whenproperly cultivated the plant ripens in a few weeks growing with arapidity hardly equaled by any product either temperate or tropical.Of the large number of varieties cultivated scarcely more thanone-half are grown to any great extent while many of them are hardlyknown outside of the limit of cultivation.

Tobacco is a strong growingplant resisting heat and drought to a far (p. 018) greater extentthan most plants.

It is a native of America, the discovery of thecontinent and the plant occurring almost simultaneously. It succeedsbest in a deep rich loam in a climate ranging from forty to fiftydegrees of latitude. After having been introduced and cultivated innearly all parts of the world, America enjoys the reputation ofgrowing the finest varieties known to commerce. European tobacco islacking in flavor and is less powerful than the tobacco of America.The botanical account of tobacco is as follows:—'Nicotiana, the tobacco plant is a genus of plants of theorder of Monogynia, belonging to the pentandria class, order1, of class V. It bears a tubular 5-cleft calyx; afunnel-formed corolla, with a plaited 5-cleft border; thestamina inclined; the stigma capitate; the capsule 2-celled,and 2 to 4 valved.' A more general description of the plant is given by an Americanwriter:—'The tobacco plant is an annual growing from eighteen inches(dwarf tobacco) to seven or eight feet in height.

Itbears numerous leaves of a pale green color sessile, ovatelanceolate and pointed in form, which come out alternatelyfrom two to three inches apart. The flowers grow in loosepanicles at the extremity of the stalks, and the calyx isbell-shaped, and divided at its summit into five pointedsegments. The tube of the corolla expands at the top into anoblong cup terminating in a 5-lobed plaited rose-coloredborder. The pistil consists of an oval germ, a slender stylelonger than the stamen, and a cleft stigma. The flowers aresucceeded by capsules of 2 cells opening at the summit andcontaining numerous kidney-shaped seeds.' Two of the finest varieties of Nicotiana Tobacum that are cultivatedare the Oronoco and the Sweet Scented; they differ only in the form ofthe leaves, those of the latter variety being shorter and broader thanthe other.

They are annual herbaceous plants, rising with strong erectstems to the height of from six to nine feet, with fine handsomefoliage. The stalk near the root is often an inch or more in diameter,and (p. 019) surrounded by a hairy clammy substance, of a greenishyellow color. The leaves are of a light green; they grow alternately,at intervals of two or three inches on the stalk; they are oblong andspear-shaped; those lowest on the stalk are about twenty inches inlength, and they decrease as they ascend.The young leaves when about six inches, are of a deep green color andrather smooth, and as they approach maturity they become yellowish androugher on the surface. The flowers grow in clusters from theextremities of the stalk; they are yellow externally and of a delicatered within. They are succeeded by kidney shaped capsules of a browncolor.Thompson in his 'Notices relative to Tobacco' describes the tobaccoplant as follows:—. 'The species of Nicotiana which was first known, and whichstill furnishes the greatest supply of Tobacco, is the N.tobacum, an annual plant, a native of South America, butnaturalized to our climate.

It is a tall, not inelegantplant, rising to the height of about six feet, with astrong, round, villous, slightly viscid stem, furnished withalternate leaves, which are sessile, or clasp the stems; andare decurrent, lanceolate, entire; of a full green on theupper surface, and pale on the under.' In a vigorous plant, the lower leaves are about twentyinches in length, and from three to five in breadth,decreasing as they ascend. The inflorescence, or floweringpart of the stem, is terminal, loosely branching in thatform which botanists term a panicle, with long, linearfloral leaves or bractes at the origin of each division.' The flowers, which bloom in July and August, are of a palepink or rose color: the calyx, or flower-cup, isbell-shaped, obscurely pentangular, villous, slightlyviscid, and presenting at the margin five acute, erectsegments. The corolla is twice the length of the calyx,viscid, tubular below, swelling above into an oblong cup,and expanding at the lip into five somewhat plaited, pointedsegments; the seed vessel is an oblong or ovate capsule,containing numerous reniform seeds, which are ripe inSeptember and October; and if not collected, are shed by thecapsule opening at the apex.' In Stevens and Liebault's Maison Rustique, or the Country Farm,(London, 1606), is found the following curious account of the tobaccoplant:—.

020) 'This herbe resembleth in figure fashion, andqualities, the great comfrey in such sort as that a manwoulde deeme it to be a kinde of great comfrey, rather thana yellow henbane, as some have thought.' Tobacco StalksThe Tobacco stalk varies with the varieties of the plant. All of thespecies cultivated in the United States have stalks of a largesize—much larger than many varieties grown in (p. 022) the tropics.Those of some species of tobacco are little and easily broken, whichto a certain extent is the case with most varieties of the plant whenmaturing very fast. The stalks of some plants are rough and uneven,while those of others are smooth.

Nearly all, including most of thosegrown in Europe and America, have erect, round, hairy, viscid stalks,and large, fibrous roots; while that of Spanish as well as dwarftobacco is harder and much smaller. The stalk is composed of awood-like substance containing a glutinous pith, and is of about thesame shade of color as the leaves. As the plant develops in size thestalk hardens, and when fully grown is not easily broken.The size of the stalk corresponds with that of the leaves, and withsuch varieties of the plant as Connecticut seed leaf, Virginia,Kentucky, Ohio, St. Domingo, and some others; both will be found to belarger than Spanish, Latakia, and Syrian tobacco, which have a muchsmaller but harder stalk.

It will readily be seen that the stalk mustbe strong and firm in order to support the large palm-like leaveswhich on some varieties grow to a length of nearly four feet with acorresponding breadth. The stalk does not 'cure down' as fast as theleaves, which is thought now to be necessary in order to preventsweating, as well as to hasten the curing. Most of the varieties ofthe plant have an erect, straight stalk, excepting Syrian tobacco,which near the top describes more of a semi-circle, but not to thatextent of giving an idea of an entirely crooked plant. The stalkgradually tapers from the base to the summit, and when deprived of itsleaves presents a smooth appearance not unlike that of a small tree orshrub deprived of its twigs and leaves. THE LEAVES.The Plant bears from eight to twenty leaves according to (p. 023) thespecies of the plant.

They have various forms, ovate, lanceolate, andpointed. Leaves of a lanceolate form are the largest, and the shape ofthose found on most varieties of the American plant. The color of theleaves when growing, as well as after curing and sweating, varies, andis frequently caused by the condition of the soil. The color whilegrowing may be either a light or dark green, which changes to ayellowish cast as the plant matures and ripens.

The ground leaves areof a lighter color and ripen earlier than the rest—sometimes turningyellow, and during damp weather rotting and dropping from the stalk.Some varieties of the plant, like Latakia, bear small but thickleaves, which after cutting are very thin and fine in texture; whileothers, like Connecticut seed leaf and Havana, bear leaves of a mediumthickness, which are also fine and silky after curing. But while thecolor of the plant when growing is either a light or dark green, itrapidly changes during curing, and especially after passing throughthe sweat, changing to a light or dark cinnamon like Connecticut seedleaf, black like Holland and Perique tobacco, bright yellow of thefinest shade of Virginia and Carolina leaf, brown like Sumatra, ordark red like that known by the name of 'Boshibaghli,' grown in AsiaMinor. The leaves are covered with glandular hairs containing aglutinous substance of an unpleasant odor, which characterizes allvarieties as well as nearly all parts of the plant.The leaves of all varieties of tobacco grow the entire length of thestem and clasp the stalk, excepting those of Syrian, which areattached by a long stem. The size of the leaves, as well as the entireplant, is now much larger than when first discovered. One of the earlyvoyagers describes the plant as short and bearing leaves of about thesize and shape of the walnut.

In many varieties the leaves grow in asemi-circular form while in others they grow almost straight and stillothers growing erect presenting a singular appearance. The stem ormid-rib running through the leaf is large and fibrous and its numeroussmaller veins proportionally larger which on curing become smaller andparticularly in (p. 024) those kinds best adapted for cigar wrappers.The leaves from the base to the center of the plant are of about equalsize but are smaller as they reach the summit, but after toppingattain about the same size as the others. The color of the leaf aftercuring may be determined by the color of the leaf while growing—ifdark green while maturing in the field, the color will be dark aftercuring and sweating and the reverse if of a lighter shade of green. Tobacco Leaves.If the soil be dark the color of the leaf will be darker than if grownupon a light loam. Some varieties of the plant have leaves of a smoothglossy appearance while others are rough and the surface uneven—morelike a cabbage leaf, a peculiar feature of the tobacco of Syria. Thekind of fertilizers applied to the soil also in a measure as well asthe soil itself has much to do with the texture or body of the leafand should be duly considered by all growers of the plant.

A lightmoist loam should be chosen for the tobacco field if a leaf of lightcolor and texture is desired while if a dark leaf is preferred thesoil chosen should be a moist heavy loam. THE FLOWER.The flowers of the tobacco plant grow in a bunch or cluster on thesummit of the plant and are of a pink, yellow, or purple white coloraccording to the variety of the plant. On most varieties the color ofthe flowers is pink excepting Syrian or Latakia which bears yellowflowers while those of (p. 025) Shiraz or Persian and Guatemala arewhite while those of the Japan tobacco, are purple. The segments ofthe corolla are pointed but on some varieties unequal, particularlythat of Shiraz tobacco. The flowers impart a pleasant odor doubtlessto all lovers of the weed but to all others a compound of villainoussmells among which and above all the rest may be recognized an odorsuggestive of the leaves of the plant.

Bud and Flowers.When in full blossom a tobacco field forms a pleasant feature of alandscape which is greatly heightened if the plants are large and ofequal size. The pink flowers are the largest while those of a yellowcolor are the smallest. The plant comes into blossom a few weeksbefore fully ripe when with a portion of the stalk they are broken offto hasten the ripening and maturing of the leaves. After the budsappear they blossom in a few days and remain in full bloom two orthree weeks, when they perish like the blossoms of other plants andflowers. The flowers of Havana tobacco are of a lighter pink thanthose of Connecticut tobacco but are not as large—a trifle largerhowever than those of Latakia tobacco. Those varieties of the tobaccoplant bearing pink flowers are the finest flavored and are usedchiefly for the manufacture of cigars while those bearing yellowflowers are better adapted for cutting purposes and the pipe.The American varieties of tobacco bear a larger number of (p. 026)flowers than European tobaccos or those of Africa or Asia.

The colorof the flowers remain the same whether cultivated in one country oranother while the leaves may grow larger or smaller according to thesystem of cultivation adopted. Those varieties of the plant withheart-shaped leaves have paniculated flowers with unequal cups. Theflower stems on the American varieties are much longer than those ofEuropean tobaccos and also larger.

The season has much to do with thesize of the flowers; as if very dry they are usually smaller and notas numerous as if grown under more favorable circumstances. THE CAPSULE.As soon as the flowers drop from the fruit bud the capsules grow veryrapidly until they have attained full size—which occurs only in thoseplants which have been left for seed and remain untopped. When toppedthey are not usually full grown—as some growers top the plants whenjust coming into blossom, while others prefer to top the plants whenin full bloom and others still when the blossoms begin to fall. Thefruit is described by Wheeler'as a capsule of a nearly oval figure.There is a line on each side of it, and it contains two cells, andopens at the top. The receptacles one of a half-oval figure,punctuated and affixed to the separating body.

The seeds are numerous,kidney-shaped, and rugose.' Most growers of the plant would describe the fruit bud as follows: Inform resembling an acorn though more pointed at the top; in somespecies, of a dark brown in others of a light brown color, containingtwo cells filled with seeds similar in shape to the fruit bud, but notrugose as described by some botanists.

Some writers state that eachcell contains about one thousand seeds. The fruit buds of Connecticut,Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio Tobacco as well as of most of thevarieties grown within the limits of the United States are much largerthan those of Havana, Yara, Syrian, and numerous other species of theplant, while the color of these last named varieties is a lightershade of brown. The color (p. 027) of the seed also varies accordingto the varieties of the plant.

The seeds of some species are of a darkbrown while others are of a lighter shade. The seeds, however, are sosmall that the variety to which they belong cannot be determinedexcept by planting or sowing them. (Fruit Bud.)The plants selected for seed are usually left growing until late inthe season, and at night should be protected from the cold and frostby a light covering of some kind—this may not be absolutelynecessary, as most growers of tobacco have often noticed young plantsgrowing around the base or roots of the seed stalk—the seeds of whichgerminated although remaining in the ground during the winter. Strong,healthy plants generally produce large, well filled capsules the onlyones to be selected by the grower if large, fine plants are desired.Many growers of tobacco have doubtless examined the capsules of somespecies of the plant and frequently observed that the capsules orfruit buds are often scarcely more than half-filled while otherscontain but a few seeds.

The largest and finest capsules on the plantmature first, while the smaller ones grow much slower and arefrequently several weeks changing from green to brown. Many of thecapsules do not contain any seed at all. THE SUCKER.The offshoots or suckers as they are termed, make their appearance atthe junction of the leaves and stalk, about the roots of the plant,the result of that vigorous growth caused by topping. The suckers canhardly be seen until after the (p. 028) plant has been topped, whenthey come forward rapidly and in a short time develop into strong,vigorous shoots. Tatham describing the sucker says:'The sucker is a superfluous sprout which is wont to makeits appearance and shoot forth from the stem or stalk, nearto the junction of the leaves with the stems, and about theroot of the plant, and if allowed to grow, injuring themarketable quality of the tobacco by compelling a divisionof its nutriment during the act of maturation. The planteris therefore careful to destroy these intruders with thethumb nail, as in the act of topping.

This superfluity ofvegetation, like that of the top, has been often the subjectof legislative care; and the policy of supporting the goodname of the Virginia produce has dictated the wisdom ofpenal laws to maintain her good faith against impositionupon strangers who trade with her.' The ripening of the suckers not only proves injurious to the qualityof the leaf but retards their size and maturity and if allowed tocontinue, prevents them from attaining their largest possible growth. Nearly four hundred years have passed away since the tobacco plant andits use was introduced to the civilized world. It was in the month ofNovember, 1492, that the sailors of Columbus in exploring the islandof Cuba first noted the mode of using tobacco.

They found the Indianscarrying lighted firebrands (as they at first supposed) and puffed thesmoke inhaled from their mouths and nostrils.The Spaniards concluded that this was a method common with them ofperfuming themselves; but its frequent use soon taught them that itwas the dried leaves of a plant which they burned inhaling andexhaling the smoke. It attracted the attention of the Spaniards noless from its novelty than from the effect produced by the indulgence.The use of tobacco by the Indians was entirely new to the Spanishdiscoverers and when in 1503 they landed in various parts of SouthAmerica they found that both chewing and smoking the herb was a commoncustom with the natives.

But while the Indians and their habitsattracted the attention of the Spanish sailors Columbus was moredeeply interested in the great continent and the luxuriant tropicalgrowth to be seen on every hand. Columbus himself says of it:—'Everything invited me to settle here. The beauty of thestreams, the clearness of the water, through which I couldsee the sandy bottom; the multitude of palm-trees ofdifferent kinds, the tallest and finest I had ever seen; andan infinite number of other large and flourishing trees; the(p.

033) birds, and the verdure of the plains, are soamazingly beautiful, that this country excelles all othersas far as the day surpasses the night in splendor.' Lowe, gives the following account of the discovery of tobacco and itsuses:—'The discovery of this plant is supposed to have been madeby Fernando Cortez in Yucatan in the Gulf of Mexico, wherehe found it used universally, and held in a species ofveneration by the simple natives.

He made himself acquaintedwith the uses and supposed virtues of the plant and themanner of cultivating it, and sent plants to Spain, as partof the spoils and treasures of his new-found World.' Primitive Pipe.Oviedo is the first author who gives a clear account of smokingamong the Indians of Hispaniola. He alludes to it as one of theirevil customs and used by them to produce insensibility. Their mode ofusing it was by inhalation and expelling the smoke through thenostrils by means of a hollow forked cane or hollow reed. Oviedodescribes them as'about a span long; and when used the forked endsare inserted in the nostrils, the other end being applied to theburning leaves of the herb, using the herb in this manner stupefiedthem producing a kind of intoxication.' Of the early accounts of the plant and its use, Beckman a Germanwriter says:—'In 1496, Romanus Pane, a Spanish monk, whom Columbus, onhis second departure from America, had left in that country,published the first account of tobacco with which he becameacquainted in St. He gave it the name of CohobaCohobba, Gioia.

In 1535, the negroes had already habituatedthemselves to the use of tobacco, and cultivated it in theplantations of their masters. Europeans likewise alreadysmoked it.' An early writer thus alludes to the use of tobacco among the EastIndians:—(p. 034) 'The East Indians do use to make little balls ofthe juice of the hearbe tobaco and the ashes ofcockle-shells wrought up together, and dryed in the shadow,and in their travaile they place one of the balls betweentheir neather lip and their teeth, sucking the samecontinually, and letting down the moysture, and it keepeththem both from hunger and thirst for the space of three orfour days.' Oviedo says of the implements used by the Indians in smoking:—'The hollow cane used by them is called tobaco and that thatname is not given to the plant or to the stupor caused byits use.'

A writer alluding to the same subject says:—'The name tobacco is supposed to be derived from the Indiantobaccos, given by the Caribs to the pipe in which theysmoked the plant.' Others derive it from Tabasco, a province of Mexico; others from theisland of Tobago one of the Caribbees; and others from Tobasco in thegulf of Florida.Tomilson says:—'The word tobacco appears to have been applied by thecaribbees to the pipe in which they smoked the herb whilethe Spaniards distinguished the herb itself by that name.The more probable derivation of the word is from a placecalled Tobaco in Yucatan from which the herb was first sentto the New World.' Humboldt says concerning the name:—'The word Tobacco like maize, savannah, cacique, maguey(agave) and manato, belong to the ancient language of Hayti,or St. It did not properly denote the herb, but thetube through which the smoke was inhaled. It seemssurprising that a vegetable production so universally spreadshould have different names among neighboring people. Thepete-ma of the Omaguas is, no doubt, the pety of theGuaranos; but the analogy between the Cabre and Algonkin (orLenni-Lennope) words which denote tobacco may be merelyaccidental. The following are the synonymes in fivelanguages: Aztec or Mexican, yetl; Huron, oyngona;Peruvian, sayri; Brazil, piecelt; Moxo, sabare.'

Roman Pane who accompanied Columbus on his second voyage alludes toanother method of using the herb.They (p. 035) make a powder of theleaves, which 'they take through a cane half a cubit long; one end ofthis they place in the nose, and the other upon the powder, and sodraw it up, which purges them very much.'

This is doubtless the first account that we have of snuff-taking;Fairholt says concerning its use:—'Its effects upon the Indians in both instances seem to havebeen more violent and peculiar than upon Europeans since.' This may be accounted for from the fact of the imperfect method ofcuring tobacco adopted by them and all of the natives up to the periodof the settlement of Virginia by the English. As nearly all of theearly voyagers allude to the plant and especially to its use it wouldseem probable that it had been cultivated from time immemorial by allthe native people of the Orinoco; and at the period of the conquestthe habit of smoking was found to be alike spread over both North andSouth America.

Verification

The Tamanacs and the Maypures of Guiana wrap maizeleaves round their cigars as the Mexicans did at the time of thearrival of Cortez. The Spaniards since have substituted paper for theleaves of maize, in imitation of them.'

The poor Indians of the forests of the Orinoco know as wellas did the great nobles at the court of Montezuma, that thesmoke of tobacco is an excellent narcotic; and they use itnot only to procure their afternoon nap, but also to putthemselves in that state of quiescence which they calldreaming with the eyes open or day dreaming.' Native Smoking.Tobacco at this period was also rolled up in the leaves of the Palmand smoked. Columbus found the natives of San Salvador smoking afterthis manner. Lobel in his History of Plants gives an engraving(p. 036) of a native smoking one of these rolls or primitive cigarsand speaks of their general use by Captains of ships trading to theWest Indies.But not only was snuff taking and the use of tobacco rolls or cigarsnoted by European voyagers, but the use of the pipe also in some partsof America, seemed to be a common custom especially among the chiefs.Be Bry in his History of Brazil (1590) describes its use and also someinteresting particulars concerning the plant.

Their method of curingthe leaves was to air-dry them and then packing them until wanted foruse. In smoking he says:—'When the leaves are well dried they place in the open partof a pipe of which on burning, the smoke is inhaled into themouth by the more narrow part of the pipe, and so stronglythat it flows out of the mouth and nostrils, and by thatmeans effectually drives out humours.' Fairholt in alluding to the various uses of the herb among the Indianssays:—'We can thus trace to South America, at the period when theNew World was first discovered, every mode of using thetobacco plant which the Old World has indulged in eversince.' This statement is not entirely correct—the mode of using tobacco inNorway by plugging the nostrils with small pieces of tobacco seems tohave been unknown among the Indians of America as it is now with allother nationalities, excepting the Norwegians.When Cortez made conquest of Mexico in 1519 smoking seemed to be acommon as well as an ancient custom among the natives. Benzoni in hisHistory of the New World describing his travels in America gives adetailed account of the plant and their method of curing and using it.In both North and South America the use of tobacco seemed to beuniversal among all the tribes and beyond all question the custom ofusing the herb had its origin among them. The traditions of theIndians all confirm its ancient source; they considered the plant as agift from the Great Spirit for their (p. 037) comfort and enjoymentand one which the Great Spirit also indulged in, consequently withthem smoking partook of the character of a moral if not a religiousact.

The use of tobacco in sufficient quantities to produceintoxication seemed to be a favorite remedy for most diseases amongthem and was administered by their doctors or medicine-men in largequantities. Benzoni gives an engraving of their mode of inhaling thesmoke and says of its use:—'In La Espanola, when their doctors wanted to cure a sickman, they went to the place where they were to administerthe smoke, and when he was thoroughly intoxicated by it, thecure was mostly effected. On returning to his senses he tolda thousand stories of his having been at the council of thegods, and other high visions.' It can hardly be supposed that while the custom of using tobacco amongthe Indians in both North and South America was very general and themode of use the same, that the plant grown was of the same quality inone part as in another. While the rude culture of the natives wouldhardly tend to an improvement in quality; the climate being variedwould no doubt have much to do with the size and quality of the plant.This would seem the more probable for as soon as its cultivation beganin Virginia by the English colonists it had successful rivals in thetobacco of the West Indies and South America. Robertson says:—'Virginia tobacco was greatly inferior to that raised by theSpaniards in the West Indies and which sold for six times asmuch as Virginia tobacco.'

But not only has the name tobacco and the implements employed in itsuse caused much discussion but also the origin of the plant.Some writers affirm that it came from Asia and that it was first grownin China having been used by the Chinese long before the narcoticproperties of opium were known. Tatham in his work on Tobacco says ofits origin in substantial agreement with La Bott:—'It is generally understood that the tobacco plant of(p. 038) Virginia is a native production of the country;but whether it was found in a state of natural growth there,or a plant cultivated by the Indian natives, is a point ofwhich we are not informed, nor which ever can be fartherelucidated than by the corroboration of historical facts andconjectures. I have been thirty years ago, and the greatestpart of my time during that period, intimately acquaintedwith the interior parts of America; and have been much inthe unsettled parts of the country, among those kinds ofsoil which are favorable to the cultivation of tobacco; butI do not recollect one single instance where I have met withtobacco growing wild in the woods, although I have oftenfound a few spontaneous plants about the arable and troddengrounds of deserted habitations. This circumstance, as wellas that of its being now, and having been, cultivated by thenatives at the period of European discoveries, inclinestowards a supposition that this plant is not a native ofNorth America, but may possibly have found its way thitherwith the earliest migrations from some distant land. Thismight, indeed, have easily been the case from South America,by way of the Isthmus of Panama; and the foundation of theChoctaw and Chickasaw nations (who we have reasons toconsider as descendants from the Tloseolians, and to havemigrated to the eastward of the river Mississippi, about thetime of the Spanish conquest of Mexico by Cortez), seems tohave afforded one fair opportunity for its dissemination.'

Better Buying

The first knowledge which the English discoverers had of the plant wasin 1565 when they found it growing in Florida, one hundred andseventy-three years after it was first discovered by Columbus on theisland of Cuba. Sir John Hawkins says of its use in Florida:—'The Floridians, when they travel, have a kind of herbdried, which with a cane and an earthen cup in the end, withfire and the dried herbs put together, do suke through thecane the smoke thereof, which smoke satisfieth their hunger,and therewith they live four or five dayes without meat ordrinke, and this all the Frenchmen used for this purpose:yet do they holde opinion withall, that it causeth water andsteame to void from their stomacks.'

This preparation might not have been tobacco as the Indians smoke akind of bark which they scrape from the killiconick, an aromaticshrub, in form resembling the willow; (p. 039) they use also apreparation made with this and sumach leaves, or sometimes with thelatter mixed with tobacco. Lionel Wafer in his travels upon theIsthmus of Darien in 1699 saw the plant growing and cultivated by thenatives. He says:—'These Indians have tobacco amongst them. It grows as thetobacco in Virginia, but is not so strong, perhaps for wantof transplanting and manuring, which the Indians do not wellunderstand, for they only raise it from the seed in theirplantations. When it is dried and cured they strip it fromthe stalks, and laying two or three leaves upon one another,they roll up all together sideways into a long roll, yetleaving a little hollow.

Round this they roll other leavesone after another, in the same manner, but close and hard,till the roll be as big as one's wrist, and two or threefeet in length. Their way of smoking when they are incompany is thus: a boy lights one end of a roll and burns itto a coal, wetting the part next it to keep it from wastingtoo fast. The end so lighted he puts into his mouth, andblows the smoke through the whole length of the roll intothe face of every one of the company or council, thoughthere be two or three hundred of them. Then they, sitting intheir usual posture upon forms, make with their hands heldtogether a kind of funnel round their mouths and noses. Intothis they receive the smoke as it is blown upon them,snuffing it up greedily and strongly as long as ever theyare able to hold their breath, and seeming to blessthemselves, as it were, with the refreshment it gives them.'

In the year 1534 James Cartier a Frenchman was commissioned to explorethe coast of North America, with a view to find a place for a colony.He observed that the natives of Canada used the leaves of an herbwhich they preserved in pouches made of skins and smoked in stonepipes. It being offensive to the French, they took none of it withthem on their return. But writing more particularly concerning theplant he says:—'In Hochelaga, up the river in Canada there groweth acertain kind of herb whereof in Summer they make a greatprovision for all the year, making great account of it, andonly men use of it, and first they cause it to be dried inthe Sune, then wear it about their necks wrapped in a littlebeast's skine made like a bagge, with a hollow piece ofstone (p.

040) or wood like a pipe, then when they pleasethey make powder of it, and then put it in one of the endsof the said Cornet or pipe, and laying a cole of fire uponit, at the other end and suck so long, that they fill theirbodides full of smoke, till that it commeth out of theirmouth and nostrils, even as out of the Tonnel of a chimney.They say that this doth keepe them warme and in health, theynever goe without some of this about them.' Be Bry in his History of Brazil 1590 gives an engraving of a nativesmoking a pipe and a female offering him a handful of tobacco leaves.The pipe has a modern look and is altogether unlike those found by theEnglish in use among the Indians in Virginia. 'There is an herb which is sowed apart by itselfe, and is(p. 043) called by the inhabitants uppowoc. In the WestIndies it hath divers names, according to the severallplaces and countries where it groweth and is used; theSpaniards generally call it Tobacco. The leaves thereofbeing dried and brought into powder, they use to take thefume or smoke thereof by sucking it through pipes made ofclay into their stomacke and heade, from whence it purgethsuperfluous fleame and other grosse humors; openeth all thepores and passages of the body; by which means the usethereof not only preserveth the body from obstructions, butalso if any be so that they have not beene of too longcontinuance, in short time breaketh them; whereby theirbodies are notably preserved in health, and know not manygrievous diseases wherewithall we in England are oftentimesaffected.

This uppowoc is of so precious estimation amongestthem that they thinke their gods are marvellously delightedtherewith; whereupon sometime they make halowed fires, andcast some of the powder therein for a sacrifise. Being in astorme uppon the waters, to pacifie their gods, they castsome up into the aire and into the water: so a weave forfish being newly set up, they cast some therein and into theaire; also after an escape of danger they cast some into theaire likewise; but all done with strange gestures, stamping,sometimes dancing, clapping of hands, holding up of hands,and staring up into the heavens, uttering there withal andchattering strange wordes, and noises.' We ourselves during the time we were there used to suck itafter their manner, as also since our returne, and havefound many rare and wonderful experiments of the virtuesthereof; of which the relation would require a volume ofitselfe; the use of it by so manie of late, men and women,of great calling as else, and some learned phisitions alsois sufficient witnes.'

The natives also when Drake landed in Virginia, 'brought a littlebasket made of rushes, and filled with an herbe which they calledTobah;' they 'came also the second time to us bringing with them asbefore had been done, feathers and bags of Tobah for presents, orrather indeed for sacrifices, upon this persuasion that we were gods.' William Strachey says of tobacco and its cultivation by theIndians:(p. The Contrast.It would seem then, if the account given by Strachey be correct, thatthe tobacco cultivated by the Indians of North America was of inferiorgrowth and quality to that grown in many portions of South America,and more particularly in the West India islands. As there are stillmany varieties of the plant grown in America, so there doubtless waswhen cultivated by the Indians. While most probably the quality ofleaf remained the same from generation to generation, still in someportions of America, owing more to the soil and climate than the modeof cultivating by them, they cured very good tobacco.

We can readilysee how this might have been, from numerous experiments made with bothAmerican and European varieties. Nearly all of the early Spanish,French and English voyagers who landed in America were attracted bythe beauty of the country. Ponce De Leon, who sailed from Spain to theFloridas, was charmed by the plants and flowers, and doubtless thefirst sight of them strengthened his belief in the existence somewherein this tropical region of the fountain of youth.The discovery of tobacco proved of the greatest advantage (p. 045) tothe nations who fostered its growth,—and increased the commerce ofboth England and Spain, doing much to make the latter what it oncewas, one of the most powerful nations of Europe and possessor of thelargest and richest colonies, while it greatly helped the former,already unsurpassed in intelligence and civilization, to reach itspresent position at the commercial head of the nations of the world.As Spain, however, has fallen from the high place she once held, hercolonial system has also gone down.

And while England, thanks to hermore liberal policy, still retains a large share of the territorywhich she possessed at first, Spain, which once held sway over a vastportion of America, has been deprived of nearly all of her colonies,and ere long may lose control of the island on which the discoverer ofAmerica first saw the plant.It is an historical fact that wherever in the English and Spanishcolonies civilization has taken the deepest root, so has also theplant which has become as famous as any of the great tropical productsof the earth. The relation existing between the balmy plant and thecommerce of the world is of the strongest kind.

Fairholt has wellsaid, that 'the revenue brought to our present Sovereign Lady fromthis source alone is greater than that Queen Elizabeth received fromthe entire customs of the country.' The narrow view of commercial policy held by her successors, theStuarts, induced them to hamper the colonists of America withrestrictions; because they were alarmed lest the ground should beentirely devoted to tobacco. Had not this Indian plant beendiscovered, the whole history of some portions of America would havebeen far different. In the West Indies three great products—Coffee,Sugar-Cane, and Tobacco,—have proved sources of the greatestwealth—and wherever introduced, have developed to a great extent theresources of the islands.

Thus it may be seen that while the Spaniardsby the discovery and colonization (p. 046) of large portions ofAmerica strengthened the currency of the world, the English alike, bythe cultivation of the plant, gave an impetus to commerce still feltand continued throughout all parts of the globe.An English writer has truthfully observed that 'Tobacco islike Elias' cloud, which was no bigger than a man's hand,that hath suddenly covered the face of the earth; the lowcountries, Germany, Poland, Arabia, Persia, Turkey, almostall countries, drive a trade of it; and there is nocommodity that hath advanced so many from small fortunes togain great estates in the world.

Sailors will be suppliedwith it for their long voyages. Soldiers cannot (but) wantit when they keep guard all night, or upon other hard dutiesin cold and tempestuous weather. Farmers, ploughmen, andalmost all labouring men, plead for it.

If we reflect uponour forefathers, and that within the time of less than onehundred years, before the use of tobacco came to be knownamongst us, we cannot but wonder how they did to subsistwithout it; for were the planting or traffick of tobacco nowhindered, millions of this nation in all probability mustperish for the want of food, their whole livelihood almostdepending upon it.' When first discovered in America, and particularly by the English inVirginia, the plant was cultivated only by the females of the tribes,the chiefs and warriors engaging only in the chase or following thewarpath.

They cultivated a few plants around their wigwams, and cureda few pounds for their own use. The smoke, as it ascended from theirpipes and circled around their rude huts and out into the air, seemedtypical of the race—the original cultivators and smokers of theplant. But, unlike the great herb which they cherished and gave tocivilization, they have gradually grown weak in numbers and fadedaway, while the great plant has gone on its way, ever assuming moreand more sway over the commercial and social world, until it now takeshigh rank among the leading elements of mercantile and agriculturalgreatness.

047) CHAPTER III. TOBACCO IN AMERICA. We do not find in any accounts of the English voyagers made previousto 1584, any mention of the discovery of tobacco, or its use among theIndians. This may appear a little strange, as Captains Amidas andBarlow, who sailed from England under the auspices of Sir WalterRaleigh in 1584, on returning from Virginia, had brought home withthem pearls and tobacco among other curiosities.

But while we have noaccount of those who returned from the voyage made in 1602 taking anytobacco with them, it is altogether probable that those who remainedtook a lively interest in the plant and the Indian mode of use; for wefind that in nine years after they landed at Jamestown tobacco hadbecome quite an article of culture and commerce.Hamo in alluding to the early cultivation of tobacco by the colony,says, that John Rolfe was the pioneer tobacco planter. In his words:'I may not forget the gentleman worthie of muchcommendations, which first took the pains to make triallthereof, his name Mr.

John Rolfe, Anno Domini 1612, partlyfor the love he hath a long time borne unto it, and partlyto raise commodities to the adventurers, in whose behalfe Iintercede and vouchsafe to hold my testimony in beleefe thatduring the time of his aboade there, which draweth neeresixe years (p. 048) no man hath laboured to his powerthere, and worthy incouragement unto England, by his lettersthan he hath done, witness his marriage with Powhatan'sdaughter one of rude education, manners barbarous, andcursed generation merely for the good and honor of theplantation.' John Rolfe.The first general planting of tobacco by the colony began according tothis writer—'at West and Sherley Hundred (seated on the north side ofthe river, lower than the Bermudas three or four myles) where aretwenty-five commanded by capten Maddeson—who are imployed onely inplanting and curing tobacco.' This was in 1616, when the colony numbered only three hundred andfifty-one persons. Rolfe, in his relation of the state of Virginia,written and addressed to the King, gives the following description ofthe condition of the colony in 1616.

049) 'Now that your highness may with the more easeunderstand in what condition the colony standeth, I havebriefly sett downe the manner of all men's severalimployments, the number of them, and the several places oftheir aboad, which places or seates are all our owne ground,not so much by conquest, which the Indians hold a just andlawfull title, but purchased of them freely, and they veriewillingly selling it. The places which are now possessed andinhabited are sixe:—Henrico and the lymitts, Bermuda Netherhundred, West and Sherley hundred, James Towne, Kequoughtan,and Dales-Gift. The generall mayne body of the planters aredivided into Officers, Laborers, Farmors.' The officers have the charge and care as well over thefarmors as laborers generallie—that they watch and ward fortheir preservacions; and that both the one and the other'sbusines may be daily followed to the performance of thoseimployments, which from the one are required, and the otherby covenant are bound unto. These officers are bound tomaintayne themselves and families with food and rayment bytheir owne and their servant's industrie. The laborers areof two sorts. Some employed onely in the generall works, whoare fedd and clothed out of the store—others, speciallyartificers as smiths, carpenters, shoemakers, taylors,tanners, &c., doe worke in their professions for the colony,and maintayne themselves with food and apparrell, havingtime lymitted them to till and manure their ground.'

The farmors live at most ease—yet by their good endeavorsbring yearlie much plentie to the plantation. They are boundby covenant, both for themselves and servants, to maintaineyour Ma'ties right and title in that kingdom, against allforeigne and domestique enemies. To watch and ward in thetownes where they are resident. To do thirty-one dayesservice for the colony, when they shalbe calledthereunto—yet not at all tymes, but when their owne businescan best spare them. To maintayne themselves and familieswith food and rayment—and every farmor to pay yearlie intothe magazine for himself and every man servant, two barrellsand a halfe of English measure.' Thus briefly have I sett downe every man's particularimployment and manner of living; albeit, lest thepeople—who generallie are bent to covett after gaine,especially having tasted of the sweete of theirlabors—should spend too much of their tyme and labor inplanting tobacco, known to them to be verie vendible inEngland, and so neglect their tillage of corne, and fallinto want thereof, it is provided for—by (p. 'Tobacco and Indian Corne are planted in hills as hops, andsecured by worm fences, which are made of rails supportingone another very firmly in a particular manner.

Tobaccorequires a great deal of skill and trouble in the rightmanagement of it. They raise the plants in beds, as we doCabbage plants; which they transplant and replant uponoccasion after a shower of rain, which they call a season.When it is grown up they top it, or nip off the head,succour (p.