Tobacco: Its History, Varieties, Culture and Manufacture

Chapter XIV The Production, Commerce and Manufacture of Tobacco

Few comparatively of the users or even of the growers and manufacturers of tobacco, are aware of the vast amount cultivated, manufactured and used. Many suppose that its cultivation is confined to the United States and a few of the West India Islands, having no idea of the large quantities grown in Europe, Asia and Africa and the islands of the East India Archipelago. The Spaniards first began the cultivation of the plant on the Island of St. Domingo, afterwards extending it to Trinidad, the coast of South America, Mexico and the Philippine Islands. In Portugal the cultivation commenced about 1575-80, and continued some years. The Dutch a little later, began the production of tobacco in the East Indies, and in connection with the Spaniards and Portuguese were the only cultivators of tobacco until the English commenced its growth in Virginia in 1616.

The first production in St. Domingo by the Spaniards was sometime previous to 1535, and the island has continued to produce the great staple until now. In Trinidad, however, a finer article was yielded, and its cultivation became more general here until the Spaniards began to plant it in Cuba in 1580. From the West Indies, South America and the East Indies, Europe raised its supply of tobacco until the English colonists commenced its cultivation in Virginia. The Spaniards and Portuguese at first controlled the trade in tobacco, and extorted most fabulous prices for it. As soon, however, as the Dutch and English began to cultivate it and receive it from their colonies the price gradually fell while the demand and consumption for it increased in proportion to the falling off of prices. From the island of Trinidad, Europe received its finest tobacco, and it continued to maintain its reputation as such until that variety known as Varinas tobacco from South America appeared; this variety attracted the attention of European buyers and consumers, from its superiority in flavor and appearance which it has maintained for more than two hundred and fifty years.

In South America, the cultivation of tobacco took its rise in Venezuela, Brazil and Colombia. The varieties there produced had acquired an established reputation as early as 1600, together with St. Lucia, Philippine and Margarita tobaccos. Early in the Seventeenth Century, the Dutch became the great producers and importers into Europe, and the growths of their colonies continued to furnish a large proportion of the quantity used until English colonial tobacco made its appearance from Virginia.

The Plymouth and London companies from its first appearance in their markets, saw its vast importance as an article of agriculture and commerce, and in twenty years after the first planting of it, began to reap rich returns from its sale and production. From this time forward, not only in America, but in Europe and Asia, its cultivation spread among other nations until at length it has become one of the great sources of revenue of almost every country, and a leading product of nearly every clime. The islands of St. Domingo, Trinidad, St. Lucia and Martinique, do not produce as large quantities of tobacco as formerly; its cultivation in the West Indies being now confined chiefly to the island of Cuba.

This island produces at the present time the finest cigar leaf of the West Indies, which is considered by many as the best grown. The value of the annual product of Cuba is estimated at $20,000,000, nearly as much as that of the entire United States. Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, and Paraguay, which are the tobacco-producing countries of South America, furnish Europe with a large amount of leaf tobacco. In Brazil according to Scully it “occupies the fourth place in the exports” and is extensively cultivated in various parts of the empire. In Venezuela it is an important article of agriculture, and the product is of fine quality and in good repute in Europe. Colombia has long been noted for the amount and excellence of its tobacco; its various growths are fine in all respects and are among the finest cigar tobaccos grown. In Paraguay large quantities of excellent cigar tobacco are raised, much of which is used in various parts of South America, the remainder going to Europe.

All of the tobacco of South America is unrivaled in flavor and is well adapted for the manufacture of cigars. In Mexico, tobacco is raised to some extent, particularly in the Gulf States, where it develops remarkably and is of excellent quality both in texture and flavor. Mexico is doubtless as well adapted for tobacco as any country in the world, and if certain restrictions83 were removed, its culture would increase and the demand would cause its extensive production. In the Central American States, some tobacco is cultivated, but not to the extent that is warranted by the demand or the adaptation of the soil. Some parts of the States, especially of Honduras, are well adapted for the production of the very finest leaf. As it is but little is grown; hardly any being exported to Europe. America is the native home of the tobacco plant, and in the United States vast quantities are produced of all qualities and suited for all purposes.

In New England from 20,000 to 30,000 acres are cultivated annually, estimated to yield on an average from 1500 to 1700 pounds to the acre. The annual product in cases is from 50,000 to 170,000.84 Of the Middle States, New York and Pennsylvania furnish a large amount of “seed leaf” as it is called. In 1872 the latter state reported 38,010 cases, mostly grown in three counties. A fine quality of tobacco is raised in the immediate vicinity of the old William Penn mansion, and is known to all dealers as superior leaf. In New York the crop is usually good, and along the valleys are found some excellent lands for its culture.

As we go South, we reach the great tobacco-growing states, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, and others. Maryland has long been noted for its tobacco, and annually exports thousands of hogsheads to European markets. Virginia, as we have seen, is the oldest tobacco-producing state in the Union, and still continues to raise thousands of acres of the “weed” for home use and for export. In 1622, six years after its cultivation began, she produced 60,000 pounds of leaf tobacco. North Carolina also raises a fine article of smoking tobacco—of fine color and superior flavor. This state has long been noted for its superior leaf tobacco, and ever since the first settlement of the state has produced large quantities of it. In 1753 100 hogsheads were exported, the number constantly increasing until the present. In Georgia some tobacco is grown. Havana tobacco was first cultivated in this state by Col. McIntosh, and succeeded finely in some of the counties along the coast.

In Florida, Havana tobacco is cultivated altogether. It differs somewhat in flavor, however, so that it is called Florida tobacco, not because it is grown in that state, but because it is a little bitter, unlike that grown in Cuba. Kentucky is the great tobacco-producing state of the Union. Two-fifths of the entire amount grown in the country comes from this state. In 1871 nearly 150,000 acres were devoted to it in the state—producing 103,500,000 pounds of leaf tobacco. In Ohio and Missouri large quantities of tobacco are grown, the former state furnishing both cutting and seed leaf tobaccos. The other Western states including Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin, are engaged largely in its production, and furnish a good article of leaf.

California for the last few years has given the culture of tobacco some attention, and promises to become a great tobacco-producing state. The United States have cultivated in some seasons 350,769 acres of tobacco, valued at $25,901,769. The average yield per acre is greater in Connecticut than in any other state, being 1,700 pounds, while the smallest yield is in Georgia, 350 pounds. The average price per pound in Connecticut is 25 cts; in Kentucky 7 7-10 cts; in Georgia 21 4-10 cts; in Ohio 9 1-10 cts; and in Pennsylvania 15 2-10 cts. In 1855 there was exported from this country 150,213 hogsheads and 13,366 cases of tobacco.

In Europe large quantities of tobacco are grown, excepting in England, Spain, and Portugal, where its culture is prohibited by law to benefit the colonial growers of the plant. Austria is the great tobacco-producing country of Europe, and yields an annual product of 45,000,000 pounds of tobacco; the leaf is of good quality, and is used for cigars. France also raises about 30,000,000 pounds of tobacco besides importing large quantities from the United States. In Russia the annual tobacco crop is about 25,000,000 pounds. In Holland about as much tobacco is grown as in the state of Connecticut—6,000,000 pounds and the product is adapted for both cigar and snuff-leaf. Large quantities of tobacco are also imported, from 30,000,000 to 35,000,000 pounds. The tobacco factories in the country are stated to give employment to one million operatives. Belgium produces considerable tobacco, about 3,000,000 pounds annually. Switzerland also raises from 1,000,000 to 1,200,000 pounds of leaf. In Greece tobacco is an important product and the quality 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 imperfect and sometimes wholly interrupted; where large tracts of territory are in the possession of tribes unsubdued or in a state of imperfect subjection; where even among the more civilized Indians the rights of property are rudely defied, and civil authority imperfectly maintained; where smuggling, though it may be attended with some risk, is scarcely deemed by any body an offense, and the very highest functionaries themselves smoke and offer to their guests contraband cigars on account of their superior quality,—it may well be supposed that lax laws, lax morals and lax practices, harmonize with each other, and that such a state of things as exists in the Philippines must be the necessary, the inevitable result.

“I am informed by the alcalde mayor of Cayayan that he sent in 1858 to Manilla from that province tobacco for no less a value than 2,000,000 dollars. The quality is the best of the Philippines; it is all forwarded in leaf to the capital. The tobacco used by the natives is not subject to the estanco, and on my inquiring as to the cost of a cigar in Cagayan, the answer was ‘Casinada’ (Almost nothing). They are not so well rolled as those of the government, but undoubtedly the raw material is of the very best.”

In Sumatra some of the finest tobacco in the world is produced which has an established reputation in European markets.

In Africa tobacco is grown to some extent in Egypt, Algiers and Tripoli as well as by the natives of Central and South, Western Africa. The French have paid particular attention to its culture in Algiers and have succeeded in producing tobacco of good flavor and texture. In Australia the plant does remarkably well and promises to become as celebrated as that of other portions or islands of the East India Archipelago.

It readily appears from the extensive cultivation of tobacco that it can hardly fail of becoming an important article of commerce. The Spaniards and Portuguese found it to be an important source of revenue, and from South America and the West Indies exported large quantities to Europe. As soon as it began to be cultivated in Virginia its commercial value began to be apparent and attracted many navigators who came thither to barter for tobacco and furs, and other articles of inferior value. Most of the tobacco exported from the United States is shipped to Europe and from there is reshipped to Asia and Africa. Of foreign tobacco but little finds its way to this country, the duties85 preventing many varieties of excellent quality competing with our domestic tobacco. Cuba, St. Domingo and Manilla tobacco are the only varieties that are imported from other countries. West India tobacco, more particularly that of Cuba—is shipped to all parts of the world, especially to Spain, Great Britain, Russia, France and the United States.

The tobacco of South America is exported almost entirely to Europe. England receives a large quantity of South American tobacco as well as Spain and Portugal. The varieties cultivated in Asia and Africa for export are shipped mostly to Europe. Great Britain, Spain, France and Germany are the great tobacco-consuming countries of the world, or at least of Europe. In Great Britain, Spain and Portugal, no tobacco is cultivated, and these countries are therefore dependent upon their colonies for a supply of the great product. The commerce in the plant is extensive and reaches to every part of the globe. No nation, state, or empire now ignores the revenue to be derived from its import or culture, and many a government receives more from this plant alone than from any other source.

While some nations prohibit its culture at home, their colonies are allowed to grow it, and thus the article and the revenue are both secured. But while the production of the plant and the commerce depending on it are extensive, they are not more so than the manufacture of the leaf into the various preparations for use. The government work-shops of Seville and Manilla, as well as those of Havana and Paris are of enormous proportions and employ thousands of operatives in the manufacture of cigars and cigarettes. In this country and in England, large quantities of cigars are made both from domestic and foreign tobaccos.

In South America also many are made, but more for home use than for export. Cutting leaf is largely manufactured in this country, especially near the great leaf growing sections. Most of this is used here, the leaf for manufacture abroad being exported in hogsheads for cutting in any form desired. Snuff leaf is exported largely from this country to Great Britain and France, where are the largest manufacturers of snuff in the world. At the present time the demand seems greater for cutting than for cigar leaf. The growths of the West Indies and South America furnish a large quantity of fine tobacco for cigars, but comparatively little for cutting purposes. European tobaccos are adapted for both cutting and for cigars, and are used extensively at home though not considered equal to American varieties, being of a milder flavor. As an article of production and commerce, tobacco must be considered as important as any of the great products or staples, since the demand is constant and continually increasing. Year by year its cultivation extends into new sections, where it becomes a permanent production if the soil and climate prove congenial. From time to time new varieties become known, and are cultivated in various countries with success varying according to the soil and climate and the knowledge of the planter. Nowhere is the plant receiving more attention both in its cultivation and manufacture, than in this country. The varieties grown in the tropics have been tested with more or less success, and bid fair ere long to become the leading kinds in some sections. But not alone in this country is the plant attracting the attention of the great commercial nations. In Europe and Asia as well as in Africa, its production is assuming the large proportions due to its vast importance to Agriculture and Commerce.

Footnote 44: Elizabeth during her reign, published an edict against its use, assigning as a reason, that her subjects, by employing the same luxuries as barbarians, were likely to degenerate into barbarism.

“From the first introduction of the weed, the votaries of the pipe have enjoyed all the blessings of persecution. Kings have punished, priests have anathematized, satirists satirized and women scolded; but still the weed, with its divers shapes and different names, reigns supreme among narcotics in every region of the globe.”—Emerson’s Magazine.[Back to Main Text]

Footnote 56: Dr. John Hill in his tract “Cautions against the immoderate use of snuff” gives the following definition of it. “The dried leaves of tobacco, rasped, beaten, or otherwise reduced to powder, make what we call snuff.” This tract was published in 1761. The author, afterwards Sir John Hill, was equally celebrated as a physician and a writer of farces, as denoted by the following epigram by Garrick:

“For physic and farces his equal there scarce is;
His farces are physic, his physic a farce is.”[Back to Main Text]

Footnote 59: The Rev. S. Wesley speaking of the abuses of tobacco, intimates that the human ear, will not long, remain exempted from its affliction.

“To such a height with some is fashion grown
They feed they very nostrils with a spoon.
One, and but one degree is wanting yet,
To make their senseless luxury complete;
Some choice regale, useless as snuff and dear,
To feed the mazy windings of the ear.”[Back to Main Text]

Notes

1 The greater number of the species are annual plants; but two at least are perennial; the Nicotiana fruticosa, which is a shrub, a native of the Cape of Good Hope, and of China; and N. urens, a native of South America.

2 Tatham says that the tobacco plant is peculiarly adapted for an agricultural comparison of climates.

3 An old English writer in describing tobacco says:—“When at its just height, it is as tall as an ordinary sized man.”

4 Historia General de los Indios 1526.

5 St. Domingo.

6 History of Plants, 1576.

7 From 1541 to 1556.

8 West India tobacco sold for 18 shillings per pound and Virginia for 3 s.

9 Arnold in his History of Rhode Island refers to the planting of tobacco by the Indians when the State was first settled. Elliot also says in his History of the same State:—“Tobacco was universal, every man carrying his pipe and bag; and in its cultivation only, did the men condescend to labor; but occasionally all would join, the whole neighborhood, men, women, and children, when some one’s field was to be broken up, and they made a loving, sociable, speedy time of it.”

10 Trinidad tobacco was then considered the finest.

11 A brief and true Report of the New Found Land of Virginia (London, 1588).

12 The World Encompassed. London, 1628.

13 “The Historie of Travaile into Virginia Britannica.”

14 “Spain has doubtless conquered more of the Earth’s surface than any other modern nation; and her peculiar national character has also caused her to make the worst use of them. It was always easier for the Moor to conquer than to make a good use of his conquests; and so it has always been with Spain.”

15 Another account is sixty pounds per head.

16 Essay on Tobacco, London, 1800.

17 Jacob van Churler and David Provoost were appointed inspectors of the new staple tobacco. “In 1652 the commonalty at Manhattan was informed that, to show their good intentions, the Amsterdam directors had determined to take off the export duty of tobacco.”

18 In 1783 Mr. Wm. Dunbar writes: “The soil of Natchez is particularly favorable for tobacco and there are overseers there, who will almost engage to produce you between two and three hogsheads to the hand besides provisions.”

19 “Every farmer plants a quantity of tobacco near his house in proportion to the size of his family. It is likewise very necessary that they should plant tobacco, because it is so universally smoked by the common people,”—Kalm’s travels in North America, 1772.

20 Mussey in his Essay on Tobacco records “That Cortez sent a specimen of the plant to the king of Spain in 1519.” Yucatan was discovered by Hernandez Cordova in 1517, and in 1519 was first settled.

21 Spain began its culture in Mexico on the coast of Caracas at the islands of St. Domingo and Trinidad, and particularly in Louisiana.

22 Pourchat declares that the Portuguese brought it into Europe from Tobago, an island in the West Indies; but this is hardly probable, as the island was never under the Portuguese dominion.

23 Monardes wrote upon it only from the small account he had of it from the Brazilians.

24 Parkinson in his Herball [London, 1640] says:—“It is thought by some that John Nicot, this Frenchman, being agent in Portugall for the French King, sent this sort of tobacco [Brazil] and not any other to the French Queene, and is called therefore herba Regina, and from Nicotiana, which is probably because the Portugalis and not the Spaniards were masters of Brazile at that time.”

25 “Sir John Nicot sent some seeds of it into France, to King Francis II., the Queen Mother, and Lord Jarnac, Governor of Rochel, and several others of the French Lords.”

26 “The Abbe Jacques Gohory, the author of the first book written on tobacao, proposed to call it Catherinaine or Medicee, to record the name of Medicis and the medicinal virtues of the plant; but the name of Nicot superseded these, and botanists have perpetuated it in the genus Nicotiana.”—Le Maout and Decaisne.

27 London 1606.

28 George Buchanan, the Scotch Philosopher and poet tutor of James I., had a strong aversion to Catherine of Medicis, and in one of his Latin epigrams, alludes to the herb being called Medicie, advising all who valued their health to shun it, not so much from its being naturally hurtful, but that it needs must become poisonous if called by so hateful a name.

29 The Pied Bull Inn, at Islington, was the first house in England where tobacco was smoked, while Moll Cut-Purse, a noted pickpocket who flourished in the time of Charles II., is said to have been the first Englishwoman who smoked tobacco.

30 “It was introduced, about 1520, into Portugal and Spain by Doctor Hernandez of Toledo; into Italy by Thornabon and the Cardinal de Sainte-Croif, into England by Captain Drake and into France by Andre Theret, a gray friar.”—Le Maout and Decaisne’s General System of Botany (Paris 1868).

31 Short says of its introduction into England: “Sir Walter Raleigh’s Marriners, under Mr. Ralph Lane, his Agent in Virginia first brought this Commodity into England Anno 1584; and that famous Proprietor of this Plantation foresaw good reasons to introduce the use of it, however King James might afterwards, through his own personal Distaste both of it and, him, wrote his Counterblast against it; a work surely consistent with the Pen of no Prince, but one of his Politicks.”

32 James the First also inclines to this belief, declaring tobacco to be “a common herb which (though under divers names) grows almost everywhere.”

33 A writer in the “New England Magazine” says in a different strain: “This is the enemy that men put in their mouths, to steal away their health. This has filled the camp, the court, the grove. It is found in the pulpit, the senate, the bar and the boudoir.”

34 Thorpe, in his “History and Mystery of Tobacco,” relates the following anecdote: “Tradition says, that in the time of Queen Elizabeth Sir Walter Raleigh used to sit at his door with Sir Hugh Middleton and smoke.”

35 Dr. Thomas Short, in his work “Discourses on Tea, Tobacco, Punch, &c,” (London 1750,) says of the original smoker: “Sir Walter was the first that brought the Custom of smoking it into Britain, upon his return from America; for he saw the natives of Florida, Brazil and other places of the Indies, smoak it thus, they hung about their Necks little Pipes or Horns made of the Leaves of the Date Tree, or of Reeds or Rushes; and at the ends of them they put several dry Tobacco Leaves twisted and broken, and set the ends of them on fire, and sucked in as much of the smoak as they could.”

36 So common was the indulgence that in 1600, only seventeen years after Sir Francis Drake returned from America, and set the example of using tobacco, the French Embassador writes in his dispatches to Paris, that the peers, while engaged in the trials of Essex and Southampton, deliberated upon their verdicts with pipes in their mouths!

37 Savary says that tobacco has been known among the Persians for upwards of 400 years, and supposes that they received it from Egypt, and not from the East Indies.

38 Neander, in his work on “Tobacologia” (London, 1622), mentions eighteen varieties of tobacco, or at least localities from where it was shipped to London, among which are the following: Varinas (considered the best), Brazil, Maracay, Orinoco, Margarita, Caracas, Cumana, Amazon, Virginia, Philippines, St. Lucia, Trinidad, and St. Domingo.

39 “The first author (says an English writer) who wrote of this Plant was Charles Stephanus, in 1564. This was a mean, short, inaccurate Draught, till Dr. John Liebault wrote a whole Discourse of it next year, and put it into his second Book of Husbandry, which was every year reprinted with additions and alterations, for twenty years after. He had a large Correspondence, a good Intelligence, and wrote the best of the age, and gathered the greatest stock of experience about this new Plant.”

40 A preparation of arsenic.

41 “Never did nature produce a Plant that in a short Time became so universally used, for it was but a short while known in Europe, till it was taken almost everywhere, either chewed; smoked, or snuffed. A pipe of tobacco is now the general and most frequent companion of, Mug, Bottle, or Punch-bowl.”—T. Short.

42 Gifford has also remarked that Shakspeare is the only one of the dramatic writers of the age of James who does not condescend to notice tobacco; all the others abound in allusions to it. In Jonson we find tobacco in every place—in Cob the waterman’s house, and in the Apollo Club-room, on the stage, and at the ordinary. The world of London was then divided into two classes—the tobacco-lovers and the tobacco-haters.

43 “Some hold it for a singular remedie against the gowte (gout), to chaw every morning the leaves of Petum (tobacco), because it voideth great quantitie of flegme out at the mouth, hindering the same from falling upon the joints, which is the very cause of the gowte.” Dr. Richard Surflet (1606).

45 Another writer in the same censorious manner says of the use of tobacco, “Smoking is the jovial repast of Cannibals or Man-eaters, and the grand entertainment of idolatrous Pagan Festivals. Masters will not permit the use of it to their servants or slaves and such as use it can hardly find masters or buyers.”

46 “King James’ violent prejudices against all use of tobacco arose from his aversion to Sir Walter Raleigh, its first importer into England whom he intended a sacrifice to the gratification of the King of Spain.”

47 The Empress Elizabeth was less severe. She decreed that the snuff-boxes of those who made use of them in church should be confiscated to the use of the beadle.

48 Tobacco has been able to survive such attacks as these—nay, has raised up a host of defenders as well as opponents. The Polish Jesuits published a work entitled “Anti-Misocapnus,” in answer to King James. In 1628, Raphael Thorius wrote a poem “Hymnus Tobaci.” A host of names appear in the field: Lesus, Braum and Simon Pauli, Portal, Pia, Vauquelin, Gardanne, Posselt, Reimann, and De Morveau.

49 Says an enthusiastic writer on tobacco, “If judged by the vicissitudes through which it has traveled, it must indeed be acknowledged a hero among plants; and if human pity, respect, or love should be given it for ‘the dangers it has passed,’ the inspiration of Desdemonia’s love for Othello, then might its most eloquent opponent be dumb, or yield it no inconsiderable need of homage.”

50 Neander says that Varinas tobacco was the best.

51 It is said that Raleigh in communicating the art to his friends, gave smoking parties at his house, where his guests were treated with nothing but a pipe, a mug of ale, and a nutmeg. Says an English writer: “From the anecdote related respecting the weight of smoke, the vapor of the pipe certainly did not throw a cloud over the brilliant wit of the unfortunate Raleigh.”

52 Sandys, writing in 1610 narrates a Persian legend to the effect that Shiraz tobacco was given by a holy man to a virtuous youth, disconsolate at the loss of his loving wife. “Go to thy wife’s tomb,” said the anchorite, “and there thou wilt find a weed. Pluck it, place it in a reed, and inhale the smoke, as you put fire to it. This will be to you wife, mother, father and brother,” continued the holy man, in Homeric strain, “and above all, will be a wise counsellor, and teach thy soul wisdom and thy spirit joy.”

53 Reynard, in his “Travels In Lapland,” says of the use of tobacco: “We interrogated our Laplander upon many subjects. We asked him what he had given his wife at their marriage. He told us that she had been very expensive to him during his courtship, having cost him two pounds weight of tobacco and four or five pints of brandy.”

54 Watlin says of smoking in Egypt: “Tobacco is tolerated, and seems to become more common again, though a smoker is generally disliked and not allowed to perform the part of Imam or rehearse, of the prayers, before a congregation. The greater part of the people, however, detest and condemn still the use of tobacco, and I remember a Shaumar Bedawry who assured me that he would not carry that abominable herb on his Camel, even if a load of gold were given him.”

55 During the conquest of Holland, Louvais paid more attention to furnishing tobacco than provisions; and even at this day, as well as in former times, more care is taken to procure tobacco than bread to the soldier. Every soldier was obliged to have his pipe and his matches.

57 An English writer gives a different account—“The custom of taking snuff as a nasal gratification does not appear to be of earlier date than 1620, though the powdered leaves of tobacco were occasionally prescribed as a medicine long before that time. It appears to have first become prevalent in Spain, and from thence to have passed into Italy and France.”

58 Grated tobacco.

60 “The custom of taking snuff was probably brought into England by some of the followers of Charles II., about the time of the Restoration. During his reign, and that of his brother, it does not appear to have gained much ground: but towards the end of the Seventeenth Century it had become quite the “rage” with beaux, who at that period, as well as in the reign of Queen Anne, sometimes carried their snuff in the hollow ivory heads of their canes.”—A Paper of Tobacco.

61 Napoleon, having been unable to undergo the ordeal of a first pipe, stigmatized it us a habit only fit to amuse sluggards. What he renounced in smoking, however, he compensated in snuff.

62 Ballaert says that the consumption of cigars in Peru is enormous. “An old fisherman on being asked how he amused himself when not at his labors replied, ‘Why I smoke; and as I have consumed 40 paper cigars a day for the last 50 years, which cost me one rial each will you have the goodness to tell me how many I have smoked, and how much I have expended for tobacco?’”

63 London, 1839.

64 The smoke ascending from the snuff of a candle could excite a sentimental feeling in the minds of Wordsworth and Sir George Beaumont, though it seems to have had no such effect on the mind of Crabbe.—Lockhart’s Life of Sir Walter Scott.

65 Kentucky was originally a part of Virginia.

66 Shepard says of the cultivation of tobacco by the Indians:—“The tobacco which is raised on the Tehuantepec isthmus is said, by good judges, to rival that of Cuba, and commands, in the capital, equal prices with the far-famed Havana. It is cultivated by the Indians, whose fields, or ‘milpas,’ according to Indian custom, are situated at some distance from their villages, often in the depths of the forest. Upon these little patches they bestow whatever labor is consistent with dislike for exertion, leaving the rich soil to accomplish the balance.”

67 I saw also great plantations of tobacco, which they call tharr, and which yield very considerable profit, as it is universally used in smoking, by persons of all ranks, of both sexes in China; and, besides great quantities are sent to the Mongolls, who prefer the Chinese manner of preparing it before any other. They make it into a gross powder, like saw-dust, which they keep in a small bag, and fill their little brass pipes out of it, without touching the tobacco with their fingers.—Bell’s Travels in Asia, 1716, 1719, 1722.

68 Probably most writers would divide tobacco into but two classes, including tobacco used for the manufacture of snuff with cut tobacco.

69 Blanco thus describes the tobacco of the Philippines: “It is an annual, growing to the height of a fathom, and furnishes the tobacco for the estancos (licensed shops). General opinion prefers the tobacco of Gapan, but that of the Pasy districts, Laglag and Lambunao, in Iloilo, of Maasin or Leyte, is appreciated for its fine aroma; also that of Cagayan, after being kept for some years,—for this use like the tobacco of the island of Negros it burns the mouth.”

70 The seedlings are planted in January, and the greater part of the crop comes forward in May and June.

71 “The soil of many of the islands especially of the Bisayas is favorable to the growth of tobacco. The island of Negros formerly produced some of very good quality.”

72 Liancourt in his Travels in North America, says of tobacco culture in Virginia: “The nature of the country beyond the James River is much more variegated than on this side. At present they are preparing the lands for the planting of tobacco. After having worked the land it is thrown into small hillocks. * * * The cultivation of tobacco, which has been very much neglected during several years, is more followed this year on account of the high price it bears in Europe; but the soil has been so long worked with this exhausting produce, and is so badly manured (for manure is absolutely necessary for tobacco when the soil is not newly broken up), that it is not capable of producing good crops.”

73 This is a short, thick, heavy-headed axe, of a somewhat oblong shape, with which the Americans make great dispatch. They treat the English poll-axe with great contempt, and always work it over again as old iron before they deem it fit for their use.

74 The worm or panel fence, originally of Virginia, consists of logs or malled rails from about four to six or eight inches thick and eleven feet in length. A good fence consists of ten rails and a rider. It is called a worm fence from the zigzag manner of its construction.

75 Walker says of tobacco culture in Colombia (South America):—“It is advisable to cover the plant with a banana leaf, or something similar: by this means the tobacco is protected from the heat of the sun, and from the heavy rains, which would not prove less prejudicial.”

76 Hughes, in his History of Barbadoes, says that the common people call the worm kitifonia.

77 Wallace says of worming tobacco in Brazil: “The plants are much attacked by the caterpillar of a sphinx moth, which grows to a large size, and would completely devour the crop unless carefully picked off. Old men, and women, and children are therefore constantly employed going over a part of the field every day, and carefully examining the plants leaf by leaf till the insects are completely exterminated.”

78 Many of the Virginians let the thumb nail grow long, and harden it in the candle, for this purpose: not for the use of gouging out people’s eyes, as some have thought fit to insinuate.

79 Second crop, or Volunteer tobacco.

80 The inner bark of the lime-tree.

81 Florida tobacco is noted for the white rust found on the leaves.

82 Liancourt says of the selection of seed plants in Virginia:—“The seed for the next year is obtained from forty to fifty stalks per acre, which the cultivator lets run up as high as they will grow, without bruising their heads.”

83 Tobacco is not allowed to pass from one state into another without paying a certain duty.

84 The amount in 1872, was 172,000.

85 Thirty-five cents a pound, gold.