The Project Gutenberg EBook of Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture,
Manufacture and Commerce, by E. R. Billings
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Title: Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce
Author: E. R. Billings
Release Date: January 31, 2008 [EBook #24471]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOBACCO; ITS HISTORY, VARIETIES ***
Produced by Ted Garvin, Christine P. Travers and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
[Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected, all
other inconsistencies are as in the original. The author's spelling
has been maintained.
Page 62-63: The part between = obviously did not belong in that place
and has been removed, "From this time forward the Plantation seemed to
prosper, Charles granted lands to all the planters and adventurers who
would till them, upon paying the annual sum of two shillings payable
to the crown for each hundred acres. =direction, appointing the
governor and council himself, and= Before the death of King James,
however, the cultivation of tobacco had become so extensive that every
other product seemed of but little value in comparison with it, and
the price realized from its sale being so much greater than that
obtained for "Corne," the latter was neglected and its culture almost
entirely abandoned."
Page 115: The verse "And can but end with time;" was missing and has
been added.]
TOBACCO:
ITS
HISTORY, VARIETIES, CULTURE,
MANUFACTURE AND COMMERCE,
WITH
AN ACCOUNT OF ITS VARIOUS MODES OF USE, FROM ITS FIRST
DISCOVERY UNTIL NOW.
BY
E. R. BILLINGS.
With Illustrations by Popular Artists.
"My Lord, this sacred herbe which never offendit,
Is forced to crave your favor to defend it."
Barclay.
"But oh, what witchcraft of a stronger kind,
Or cause too deep for human search to find,
Makes earth-born weeds imperial man enslave,--
Not little souls, but e'en the wise and brave!"
Arbuckle.
HARTFORD, CONN.:
AMERICAN PUBLISHING COMPANY,
1875.
Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1875, by the
AMERICAN PUBLISHING CO.,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D.C.
Is it not wondrous strange that there should be
Such different tempers twixt my friend and me?
I burn with heat when I tobacco take,
But he on th' other side with cold doth shake:
To both 'tis physick, and like physick works,
The cause o' th' various operation lurks
Not in tobacco, which is still the same,
But in the difference of our bodies frame:
What's meat to this man, poison is to that,
And what makes this man lean, makes that man fat;
What quenches one's thirst, makes another dry;
And what makes this man wel, makes that man dye.
Thomas Washbourne, D. D.
Thy quiet spirit lulls the lab'ring brain,
Lures back to thought the flights of vacant mirth,
Consoles the mourner, soothes the couch of pain,
And wreathes contentment round the humble hearth;
While savage warriors, soften'd by thy breath,
Unbind the captive, hate had doomed to death.
Rev. Walter Colton.
Whate'er I do, where'er I be,
My social box attends on me;
It warms my nose in winter's snow,
Refreshes midst midsummer's glow;
Of hunger sharp it blunts the edge,
And softens grief as some alledge.
Thus, eased of care or any stir,
I broach my freshest canister;
And freed from trouble, grief, or panic,
I pinch away in snuff balsamic.
For rich or poor, in peace or strife,
It smooths the rugged path of life.
Rev. William King.
HAIL! Indian plant, to ancient times unknown--
A modern truly thou, and all our own!
Thou dear concomitant of nappy ale,
Thou sweet prolonger of an old man's tale.
Or, if thou'rt pulverized in smart rappee,
And reach Sir Fopling's brain (if brain there be),
He shines in dedications, poems, plays,
Soars in Pindarics, and asserts the bays;
Thus dost thou every taste and genius hit--
In smoke thou'rt wisdom, and in snuff thou'rt wit.
Rev. Mr. Prior.
TO
CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER,
_Whose rare, good gifts have endeared him to all lovers of the English
tongue, this volume, historically and practically treating of one of
the greatest of plants, as well as the rarest of luxuries, is
respectfully dedicated by_
The Author.
PREFACE.
Ever since the discovery of tobacco it has been the favorite theme of
many writers, who have endeavored to shed new light on the origin and
early history of this singular plant. Upwards of three hundred volumes
have been written, embracing works in nearly all of the languages of
Europe, concerning the herb and the various methods of using it. Most
writers have confined themselves to the commercial history of the
plant; while others have written upon its medicinal properties and the
various modes of preparing it for use. For this volume the Author only
claims that it is at least a more comprehensive treatise on the
varieties and cultivation of the plant than any work now extant. A
full account of its cultivation is given, not only in America, but
also in nearly all of the great tobacco-producing countries of the
world. The history of the plant has been carefully and faithfully
compiled from the earliest authorities, that portion which relates to
its early culture in Virginia being drawn from hitherto unpublished
sources. Materials for such a work have not been found lacking.
European authors abound with allusions to tobacco; more especially is
it true of English writers, who have celebrated its virtues in poetry
and song. All along the highways and by-paths of our literature we
encounter much that pertains to this "queen of plants." Considered in
what light it may, tobacco must be regarded as the most astonishing of
the productions of nature, since it has, in the short period of nearly
four centuries, dominated not one particular nation, but the whole
world, both Christian and Pagan. Ushered into the Old World from the
New by the great colonizers--Spain, England, and France--it attracted
at once the attention of the authors of the period as a fit subject
for their marvel-loving pens. It has been the aim of the writer to
give as much as possible of the existing material to be had concerning
the early persecution waged against it, whether by Church or State.
These accounts, while they invest with additional interest its early
use and introduction, serve as well to show its triumph over all its
foes and its vast importance to the commerce of the world. This work
has been prepared and arranged, not only for the instruction and
entertainment of the users of tobacco, but for the benefit of the
cultivators and manufacturers as well. As such it is now presented to
the public for whatever meed of praise or censure it is found to
deserve.
Hartford, Conn., 1875.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Page
1. Frontispiece. --
2. Tobacco Stalks. 22
3. Tobacco Leaves. 24
4. Bud and Flowers. 25
5. Capsules. (Fruit Bud.) 27
6. Suckers. 28
7. Primitive Pipe. 33
8. Native Smoking. 35
9. Old Engraving. 40
10. The Contrast. 44
11. John Rolfe. 48
12. Virginia Tobacco Field, 1620. 51
13. Buying Wives. 57
14. Growing Tobacco in the Streets. 64
15. Natives Growing Tobacco. 66
16. Destroying Suckers. 69
17. Carrying Tobacco to Market. 73
18. Enriching Plant-Bed. 75
19. Shipping Tobacco. 78
20. Old Engraving of Tobacco. 86
21. Sir Walter Raleigh. 89
22. English Gallants. 90
23. Smoking in the 17th Century. 94
24. Exhaling through the Nose. 97
25. Old London Ale-house. 101
26. Punishment for Snuff Taking. 104
27. Silver Spittoons. 106
28. The Negro Image. 108
29. Tobacco and Theology. 112
30. Weighing Smoke. 117
31. Indian Pipe. 126
32. Sculptured Pipe. 128
33. Pipe of Peace. 130
34. A Model Cigar. 132
35. South Americans smoking. 135
36. A War Pipe. 139
37. Peace Pipe. 140
38. A Tchuktchi Pipe. 143
39. Turk Smoking. 145
40. Old English Pipes. 148
41. French Pipes. 149
42. Pipe Colorer. 152
43. German Porcelain Pipes. 153
44. A Persian Water Pipe. 156
45. Searching for Amber. 160
46. Fancy Pipes. 162
47. Clay and Reed Pipes. 164
48. Fairy Pipes. 166
49. Female Smoking in Algiers. 168
50. African Pipe. 170
51. Egyptian Pipes. 172
52. Japanese Pipes. 173
53. Engraved Boxes. 177
54. Tobacco Jars. 179
55. Tobacco Stoppers. 181
56. Lord and Lackey. 185
57. The Strange Youth. 190
58. Smokers Reading Epigrams. 193
59. The Explosion. 195
60. Theory against Experience. 199
61. A Faithful Attendant. 203
62. Newton and his Pipe. 207
63. Tennyson, Smoking. 209
64. Modern Smokers. 212
65. The Artist. 215
66. The Yankee Smoker. 216
67. A Tobacco Grater. 220
68. Demi-journées. 222
69. James Gillespie. 224
70. Fops Taking Snuff. (From an old print.) 226
71. Horn Snuff-boxes. 227
72. Scotch Snuff-mills. 232
73. Sweeping from the Pulpit. 235
74. Snuff-mill a Century ago. 240
75. Perfuming Snuff. 242
76. Fuegian Snuff-Takers. 244
77. Snuff-Dipping. 247
78. Snuffers. 248
79. Fancy Snuff-boxes. 251
80. Curing a Headache. 255
81. Highlanders. 257
82. Cigars. 260
83. Cigar-holders. 262
84. Life in Mexico. 266
85. Cuban Cigar Shop. 268
86. Tobacco Leaf. 271
87. Wenches Smoking. 274
88. A Moonlight Reverie in Havana. 275
89. By the Sea. 277
90. An American Smoker. 279
91. "Light, Sir?" 282
92. Bringing a Light. 285
93. Making Cigars. 288
94. Havanas. 301
95. Yara Cigars. 303
96. Manilla Cigar and Cheroot. 304
97. Swiss Cigars. 306
98. Paraguay Cigars. 306
99. Connecticut Tobacco Field. 312
100. Home of the Connecticut Planter. 315
101. Negro Quarters. 317
102. The Planter's Home. 318
103. "Burning the Patch." 322
104. Stringing the Primings. 323
105. Worming. 325
106. Ohio Tobacco Field. 329
107. Tobacco Warehouse. 331
108. Kentucky Tobacco Plantation. 332
109. The Kentucky Planter. 334
110. Florida Tobacco Plantation. 336
111. Louisiana Tobacco Plantation. 338
112. Mexican Tobacco Plantation. 342
113. St. Domingo Tobacco Field, 1535. 345
114. A Cuban _vega_. 346
115. Killing Bugs by Night. 348
116. Going to Market. 349
117. German Tobacco Field. 351
118. Dutch Planters. 355
119. Success to Von Tromp. 358
120. Tobacco Field in Algiers. 360
121. Tobacco Field in Africa. 361
122. Tobacco Field in Syria. 363
123. Tobacco Field in India. 365
124. Turkish Tobacco going to Market. 370
125. Japan Tobacco Field. 371
126. Transplanting. 372
127. Chinese Tobacco Field. 373
128. Tobacco Field in Persia. 374
129. Growing Tobacco on the Philippine Islands. 377
130. Tobacco Plow. 378
131. Spanish Planters. 380
132. Mexican Dwarf Tobacco. 384
133. Connecticut Seed Leaf. 385
134. Havana Tobacco. 387
135. Virginia Tobacco. 388
136. Ohio White Tobacco. 389
137. Latakia Tobacco (Syria). 393
138. Orinoco Tobacco (Venezuela). 397
139. Shiraz Tobacco (Persia). 398
140. Spanish Tobacco. 400
141. Japan Tobacco. 402
142. Old Connecticut Tobacco Shed. 406
143. Modern Connecticut Tobacco Shed. 407
144. Stripping Room. 408
145. Modern Virginia Shed. 409
146. Virginia Shed, 150 years ago. 410
147. Ohio Tobacco Shed. 412
148. Persian Tobacco Shed. 414
149. Making the Plant Bed in Connecticut. 418
150. Covering Plant Bed. 424
151. A Tobacco Ridger. 430
152. Drawing the Dirt Around the Foot. 432
153. Transplanting. 433
154. Transplanting. 434
155. American Transplanter. 437
156. The Worms. 438
157. Worming Tobacco. 439
158. Topping. 442
159. Suckering. 445
160. Cutting the Plants. 446
161. Putting on Lath. 447
162. Carrying to the Shed. 448
163. Stripping. 456
164. Hands. 457
165. Stemming. 460
166. Packing. 461
167. Prizing in Olden Times. 464
168. Tobacco Press. 467
169. Firing. 470
170. Spanish Seed Tobacco. 473
CONTENTS
Page
CHAPTER I.
THE TOBACCO PLANT.
Botanical Description -- Ancient Plant-Bed -- Description of
the Leaves -- Color of Leaves -- Blossoms -- The Capsules
and Seed --Selection for Seed -- Suckers -- Nicotine
Qualities -- Medicinal Properties -- Improvement in Plants.... 17
CHAPTER II.
TOBACCO. ITS DISCOVERY.
Early Use -- Origin of its Name -- Early Snuff-Taking --
Tobacco in Mexico -- Comparative Qualities of Tobacco --
Origin of the Plant -- Early Mammoth Cigars -- Sacredness of
the Pipe -- Early Cultivation -- Proportions of the Tobacco
Trade -- Variety of Kinds -- Tobacco and Commerce --
Original Culture.............................................. 32
CHAPTER III.
TOBACCO IN AMERICA.
First General Planter -- State of the Colony -- Conditions
of Raising Tobacco -- Tobacco Fields, 1620 -- Increase of
Tobacco-Growing -- Restriction of Tobacco-Growing -- Tobacco
used as Money -- King James opposes Tobacco-Growing --
Buying Wives with Tobacco -- Foreign Tobacco Prohibited --
King Charles on Tobacco -- King Charles as a Tobacco
Merchant -- Tobacco Taxed -- Planting in Maryland -- Negro
Labor -- Competition -- Growing Suckers -- Virginia Lands --
Picture of Early Planters -- Large Plantations -- Getting to
Market -- Virginia Plant-Bed -- Maryland Plant-Bed --
Tobacco Growing in New York and Louisiana -- New England
Tobacco -- Commercial Value of Tobacco -- Tobacco a
Blessing...................................................... 47
CHAPTER IV.
TOBACCO IN EUROPE.
Introduction -- The Original Importer -- Wonderful Cures --
How the Herb grew in Reputation -- Difference of Opinion --
A Smoker's Rhapsody -- Old Smokers -- The Queen Herb --
Drinking Tobacco -- Tobacco on the Stage -- Shakespeare on
Tobacco -- Smoking Taught -- Ben Jonson on the Weed --
Curative Qualities -- Modes of Use -- Held up to Ridicule --
Tirades against Tobacco -- Tobacco Selling -- Royal Haters
of Tobacco -- Old Customs -- A Racy Poem -- A Smoking
Divine........................................................ 80
CHAPTER V.
TOBACCO IN EUROPE. -- Continued.
Popular use of Tobacco -- Tobacco Glorified -- Weight of
Smoke -- Anecdotes -- Triumph of Tobacco -- A Government
Monopoly -- Tobacco a Blessing............................... 111
CHAPTER VI.
TOBACCO PIPES, SMOKING AND SMOKERS.
Indian Pipes -- Material for Pipes -- Legend of the Red Pipe
-- Chippewa Pipes -- Making the Peace Pipes -- South
American Pipes -- Cigarettes -- Tobacco on the Amazon River
-- Brazilian Tobacco -- Patagonians as Smokers -- Form and
Material -- Pipe of the Bobeen Indians -- The War Pipe --
Pipe Sculpture -- Smoking in Alaska -- Smoking in Russia --
Smoking in Peru -- Smoking in Turkey -- Moderate Smoking --
Female Smoking -- Early Manufacture of Pipes -- French
Pipes........................................................ 124
CHAPTER VII.
PIPES AND SMOKERS. -- Continued.
Meerschaum Pipes -- Coloring Meerschaums -- The City of
Smokers -- Hudson as a smoker -- Persian Water Pipes --
Turkish Pipes -- Amber Mouth Pieces -- Obtaining Amber --
Its Value -- Variety of Pipes -- History of Pipes -- Ancient
Habit of Smoking -- Buried Pipes -- Jasmine Pipes -- Smoking
in Algiers -- Smoking in Africa -- Defence of Smoking -- Tea
and Tobacco -- Chinese Pipes -- Smoking in Japan -- Tobacco
Boxes -- Tobacco Jars -- Musings over a Pipe -- Sad Fate of
a Chewer -- Triumph of the Anti's -- The Smoker's Calendar
-- Doctor Parr as a Smoker -- Smoking on the Battle-Field --
Literary Smokers -- Doctor Clarke on Tobacco -- Noted
Smokers -- Pleasant Pipe -- A Tobacco World -- Cruelty of
Smokers -- Men like Pipes -- Universal Use................... 150
CHAPTER VIII.
SNUFF, SNUFF-BOXES AND SNUFF-TAKERS.
Its Introduction -- Boxes and Graters -- Mode of Preparation
-- Snuff-Boxes -- A Celebrated Manufacturer -- The Snuffing
Period -- The Monk and his Snuff-Box -- A Pinch of Snuff --
Pleasures of Smelling -- Frederick the Great -- Eminent
Snuff-Takers -- The Story in Verse -- "Come to my Nose" --
Snuff Manufacture -- Preparation of Tobacco -- Grinding the
Leaves -- Flavoring the Snuff -- Profits Made -- Love of
Tobacco -- Chewing and Dipping -- Advantages of Dipping --
The First Snuffers -- Famous Snuff-Takers -- Snuff as a
Pacificator -- A National Stimulant -- Different Tastes --
Rise and Progress of Snuff-Taking............................ 218
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. -- Large Factories --
Universal Smoking -- Cigar Etiquette -- Reveries --
Summer-Day Thoughts -- American Smokers -- At Home --
Sentiment -- Ode to a Cigar -- Cigar-Lighters -- Smoking an
Art -- Science of Lighting -- Age of Fusees -- "Home-Made
Cigars" -- Female Cigar-Makers -- A Spicy Article -- How to
Smoke -- Smoking Christians -- Lamb's Poem -- Tobacco
Compliment -- Cigarette Smoking -- Thomas Hood's Cigar --
Lord Byron's Opinion -- Kinds of Cigars -- Selecting Cigars
-- Yara Cigars -- Manilla Cigars -- Swiss Cigars -- Paraguay
Cigars -- Brazilian Cigars -- American Cigars -- Connecticut
Seed Leaf and Havana Cigars -- The Exile's Comfort........... 259
CHAPTER X.
TOBACCO PLANTERS AND PLANTATIONS.
The Connecticut Planter -- Intelligence of Tobacco Growers
-- Best Connecticut Seed Leaf -- Love for the Plant --
Virginia Planters -- A Virginia Plantation -- The
Plant-Patch -- Planting, Topping and Priming -- Suckering --
Crop-Gathering -- Curing and Sorting -- Tobacco Markets --
Ohio Tobacco -- Mode of Cure -- Kentucky Tobacco-Growing --
The Kentucky Planter -- Florida Tobacco -- Florida
Plantation -- Tobacco in Louisiana -- California Tobacco
Lands -- Mexican Tobacco -- Plants around Vera Cruz --
Tobacco in St Domingo -- Cuba Plantations -- Mode of Working
-- Soil and Climate -- Tobacco-Growing in Germany -- Method
of Culture -- Extent of Culture -- Tobacco-Raising in
Prussia -- Tobacco in Holland -- Dutch Planters -- A Plea
for Tobacco -- Tobacco Culture in Australia -- Arabian
Plantations -- Tobacco in Africa -- Syrian Tobacco --
Latakia Tobacco -- Growing Tobacco in India -- Curing
Tobacco in India -- Turks Cultivating Tobacco -- Japanese
Tobacco -- Persian Tobacco -- Tobacco Culture, Philippine
Islands -- Climate of the Islands -- Fragrant Manillas --
Tropical Tobacco............................................. 311
CHAPTER XI.
VARIETIES.
Kinds used for Cigars -- Dwarf Tobacco -- Havana Tobacco --
Yara and Virginia Tobacco -- James River Tobacco -- Ohio
Tobacco -- South American Tobacco -- Celebrated Brands of
Tobacco -- Russian Tobacco -- Columbian Tobacco -- Tobacco
of Brazil -- The Orinoco Tobacco -- Persian Tobacco --
French Tobacco -- Spanish Tobacco -- Japanese Tobacco --
Manilla Tobacco.............................................. 382
CHAPTER XII.
TOBACCO HOUSES.
Tobacco Sheds -- Stripping Houses -- Virginia Tobacco Sheds
-- Ordinary Sheds -- Superior Sheds -- Ohio Sheds --
Kentucky and Tennessee Sheds -- Foreign Tobacco Sheds........ 405
CHAPTER XIII.
TOBACCO CULTURE.
Hot Beds -- Virginia Plant Patch -- Tennessee Plant Bed --
Cuban Plant Bed -- Covering Plant Bed -- Selection of Soil
-- The Soil Affecting Color -- Preparing the Soil --
Virginia Methods -- Burning Brush -- Implements --
Transplanting Plants -- Setting -- Seasons in Mexico and
Persia -- The American Transplanter -- Pests -- Worming --
Backward Plants -- Topping -- Suckers -- Maturation -- The
Harvest -- Cutting -- Hanging -- Cutting time in Cuba --
Harvesting in Virginia -- The Season in other Places --
Curing -- Curing by Smoke -- Yellow Tobacco -- Stripping --
Assorting -- Shading -- Stemming -- Packing -- Casing -- Old
Style -- Resistance to Dampness -- Prizing -- Marking --
Baling -- Certificates -- Firing -- White Rust -- Seed
Plants -- Maturing of Seed -- Second Growth.................. 415
CHAPTER XIV.
THE PRODUCTION, COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURE OF TOBACCO.
Early History of Tobacco -- Cultivation by Spaniards at St.
Domingo -- Annual Product of Cuba -- Amount of Land under
Cultivation in U.S. -- Cultivation in the South -- Annual
Product of Europe, Asia and Africa -- Government Monopoly --
Source of Revenue -- Manufacture of Cigarettes -- Increase
of Tobacco Culture........................................... 478
CHAPTER I.
THE TOBACCO PLANT.
Tobacco is a hardy flowering annual[1] plant, growing freely in a
moist fertile soil and requiring the most thorough culture in order to
secure the finest form and quality of leaf. It is a native of the
tropics and under the intense rays of a vertical sun develops its
finest and most remarkable flavor which far surpasses the varieties
grown in a temperate region. It however readily adapts itself to soil
and climate growing through a wide range of temperature from the
Equator to Moscow in Russia in latitude 56°, and through all the
intervening range of climate[2].
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 2: Tatham says that the tobacco plant is
peculiarly adapted for an agricultural comparison of
climates.]
The plant varies in height according to species and locality; the
largest varieties reaching an altitude of ten or twelve feet, in
others not growing more than two or three feet from the ground.
Botanists have enumerated between forty and fifty varieties of the
tobacco plant who class them all among the narcotic poisons. When
properly cultivated the plant ripens in a few weeks growing with a
rapidity hardly equaled by any product either temperate or tropical.
Of the large number of varieties cultivated scarcely more than
one-half are grown to any great extent while many of them are hardly
known outside of the limit of cultivation. Tobacco is a strong growing
plant resisting heat and drought to a far greater extent than most
plants. It is a native of America, the discovery of the continent and
the plant occurring almost simultaneously. It succeeds best in a deep
rich loam in a climate ranging from forty to fifty degrees of
latitude. After having been introduced and cultivated in nearly all
parts of the world, America enjoys the reputation of growing the
finest varieties known to commerce. European tobacco is lacking 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 the
order of Monogynia, belonging to the pentandria class, order
1, of class V. It bears a tubular 5-cleft calyx; a
funnel-formed corolla, with a plaited 5-cleft border; the
stamina inclined; the stigma capitate; the capsule 2-celled,
and 2 to 4 valved."
A more general description of the plant is given by an American
writer:--
"The tobacco plant is an annual growing from eighteen inches
(dwarf tobacco) to seven or eight feet in height[3]. It
bears numerous leaves of a pale green color sessile, ovate
lanceolate and pointed in form, which come out alternately
from two to three inches apart. The flowers grow in loose
panicles at the extremity of the stalks, and the calyx is
bell-shaped, and divided at its summit into five pointed
segments. The tube of the corolla expands at the top into an
oblong cup terminating in a 5-lobed plaited rose-colored
border. The pistil consists of an oval germ, a slender style
longer than the stamen, and a cleft stigma. The flowers are
succeeded by capsules of 2 cells opening at the summit and
containing numerous kidney-shaped seeds."
[Footnote 3: An old English writer in describing tobacco
says:--"When at its just height, it is as tall as an
ordinary sized man."]
Two of the finest varieties of Nicotiana Tobacum that are cultivated
are the Oronoco and the Sweet Scented; they differ only in the form of
the leaves, those of the latter variety being shorter and broader than
the other. They are annual herbaceous plants, rising with strong erect
stems to the height of from six to nine feet, with fine handsome
foliage. The stalk near the root is often an inch or more in diameter,
and surrounded by a hairy clammy substance, of a greenish yellow
color. The leaves are of a light green; they grow alternately, at
intervals of two or three inches on the stalk; they are oblong and
spear-shaped; those lowest on the stalk are about twenty inches in
length, and they decrease as they ascend.
The young leaves when about six inches, are of a deep green color and
rather smooth, and as they approach maturity they become yellowish and
rougher on the surface. The flowers grow in clusters from the
extremities of the stalk; they are yellow externally and of a delicate
red within. They are succeeded by kidney shaped capsules of a brown
color.
Thompson in his "Notices relative to Tobacco" describes the tobacco
plant as follows:--
"The species of Nicotiana which was first known, and which
still furnishes the greatest supply of Tobacco, is the N.
tobacum, an annual plant, a native of South America, but
naturalized to our climate. It is a tall, not inelegant
plant, rising to the height of about six feet, with a
strong, round, villous, slightly viscid stem, furnished with
alternate leaves, which are sessile, or clasp the stems; and
are decurrent, lanceolate, entire; of a full green on the
upper surface, and pale on the under.
"In a vigorous plant, the lower leaves are about twenty
inches in length, and from three to five in breadth,
decreasing as they ascend. The inflorescence, or flowering
part of the stem, is terminal, loosely branching in that
form which botanists term a panicle, with long, linear
floral leaves or bractes at the origin of each division.
"The flowers, which bloom in July and August, are of a pale
pink or rose color: the calyx, or flower-cup, is
bell-shaped, obscurely pentangular, villous, slightly
viscid, and presenting at the margin five acute, erect
segments. 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, pointed
segments; the seed vessel is an oblong or ovate capsule,
containing numerous reniform seeds, which are ripe in
September and October; and if not collected, are shed by the
capsule 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 tobacco
plant:--
"This herbe resembleth in figure fashion, and qualities, the
great comfrey in such sort as that a man woulde deeme it to
be a kinde of great comfrey, rather than a yellow henbane,
as some have thought.
"It hath an upright stalke, not bending any way, thicke,
bearded or hairy, and slimy: the leaves are broad and long,
greene, drawing somewhat towards a yellow, bearded or
hoarrie, but smooth and slimie, having as it were talons,
but not either notched or cut in the edges, a great deale
bigger downward toward the root than above: while it is
young it is leaved, as it were lying upon the ground, but
rising to a stalke and growing further, it ceaseth to have
such a number of leaves below, and putteth forth branches
from half foot to half, and storeth itselfe, by that meanes
with leaves, and still riseth higher from the height of four
or five foote, unto three or four or five cubits according
as is sown in a hot and fat ground, and carefully tilled.
The boughs and branches thereof put out at joints, and
divide the stalk by distance of halfe a foote: the highest
of which branches are bigger than an arme.
"At the tops and ends of his branches and boughs, it putteth
foorth flowers almost like those of Nigella, of a whitish
and incarnate color, having the fashion of a little bell
comming out of a swad or husk, being of the fashion of a
small goblet, which husk becometh round, having the fashion
of a little apple, or sword's pummell: as soon as the flower
is gone and vanished away, it is filled with very small
seedes like unto those of yellow henbane, and they are black
when they be ripe, or greene, while they are not yet ripe.
"In a hot countree it beareth leaves, flowers, and seeds at
the same time, in the ninth or tenth month of the year it
putteth foorth young cions at the roote, and reneweth itself
by this store and number of cions, and great quantity of
sprouts, and yet notwithstanding the roots are little,
small, fine thready strings, or if otherwise they grow a
little thick, yet remaine they still very short, in respect
of the height of the plant. The roots and leaves do yield a
glewish and rosinith kind of juice, somewhat yellow, of a
rosinlike smell, not unpleasant, and of a sharpe, eager and
biting taste, which sheweth that it is by nature hot,
whereupon we must gather that it is no kind of yellow
henbane as some have thought. Nicotiana craveth a fat ground
well stird, and well manured also in this cold countrie
(England) that is to say an earth, wherein the manure is so
well mingled and incorporated, as that it becometh earthie,
that is to say, all turned into earth, and not making any
shew any more of dung: which is likewise moist and shadowie,
wide and roomy, for in a narrow and straight place it would
not grow high, straight, great and well-branched.
"It desireth the South sun before it, and a wall behind it,
which may stand in stead of a broad pair of shoulders to
keep away the northern wind and to beate backe againe the
heat of the sun. It groweth the better if it be oft watered,
and maketh itself sport and jolly good cheer with water when
the time becometh a little dry. It hateth cold, and
therefore to keepe it from dying in winter, it must be
either kept in cellars where it may have free benefit of
air, or else in some cave made on purpose within the same
garden, or else to cover it as with a cloak very well with a
double mat, making a penthouse of wicker work from the wall
to cover the head thereof with straw laid thereupon: and
when the southern sun shineth, to open the door of the
covert made for the said herb right upon the said South
sun."
The most ludicrous part of "The discourse on Nicotian" will be found
in that portion which relates to the making of the plant-bed and
transplanting:--
"For to sow it, you must make a hole in the earth with your
finger and that as deep as your finger is long, then you
must cast into the same hole ten or twelve seeds of the said
Nicotiana together, and fill up the hole again: for it is so
small, as that if you should put in but four or five seeds
the earth would choake it: and if the time be dry, you must
water the place easily some five days after: And when the
herb is grown out of the earth, inasmuch as every seed will
have put up his sprout and stalk, and that the small thready
roots are intangled the one within the other, you must with
a great knife make a composs within the earth in the places
about this plot where they grow and take up the earth and
all together, and cast them into a bucket full of water, to
the end that the earth may be seperated, and the small and
tender impes swim about the water; and so you shall sunder
them one after another without breaking of them." * *
THE STALK.
The Tobacco stalk varies with the varieties of the plant. All of the
species cultivated in the United States have stalks of a large
size--much larger than many varieties grown in the tropics. Those of
some species of tobacco are little and easily broken, which to a
certain extent is the case with most varieties of the plant when
maturing very fast. The stalks of some plants are rough and uneven,
while those of others are smooth. Nearly all, including most of those
grown in Europe and America, have erect, round, hairy, viscid stalks,
and large, fibrous roots; while that of Spanish as well as dwarf
tobacco is harder and much smaller. The stalk is composed of a
wood-like substance containing a glutinous pith, and is of about the
same shade of color as the leaves. As the plant develops in size the
stalk hardens, and when fully grown is not easily broken.
[Illustration: Tobacco stalks.]
The size of the stalk corresponds with that of the leaves, and with
such varieties of the plant as Connecticut seed leaf, Virginia,
Kentucky, Ohio, St. Domingo, and some others; both will be found to be
larger than Spanish, Latakia, and Syrian tobacco, which have a much
smaller but harder stalk. It will readily be seen that the stalk must
be strong and firm in order to support the large palm-like leaves
which on some varieties grow to a length of nearly four feet with a
corresponding breadth. The stalk does not "cure down" as fast as the
leaves, which is thought now to be necessary in order to prevent
sweating, as well as to hasten the curing. Most of the varieties of
the plant have an erect, straight stalk, excepting Syrian tobacco,
which near the top describes more of a semi-circle, but not to that
extent of giving an idea of an entirely crooked plant. The stalk
gradually tapers from the base to the summit, and when deprived of its
leaves presents a smooth appearance not unlike that of a small tree or
shrub deprived of its twigs and leaves.
THE LEAVES.
The Plant bears from eight to twenty leaves according to the species
of the plant. They have various forms, ovate, lanceolate, and pointed.
Leaves of a lanceolate form are the largest, and the shape of those
found on most varieties of the American plant. The color of the leaves
when growing, as well as after curing and sweating, varies, and is
frequently caused by the condition of the soil. The color while
growing may be either a light or dark green, which changes to a
yellowish cast as the plant matures and ripens. The ground leaves are
of a lighter color and ripen earlier than the rest--sometimes turning
yellow, and during damp weather rotting and dropping from the stalk.
Some varieties of the plant, like Latakia, bear small but thick
leaves, which after cutting are very thin and fine in texture; while
others, like Connecticut seed leaf and Havana, bear leaves of a medium
thickness, which are also fine and silky after curing. But while the
color of the plant when growing is either a light or dark green, it
rapidly changes during curing, and especially after passing through
the sweat, changing to a light or dark cinnamon like Connecticut seed
leaf, black like Holland and Perique tobacco, bright yellow of the
finest shade of Virginia and Carolina leaf, brown like Sumatra, or
dark red like that known by the name of "Boshibaghli," grown in Asia
Minor. The leaves are covered with glandular hairs containing a
glutinous substance of an unpleasant odor, which characterizes all
varieties as well as nearly all parts of the plant.
The leaves of all varieties of tobacco grow the entire length of the
stem and clasp the stalk, excepting those of Syrian, which are
attached by a long stem. The size of the leaves, as well as the entire
plant, is now much larger than when first discovered. One of the early
voyagers describes the plant as short and bearing leaves of about the
size and shape of the walnut. In many varieties the leaves grow in a
semi-circular form while in others they grow almost straight and still
others growing erect presenting a singular appearance. The stem or
mid-rib running through the leaf is large and fibrous and its numerous
smaller veins proportionally larger which on curing become smaller and
particularly in those kinds best adapted for cigar wrappers. The
leaves from the base to the center of the plant are of about equal
size but are smaller as they reach the summit, but after topping
attain about the same size as the others. The color of the leaf after
curing may be determined by the color of the leaf while growing--if
dark green while maturing in the field, the color will be dark after
curing and sweating and the reverse if of a lighter shade of green.
[Illustration: Tobacco leaves.]
If the soil be dark the color of the leaf will be darker than if grown
upon a light loam. Some varieties of the plant have leaves of a smooth
glossy appearance while others are rough and the surface uneven--more
like a cabbage leaf, a peculiar feature of the tobacco of Syria. The
kind of fertilizers applied to the soil also in a measure as well as
the soil itself has much to do with the texture or body of the leaf
and should be duly considered by all growers of the plant. A light
moist loam should be chosen for the tobacco field if a leaf of light
color and texture is desired while if a dark leaf is preferred the
soil chosen should be a moist heavy loam.
THE FLOWER.
The flowers of the tobacco plant grow in a bunch or cluster on the
summit of the plant and are of a pink, yellow, or purple white color
according to the variety of the plant. On most varieties the color of
the flowers is pink excepting Syrian or Latakia which bears yellow
flowers while those of Shiraz or Persian and Guatemala are white
while those of the Japan tobacco, are purple. The segments of the
corolla are pointed but on some varieties unequal, particularly that
of Shiraz tobacco. The flowers impart a pleasant odor doubtless to all
lovers of the weed but to all others a compound of villainous smells
among which and above all the rest may be recognized an odor
suggestive of the leaves of the plant.
[Illustration: Bud and flowers.]
When in full blossom a tobacco field forms a pleasant feature of a
landscape which is greatly heightened if the plants are large and of
equal size. The pink flowers are the largest while those of a yellow
color are the smallest. The plant comes into blossom a few weeks
before fully ripe when with a portion of the stalk they are broken off
to hasten the ripening and maturing of the leaves. After the buds
appear they blossom in a few days and remain in full bloom two or
three weeks, when they perish like the blossoms of other plants and
flowers. The flowers of Havana tobacco are of a lighter pink than
those of Connecticut tobacco but are not as large--a trifle larger
however than those of Latakia tobacco. Those varieties of the tobacco
plant bearing pink flowers are the finest flavored and are used
chiefly for the manufacture of cigars while those bearing yellow
flowers are better adapted for cutting purposes and the pipe.
The American varieties of tobacco bear a larger number of flowers
than European tobaccos or those of Africa or Asia. The color of the
flowers remain the same whether cultivated in one country or another
while the leaves may grow larger or smaller according to the system of
cultivation adopted. Those varieties of the plant with heart-shaped
leaves have paniculated flowers with unequal cups. The flower stems on
the American varieties are much longer than those of European tobaccos
and also larger. The season has much to do with the size of the
flowers; as if very dry they are usually smaller and not as numerous
as if grown under more favorable circumstances.
THE CAPSULE.
As soon as the flowers drop from the fruit bud the capsules grow very
rapidly until they have attained full size--which occurs only in those
plants which have been left for seed and remain untopped. When topped
they are not usually full grown--as some growers top the plants when
just coming into blossom, while others prefer to top the plants when
in full bloom and others still when the blossoms begin to fall. The
fruit 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, and opens 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: In
form resembling an acorn though more pointed at the top; in some
species, of a dark brown in others of a light brown color, containing
two cells filled with seeds similar in shape to the fruit bud, but not
rugose as described by some botanists. Some writers state that each
cell contains about one thousand seeds. The fruit buds of Connecticut,
Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio Tobacco as well as of most of the
varieties grown within the limits of the United States are much larger
than those of Havana, Yara, Syrian, and numerous other species of the
plant, while the color of these last named varieties is a lighter
shade of brown. The color of the seed also varies according to the
varieties of the plant. The seeds of some species are of a dark brown
while others are of a lighter shade. The seeds, however, are so small
that the variety to which they belong cannot be determined except by
planting or sowing them.
[Illustration: Capsules. (Fruit bud.)]
The plants selected for seed are usually left growing until late in
the season, and at night should be protected from the cold and frost
by a light covering of some kind--this may not be absolutely
necessary, as most growers of tobacco have often noticed young plants
growing around the base or roots of the seed stalk--the seeds of which
germinated although remaining in the ground during the winter. Strong,
healthy plants generally produce large, well filled capsules the only
ones to be selected by the grower if large, fine plants are desired.
Many growers of tobacco have doubtless examined the capsules of some
species of the plant and frequently observed that the capsules or
fruit buds are often scarcely more than half-filled while others
contain but a few seeds. The largest and finest capsules on the plant
mature first, while the smaller ones grow much slower and are
frequently several weeks changing from green to brown. Many of the
capsules do not contain any seed at all.
THE SUCKER.
The offshoots or suckers as they are termed, make their appearance at
the junction of the leaves and stalk, about the roots of the plant,
the result of that vigorous growth caused by topping. The suckers can
hardly be seen until after the plant has been topped, when they 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 make
its appearance and shoot forth from the stem or stalk, near
to the junction of the leaves with the stems, and about the
root of the plant, and if allowed to grow, injuring the
marketable quality of the tobacco by compelling a division
of its nutriment during the act of maturation. The planter
is therefore careful to destroy these intruders with the
thumb nail, as in the act of topping. This superfluity of
vegetation, like that of the top, has been often the subject
of legislative care; and the policy of supporting the good
name of the Virginia produce has dictated the wisdom of
penal laws to maintain her good faith against imposition
upon strangers who trade with her."
The ripening of the suckers not only proves injurious to the quality
of the leaf but retards their size and maturity and if allowed to
continue, prevents them from attaining their largest possible growth.
[Illustration: Suckers.]
On large, strong, growing plants the growth of suckers is very rank
after attaining a length of from six to ten inches, and when fully
grown bearing flowers like the parent stalk. After growing for a
length of time they become tough and attached so firmly to the stem of
the leaf and stalk that they are broken off with difficulty,
frequently detaching the leaf with them. The growth of the suckers,
however, determines the quality as well as the maturity of the plants.
Weak, spindling plants rarely produce large, vigorous shoots, the
leaves of such suckers are generally small and of a yellowish color.
When the plants are fully ripe and ready to harvest the suckers will
be found to be growing vigorously around the root of the plant. This
is doubtless the best evidence of its maturity, more reliable by far
than any other as it denotes the ripening of the entire plant.
Suckering the plants hastens the ripening of the leaves, and gives a
lighter shade of color, no matter on what soil the plants are grown.
Having treated at some length of the various parts of the tobacco
plant--stalk, leaves, flowers, capsules and suckers we come now to its
nicotine properties. The tobacco plant, as is well known, produces a
virulent poison known as Nicotine. This property, however, as well as
others as violent is found in many articles of food, including the
potato together with its stalk and leaves; the effects of which may be
experienced by chewing a small quantity of the latter. The New
Edinburgh Encyclopedia says:
"The peculiar effect produced by using tobacco bears some
resemblance to intoxication and is excited by an essential
oil which in its pure state is so powerful as to destroy
life even in very minute quantity."
Chemistry has taught us that nicotine is only one among many
principles which are contained in the plant. It is supposed by many
but not substantiated by chemical research that nicotine is not the
flavoring agent which gives tobacco its essential and peculiar
varieties of odor. Such are most probably given by the essential oils,
which vary in amount in different species of the plant.
An English writer says:
"Nicotine is disagreeable to the habitual smoker, as is
proved by the increased demand for clean pipes or which by
some mechanical contrivance get rid of the nicotine."
The late Dr. Blotin tested by numerous experiments the effects of
nicotine on the various parts of the organization of man. While the
physiological effects of nicotine may be interesting to the medical
practitioner, they will hardly interest the general reader unless it
can be shown that the effects of nicotine and tobacco should be proved
to be identical.
We are loth to leave this subject, however, as it is so intimately
connected with the history of the plant, without treating somewhat of
its medicinal properties which to many are of more interest than its
social qualities. The Indians not only used the plant socially,
religiously, but medicinally. Their Medicine men prescribed its use in
various ways for most diseases common among them. The use thus made of
the plant attracted the attention of the Spanish and English, far more
than its use either as a means of enjoyment or as a religious act.
When introduced to the Old World, its claims as a remedy for most
diseases gave it its popularity and served to increase its use. It was
styled "_Sana sancta Indorum_--" "_Herbe propre à tous maux_," and
physicians claimed that it was "the most sovereign and precious weed
that ever the earth tendered to the use of man." As early as 1610,
three years after the London and Plymouth Companies settled in
Virginia, and some years before it began to be cultivated by them as
an article of export, it had attracted the attention of English
physicians, who seemed to take as much delight in writing of the
sanitary uses of the herb as they did in smoking the balmy leaves of
the plant.
Dr. Edmund Gardiner, "Practitioner of Physicke," issued in 1610 a
volume entitled, "The Triall of Tobacco," setting forth its curative
powers. Speaking of its use he says:
"Tobacco is not violent, and therefore may in my judgement
bee safely put in practise. Thus then you plainly see that
all medicines, and especially tobacco, being rightly and
rationally used, is a noble medicine and contrariwise not in
his due time with other circumstances considered, it doth no
more than a nobleman's shooe doth in healing the gout in the
foot."
Dr. Verner of Bath, in his Treatise concerning the taking the fume of
tobacco (1637) says that when "taken moderately and at fixed times
with its proper adjunct, which (as they doe suppose) is a cup of
sack, they think it be no bad physick." Dr. William Barclay in his
work on Tobacco, (1614) declares "that it worketh wonderous cures." He
not only defends the herb but the "land where it groweth." At this
time the tobacco plant like Indian Corn was very small, possessing but
few of the qualities now required to make it merchantable. When first
exported to Spain and Portugal from the West Indies and South America,
and even by the English from Virginia, the leaf was dark in color and
strong and rank in flavor. This, however, seems to have been the
standard in regard to some varieties while others are spoken of by
some of the early writers upon tobacco as "sweet."
The tobacco (uppowoc) grown by the Indians in America, at the time of
its discovery, and more particularly in North America, would compare
better with the suckers of the largest varieties of the plant rather
than with even the smallest species of the plant now cultivated. At
the present time tobacco culture is considered a science in order to
secure the colors in demand, and that are fashionable, and also the
right texture of leaf now so desirable in all tobaccos designed for
wrappers. Could the Indians, who cultivated the plant on the banks of
the James, the Amazon and other rivers of America, now look upon the
plant growing in rare luxuriance upon the same fields where they first
raised it, they could hardly realize them to be the same varieties
that they had previously planted.
CHAPTER II.
TOBACCO. ITS DISCOVERY.
Nearly four hundred years have passed away since the tobacco plant and
its use was introduced to the civilized world. It was in the month of
November, 1492, that the sailors of Columbus in exploring the island
of Cuba first noted the mode of using tobacco. They found the Indians
carrying lighted firebrands (as they at first supposed) and puffed the
smoke inhaled from their mouths and nostrils.
The Spaniards concluded that this was a method common with them of
perfuming themselves; but its frequent use soon taught them that it
was the dried leaves of a plant which they burned inhaling and
exhaling the smoke. It attracted the attention of the Spaniards no
less from its novelty than from the effect produced by the indulgence.
The use of tobacco by the Indians was entirely new to the Spanish
discoverers and when in 1503 they landed in various parts of South
America they found that both chewing and smoking the herb was a common
custom with the natives. But while the Indians and their habits
attracted the attention of the Spanish sailors Columbus was more
deeply interested in the great continent and the luxuriant tropical
growth to be seen on every hand. Columbus himself says of it:--
"Everything invited me to settle here. The beauty of the
streams, the clearness of the water, through which I could
see the sandy bottom; the multitude of palm-trees of
different kinds, the tallest and finest I had ever seen; and
an infinite number of other large and flourishing trees; the
birds, and the verdure of the plains, are so amazingly
beautiful, that this country excelles all others as far as
the day surpasses the night in splendor."
Lowe, gives the following account of the discovery of tobacco and its
uses:--
"The discovery of this plant is supposed to have been made
by Fernando Cortez in Yucatan in the Gulf of Mexico, where
he found it used universally, and held in a species of
veneration by the simple natives. He made himself acquainted
with the uses and supposed virtues of the plant and the
manner of cultivating it, and sent plants to Spain, as part
of the spoils and treasures of his new-found World."
Oviedo[4] is the first author who gives a clear account of smoking
among the Indians of Hispaniola[5]. He alludes to it as one of their
evil customs and used by them to produce insensibility. Their mode of
using it was by inhalation and expelling the smoke through the
nostrils by means of a hollow forked cane or hollow reed. Oviedo
describes them as
"about a span long; and when used the forked ends
are inserted in the nostrils, the other end being applied to
the burning leaves of the herb, using the herb in this
manner stupefied them producing a kind of intoxication."
[Footnote 4: Historia General de los Indios 1526.]
[Footnote 5: St. Domingo.]
[Illustration: Primitive pipe.]
Of the early accounts of the plant and its use, Beckman a German
writer says:--
"In 1496, Romanus Pane, a Spanish monk, whom Columbus, on
his second departure from America, had left in that country,
published the first account of tobacco with which he became
acquainted in St. Domingo. He gave it the name of Cohoba
Cohobba, Gioia. In 1535, the negroes had already habituated
themselves to the use of tobacco, and cultivated it in the
plantations of their masters. Europeans likewise already
smoked it."
An early writer thus alludes to the use of tobacco among the East
Indians:--
"The East Indians do use to make little balls of the juice
of the hearbe tobaco and the ashes of cockle-shells wrought
up together, and dryed in the shadow, and in their travaile
they place one of the balls between their neather lip and
their teeth, sucking the same continually, and letting down
the moysture, and it keepeth them both from hunger and
thirst for the space of three or four days."
Oviedo says of the implements used by the Indians in smoking:--
"The hollow cane used by them is called tobaco and that that
name is not given to the plant or to the stupor caused by
its use."
A writer alluding to the same subject says:--
"The name tobacco is supposed to be derived from the Indian
tobaccos, given by the Caribs to the pipe in which they
smoked the plant."
Others derive it from Tabasco, a province of Mexico; others from the
island of Tobago one of the Caribbees; and others from Tobasco in the
gulf of Florida.
Tomilson says:--
"The word tobacco appears to have been applied by the
caribbees to the pipe in which they smoked the herb while
the Spaniards distinguished the herb itself by that name.
The more probable derivation of the word is from a place
called Tobaco in Yucatan from which the herb was first sent
to 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. Domingo. It did not properly denote the herb, but the
tube through which the smoke was inhaled. It seems
surprising that a vegetable production so universally spread
should have different names among neighboring people. The
pete-ma of the Omaguas is, no doubt, the pety of the
Guaranos; but the analogy between the Cabre and Algonkin (or
Lenni-Lennope) words which denote tobacco may be merely
accidental. The following are the synonymes in five
languages: Aztec or Mexican, _yetl_; Huron, _oyngona_;
Peruvian, _sayri_; Brazil, _piecelt_; Moxo, _sabare_."
Roman Pane who accompanied Columbus on his second voyage alludes to
another method of using the herb.
They make a powder of the leaves,
which "they take through a cane half a cubit long; one end
of this they place in the nose, and the other upon the
powder, and so draw 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 have
been more violent and peculiar than upon Europeans since."
This may be accounted for from the fact of the imperfect method of
curing tobacco adopted by them and all of the natives up to the period
of the settlement of Virginia by the English. As nearly all of the
early voyagers allude to the plant and especially to its use it would
seem probable that it had been cultivated from time immemorial by all
the native people of the Orinoco; and at the period of the conquest
the habit of smoking was found to be alike spread over both North and
South America. The Tamanacs and the Maypures of Guiana wrap maize
leaves round their cigars as the Mexicans did at the time of the
arrival of Cortez. The Spaniards since have substituted paper for the
leaves of maize, in imitation of them.
"The poor Indians of the forests of the Orinoco know as well
as did the great nobles at the court of Montezuma, that the
smoke of tobacco is an excellent narcotic; and they use it
not only to procure their afternoon nap, but also to put
themselves in that state of quiescence which they call
dreaming with the eyes open or day dreaming."
[Illustration: Native smoking.]
Tobacco at this period was also rolled up in the leaves of the Palm
and smoked. Columbus found the natives of San Salvador smoking after
this manner. Lobel in his History of Plants[6] gives an engraving of
a native smoking one of these rolls or primitive cigars and speaks of
their general use by Captains of ships trading to the West Indies.
[Footnote 6: History of Plants, 1576.]
But not only was snuff taking and the use of tobacco rolls or cigars
noted by European voyagers, but the use of the pipe also in some parts
of America, seemed to be a common custom especially among the chiefs.
Be Bry in his History of Brazil (1590) describes its use and also some
interesting particulars concerning the plant. Their method of curing
the leaves was to air-dry them and then packing them until wanted for
use. In smoking he says:--
"When the leaves are well dried they place in the open part
of a pipe of which on burning, the smoke is inhaled into the
mouth by the more narrow part of the pipe, and so strongly
that it flows out of the mouth and nostrils, and by that
means effectually drives out humours."
Fairholt in alluding to the various uses of the herb among the Indians
says:--
"We can thus trace to South America, at the period when the
New World was first discovered, every mode of using the
tobacco plant which the Old World has indulged in ever
since."
This statement is not entirely correct--the mode of using tobacco in
Norway by plugging the nostrils with small pieces of tobacco seems to
have been unknown among the Indians of America as it is now with all
other nationalities, excepting the Norwegians.
When Cortez made conquest of Mexico in 1519 smoking seemed to be a
common as well as an ancient custom among the natives. Benzoni in his
History of the New World[7] describing his travels in America gives a
detailed account of the plant and their method of curing and using it.
In both North and South America the use of tobacco seemed to be
universal among all the tribes and beyond all question the custom of
using the herb had its origin among them. The traditions of the
Indians all confirm its ancient source; they considered the plant as a
gift from the Great Spirit for their comfort and enjoyment and one
which the Great Spirit also indulged in, consequently with them
smoking partook of the character of a moral if not a religious act.
The use of tobacco in sufficient quantities to produce intoxication
seemed to be a favorite remedy for most diseases among them and was
administered by their doctors or medicine-men in large quantities.
Benzoni gives an engraving of their mode of inhaling the smoke and
says of its use:--
[Footnote 7: From 1541 to 1556.]
"In La Espanola, when their doctors wanted to cure a sick
man, they went to the place where they were to administer
the smoke, and when he was thoroughly intoxicated by it, the
cure was mostly effected. On returning to his senses he told
a thousand stories of his having been at the council of the
gods, and other high visions."
It can hardly be supposed that while the custom of using tobacco among
the Indians in both North and South America was very general and the
mode of use the same, that the plant grown was of the same quality in
one part as in another. While the rude culture of the natives would
hardly tend to an improvement in quality; the climate being varied
would 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 began
in Virginia by the English colonists it had successful rivals in the
tobacco of the West Indies and South America. Robertson says:--
"Virginia tobacco was greatly inferior to that raised by the
Spaniards in the West Indies and which sold for six times as
much as Virginia tobacco."[8]
[Footnote 8: West India tobacco sold for 18 shillings
per pound and Virginia for 3 s.]
But not only has the name tobacco and the implements employed in its
use caused much discussion but also the origin of the plant.
Some writers affirm that it came from Asia and that it was first grown
in China having been used by the Chinese long before the narcotic
properties of opium were known. Tatham in his work on Tobacco says of
its origin in substantial agreement with La Bott:--
"It is generally understood that the tobacco plant of
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 of which we are
not informed, nor which ever can be farther elucidated than
by the corroboration of historical facts and conjectures. I
have been thirty years ago, and the greatest part of my time
during that period, intimately acquainted with the interior
parts of America; and have been much in the unsettled parts
of the country, among those kinds of soil which are
favorable to the cultivation of tobacco; but I do not
recollect one single instance where I have met with tobacco
growing wild in the woods, although I have often found a few
spontaneous plants about the arable and trodden grounds of
deserted habitations. This circumstance, as well as that of
its being now, and having been, cultivated by the natives at
the period of European discoveries, inclines towards a
supposition that this plant is not a native of North
America, but may possibly have found its way thither with
the earliest migrations from some distant land. This might,
indeed, have easily been the case from South America, by way
of the Isthmus of Panama; and the foundation of the Choctaw
and Chickasaw nations (who we have reasons to consider as
descendants from the Tloseolians, and to have migrated to
the eastward of the river Mississippi, about the time of the
Spanish conquest of Mexico by Cortez), seems to have
afforded one fair opportunity for its dissemination."
The first knowledge which the English discoverers had of the plant was
in 1565 when they found it growing in Florida, one hundred and
seventy-three years after it was first discovered by Columbus on the
island of Cuba. Sir John Hawkins says of its use in Florida:--
"The Floridians, when they travel, have a kind of herb
dried, which with a cane and an earthen cup in the end, with
fire and the dried herbs put together, do suke through the
cane the smoke thereof, which smoke satisfieth their hunger,
and therewith they live four or five dayes without meat or
drinke, and this all the Frenchmen used for this purpose:
yet do they holde opinion withall, that it causeth water and
steame to void from their stomacks."
This preparation might not have been tobacco as the Indians smoke a
kind of bark which they scrape from the killiconick, an aromatic
shrub, in form resembling the willow; they use also a preparation
made with this and sumach leaves, or sometimes with the latter mixed
with tobacco. Lionel Wafer in his travels upon the Isthmus of Darien
in 1699 saw the plant growing and cultivated by the natives. He
says:--
"These Indians have tobacco amongst them. It grows as the
tobacco in Virginia, but is not so strong, perhaps for want
of transplanting and manuring, which the Indians do not well
understand, for they only raise it from the seed in their
plantations. When it is dried and cured they strip it from
the stalks, and laying two or three leaves upon one another,
they roll up all together sideways into a long roll, yet
leaving a little hollow. Round this they roll other leaves
one after another, in the same manner, but close and hard,
till the roll be as big as one's wrist, and two or three
feet in length. Their way of smoking when they are in
company is thus: a boy lights one end of a roll and burns it
to a coal, wetting the part next it to keep it from wasting
too fast. The end so lighted he puts into his mouth, and
blows the smoke through the whole length of the roll into
the face of every one of the company or council, though
there be two or three hundred of them. Then they, sitting in
their usual posture upon forms, make with their hands held
together a kind of funnel round their mouths and noses. Into
this they receive the smoke as it is blown upon them,
snuffing it up greedily and strongly as long as ever they
are able to hold their breath, and seeming to bless
themselves, as it were, with the refreshment it gives them."
In the year 1534 James Cartier a Frenchman was commissioned to explore
the 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 herb
which they preserved in pouches made of skins and smoked in stone
pipes. It being offensive to the French, they took none of it with
them on their return. But writing more particularly concerning the
plant he says:--
"In Hochelaga, up the river in Canada there groweth a
certain kind of herb whereof in Summer they make a great
provision for all the year, making great account of it, and
only men use of it, and first they cause it to be dried in
the Sune, then wear it about their necks wrapped in a little
beast's skine made like a bagge, with a hollow piece of
stone or wood like a pipe, then when they please they make
powder of it, and then put it in one of the ends of the said
Cornet or pipe, and laying a cole of fire upon it, at the
other end and suck so long, that they fill their bodides
full of smoke, till that it commeth out of their mouth and
nostrils, even as out of the Tonnel of a chimney. They say
that this doth keepe them warme and in health, they never
goe without some of this about them."
Be Bry in his History of Brazil 1590 gives an engraving of a native
smoking 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 the
English in use among the Indians in Virginia.
[Illustration: Old engraving.]
An English writer says of the Tobacco using races:--
"From the evidence collected by travellers and
archæologists, as to the native arts and relics connected
with the use of Tobacco by the Red Indians, it would appear
that not one tribe has been found which was unacquainted
with the custom,[9] its use being as well known to the
tribes of the North-west and the denizens of the snowy wilds
of Canada, as to the races inhabiting Central America and
the West India Islands."
[Footnote 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."]
Father Francisco Creuxio states that the Jesuit missionaries found the
weed extensively used by the Indians of the Seventeenth Century. In
1629 he found the Hurons smoking the dried leaves and stalks of the
Tobacco plant or petune. Many tribes of Indians consider that Tobacco
is a gift bestowed by the Great Spirit as a means of enjoyment. In
consequence of this belief the pipe became sacred, and smoking became
a moral if not a religious act, amongst the North American Indians.
The Iroquois are of opinion that by burning Tobacco they could send up
their prayers to the Great Spirit with the ascending incense, thus
maintaining communication with the spirit world; and Dr. Daniel
Wilson suggests that
"the practice of smoking originated in the use of
the intoxicating fumes for purposes of divination, and other
superstitious rites."
When an Indian goes on an expedition, whether of peace or war, his
pipe is his constant companion; it is to him what salt is among Arabs:
the pledge of fidelity and the seal of treaties. In the words of a
_Review_:
"Tobacco supplies one of the few comforts by which men who
live by their hands, solace themselves under incessant
hardship."
While the presence, and use of tobacco by the natives of America are
among the most interesting features connected with its history, it can
hardly be more so than is its early cultivation by the Spaniards,
English and Dutch, and afterward by the French. The cultivation of the
plant began in the West India Islands and South America early in the
Sixteenth Century. In Cuba its culture commenced in 1580, and from
this and the other islands large quantities were shipped to Europe. It
was also cultivated near Varina in Columbia, while Amazonian tobacco
had acquired an enviable reputation as well as Varinian, long before
its cultivation began in Virginia by the English. At this period of
its culture in America the entire product was sent to Spain and
Portugal, and from thence to France and Great Britain and other
countries of Europe. The plant and its use attracted at once the
attention as well as aroused the cupidity of the Spaniards, who prized
it as one of their greatest discoveries.
As soon as Tobacco was introduced into Europe by the Spaniards, and
its use became a general custom, its sale increased as extensively as
its cultivation. At this period it brought enormous prices, the finest
selling at from fifteen to eighteen shillings per pound. Its
cultivation by the Spaniards in various portions of the New World
proved to them not only its real value as an article of commerce, but
also that several varieties of the plant existed; as on removal from
one island or province to another it changed in size and quality of
leaf. Varinas tobacco at this time was one of the finest tobaccos
known,[10] and large quantities were shipped to Spain and Portugal.
The early voyagers little dreamed, however, of the vast proportions to
be assumed by the trade in the plant which they had discovered, and
which in time proved a source of the greatest profit not only to the
European colonies, but to the dealers in the Old World.
[Footnote 10: Trinidad tobacco was then considered the
finest.]
Helps, treating on this same subject, says:
"It is interesting to observe the way in which a new product
is introduced to the notice of the Old World--a product that
was hereafter to become, not only an unfailing source of
pleasure to a large section of the whole part of mankind,
from the highest to the lowest, but was also to distinguish
itself as one of those commodities for revenue, which are
the delight of statesmen, the great financial resource of
modern nations, and which afford a means of indirect
taxation that has perhaps nourished many a war, and
prevented many a revolution. The importance, financially and
commercially speaking, of this discovery of tobacco--a
discovery which in the end proved more productive to the
Spanish crown than that of the gold mines of the Indies."
Spain and Portugal in all their colonies fostered and encouraged its
cultivation and then at once ranked as the best producers and dealers
in tobacco. The varieties grown by them in the West Indies and South
America were highly esteemed and commanded much higher prices than
that grown by the English and Dutch colonies. In 1620, however, the
Dutch merchants were the largest wholesale tobacconists in Europe, and
the people of Holland, generally, the greatest consumers of the weed.
The expedition of 1584, under the auspices of Sir Walter Raleigh,
which resulted in the discovery of Virginia, also introduced the
tobacco plant, among other novelties, to the attention of the English.
Hariot,[11] who sailed with this expedition, says of the plant:
[Footnote 11: A brief and true Report of the New Found
Land of Virginia (London, 1588).]
"There is an herb which is sowed apart by itselfe, and is
called by the inhabitants uppowoc. In the West Indies it
hath divers names, according to the severall places and
countries where it groweth and is used; the Spaniards
generally call it Tobacco. The leaves thereof being dried
and brought into powder, they use to take the fume or smoke
thereof by sucking it through pipes made of clay into their
stomacke and heade, from whence it purgeth superfluous
fleame and other grosse humors; openeth all the pores and
passages of the body; by which means the use thereof not
only preserveth the body from obstructions, but also if any
be so that they have not beene of too long continuance, in
short time breaketh them; whereby their bodies are notably
preserved in health, and know not many grievous diseases
wherewithall we in England are oftentimes affected. This
uppowoc is of so precious estimation amongest them that they
thinke their gods are marvellously delighted therewith;
whereupon sometime they make halowed fires, and cast some of
the powder therein for a sacrifise. Being in a storme uppon
the waters, to pacifie their gods, they cast some up into
the aire and into the water: so a weave for fish being newly
set up, they cast some therein and into the aire; also after
an escape of danger they cast some into the aire 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 and chattering
strange wordes, and noises.
"We ourselves during the time we were there used to suck it
after their manner, as also since our returne, and have
found many rare and wonderful experiments of the virtues
thereof; of which the relation would require a volume of
itselfe; the use of it by so manie of late, men and women,
of great calling as else, and some learned phisitions also
is sufficient witnes."
The natives also when Drake[12] landed in Virginia, "brought a little
basket made of rushes, and filled with an herbe which they called
Tobah;" they "came also the second time to us bringing with them as
before had been done, feathers and bags of Tobah for presents, or
rather indeed for sacrifices, upon this persuasion that we were gods."
[Footnote 12: The World Encompassed. London, 1628.]
William Strachey[13] says of tobacco and its cultivation by the
Indians:
[Footnote 13: "The Historie of Travaile into Virginia
Britannica."]
"Here is great store of tobacco, which the salvages call
apooke: howbeit it is not of the best kynd, it is but poor
and weake, and of a byting taste; it grows not fully a yard
above ground, bearing a little yellow flower like to
henbane; the leaves are short and thick, somewhat round at
the upper end; whereas the best tobacco of Trynidado and the
Oronoque, is large, sharpe, and growing two or three yardes
from the ground, bearing a flower of the breadth of our
bell-flower, in England; the salvages here dry the leaves of
this apooke over the fier, and sometymes in the sun, and
crumble yt into poudre, stalk, leaves, and all, taking the
same in pipes of earth, which very ingeniously they can
make."
[Illustration: The contrast.]
It would seem then, if the account given by Strachey be correct, that
the tobacco cultivated by the Indians of North America was of inferior
growth and quality to that grown in many portions of South America,
and more particularly in the West India islands. As there are still
many varieties of the plant grown in America, so there doubtless was
when cultivated by the Indians. While most probably the quality of
leaf remained the same from generation to generation, still in some
portions of America, owing more to the soil and climate than the mode
of cultivating by them, they cured very good tobacco. We can readily
see how this might have been, from numerous experiments made with both
American and European varieties. Nearly all of the early Spanish,
French and English voyagers who landed in America were attracted by
the beauty of the country. Ponce De Leon, who sailed from Spain to the
Floridas, was charmed by the plants and flowers, and doubtless the
first sight of them strengthened his belief in the existence somewhere
in this tropical region of the fountain of youth.
The discovery of tobacco proved of the greatest advantage to the
nations who fostered its growth,--and increased the commerce of both
England and Spain, doing much to make the latter what it once was, one
of the most powerful nations of Europe and possessor of the largest
and richest colonies, while it greatly helped the former, already
unsurpassed in intelligence and civilization, to reach its present
position at the commercial head of the nations of the world.
As Spain, however, has fallen from the high place she once held, her
colonial system has also gone down. And while England, thanks to her
more liberal policy, still retains a large share of the territory
which she possessed at first, Spain, which once held sway over a vast
portion of America, has been deprived of nearly all of her colonies,
and ere long may lose control of the island on which the discoverer of
America first saw the plant.[14]
[Footnote 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."]
It is an historical fact that wherever in the English and Spanish
colonies civilization has taken the deepest root, so has also the
plant which has become as famous as any of the great tropical products
of the earth. The relation existing between the balmy plant and the
commerce of the world is of the strongest kind. Fairholt has well
said, that "the revenue brought to our present Sovereign Lady from
this source alone is greater than that Queen Elizabeth received from
the entire customs of the country."
The narrow view of commercial policy held by her successors, the
Stuarts, induced them to hamper the colonists of America with
restrictions; because they were alarmed lest the ground should be
entirely devoted to tobacco. Had not this Indian plant been
discovered, the whole history of some portions of America would have
been far different. In the West Indies three great products--Coffee,
Sugar-Cane, and Tobacco,--have proved sources of the greatest
wealth--and wherever introduced, have developed to a great extent the
resources of the islands. Thus it may be seen that while the Spaniards
by the discovery and colonization of large portions of America
strengthened the currency of the world, the English alike, by the
cultivation of the plant, gave an impetus to commerce still felt and
continued throughout all parts of the globe.
An English writer has truthfully observed that "Tobacco is
like Elias' cloud, which was no bigger than a man's hand,
that hath suddenly covered the face of the earth; the low
countries, Germany, Poland, Arabia, Persia, Turkey, almost
all countries, drive a trade of it; and there is no
commodity that hath advanced so many from small fortunes to
gain great estates in the world. Sailors will be supplied
with it for their long voyages. Soldiers cannot (but) want
it when they keep guard all night, or upon other hard duties
in cold and tempestuous weather. Farmers, ploughmen, and
almost all labouring men, plead for it. If we reflect upon
our forefathers, and that within the time of less than one
hundred years, before the use of tobacco came to be known
amongst us, we cannot but wonder how they did to subsist
without it; for were the planting or traffick of tobacco now
hindered, millions of this nation in all probability must
perish for the want of food, their whole livelihood almost
depending upon it."
When first discovered in America, and particularly by the English in
Virginia, the plant was cultivated only by the females of the tribes,
the chiefs and warriors engaging only in the chase or following the
warpath. They cultivated a few plants around their wigwams, and cured
a few pounds for their own use. The smoke, as it ascended from their
pipes and circled around their rude huts and out into the air, seemed
typical of the race--the original cultivators and smokers of the
plant. But, unlike the great herb which they cherished and gave to
civilization, they have gradually grown weak in numbers and faded
away, while the great plant has gone on its way, ever assuming more
and more sway over the commercial and social world, until it now takes
high rank among the leading elements of mercantile and agricultural
greatness.
CHAPTER III.
TOBACCO IN AMERICA.
We do not find in any accounts of the English voyagers made previous
to 1584, any mention of the discovery of tobacco, or its use among the
Indians. This may appear a little strange, as Captains Amidas and
Barlow, who sailed from England under the auspices of Sir Walter
Raleigh in 1584, on returning from Virginia, had brought home with
them pearls and tobacco among other curiosities. But while we have no
account of those who returned from the voyage made in 1602 taking any
tobacco with them, it is altogether probable that those who remained
took a lively interest in the plant and the Indian mode of use; for we
find that in nine years after they landed at Jamestown tobacco had
become 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 much
commendations, which first took the pains to make triall
thereof, his name Mr. John Rolfe, Anno Domini 1612, partly
for the love he hath a long time borne unto it, and partly
to raise commodities to the adventurers, in whose behalfe I
intercede and vouchsafe to hold my testimony in beleefe that
during the time of his aboade there, which draweth neere
sixe years no man hath laboured to his power there, and
worthy incouragement unto England, by his letters than he
hath done, witness his marriage with Powhatan's daughter one
of rude education, manners barbarous, and cursed generation
merely for the good and honor of the plantation."
[Illustration: John Rolfe.]
The first general planting of tobacco by the colony began according to
this writer--
"at West and Sherley Hundred (seated on the north side of
the river, lower than the Bermudas three or four myles)
where are twenty-five commanded by capten Maddeson--who are
imployed onely in planting and curing tobacco."
This was in 1616, when the colony numbered only three hundred and
fifty-one persons. Rolfe, in his relation of the state of Virginia,
written and addressed to the King, gives the following description of
the condition of the colony in 1616:
"Now that your highness may with the more ease understand in
what condition the colony standeth, I have briefly sett
downe the manner of all men's several imployments, the
number of them, and the several places of their aboad, which
places or seates are all our owne ground, not so much by
conquest, which the Indians hold a just and lawfull title,
but purchased of them freely, and they verie willingly
selling it. The places which are now possessed and inhabited
are sixe:--Henrico and the lymitts, Bermuda Nether hundred,
West and Sherley hundred, James Towne, Kequoughtan, and
Dales-Gift. The generall mayne body of the planters are
divided into Officers, Laborers, Farmors.
"The officers have the charge and care as well over the
farmors as laborers generallie--that they watch and ward for
their preservacions; and that both the one and the other's
busines may be daily followed to the performance of those
imployments, which from the one are required, and the other
by covenant are bound unto. These officers are bound to
maintayne themselves and families with food and rayment by
their owne and their servant's industrie. The laborers are
of two sorts. Some employed onely in the generall works, who
are fedd and clothed out of the store--others, specially
artificers as smiths, carpenters, shoemakers, taylors,
tanners, &c., doe worke in their professions for the colony,
and maintayne themselves with food and apparrell, having
time lymitted them to till and manure their ground.
"The farmors live at most ease--yet by their good endeavors
bring yearlie much plentie to the plantation. They are bound
by covenant, both for themselves and servants, to maintaine
your Ma'ties right and title in that kingdom, against all
foreigne and domestique enemies. To watch and ward in the
townes where they are resident. To do thirty-one dayes
service for the colony, when they shalbe called
thereunto--yet not at all tymes, but when their owne busines
can best spare them. To maintayne themselves and families
with food and rayment--and every farmor to pay yearlie into
the magazine for himself and every man servant, two barrells
and a halfe of English measure.
"Thus briefly have I sett downe every man's particular
imployment and manner of living; albeit, lest the
people--who generallie are bent to covett after gaine,
especially having tasted of the sweete of their
labors--should spend too much of their tyme and labor in
planting tobacco, known to them to be verie vendible in
England, and so neglect their tillage of corne, and fall
into want thereof, it is provided for--by the providence
and care of Sir Thomas Dale--that no farmor or other, who
must maintayne themselves--shall plant any tobacco, unless
he shall yearely manure, set and maintayne for himself and
every man servant two acres of ground with corne, which
doing they may plant as much tobacco as they will, els all
their tobacco shalbe forfeite to the colony--by which meanes
the magazine shall yearely be sure to receave their rent of
corne; to maintayne those who are fedd thereout, being but a
few, and manie others, if need be; they themselves will be
well stored to keepe their families with overplus, and reape
tobacco enough to buy clothes and such other necessaries as
are needful for themselves and household. For an easie
laborer will keepe and tend two acres of corne, and cure a
good store of tobacco--being yet the principall commoditie
the colony for the present yieldeth.
"For which as for other commodities, the councell and
company for Virginia have already sent a ship thither,
furnished with all manner of clothing, household stuff and
such necessaries, to establish a magazine there, which the
people shall buy at easie rates for their commodities--they
selling them at such prices that the adventurers may be no
loosers. This magazine shalbe yearelie supplied to furnish
them, if they will endeavor, by their labor, to maintayne
it--which wilbe much beneficiall to the planters and
adventurers, by interchanging their commodities, and will
add much encouragement to them and others to preserve and
follow the action with a constant resolution to uphold the
same."
The colony at this time was engaged in planting corn and tobacco,
"making pitch and tarr, potashes, charcole, salt," and in fishing. Of
Jamestown he says:
"At James Toune (seated on the north side of the river, from
West and Sherley Hundred lower down about thirty-seven
miles) are fifty, under the command of lieutenant Sharpe, in
the absence of capten Francis West, Esq., brother to the
right ho'ble the L. Lawarre,--whereof thirty-one are
farmors; all theis maintayne themselves with food and
rayment. Mr. Richard Buck minister there--a verie good
preacher."
Rev. Hugh Jones "Chaplain to the Honourable Assembly, and lately
Minister of James-Towne and in Virginia," in a work entitled--"The
Present State of Virginia," gives the following account of the
cultivation of tobacco:
"When a tract of land is seated, they clear it by felling
the trees about a yard from the ground, lest they should
shoot again. What wood they have occasion for they carry
off, and burn the rest, or let it lie and rot upon the
ground. The land between the logs and stumps they hoe up,
planting tobacco there in the spring, inclosing it with a
slight fence of cleft rails. This will last for tobacco some
years, if the land be good; as it is where fine timber, or
grape vines grow. Land when hired is forced to bear tobacco
by penning their cattle upon it; but cowpen tobacco tastes
strong, and that planted in wet marshy land is called
nonburning tobacco, which smoaks in the pipe like leather,
unless it be of a good age. When land is tired of tobacco,
it will bear Indian Corn or English Wheat, or any other
European grain or seed with wonderful increase.
[Illustration: Virginia tobacco field, 1620.]
"Tobacco and Indian Corne are planted in hills as hops, and
secured by worm fences, which are made of rails supporting
one another very firmly in a particular manner. Tobacco
requires a great deal of skill and trouble in the right
management of it. They raise the plants in beds, as we do
Cabbage plants; which they transplant and replant upon
occasion after a shower of rain, which they call a season.
When it is grown up they top it, or nip off the head,
succour it, or cut off the ground leaves, weed it, hill it;
and when ripe, they cut it down about six or eight leaves on
a stalk, which they carry into airy tobacco houses, after it
is withered a little in the sun, there it is hung to dry on
sticks, as paper at the paper-mills; when it is in proper
case, (as they call it) and the air neither too moist, nor
too dry, they strike it, or take it down, then cover it up
in bulk, or a great heap, where it lies till they have
leisure or occasion to strip it (that is pull the leaves
from the stalk) or stem it (that is to take out the great
fibres) and tie it up in hands, or streight lay it; and so
by degrees prize or press it with proper engines into great
Hogsheads, containing from about six to eleven hundred
pounds; four of which Hogsheads make a tun by dimention, not
by weight; then it is ready for sale or shipping.
"There are two sorts of tobacco, viz., Oroonoko the
stronger, and sweet-scented the milder; the first with a
sharper leaf like a Fox's ear, and the other rounder and
with finer fibres: But each of these are varied into several
sorts, much as Apples and Pears are; and I have been
informed by the Indian traders, that the Inland Indians have
sorts of tobacco much differing from any planted or used by
the Europeans. The Indian Corn is planted in hills and
weeded much as tobacco. This grain is of great increase and
most general use; for with this is made good bread, cakes,
mush, and hommony for the negroes, which with good pork and
potatoes (red and white, very nice and different from ours)
with other roots and pulse, are their general food."
The cultivation of tobacco increased with the growth of the colony and
the increase of price which at this time was sufficient to induce most
of the planters to neglect the culture of Corn and Wheat, devoting
their time to growing their "darling tobacco." The first thirty years
after the colonization of Virginia by the English, the colony made but
little progress owing in part to private factions and Indian wars. The
horrid massacres by the Indians threatened the extermination of the
colony, and for a time the plantations were neglected and even tobacco
became more of an article of import than of export, which is
substantiated by an early writer of the colony who says:--"A vast
quantity of tobacco is consumed in the country in smoking, chewing,
and snuff." Frequent complaints were made by the colony of want of
strength and danger of imminent famine, owing in part to the presence
of a greater number of adventurers than of actual settlers,--such
being the case the resources of the country were in a measure limited.
The demand for tobacco in England increasing each year, together with
the high price paid for that from Virginia (3 s. per lb.), stimulated
the planters to hazard all their time and labor upon one crop,
neglecting the cultivation of the smaller grains, intent only upon
curing "a good store of tobacco." The company of adventurers at length
found it necessary to check the excessive planting of the weed, and by
the consent of the "Generall Assemblie" restraining the plantations to
"one hundred plants[15] ye headd, uppon each of wich plantes there are
to bee left butt onely nyne leaves wich portions as neare as could be
guessed, was generally conceaved would be agreable with the hundred
waight you have allowed."
[Footnote 15: Another account is sixty pounds per head.]
In 1639 the "Grand Assembly" (summoned the sixth of January) passed a
law restricting the growth of the colony to 1,500,000 lbs., and to
1,200,000 in the two years next ensuing. The exporting of the poorer
qualities of tobacco by the colony caused much dissatisfaction as will
be seen by a letter of the Company dated 11th September, 1621:
"We are assured from our Factor in Holland that except the
tobacco that shall next come thence prove to be of more
perfection and goodnesse than that was sent home last, there
is no hope that it vend att all, for albeit itt passed once
yett the wary buyer will not be againe taken, so that we
heartily wish that youe would make some provision for the
burninge of all base and rotten stuff, and not suffer any
but very good to be cured at least sent home, whereby these
would certainly be more advanced in the price upon lesse in
the quantity; howsoever we hope that no bad nor ill
conditioned tobacco shall be by compelling authoritie
(abusing its power given for public good to private benefit)
putt uppon or Factor, and very earnestly desire that he may
have the helpe of justice to constraine men to pay their
debts unto him both remaining of the last yeares accompt and
what shall this yearse growth deue, and that in Comodities
of the same vallew and goodness as shalbe by him contracted
for."
At this period it appears that tobacco was used as money, and as the
measure of price and value. The taxes whether public, county, or
parish, were payable in tobacco.
Tatham says, "Even the tavern keepers were compelled to exchange a
dinner for a few pounds of tobacco." The law for the regulation of
payments in tobacco was passed in the year 1640. From these facts and
incidents connected with the culture and commerce of the plant we see
how intimately it was connected with both Church and State. Jones well
said "the Establishment is indeed tobacco;" the salary of ministers
was payable in it according to the wealth of the parish. In most
parishes 16000 lbs. was the yearly amount,
"and in some 20,000 lbs. of
Tobacco; out of which there is a deduction for Cask,
prizing, collecting, and about which allowance there are
sometimes disputes, as are also differences often about the
place, time, and manner of delivering it; but all these
things might easily be regulated. Tobacco is more commonly
at 20 s. per cent. than at 10; so that certainly it will
bring 12 s. 8 d. a hundred, which will make 16000 (the least
salary) amount to 100£ per Ann. which it must certainly
clear, allowing for all petty charges, out of the lowness of
the price stated which is less than the medium between ten
and twenty shillings; whereas it might be stated above the
medium, since it is oftener at twenty than ten shillings.
Besides the payment of the salary, the surplice fees want a
better regulation in the payments; for though the allowance
be sufficient, yet differences often and illwill arise about
these fees, whether they are to be paid in money or tobacco,
and when; whereas by a small alteration and addition of a
few laws in these and the like respects, the clergy might
live more happy, peaceable, and better beloved; and the
people would be more easy, and pay never the more dues.
"Some parts of the country make but mean and poor tobacco so
that Clergymen don't care to live in such parishes; but
there the payment might be made in money, or in the produce
of those places, which might be equivalent to the tobacco
payments; better for the minister, and as pleasing to the
people."
We find further complaints from the London Company of the poor quality
of the tobacco "sent home," in a letter addressed to the Governor,
bearing date 10th June, 1622:--
"The tobacco sent home by the George for the company proved
very meane and is yett unsold although it hath been offered
at 3s. the pound. This we thought fitt to advise you
concerning the quantity and the manner how it is raised, in
both wich being done contrarie to their directors and
extreamly to theire prejudice, the Companie is very ill
sattisfied, will write by the next, more largely."
In the year 1620 the difficulties seem first to have been publicly
avowed, (though perhaps before felt,) arising from attaching men as
permanent settlers to the colony without an adequate supply of women,
to furnish the comforts of domestic life; and to overcome the
difficulty "a hundred young women" of agreeable persons and
respectable characters, were selected in England and sent out, at the
expense of the Company, as wives for the settlers. They were very
speedily appropriated by the young men of the colony, who paid for the
privilege of choice considerable sums as purchase money, which went to
replenish the treasury of the Company, from whence the cost of their
outfit and passage had been defrayed.
This speculation proved so advantageous to that body, in a pecuniary
sense, that it was soon followed up by sending out sixty more, for
whom larger prices were paid than for the first consignment; the
amount paid on the average for the first one hundred being 120 pounds
of tobacco apiece for each, then valued at 3s. per lb., and for the
second supply of sixty, the average price paid was 150 lbs. of
tobacco, this being the legal currency of the colony, and the standard
value by which all contracts, salaries, and prices were paid. In one
of the Companies letters dated in London this 12th of August, 1621, we
find this account of a portion of the _goods_ sent over in the ship
Marmaduke:--
"We send you in this ship one widdow and eleven maids for
wives for the people in Virginia; there hath been especiall
care had in the choise of them for their hath not any one of
them beene received but upon good comendations, as by a note
herewith sent you may perceive: we pray you all therefore in
generall to take them into your care, and most especially we
recommend them to you, Mr. Pountes, that at their first
landing they may be housed, lodged and provided for of diet
till they be marryed for such was the haste of sending them
away, as that straightned with time, we had no meanes to
putt provisions aboard, which defect shalbe supplied by the
magazine shipp; and in case they cannot be presently marryed
we desire they may be putt to several householders that have
wives till they can be provided of husbands. There are neare
fifty more which are shortly to come, we sent by our most
honoble Lord William the Earle of Southampton and certain
worthy gentlemen who taking into these considerations, that
the Plantation can never flourish till families be planted
and the respect of wives and children fix the people in the
soil; therefore have given this fair beginning for the
reimbursing of whose charges, itt is ordered that every man
that marries them give 120 lb. waight of best leafe tobacco
for each of them, and in case any of them dye that
proportion must be advanced to make it upp to those that
survive; and this certainly is sett down for that the price
sett upon the bages sent last yeare being 20 lb. which was
so much money out of purse here, there was returned 66 lb.
of tobacco only, and that of the worst and basest, so that
fraight and shrinkage reconed together with the baseness of
the comoditie there was not one half returned, which injury
the company is sensible of as they demand restitution, which
accordingly must be had of them that took uppon them the
dispose of them the rather that no man may mistake himself,
in accomptinge tobacco to be currant 3s. sterling contrary
to express orders.
"And though we are desirous that marriadge be free according
to the law of nature, yett undervow not to have these maids
deterred and married to servants, but only to such freemen
or tenants as have means to maintaine them; we pray you
therefore to be fathers to them in this business, not
enforcing them to marrie against their wills; neither send
we them to be servants, but in case of extremitie, for we
would have their condition so much better as multitudes may
be allured thereby to come unto you; and you may assure such
men as marry those women that the first servants sent over
by the company shall be consigned to them, it being our
intent to preserve families and proper married men before
single persons. The tobacco that shall be due uppon the
marriadge of these maids we desire Mr. Pountes to receive
and returne by the first, as also the little quantities of
Pitzarn Rock and Piece of Oare, the copie of whose bill is
here returned. To conclude, the company for some weighty
reasons too long to relate, have ordered that no man
marrying these women expect the proportion of land usually
allotted for each head, which to avoid clamor or other
trouble hereafter you shall do well to give them notice of."
[Illustration: Buying wives.]
In another letter written by the company and dated London, September
11th, 1621, they write:--
"By this Shipp and Pinace called the Tyger, we also send as
many maids and young women as will make up the number of
fifty, with those twelve formerly sent in the Marmaduke,
which we hope shalbe received with the same Christian pietie
and charitie as they were sent from hence; the providing for
them at their first landing and disposing of them in
marriage (which is our chief intent), we leave to your care
and wisdom, to take that order as may most conduce to their
good, and satisfaction of the Adventurers, for the charges
disbursed in setting them forth, which coming to twelve
pounds and upwards, they require one hundred and fiftie of
the best leafe tobacco for each of them; and if any of them
dye there must be a proportionable addition uppon the rest;
this increase of thirty pounds is weight since those sent in
the Marmaduke, they have resolved to make, finding the
great shrinkage and other losses uppon the tobacco from
Virginia will not leave lesse, which tobacco as it shalbe
received, we desire may be delivered to Mr. Ed. Blany, who
is to keep thereof a particular account. We have used
extraordinary care and dilligence in the choice of them, and
have received none of whom we have not had good testimony of
their honest life and cariadge, which together with their
names, we send them inclosed for the satisfaction of such as
shall marry them; for whose further encouragement we desire
you to give public notice that the next spring we purpose to
send over as many youths for apprentices to those that shall
now marry any of them and make us due satisfaction.
"This and theire owne good deserts together with your favor
and care, will we hope, marry them all unto honest and
sufficient men, whose means will reach to present repayment;
but if any of them shall unwarily or fondly bestow herself
(for the liberty of marriadge we dare not infrindge) uppon
such as shall not be able to give present sattisfaction, we
desire that at least as soon as ability shalbe, they be
compelled to pay the true quantity of tobacco proportioned,
and that this debt may have precedence of all other to be
recovered.
"For the rest, which we hope will not be many, we desire
your best furtherance for providing them fitting services
till they may happen uppon good matches, and are here
persuaded by many old planters that there will be good
maisters now found there, who will readily lay down what
charges shall be required, uppon assurance of repayment at
their marriadges, which as just and reasonable we desire may
be given them. But this and many other things in this
business we must refer to your good considerations and
fruitful endeavors in opening a work begun here out of pity,
and tending so much to the benefitt of the plantation, shall
not miscarry for any want of good will or care on your
part."
In 1622 a monopoly of the importation of tobacco was granted to the
Virginia and Somers Island, companies.
"But now at last it hath pleased God for the confirmation no
doubt of our hopes and redoubling of our and your courage,
to incline His Majestie's Royall heart to grant the sole
importation of Tobacco (a thing long and earnestly desired),
to the Virginia and Somers Island Companies, and that upon
such conditions as the private profit of each man is likely
to be much improved and the general state of the plantation
strongly secured, while his Majestie's revenue is so closely
joyned as together with the colonie it must rise and faile,
grow and impair, and that not a small matter neither, but of
twenty thousand pounds per annum, (for the offer of so much
in certainty hath his majestie been pleased to refuse in
favor of the Plantations)."
On Friday the 22d of March 1622 the Indians attacked the plantations
"and attempted in most places under the color of unsuspected
amytie, and by surprise to have cut us all off and to have
swept us all away at once throughout the whole lande had itt
not pleased God of his abundant mercy to prevent them in
many places, for which we can never sufficient magnifie his
blessed, name."
But notwithstanding this terrible massacre in which nearly four
hundred persons were slain the colony increased in wealth and numbers
as plantations were laid out and the colonists developed the various
resources of the country. From the first planting of tobacco in
Virginia by the colony it seemed to meet the royal displeasure of King
James the First who falsely and frivolously sought to establish a
connection between the balmy plant, and the influences of the Evil
One.
In 1622 King James still opposing the cultivation of tobacco sought by
every means in his power to discourage its growth and culture. He
urged the growing of mulberry trees and the propagation of silk worms,
as being of more value than tobacco. In a letter dated 10th June 1622,
addressed to the Governor and Council of Virginia by the London
Company we find this reproof for neglecting the cultivation of
"mulberrie trees":
"His Ma{tie} (Majesty) above all things requires from us a
proof of silke; sharply reproving the neglect thereof,
wherefore we pray you lett that little stock you have be
carefully improved, the mulberrie trees preserved and
increased, and all other fitt preparations made for, God
willing before Christmas you shall receive from us one
hundred ounces of Silkworme seed at least, which coming too
late from Valentia we have been forced to hatch it here."
In 1623 a letter was prepared for the colony by order of privy council
of the king and addressed to Sir Francis Wyatt Knight and Captain
General of Virginia and to the rest of the Council of State in which
the colony is admonished to pay more attention to "Staple
Commodities." That part relating to it reads:
"The carefull and diligent prosecution of Staple Commodities
which we promist; we above all things pray you to performe
so as we may have speedily the real proof of your cares and
endeavors therein, especially in that of Iron, of Vines and
Silk the neglect and delay whereof so long is to us here
cause of infinit grief and discontent, especially in regard
of his Majesties just resentment therein that his Royall
grace and love to the Plantation, which after so long a time
and long a supply of his Majesties favor hath brought forth
no better fruit than Tobacco.
"Yett by the goodness of God inclyning his princely heart,
we have received not only from the Lords of his Privy
Counsell, but from his Royal mouth such assurance not only
of his tender love and care but also of his Royal intentions
for the advancement of the Plantation; that we cannot but
exceedingly rejoice therein and persuade you with much more
comfort and encouragement to go on in the building up of his
Royal worke with all sincerity, care and diligence, and that
with that perfect love and union amongst yourselves as may
really demonstrate that your intentions are all one, the
advancement of God's glorie and the service of his Royall
Majestie: for the particularities of his Majesties gratious
intentions for the future good, you may in part understand
them by the courses appointed by the Lords, whereof we here
inclosed send the orders.
"And we are further to signifie unto you that the Lords of
his Majesties Privy Counsell, having by his Majesties order
taken into their considerations the contract made last
Sommer by the Company have dissolved the same; and signified
that his Majestie out of his gracious and Royall intention
and princely favor to the Plantation hath resolved to grant
a sole Importion of Tobacco to the two Plantations, with an
exception only of 40,000 weight of ye best Spanish Tobacco
to be yearly brought in.
"And it hath also pleased his Majesty in favor of the
Plantation to reduce ye custom and importing of tobacco to
9d. per pound: And last of all we are to signifie unto you
that their Lordships have ordered that all the Tobacco shall
be brought in from both Plantations as by their Lordship
order whereof we send you a copy, you may perceive."
In 1624 King James prohibited the importation of foreign tobacco as
well as the planting of tobacco in England or Ireland. The following
is a portion of the proclamation:--
"Whereas our commons, in their last sessions of parliament
became humble petitioners to us, that, for many weighty
reasons, much concerning the interest of our kingdom, and
the trade thereof, we would by our royal power utterly
prohibit the use of all foreign tobacco, which is not of the
growth of our own dominions: And whereas we have upon all
occasions made known our dislike we have ever had of the use
of tobacco in general, as tending to the corruption both of
the health and manners of our people.
"Nevertheless because we have been often and earnestly
importuned by many of our loving subjects, planters, and
adventurers in Virginia and the Somer isles; that, as those
colonies are yet but in their infancy, and cannot be brought
to maturity, unless we be pleased, for a time, to tolerate
unto them the planting and vending of their own growth; we
have condescended to their desires: and do therefore hereby
strictly prohibit the importation of any tobacco from beyond
sea, or from Scotland, into England or Ireland other than
from our colonies before named; moreover we strictly
prohibit the planting of any tobacco either in England or
Ireland."
Thus King James by Proclamation and Prohibition set his face sternly
against the growth and traffic in the plant, which opposition knew no
alteration and continued till his death, which occurred in 1625. James
was succeeded by his son Charles I. On ascending the throne Charles
manifested the same hostility towards the plant which his father had.
He prohibited the importation of all tobacco excepting that grown by
the colony, and throughout his reign made no change in the restrictive
laws against its growth and sale. He continued its sale, however, as a
kingly monopoly, allowing only those to engage in it who paid him for
the privilege. The Company had now raised a capital of two hundred
thousand pounds, but falling into dispute and disagreeing one with
another, Charles thought best to establish a royal government.
Accordingly he dissolved the Company in 1626,
"reducing the Country
and Government into his own immediate ordering all patents
and processes to issue in his own name, reserving to himself
a quit-rent of two shillings for every hundred acres of
land."
The first act was by proclamation as follows:--
"That whereas, in his royal father's time, the charter of
the Virginia Company was by a quo warranto annulled; and
whereas his said father was, and he himself also is, of
opinion, that the government of that Colony by a company
incorporated, consisting of a multitude of persons of
various dispositions, amongst whom affairs of the greatest
moment are ruled by a majority of votes, was not so proper,
for carrying on, prosperously, the affairs of the colony;
wherefore, to reduce the government thereof to such a course
as might best agree with that form which was held in his
royal monarchy; and considering also, that we hold those
territories of Virginia and Somer isles, as also that of New
England, lately planted, with the limits thereof, to be a
part of our royal empire; we ordain that the government of
Virginia shall immediately depend on ourself, and not be
committed to any company or corporation, to whom it may be
proper to trust matters of trade and commerce, but cannot be
fit to commit the ordering of state affairs.
"Wherefore our commissioners for those affairs shall proceed
as directed, till we establish a council here for that
colony; to be subordinate to our council here for that
colony. And at our charge we will maintain those public
officers and ministers and that strength of men, munition,
and fortification, which shall be necessary for the defence
of that plantation. And we will also settle and assure the
particular rights and interests of every planter and
adventurer. Lastly, whereas the tobacco of those plantations
(the only present means of their subsisting) cannot be
managed for the good of the plantations, unless it be
brought into one hand, whereby the foreign tobacco of those
plantations may yield a certain and ready price to the
owners thereof: to avoid all differences between the
planters and adventurers themselves, we resolve to take the
same into our own hands, and to give such prices for the
same as may give reasonable satisfaction, whereof we will
determine at better leisure."
From this time forward the Plantation seemed to prosper, Charles
granted lands to all the planters and adventurers who would till them,
upon paying the annual sum of two shillings payable to the crown for
each hundred acres. Before the death of King James, however, the
cultivation of tobacco had become so extensive that every other
product seemed of but little value in comparison with it, and the
price realized from its sale being so much greater than that obtained
for "Corne," the latter was neglected and its culture almost entirely
abandoned.
Arthur and Carpenter, in their History of Virginia, give a graphic and
truthful picture of its cultivation during the reign of King James:--
"The first articles of commerce to the production of which
the early settlers almost exclusively devoted themselves,
were potash, soap, glass and tar. Distance, however, and a
want of the proper facilities to enable them to manufacture
cheaply, rendered the cost of these commodities so great,
that exports of a similar character from Russia and Sweden
were still enabled to maintain their old ascendency in the
markets of Europe. After many fruitless and costly
experiments in the cultivation of the vine, the growing
demand for tobacco enabled the planters to turn their labor
into a profitable channel. As the demand increased the
profits became correspondingly great, and every other
species of labor was abandoned for the cultivation of
tobacco.
"The houses were neglected, the palisades suffered to rot
down, the fields, gardens and public squares, even the very
streets of Jamestown were planted with tobacco. The
townspeople, more greedy of gain than mindful of their own
security, scattered abroad into the wilderness, where they
broke up small pieces of rich ground and made their crop
regardless of their proximity to the Indians, in whose good
faith so little reliance could be placed."
During the reign of Charles I. many families of respectable connection
joined the colony, and from this time forward the colony increased in
wealth as well as numbers. King Charles, to use the language of
another, had now commenced "as a tobacco merchant and monopolist," and
in 1627 issued a proclamation renewing his already strong monopoly
more effectually, by appointing certain officers of London
"to seize
all foreign tobacco, not of the growth of Virginia or
Bermudas, for his benefit, agreeable to a former commission:
also to buy up for his use all the tobacco coming from our
said plantations, and to sell the same again for his
benefit."
[Illustration: Growing tobacco in the streets.]
Again in 1630 King Charles issued another proclamation, and among
other restrictions limited the importation of it from the colony.
Quickly following this the King issued in 1632 another proclamation
regulating the retailing of tobacco. In 1634 he also prohibited the
landing of tobacco any where except at the quay near the custom house
in London.
In 1636 Charles appointed Sir John Harvey to be continued governor of
the Plantation. In 1643 parliament laid a tax for the year 1644,
calling it Excise, and also laid a duty of four shillings per pound on
foreign, and two shillings per pound on English tobacco. From what has
already been written, it will be seen that both King James and his son
Charles I. enacted the most stringent laws against its importation,
nearly suppressing the trade, which caused the English farmers to
cultivate it for home use; but another law was now added to suppress
its growth on English soil.
Fairholt in speaking of the hostility of King James to the plant says:
"When Kings make unnecessary and unjust laws, subjects
naturally study how to evade them: it is a mere system of
self-defence; and as James nearly suppressed the importation
of tobacco the English began to grow it on their own land.
But the Scottish Solomon who was on the alert, added another
law restraining its cultivation 'to misuse and misemploy the
soil of this fruitful Kingdom.' As this enforced the trade
with the English colony of Virginia alone, it was soon found
that Spanish and Portuguese tobacco might be brought into
port on the payment of the old duty of twopence a pound;
thus a large trade was carried on with their planters to the
injury of the British colonists.
"Its use increased in spite of all legislative laws and
enactments and James ended by prohibiting any person from
dealing in the article who did not hold his letters patent.
By this means the trade was monopolized, the consumers
oppressed, importation diminished, and the London Company of
Virginia traders ultimately ruined. Those who are fond of
excusing the evil acts of one of the worst of English Kings,
pretend to see James' care for his subjects' health and
wealth in these restrictions, totally regardless of the fact
that James cared for neither when the monopoly brought large
sums into his own pocket."
In 1632 Charles I. granted to Sir George Calvert (who about this time
was made Lord Baltimore) the territory now known as Maryland; soon
after receiving the grant he died, when his son took the grant in his
own name. The next year he sailed from England with two hundred
persons and settled in his new possessions. The colony from the first,
prospered far better than the colony of Virginia and soon laid the
foundation of a strong and substantial government. Like the Virginians
they soon engaged in the cultivation of tobacco which seemed as well
adapted to the soil as the other products, corn and English wheat. The
Indians were found here as in the Plantation of Virginia planting
tobacco as they did Indian corn and cultivating little patches of it
near their wigwams choosing the most fertile soil the females of the
tribe being the actual cultivators.
[Illustration: Natives growing tobacco.]
From this time forward both colonies developed into strong and
flourishing plantations and with each succeeding year increased the
cultivation of tobacco which had now become more extensively
cultivated than all the other products combined. Its culture however
was looked upon with the same disapproval by Charles II. who confirmed
the old laws against its sale and cultivation. But notwithstanding the
remonstrances of the Stuarts the plant grew in use and favor and could
not be uprooted even by a kingly hand. The early cultivators of the
plant received a fresh impetus from the importation of a new species
of labor in the form of Negro slaves brought from the West India
islands. They arrived in the Ship Treasurer "being manned by the best
men of the colony who set out on roving in ye Spanish dominions in the
West Indies" and after a successful cruise against the Spaniards
returned with their spoils including a certain number of Negroes.
Rolfe in alluding to the importation of Negroes says:
"About the last of August came in, a Dutch man-of-warre that
sold us twenty negars."
Most writers are of the opinion that this was in 1620, one of whom
says "in the same year that the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, slaves
landed in Virginia." Another writer says of the introduction of slave
labor into the Plantations,
"Is there not a probability that the
vessel was under control of Argall, if not the ship
Treasurer? If twenty negroes came in 1619, as alleged, their
increase was very slow, for according to a census of 16th of
February, 1624, there were but twenty-two then in the
colony, distributed as follows: eleven at Flourdiew Hundred,
three at James City, one at James Island, one at the
plantation opposite James City, four at Warisquoyok, and two
at Elizabeth City."
About the same time that "negars" landed in the colony, commenced the
arrival of starving boys and girls picked up out of the streets of
London. The "negars" are described as follows by an early writer of
the colony.
"The negroes live in small cottages called quarters, in
about six in a gang, under the direction or an overseer or
baliff; who takes care that they tend such land as the owner
allots and orders, upon which they raise Hogs and Cattle,
plant Indian Corn (or maize) and Tobacco for the use of
their Master; out of which the overseer has a dividend (or
share) in proportion to the number of hands including
himself; this with several privileges in his salary, and is
an ample recompense for his pains, and encouragement of his
industrious care, as to the labor, health, and provision of
the negroes. The negroes are very numerous, some gentlemen
having hundreds of them of all sorts, to whom they bring
great profit; for the sake of which they are obliged to keep
them well, and not overwork, starve, or famish them, besides
other inducements to favor them, which is done in a great
degree, to such especially that are laborious, careful, and
honest; though indeed some Masters, careless of their own
interest and reputation, are too cruel and negligent.
"The negroes are not only increased by fresh supplies from
Africa and the West India Islands, but also are very
prolific among themselves; and they that are born there talk
good English, and effect our language, habits, and customs;
and tho' they be naturally of a barbarous and cruel temper,
yet are they kept under by severe discipline upon occasion,
and by good laws are prevented from running away, injuring
the English or neglecting their business. Their work (or
chimerical hard slavery) is not very laborious; their
greatest hardship consisting in that they and their
posterity are not at their own liberty or disposal, but are
the property of their owners; and when they are free they
know not how to provide so well for themselves generally;
neither did they live so plentifully nor (many of them) so
easily in their own country where they are made slaves to
one another, or taken captive by their enemies. Their work
is to take care of the stock, and plant Corn, Tobacco,
Fruits and which is not harder than thrashing, hedging, or
ditching; besides, though they are out in the violent heat,
wherein they delight, yet in wet or cold weather there is
little occasion for their working in the fields, in which
few will let them be abroad, lest by this means they might
get sick or die, which would prove a great loss to their
owners, a good Negroe being sometimes worth three (nay four)
score pounds sterling, if he be a tradesmen; so that upon
this (if upon no other account) they are obliged not to
overwork them, but to clooth and feed them sufficiently, and
take care of their health."
The planters, supplied with greater facilities for the work, now
increased the size of their tobacco plantations, "taking up new
ground" (clearing the land) and planting a much larger area. The first
exportation of the colony's tobacco was brought into competition with
that of much finer flavor, which had acquired an established
reputation long before the English began the culture of the plant in
the New World. The Spanish, Dutch and Portuguese had long monopolized
its culture and trade, and brought from St. Domingo, Jamaica, St.
Thomas, the Philippine Islands, West Florida, and various parts of
South America, several varieties of tobacco of excellent quality, and
which sold at an exorbitant price. On testing the tobacco grown by the
London and Plymouth companies it was found to be sweet and mild in
flavor, of a light color, and well adapted for smoking. On its first
introduction into England it sold for 3s. per pound, but as its
culture increased the price lessened, until it was sold at one-half
this amount.
[Illustration: Destroying suckers.]
The planters, who at first cultivated small patches, now planted large
fields of tobacco, and such was the greed for gain that some planters
gathered a second crop upon the same field from the suckers left
growing upon the parent stalk. Tatham[16] says in regard to it:--
[Footnote 16: Essay on Tobacco, London, 1800.]
"It has been customary in former ages to rear an inferior
plant from the sucker which projects from the root after the
cutting of an early plant; and thus a second crop has often
been obtained from the same field by one and the same course
of culture; and although this scion is of a sufficient
quality for smoking, and might become preferred in the
weaker kinds of snuff, it has been (I think very properly)
thought eligible to prefer a prohibitory law, to a risk of
imposition by means of similitude. The practice of
cultivating suckers is on these accounts not only
discountenanced as fraudulent, but the constables are
strictly enjoyned _ex officio_ to make diligent search, and
to employ the _posse commitatus_ in destroying such crops; a
law indeed for which, to the credit of the Virginians, there
is seldom occasion; yet some few instances have occurred,
within my day, where the constables have very honorably
carried it into execution in a manner truly exemplary, and
productive of public good."
Fairholt says of the same subject:--
"It was sometimes the custom with planters to reset the
suckers, and thus grow a double crop on one field, such
conduct was disallowed; for the reason that the crop was
inferior, and the more honest grower, who conscientiously
cleared his plants, and gave them abundance of room to grow,
was dishonestly competed with; and the first rate character
of the Virginian crop prejudiced by the action."
Fairholt makes a mistake in speaking of the planter as re-setting the
suckers, and his statement shows him to be entirely unacquainted with
the habits of the plant. As soon as the plants are harvested, the
stump of the plant remaining in the ground puts forth one or more
vigorous suckers or shoots, which often in a good season grow almost
as high as the parent stalk. In some tobacco-growing sections one or
two crops of suckers are gathered besides the first crop.
The Creole planters in Louisiana are said to grow three crops in this
manner, the first or parent crop and two growths of suckers. The
quality of leaf, however, is greatly inferior, as it is small and thin
and lacking in all the qualities necessary for a fine leaf. The
planters now adopted new methods of culture, and cultivated several
species of the plant known as Oronoko and little Frederick, although
they did not fertilize the fields, even when the soil became
impoverished, but simply took new fields for its culture.
Hugh Jones says of the kinds of tobacco grown in Virginia:--
"The land between the James and York rivers seemes nicely
adapted for sweet scented tobacco; for 'tis observed that
the goodness decreaseth the farther you go to the northward
of the one, and the southward of the other; but this may be
(I believe) attributed in some measure to the seed and
management, as well as to the land and latitude: For on York
river in a small tract of land called Diggens neck, which is
poorer than a great deal of other land in the same latitude,
by a particular seed and management, is made the famous crop
known by the name of E Dees, remarkable for its mild taste
and fine smell." He speaks of the planters and their
plantations as follows:--"Neither the interests nor
inclinations of the Virginians induces them to cohabit in
towns: so that they are not forward in contributing their
assistance towards the making of particular places, every
plantation affording the owner the provision of a little
market; wherefore they most commonly build upon some
convenient spot or neck of land in their own plantation,
though towns are laid out and established in each county.
"The whole country is a perfect forest, except where the
woods are cleared for plantations, and old fields, and where
have been formerly Indian towns, and poisoned fields and
meadows, where the timber has been burnt down in fire
hunting and otherwise; and about the creeks and rivers are
large rank morasses or marshes, and up the country are poor
savannahs. The gentlemen's seats are of late built for the
most part of good brick, and many of timber very handsome,
commodious, and capacious; and likewise the common planters
live in pretty timber houses, neater than the farm houses
are generally in England: With timber also are built houses
for the overseers and out-houses; among which is the kitchen
apart from the dwelling house, because of the smell of hot
victuals, offensive in hot weather.
"The habits, life, customs, computations of the Virginians,
are much the same as about London, which they esteem their
home; and for the most part have contemptible notions of
England, and wrong sentiments of Bristol, and the other
out-posts, which they entertain from seeing and hearing the
common dealers, sailors, and servants that come from those
towns, and the country places in England and Scotland, whose
language and manners are strange to them; for the planters
and even the native negroes generally talk good English
without idiom and tone, and can discourse handsomely upon
most common subjects: and conversing with persons belonging
to trade and navigation from London, for the most part they
are much civilized, and wear the best of clothes according
to their station; nay, sometimes too good for their
circumstances, being for the generality, comely handsome
persons of good features and fine complexions (if they take
care) of good manners and address.
"They are not very easily persuaded to the improvement of
useful inventions (except a few, such as sawing mills)
neither are they great encouragers of manufactures, because
of the trouble and certain expense in attempts of this kind,
with uncertain prospect of gain; whereas by their staple
commodity, tobacco, they are certain to get a plentiful
provision; nay, often very great estates. Upon this account
they think it folly to take off their hands (or negroes) and
employ their care and time about anything that may make
them lessen their crop of tobacco. So that though they are
apt to learn, yet they are fond of and will follow their own
ways, humors and notions, being not easily brought to new
projects and schemes; so that I question if they would have
been improved upon by the Mississippi or South sea, or any
other such monstrous bubbles. The common planters leading
easy lives without much labor, or any manly exercise, except
horse-racing, nor diversion, except cock-fighting, in which
some greatly delight.
"This easy way of living, and the heat of the summer, makes
some very lazy, who are then said to be climate-struck. They
are such lovers of riding, that almost every ordinary person
keeps a horse; and I have known some spend the morning in
ranging several miles in the woods to find and catch their
horses to ride only two or three miles to the Church, to the
Court-House or to a Horse-Race, where they generally appoint
to meet upon business; and are more certain of finding those
that they want to speak or deal with, than at their home. No
people can entertain their friends with better cheer and
welcome; and stranger and traveler is here treated in the
most free, plentiful, and hospitable manner; so that a few
Inns or Ordinaries on the road are sufficient."
This is no doubt a correct picture of the early planters of Virginia.
Many of them became the owners of large plantations and all those who
were successful growers of tobacco became wealthy in proportion to the
quality of leaf produced.
The merchants, factors or store-keepers bought up the tobacco of the
planters paying in goods or "current Spanish money, or with sterling
bills payable in Great Britain." At first the cultivation of tobacco
by the colony was confined to Jamestown and the immediate vicinity,
but as the colony increased and the country became more densely
populated, plantations were laid out in the various counties and a
large quantity was produced some ways from the great center Jamestown;
accordingly various methods were adopted to get the tobacco to market,
some of which was sent by boats or canoes down the rivers, while some
was conveyed in carts and wagons while another method was by rolling
in hoops.
Tatham in his interesting work on tobacco, gives the following
description of the method:
"I believe rolling tobacco the distance of many hundred
miles, is a mode of conveyance peculiar to Virginia; and for
which the early population of that country deserve a very
handsome credit. Necessity (that very prolific mother of
invention), first suggested the idea of rolling by hand;
time and experience have led to the introduction of horses,
and have ripened human skill, in this kind of carriage, to a
decree of perfection which merits the adoption of the mother
country, but which will be better explained under the next
head of this subject.
[Illustration: Carrying tobacco to market.]
"The hogsheads, which are designed to be rolled in common
hoops, are made closer in the joints than if they were
intended for the wagon; and are plentifully hooped with
strong hickory hoops (which is the toughest kind of wood),
with the bark upon them, which remains for some distance a
protection against the stones. Two hickory saplings are
affixed to the hogshead, for shafts by boring an auger-hole
through them to receive the gudgeons or pivots, in the
manner of a field rolling-stone; and these receive pins of
wood, square tapered points, which are admitted through
square mortises made central in the heading, and driven a
considerable depth into the solid tobacco. Upon the hind
part of these shafts, between the horses and the hogshead, a
few light planks are nailed, and a kind of little cart body
is constructed of a sufficient size to contain a bag or two
of provender and provision, together with an axe, and such
other tools as may be needed upon the road, in case of
accident. In this manner they set out to the inspection in
companies, very often joining society with the wagons, and
always pursuing the same method of encamping."
The methods of making the plant bed, cultivating and harvesting, by
the early planters may be interesting to all growers of the plant and
are here described as showing the progress made in cutting tobacco
from that time until now.
"In spring red seed, in preference to the white, is put into
a clean pot; milk or stale beer is poured upon it, and it is
left for two or three days in this state; it is then mixed
with a quantity of fine fat earth, and set aside in a hot
chamber, till the seeds begin to put out shoots. They are
then sown in a hot-bed. When the young plants have grown to
a finger's length, they are taken up between the fifteenth
and twenty-second of May, and planted in ground that has
been previously well manured with the dung of doves or
swine. They are placed at square distances of one and a
half-foot from one another. In dry weather, they are now to
be watered with lukewarm water softly showered upon them,
between sunset and twilight. When these plants are full two
feet high, the top of the stems are broken off, to make the
leaves grow thicker and broader. Here and there are left a
few plants without having their tops broken off, in order
that they may afford seeds for another year. Throughout the
summer the other plants are from time to time, pruned at the
top, and the whole field is carefully weeded to make the
growth of the leaf so much the more vigorous.
"In the month of September, from the sixteenth day, and
between the hours of ten in the morning and four in the
afternoon, the best leaves are to be taken off. It is more
advantageous to pluck the leaves when they are dry than when
they are moist. When plucked they are to be immediately
brought home, and hung upon cords within the house to dry,
in as full exposure as is possible to the influence of the
sun and air; but so as to receive no rain. In this exposure
they remain till the months of March and April following;
when they are to be put up in bundles, and conveyed to the
store-house, in which they may be kept, that they may be
there till more perfectly dried by a moderate heat. Within
eight days they must be removed to a different place, where
they are to be sparingly sprinkled with salt water, and left
till the leaves shall be no longer warm to the feeling of
the hand. A barrel of water with six handfuls of salt are
the proportions. After all this the tobacco leaves may be
laid aside for commercial exportation. They will remain
fresh for three years."
[Illustration: Enriching plant-bed.]
In Maryland they formerly prepared the land for a plant-bed by burning
upon it a great quantity of brush-wood, afterwards raking the surface
fine; the seed was then sowed broadcast. The young plants were kept
free from weeds, and were transplanted when about two inches high. The
cultivation of tobacco gradually spread from one State to another.
From Virginia it was introduced into North Carolina and Maryland and
finally Kentucky which is now the largest producing tobacco State in
the Union. The demand for Virginia tobacco continued to increase and
long before the Revolutionary war, Virginia exported annually
thousands of hogsheads of leaf tobacco. Half a century ago the plant
began to be cultivated in Ohio and from the first grew remarkably
well, producing a leaf adapted for both cutting and cigar purposes.
Tobacco was planted in New Netherland (New York) by the early Dutch
settlers and in 1638 "had become a staple production." In 1639 "from
Virginia numbers of persons whose terms of service had expired, were
attracted to Manhattan, where they introduced improved modes of
cultivating tobacco." Van Twiller was himself a grower of the plant
and had his tobacco farm at Greenwich. Soon after its cultivation
began it was subjected to Excise; and regulations were published to
check the abuses which injured "the high name" it had gained in
foreign countries.[17]
[Footnote 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."]
Wailes says of the early cultivation of tobacco in Mississippi:
"When the country came under the dominion of Spain, a market
was opened in New Orleans; a trade in tobacco was
established, and a fixed and remunerating price was paid for
it, delivered at the king's warehouses. Tobacco thus became
the first marketable staple production of Mississippi."[18]
[Footnote 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."]
An English writer has the following account of the culture of tobacco
in Louisiana by the French:
"Tobacco is another plant indigenous to this part of
America; the French colonists cultivated it with such
success that had they received any encouragement from their
government they might soon have rivalled Virginia and
Maryland; but instead of this they were taxed heavily for
cultivating it, by duties laid on the trade; what they
produced was of so excellent a quality, as to sell some at
five shillings a pound. There is one advantage in this
culture here which ought not to be forgotten; in Louisiana
the French planters after the tobacco is cut, weeded and
cleaned the ground on which it grew the roots, push forth
fresh shoots, which are managed in the same manner as the
first crop. By this means a second crop is made on the same
ground, and sometimes a third. These seconds indeed, as they
are called, do not usually grow so high as the first plant,
but notwithstanding they make very good tobacco."
During the reign of the Stuarts, the plant was first cultivated in New
England but only in small quantities[19] and used solely for smoking.
About 1835 the plant received more attention from the farmers living
in the Connecticut valley containing some of the finest tobacco land
in the country. They found by repeated trials that the soil was well
adapted to the production of a finer leaf tobacco than any they had
ever seen. At this time Kentucky and Havana tobacco were used in the
manufacture of cigars, but on testing American tobacco or as it is now
known "Connecticut seed leaf" it was found to make the finest wrappers
yet produced, and consequently the best looking cigars. From that time
its reputation has kept pace with its cultivation, until it now enjoys
a world wide popularity. As a wrapping tobacco it towers far above the
seed products of other states and can never have a successful
competitor in the other varieties now cultivated in the Middle and
Western States. Doubtless America furnishes the finest varieties of
the plant now cultivated, suited for all kinds of manufacturing, and
adapted to all the various forms in which it is used.
[Footnote 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.]
The great diversity of soil and climate renders this probable while
actual experiments and improved methods of culture have demonstrated
it to a certainty. Thousands of hogsheads, cases, and bales are
annually shipped to all parts of the world and the demand for American
tobacco is greater than for the varieties grown in the Old World. More
than two hundred and fifty years have passed since the London and
Plymouth Companies began its cultivation in the Old Dominion, and on
the same soil where the red man grew his "uppowac." Virginia leaf
still continues to flourish, and to-day it is the great agricultural
product of the State.
From a small beginning, like the plant itself it has developed into a
great and increasing industry and its culture become a source of
wealth unprecedented in agricultural history. Could the sapient James
I. and his successors the Stuarts, now look upon this cherished
production of the world, they would discover a commercial prosperity
connected with those nations which have fostered and encouraged its
growth far in advance of those who have frowned upon the plant and
prohibited or hindered its cultivation. Saint Pierre alluding to the
beneficence of nature and of the folly and cruelty of man as
contrasted says:
"When the princes of Europe went Gospel in hand, to lay
waste Asia, they brought back the plague, the leprosy and
the small-pox, but nature showed to a Dervish the coffee
tree in the mountains of Yemen, and at the moment when
nature brought curses on us through the Crusaders, it
brought delights to us through the cup of a Mohammedan Monk.
The descendants of those princes took possession of America,
and transmitted to us by this conquest, an inexhaustible
succession of wars and maladies. While they were
exterminating the inhabitants of America with cannon, a
Carib invited sailors to smoke his Calumet as a signal of
peace. The perfume of the tobacco vanquished their torments
and their troubles, and the use of tobacco was spread all
over the earth. While the afflictions of the two worlds came
from artillery, which kings call their last resort, the
consolations of civilized nations flowed from the pipe of a
savage."
[Illustration: Shipping tobacco.]
It seems hardly possible to draw a more graphic picture of the
blessings diffused by the balmy plant, than that just given. Its
peculiar charms and soothing influence are well calculated to
inspire in the breast of man, feelings of peace and happiness, rather
than elements of discord and strife. The pipe of a king burns not more
freely the shreds of the plant, than it does the last remnant of
hostile feelings and the recollections of bitter wrongs; while the
snuff-box of the diplomat contains the precious dust that has soothed
the fierce hatred of rival houses and cemented the divided factions of
a tottering throne.
CHAPTER IV.
TOBACCO IN EUROPE.
The discovery of the tobacco plant in America by European voyagers
aroused their cupidity no less than their curiosity. They saw in its
use by the Indians a custom which, if engrafted upon the civilization
of the Old World, would prove a source of revenue commensurate with
their wildest visions of power and wealth. This was particularly the
case with the Spanish and Portuguese conquerors, whose thirst for gold
was gratified by its discovery. The finding by the Spaniards of gold,
silver, and the balmy plant, and by the Portuguese of valuable and
glittering gems, opened up to Spain and Portugal three great sources
of wealth and power. But while the Spaniards were the first
discoverers of the plant there seems to be conflicting opinions as to
which nation first began its culture, and whether the plant was
cultivated first in the Old World or in the New. Humboldt says:--
"It was neither from Virginia nor from South America, but
from the Mexican province of Yucatan that Europe received
the first tobacco seeds about the year 1559.[20] The
Spaniards became acquainted with tobacco in the West India
Islands at the end of the 15th Century, and the cultivation
of Tobacco preceded the cultivation of the potato in Europe
more than one hundred and twenty years. When Sir Walter
Raleigh brought tobacco from Virginia to England in 1586,
whole fields of it were already cultivated in Portugal.[21]
It was also previously known in France."
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 21: Spain began its culture in Mexico on the
coast of Caracas at the islands of St. Domingo and
Trinidad, and particularly in Louisiana.]
Another author says of its introduction into Europe:--
"The seeds of the tobacco plant were first brought to Europe
by Gonzalo Hernandez de Oviedo, who introduced it into
Spain, where it was first cultivated as an ornamental plant,
till Monardes[22] extolled it as possessed of medicinal
virtues."[23]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 23: Monardes wrote upon it only from the small
account he had of it from the Brazilians.]
Murray says of the first cultivation of tobacco and potatoes in the
Old World:--
"Amidst the numerous remarkable productions ushered into the
Old Continent from the New World, there are two which stand
pre-eminently conspicuous from their general adoption.
Unlike in their nature, both have been received as extensive
blessings--the one by its nutritive powers tends to support,
the other by its narcotic virtues to soothe and comfort the
human frame--the potato and tobacco; but very different was
the favor with which these plants were viewed. The one long
rejected, by the slow operation of time, and, perhaps, of
necessity, was at length cherished, and has become the
support of millions, but nearly one hundred and twenty years
passed away before even a trial of its merits was attempted;
whereas, the tobacco from Yucatan, in less than seventy
years after the discovery, appears to have been extensively
cultivated in Portugal, and is, perhaps, the most generally
adopted superfluous vegetable product known; for sugar and
opium are not in such common use. The potato by the starch
satisfies the hunger; the tobacco by its morphia calms its
turbulence of the mind. The former becomes a necessity
required, the latter a gratification sought for."
It would appear then that the year 1559 was about the period of the
introduction of tobacco into Europe. Phillip II. of Spain sent Oviedo
to visit Mexico and note its productions and resources; returning he
presented "His Most Catholic Majesty" with the seeds of the plant. In
the following year it was introduced into France and Italy. It was
first brought to France by Jean Nicot of Nismes in Languedoc, who was
sent as ambassador to Sebastian, King of Portugal, and who obtained
while at Lisbon some tobacco seed from a Dutch merchant who had
brought it from Florida.[24] Nicot returned to France in 1561, and
presented the Queen, Catherine de Medicis, with a few leaves of the
plant.[25]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 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."]
As the history of Nicot is so intimately connected with that of the
plant, a short sketch of this original importer will doubtless be
interesting to all lovers of the weed:--
"John Nicot, Sieur de Villemain, was born at Nismes in 1530,
and died at Paris in 1600. He was the son of a notary at
Nismes, and started in life with a good education, but with
no fortune. Finding that his native town offered no suitable
or sufficient field for his energies, he went to Paris and
strove hard to extend his studies as a scholar and his
connections as an adventurer. He made the acquaintance of
some courtiers, who felt or affected an interest in learning
and in learned men. His manners were insinuating; his
character was pliable. When presented at court he succeeded
in gaining the esteem and confidence of Henry II., the
husband of Catherine de Medicis. Francis II., the son of
Henry II., and the first husband of Mary Stuart, continued
to Nicot the favor of which Henry II. had deemed him worthy,
and sent him in 1560 as ambassador to Sebastian, King of
Portugal. He was successful in his mission. But it was
neither his talents as a diplomatist, nor his remarkable
mind, nor his solid erudition, which made Nicot immortal. It
was by popularizing tobacco in France that he gained a
lasting fame.
"It is said that it was at Lisbon that Nicot became
acquainted with the extraordinary properties of tobacco. But
it is likewise stated with quite as much confidence, that a
Flemish merchant, who had just returned from America,
offered Nicot at Bordeaux, where they met, some seeds of the
tobacco, telling him of their value. The seeds Nicot sent to
Catherine de Medicis, and on arriving in Paris he gave her
some leaves of tobacco. Hence, when tobacco began to creep
into use in France it was called Queen's Herb or Medicean
Herb.[26] The cultivation of tobacco, except as a fancy
plant, did not begin in France till 1626; and John Nicot
could have had no presentiment of the agricultural,
commercial, financial and social importance which tobacco
was ultimately to assume. Nicot published two works. The
first was an edition of the History of France or of the
Franks, in Latin, written by a Monk called Aimonious, who
lived in the tenth century. The second was a 'Treasury of
the French Language, Ancient and Modern.'"
[Footnote 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._]
Stevens and Liebault in the "Country Farm"[27] give the following
account of its early introduction into France and the wonderful cures
produced by its use:
[Footnote 27: London 1606.]
"Nicotiana though it have (has) beene but a while knowne in
France yet it holdeth the first and principall place amongst
Physicke herbs, by reason of his singular and almost diuine
(divine) vertues, such as you shall heare of hereafter,
whereof (because none either of the old or new writers that
have written of the nature of plants, have said anything), I
am willing to lay open the whole history, as I have come by
it through a deere friend of mine, the first author,
inventor, and bringer of this herb into France: as also of
many both Spaniards, Portugals, and others which have
travelled into Florida, a country of the Indians, from
whence this herbe came, to put the same in writing to
relieve such griefe and travell, as have heard of this
herbe, but neither know it nor the properties thereof. This
herbe is called Nicotiana of the name of an ambassador which
brought the first knowledge of it into this realme, in like
manner as many plants do as yet retaine the names of
certaine Greekes and Romans, who being strangers in divers
countries, for their common-wealth's service, have from
thence indowed their own countree with many plants, whereof
there was no knowledge before. Some call it the herbe of
Queen mother, because the said ambassador Lord Nicot did
first send the same unto the Queen mother,[28] (as you shall
understand by and by) and for being afterwards by her given
to divers others to plant and make to grow in this country.
Others call it by the name of the herbe of the great Prior,
because the said Lord a while after sailing into these
western seas, and happening to lodge neere unto the said
Lord ambassador of Lisbone, gathered divers plants thereof
out of his garden, and set them to increase here in France,
and there in greater quantitie, and with more care than any
other besides him, he did so highly esteeme thereof for the
exceeding good qualities sake.
[Footnote 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.]
"The Spaniards call it Tobaco, it were better to call it
Nicotiana, after the name of the Lord who first sent it into
France, to the end that we may give him the honor which he
hath deserved of us, for having furnished our land with so
rare and singular an herbe: and thus much for the name, now
listen unto the whole historie: Master John Nicot, one of
the king's counsell, being ambassador for his Maiestie
(Majesty) in the realme of Portiugall, in the yeere of our
Lord God, 1559. 60. and 61. went on a day to see the
monuments and northie places of the said king of Portiugall:
at which time a gentleman keeper of the said monuments
presented him with this herbe as a strange plant brought
from Florida. The nobleman Sir Nicot having procured it to
growe in his garden, where it had put forth and multiplied
very greatly, was aduertifed (notified) on a daie by one of
his pages, that a yoong boie kinsman of the said page, had
laide (for triall sake) the said herbe, pressed, the
substance and juice and altogether, upon an ulcer which he
had upon his cheeke, neere unto his nose, next neighbor to a
_Noli me tangere_, (a cancer) as having already seazed upon
the cartilages, and that by the use thereof it was become
marvellous well: upon this occasion the nobleman Nicot
called the boie to him, and making him to continue the
applying of this herbe for eight or ten days, the _Noli me
tangere_ became thoroughly kild: nowe they had sent
oftetimes unto one of the king's most famous phisitions, the
said boie during the time of this worke and operation to
make and see the proceeding and working of the said
Nicotiana, and having in charge to do the same until the end
of ten days, the said phisition then beholding him, assured
him that the _Noli me tangere_ was dead, as indeed the boie
never felt anything of it at any time afterward.
"Some certain time after, one of the cooks of the said
ambassador having almost all his thombe (thumb) cut off from
his hand, with a great kitchin knife, the steward running
unto the said Nicotiana, made to him use of it five or six
dressings, by the ende of which the wounde was healed. From
this time forward this herbe began to become famous in
Lisbon, where the king of Portiugal's court was at that
time, and the vertues thereof much spoken of, and the common
people began to call it the ambassador's herbe. Now upon
this occasion there came certain days after, a gentleman
from the fields being father unto one of the pages of the
said Lord ambassador, who was troubled with an ulcer in his
legge of two years continuance, and craved of the said Lord
some of his herbe, and using it in manner afore mentioned,
he was healed by the end of ten or twelve daies. After this
yet the herbe grewe still in greater reputation, inasmuch as
that many hasted out of all corners to get some of this
herbe. And among the rest, there was one woman which had a
great ring worme, covering all her face like a mask, and
having taken deepe roote, to whom the said Lord caused this
Petum to be given, and withall the manner of using it to be
told her, and at the end of eight or ten daies, this woman
being thoroughly cured, came to shewe herself unto the said
Lord, and how that she was cured. There came likewise a
captain bringing with him his son diseased with the king's
evill, unto the said Lord Ambassador, for to send him into
France, upon whom there was some triall made of the said
herbe, whereupon within four daies he began to show great
signs and tokens of healing, and in the end was thoroughly
cured of his king's evil."
Italy received the first plant from Santa Croce,[29] who, like Nicot,
obtained the seed in Lisbon. In 1575 first appeared a figure of the
plant in Andre Theret's "Cosmographie," which was but an imperfect
representation of the plant. It was supposed by many on its discovery
to grow like the engraving given--in form resembling a tree or shrub
rather than an herb. Tobacco was first brought to England by Sir John
Hawkins, who obtained the plant in Florida in 1565, and afterwards by
Sir Francis Drake.[30] The first planters of it in England were said
to be Captain Grenfield and Sir Francis Drake. One account of its
introduction into England is as follows:
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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).]
"The plant was first used by Sir Walter Raleigh and others,
who had acquired a taste for it in Virginia.[31] Among the
natives the usual mode employed in smoking the plant was by
means of hollow canes, and pipes made of wood and decorated
with copper and green stones. To deprive it of its acidity,
some of the natives were wont to pass the smoke through
bulbs containing water, in which aromatic and medicinal
herbs had been infused."
[Footnote 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."]
[Illustration: Old engraving of tobacco.]
Neander ascribes this invention to the Persians; but Magnenus rather
attributes it to the Dutch and English, to the latter of whom attaches
the credit of having invented the clay pipes of modern times. Some
writers have concluded that the plant served as a narcotic in some
parts of Asia. Liebault thinks it was known in Europe[32] many years
before the discovery of the New World, and asserts that the plant had
been found in the Ardennes. Magnenus, however, claims its origin as
transatlantic and affirms as his belief that the winds had doubtless
carried the seeds from one continent to the other. Pallos says that
among the Chinese, and among the Mongol tribes who had the most
intercourse with them, the custom of smoking is so general, so
frequent, and has become so indispensable a luxury; the tobacco purse
affixed to their belt so necessary an article of dress; the form of
the pipes, from which the Dutch seem to have taken the model of
theirs, so original; and, finally, the preparation of the leaves so
peculiar, that they could not possibly derive all this from America by
way of Europe, especially as India, where the practice of smoking is
not so general, intervenes between Persia and China. Meyen also states
that the consumption of tobacco in the Chinese empire is of immense
extent, and the practice seems to be of great antiquity, "for on very
old sculptures I have observed the very same tobacco pipes which are
still used." Besides, we now know that the plant which furnishes the
Chinese tobacco is even said to grow wild in the East Indies.
[Footnote 32: James the First also inclines to this
belief, declaring tobacco to be "a common herb which
(though under divers names) grows almost everywhere."]
"Tobacco," says Loudon, "was introduced into the county of
Cork, with the potatoe, by Sir Walter Raleigh." A quaint
writer of this period says of the plant: "Tobacco, that
excellent plant, the use whereof (as of fifth element) the
world cannot want, is that little shop of Nature, wherein
her whole workmanship is abridged; where you may see earth
kindled into fire, the fire breathe out an exhalation, which
entering in at the mouth walks through the regions of a
man's brain, drives out all ill vapors but itself, draws
down all bad humors by the mouth, which in time might breed
a scab over the whole body, if already they have not; a
plant of singular use; for, on the one side Nature being an
enemy to vacuity and emptiness and on the other, there being
so many empty brains in the world as there are, how shall
Nature's course be continued? How shall those empty brains
be filled but with air, Nature's immediate instrument to
that purpose? If with air, what so proper as your fume; what
fume so healthful as your perfume, what perfume so sovereign
as tobacco. Besides the excellent edge it gives a man's wit,
as they but judge that have been present at a feast of
tobacco, where commonly all good wits are consoled; what
variety of discourse it begets, what sparks of wit it
yields?"[33]
[Footnote 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."]
The name of Sir Walter is intimately connected with the history of
tobacco, and is associated with many of the brilliant exploits and
explorations during the reign of the illustrious Elizabeth.[34] His
name has come down to us as being that of the first smoker of tobacco
in England,[35] and many amusing anecdotes are told of him and the new
custom which he introduced and sanctioned. Dixon has given us the
following vivid picture of the great Elizabethan navigator:
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 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."]
"In a pleasant room of Durham House, in the Strand,--a room
overhanging a lovely garden, with the river, the old bridge,
the towers of Lambeth Palace, and the flags of Paris Garden
and the Globe in view,--three men may have often met and
smoked a pipe in the days of Good Queen Bess, who are dear
to all readers of English blood; because, in the first
place, they were the highest types of our race in genius and
in daring; in the second place because the work of their
hands has shaped the whole after-life of their countrymen in
every sphere of enterprise and thought. That splendid Durham
House, in which the nine-days queen had been married to
Guilford Dudley, and which had afterwards been the
town-house of Elizabeth, belonged to Sir Walter Raleigh, by
whom it was held on leave from the queen. Raleigh, a friend
of William Shakespeare and the players, was also a friend of
Francis Bacon and the philosophers. Raleigh is said to have
founded the Mermaid Club; and it is certain that he numbered
friends among the poets and players. The proofs of his
having known Shakespeare, though indirect, are strong. Of
his long intercourse with Bacon every one is aware. Thus it
requires no effort of the fancy to picture these three men
as lounging in a window of Durham House, puffing the new
Indian weed from silver bowls, discussing the highest themes
in poetry and science, while gazing on the flower-beds and
the river, the darting barges of dames and cavalier, and the
distant pavilions of Paris Garden and the Globe."
Its use by so distinguished a person as Raleigh was equivalent to its
general introduction.[36] Aubrey says:
[Footnote 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!]
"He was the first that brought tobacco into England, and
into fashion. In our part--Malmsbury Hundred--it came first
into fashion by Sir Walter Long. They had first silver
pipes. The ordinary sort made use of a walnut shell and a
strawe. I have heard my grandfather Lyte say that one pipe
was handed from man to man round the table. Sir Walter
Raleigh standing in a stand at Sir Ro. Poyntz parke at Acton
tooke a pipe of tobacco, which made the ladies quitte it
till he had donne."
[Illustration: Sir Walter Raleigh.]
A writer has truthfully said in regard to associating the name and use
of the plant with the primitive users of it.
"The ambitious sought fame by associating themselves with
the introduction of the plant and its cultivation; hence we
find it named after cardinals, legates, and embassadors,
while in compliment to Catherine, wife of Henry the Second,
it was called the Queen's herb."
Kings now rushed into the tobacco trade. Those of Spain took the lead,
and became the largest manufacturers of snuff and cigars in
Christendom, and the royal workshops of Seville are still the most
extensive in Europe. Other monarchs monopolized the business in their
dominions, and all began to reap enormous profits from it, as most do
at this day. In the year 1615 tobacco was first planted in Holland;
and in Switzerland in 1686. As soon as its cultivation became general
in Spain and Portugal the tobacco trade was "farmed out," bringing an
enormous revenue to those kingdoms. About the beginning of the
Seventeenth Century the Portuguese introduced into Hindostan and
Persia[37] two things, pine-apples and tobacco. To the pine-apples no
objection seems to have been made; but to the tobacco the most
strenuous resistance was offered by the sovereigns of the two
countries. Spite, however, of punishments and prohibitions the use of
tobacco spread with the rapidity of lightning.
[Footnote 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.]
In England, tobacco taking soon became a favorite custom not only with
the loiterers about taverns and other public places, but among the
courtiers of Elizabeth. Smoking was called drinking tobacco, as the
fashionable method was to "put it through the nose" or exhale it
through the nostrils. At this period tobacco seemed to have nearly the
same effect as it did upon the Indian, producing a sort of
intoxication; thus in "The Perfuming of Tobacco" (1611) it is said:
"The smoke of tobacco drunke or drawen by a pipe, filleth
the membranes of the braine, and astonisheth and filleth
many persons with such joy and pleasure, and sweet losse of
senses, that they can by no means be without it."
The term "drinking tobacco" was not confined to England, but was used
in Holland, France, Spain and Portugal, as the same method of blowing
the smoke through the nostrils, seemed to be everywhere in vogue.
The use of tobacco increased very rapidly soon after its importation
from Virginia. The Spaniards and Portuguese had hitherto monopolized
the trade, so that it brought enormous prices, some kinds selling for
its weight in silver. As soon as its culture commenced in Virginia the
demand for West India tobacco lessened and Virginia leaf soon came
into favor, owing not more to the lowering of price than to the
quality of the leaf.[38] This was about 1620, which some writers have
called the golden age of tobacco. It had now become a prime favorite
and was used by nearly all classes. Poets and dramatists sung its
praises, while others wrote of its wonderful medicinal qualities.[39]
Fops and knaves alike indulged in its use.
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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."]
"About the latter end of the sixteenth century, tobacco was
in great vogue in London, with wits and 'gallants,' as the
dandies of that age were called. To wear a pair of velvet
breeches, with panes or slashes of silk, an enormous
starched ruff, a gilt handled sword, and a Spanish dagger;
to play at cards or dice in the chambers of the
groom-porter, and smoke tobacco in the tilt-yard or at the
play-house, were then the grand characteristics of a man of
fashion. Tobacconists' shops were then common; and as the
article, which appears to have been sold at a high price,
was indispensable to the gay 'man about town,' he generally
endeavored to keep his credit good with his
tobacco-merchant. Poets and pamphleteers laughed at the
custom, though generally they seem to have no particular
aversion to an occasional treat to a sober pipe and a poute
of sack. Your men of war, who had served in the Low
Countries, and who taught young gallants the noble art of
fencing, were particularly fond of tobacco; and your
gentlemen adventurers, who had served in a buccaneering
expedition against the Spaniards, were no less partial to
it. Sailors--from the captain to the ship-boy--all affected
to smoke, as if the practice was necessary to their
character; and to 'take tobacco' and wear a silver whistle,
like a modern boatswain's mate, was the pride of a
man-of-war's man.
"Ben Jonson, of all our early dramatic writers, most
frequently alludes to the practice of smoking. In his play
of 'Every Man in his Humour,' first acted in 1598, Captain
Bobadil thus extols in his own peculiar vein the virtues of
tobacco; while Cob, the water carrier, with about equal
truth, relates some startling instances of its pernicious
effects.
"'_Bobadil._ Body o' me, here's the remainder of seven pound
since yesterday was seven-night! 'Tis your right Trinadado!
Did you never take any, Master Stephen?
"'_Stephen._ No, truly, Sir; but I'll learn to take it since
you commend it so.
"'_Bobadil._ Sir, believe me upon my relation,--for what I
tell you the world shall not reprove. I have been in the
Indies where this herb grows, where neither myself, nor a
dozen gentlemen more of my knowledge, have received the
taste of any other nutriment in the world, for the space of
one and twenty weeks, but the fume of this simple only.
Therefore, it cannot be but 'tis most divine. Further, take
it, in the true kind, so, it makes an antidote, that had you
taken the most deadly poisonous plant in all Italy, it
should expel it and clarify you with as much ease as I
speak. And for your greenwound, your balsamum, and your St.
John's-wort, are all mere gulleries and trash to it,
especially your Trinidado: your Nicotian is good too. I
could say what I know of it for the expulsion of rheums, raw
humours, crudities, obstructions, with a thousand of this
kind, but I profess myself no quack-salver: only thus much,
by Hercules; I do hold it, and will affirm it before any
prince in Europe, to be the most sovereign and precious weed
that ever the earth tendered to the use of man.'
_Cob._ "'By gad's me, I mar'l what pleasure or felicity they
have in taking this roguish tobacco! It's good for nothing
but to choke a man and fill him full of smoke and embers.
There were four died out of one house last week with taking
of it, and two more the bell went for yesternight; one of
them, they say, will ne'er 'scape it: he voided a bushel of
soot yesterday, upward and downward. By the stocks! an'
there were no wiser men than I, I'd have it present
whipping, man or woman that should but deal with a
tobacco-pipe; why, it will stifle them all in the end, as
many as use it; it's little better than rats-bane or
rosaker.'"[40]
[Footnote 40: A preparation of arsenic.]
From the first announcement that English navigators had discovered
tobacco in Virginia, until the London and Plymouth companies sailed
for the New World, the deepest interest was taken in the voyagers.
Drayton, the poet, wrote of "The Virginian Voyage," while Chapman and
other dramatists wrote plays in which allusions were made to Virginia.
In the "Mask of Flowers," performed at White Hall upon Twelfth Night,
1613-14, one of the characters challenges another, and asserts that
wine is more worthy than tobacco. The costumes were exceedingly
grotesque and suggestive of the New rather than of the Old World.
Kawosha one of the principal characters rode in, wearing on his head a
cap of red-cloth of gold, from his ears were pendants, a glass chain
was about his neck, his body and legs were covered with olive-colored
stuff, in his hands were a bow and arrows, and the bases of
tobacco--colored stuff cut like tobacco leaves. The play abounds with
allusions to the "Indian weed."
"_Silenus._--Kawosha comes in majestie,
Was never such a God as he;
He's come from a far countrie
To make our nose a chimney.
_Kawosha._--The wine takes the contrary way
To get into the hood;
But good tobacco makes no stay
But seizeth where it should.
More incense hath burned at
Great Kawoshae's foote
Than to Silen and Bacchus, both,
And take in Jove to boote.
_Silenus._--The worthies they were nine tis true,
And lately Arthur's knights I knew;
But now are come up Worthies new,
The roaring boys Kawoshae's crew.
_Kawosha._--Silenus toppes the barrel, but
Tobacco toppes the braine
And makes the vapors fire and soote,
That mon revise againe.
Nothing but fumigation
Doth charm away ill sprites,
Kawosha and his nation
Found out these holy rites."
The writers of this period abound in allusions to tobacco and its use.
The poets and dramatists found in it a fertile field for the display
of their satire, and from 1600 to 1650 stage plays introduced many
characters as either tobacco drinkers or sellers. It had now become
so great a custom and had increased so fast after the importation of
Virginia tobacco that it afforded them no insignificant theme for the
display of their genius.[41] The plays of Jonson, Decker, Rowland,
Heywood, Middleton, Fields, Fletcher, Hutton, Lodge, Sharpham,
Marston, Lilly (court poet to Elizabeth), the Duke of Newcastle and
others are full of allusions to the plant and those who indulged in
its use. Shakespeare,[42] however, does not once allude to its use,
and his silence on this then curious custom has provoked much
conjecture and inquiry. Some affirm that he wrote to please royalty,
but if so why did he not condemn the custom to appease the wrath of a
sapient king. Others say he kept silence because he was the friend of
Raleigh, and though he would have gladly held up the great smoker and
his favorite indulgence, feared to add to the popularity of the custom
by displeasing his royal master. Another class affirm that as the
stories of his plays are all antecedent to his own time, therefore he
never mentions either the drinking of tobacco, or the tumultuous
scenes of the ordinary which belonged to it, and which are so
constantly met with in his contemporary dramatists. Says one:
[Footnote 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._]
[Footnote 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.]
"How is it that our great dramatist never once makes even
the slightest allusion to smoking? Who can suggest a reason?
Our great poet knew the human heart too well, and kept too
steadily in view, the universal nature of man to be afraid
of painting the external trapping and ephemeral customs of
his own time. Does he not delight to moralize on false hair,
masks, rapiers, pomandens, perfumes, dice, bowls,
fardingales, etc? Did he not sketch for us, with enjoyment
and with satire, too, the fantastic fops, the pompous
stewards, the mischievous pages, the quarrelsome revellers,
the testy gaolers, the rhapsodizing lovers, the sly cheats,
and the ruffling courtiers that filled the streets of
Elizabethan London, persons who could have been found
nowhere else nor in any other age? No one can dispute that
he drew the life that he saw moving around him. He sketched
these creatures because they were before his eyes and were
his enemies or his associates; they live still because their
creator's genius was Promethean, and endowed them with
immortality. Bardolph, Moth, Slender, Abhorson, Don Armado,
Mercutio, etc., are portraits, as everyone knows and feels
who is conversant with the manners of the Elizabethan times
as handed down in old plays.
"If Shakespeare's contemporaries were silent about the then
new fashion of smoking, we should not so much wonder at
Shakespeare's taciturnity. But Decker's and Ben Jonson's
works abound in allusions to tobacco, its uses and abuses.
The humorist and satirist lost no opportunity of deriding
the new fashion and its followers. The tobacco merchant was
an important person in London of James the First's
time--with his Winchester pipes, his maple cutting-blocks,
his juniper-wood charcoal fires, and his silver tongs with
which to hand the hot charcoal to his customers, although he
was shrewdly suspected of adulterating the precious weed
with sack lees and oil. It was his custom to wash the
tobacco in muscadel and grains, and to keep it moist by
wrapping it in greased leather, and oiled rags, or by
burying it in gravel. The Elizabethan pipes were so small
that now when they are dug up in Ireland the poor call them
'fairy pipes' from their tininess. These pipes became known
by the nickname of 'the woodcock's heads.' The apothecaries,
who sold the best tobacco, became masters of the art, and
received pupils, whom they taught to exhale the smoke in
little globes, rings, or the 'Euripus.' 'The slights' these
tricks were called. Ben Jonson facetiously makes these
professors boast of being able to take three whiffs, then to
take horse, and evolve the smoke--one whiff on Hounslow, a
second at Staines, and a third at Bagshot.
"The ordinary gallant, like Mercutio, would smoke while the
dinner was serving up. Those who were rich and foolish
carried with them smoking apparatus of gold or
silver--tobacco-box, snuff-ladle, tongs to take up charcoal,
and priming irons. There seems, from Decker's "Gull's
Horn-Book," to have been smoking clubs, or tobacco
ordinaries as they were called, where the entire talk was of
the best shops for buying Trinidado, the Nicotine, the Cane,
and the Pudding, whose pipe had the best bore, which would
turn blackest, and which would break in the browning. At the
theatres, the rakes and spendthrifts who, crowded the stage
of Shakespeare's time sat on low stools smoking; they sat
with their three sorts of tobacco beside them, and handed
each other lights on the points of their swords, sending out
their pages for more Trinidado if they required it. Many
gallants 'took' their tobacco in the lords room over the
stage, and went out to (Saint) Paul's to spit there
privately. Shabby sponges and lying adventurers, like
Bobadil, bragged of the number of packets of 'the most
divine tobacco' they had smoked in a week, and told enormous
lies of living for weeks in the Indies on the fumes alone.
They affirmed it was an antidote to all poison; that it
expelled rheums, sour humours, and obstructions of all
kinds. Some doctors were of opinion that it would heal
gout[43] and the ague, neutralise the effects of
drunkenness, and remove weariness and hunger. The poor on
the other hand, not disinclined to be envious and detracting
when judging rich men's actions, laughed at men who made
chimneys of their throats, or who sealed up their noses with
snuff.
[Footnote 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).]
"Ben Jonson makes that dry, shrewd, water carrier of his,
Cob, rail at the 'roguish tobacco:' he would leave the
stocks for worse men, and make it present whipping for
either man or woman who dealt with a tobacco-pipe. But King
James, in his inane 'Counterblast,' is more violent than
even Cob. He argues that to use this unsavory smoke is to be
guilty of a worse sin than that of drunkenness, and asks how
men, who cannot go a day's journey without sending for hot
coals to kindle their tobacco, can be expected to endure the
privations of war. Smoking, the angry and fuming king
protests, had made our manners as rude as those of the
fish-wives of Dieppe. Smokers, tossing pipes and puffing
smoke over the dinner-table, forgot all cleanliness and
modesty. Men now, he says, cannot welcome a friend but
straight they must be in hand with tobacco. He that refused
a pipe in company was accounted peevish and unsociable.
'Yea,' says the royal coxcomb and pedant, 'the mistress
cannot in a more mannerly kind entertain her servant than by
giving him out of her fair hand a pipe of tobacco.' The
royal reformer (not the most virtuous or cleanly of men)
closes his denunciation with this tremendous broadside of
invective:
'Have you not reason, then' he says, 'to be shamed and to
forbear this filthy novelty, so basely grounded, so
foolishly received, and so grossly mistaken in the right use
thereof? To your abuse thereof sinning against God, harming
yourself both in persons and goods, and taking also thereby
the notes and marks of vanity upon you by the custom
thereof, making yourselves to be wondered at by all, foreign
civil nations and by all strangers that come among you, and
be scorned, and contemned; a custom both fulsome to the eye,
hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the
lungs, and in the black stinking fume thereof nearest
resembling the horrible Stigian smelle of the pit that is
bottomless."
[Illustration: Exhaling through the nose.]
The supposed curative virtues of the tobacco plant had much to do with
its use in Europe while the singular mode of exhaling through the
nostrils added to its charms, and doubtless led to far greater
indulgence. Spenser in his Fairy Queen makes one of the characters
include it with other herbs celebrated for medicinal qualities.
"Into the woods thence-forth in haste she went,
To seek for herbes that mote him remedy;
For she of herbes had great intendiment,
Taught of the Nymph which from her infancy,
Had nursed her in true nobility:
There whether it divine Tobacco were,
Or Panachæ, or Polygony,
She found and brought it to her patient deare,
Who all this while lay bleeding out his heart-blood neare."
Lilly also a little later, in his play of The Woman in the Moone
(1597), speaks of it (through one of the characters) as being a
medicinal herb--
"Gather me balme and cooling violets
And of our holy herbe nicotian,
And bring withall pure honey from the hive
To heale the wound of my unhappy hand."
Barclay, in his tract on "The Vertues of Tobacco," recommends its use
as a medicine. The following is one of the modes of use:
"Take of leafe Tobacco as much as, being folded together,
may make a round ball of such bignesse that it may fill the
patient's mouth, and inclyne his face downwards toward the
ground, keeping the mouth open, not mouthing any whit with
his tongue, except now and then to waken the medicament,
there shall flow such a flood of water from his brain and
his stomacke, and from all the parts of his body that it
shall be a wonder. This must he do fasting in the morning,
and if it be for preservation, and the body be very
cacochyme, or full of evil humors, he must take it once a
week, otherwise once a month. He gives the plant the name of
'Nepenthes,' and says of it, that 'it is worthy of a more
loftie name.'" He writes the following verse addressed to:
"THE ABUSERS OF TOBACCO."
"Why do you thus abuse this heavenly plant,
The hope of health, the fuel of our life?
Why do you waste it without fear of want,
Since fine and true tobacco is not ryfe?
Old Enclio won't foul water for to spair,
And stop the bellows not to waste the air."
He also alludes to the quality of tobacco and says: "The finest
Tobacco is that which pearceth quickly the odorat with a sharp
aromaticke smell, and tickleth the tongue with acrimonie, not
unpleasant to the taste, from whence that which draweth most water is
most veituous, whether the substance of it be chewed in the mouth, or
the smoke of it received."
He speaks of the countries in which the plant grows, and prefers the
tobacco grown in the New World as being superior to that grown in the
Old. In his opinion, "only that which is fostered in the Indies, and
brought home by Mariners and Traffiquers, is to be used." But not
alone were Poets and Dramatists inspired to sing in praise or
dispraise of tobacco, Physicians and others helped to swell in
broadsides, pamphlets and chap-books, the loudest praises or the most
bitter denunciation of the weed. Taylor, the water poet, who lost his
occupation as bargeman when the coach came into use, thought that the
devil brought tobacco into England in a coach. One of the first tracts
wholly devoted to tobacco is entitled Nash's "Lenten Stuffe." The work
is dedicated to Humphrey King, a tobacconist, and is full of curious
sayings in regard to the plant. Another work, entitled "Metamorphosis
of Tobacco," and supposed to have been written by Beaumont, made its
appearance about this time. Samuel Rowlands, the dramatist, wrote two
works on tobacco; the first is entitled "Look to it, for I'll Stabbe
Ye," written in 1604; the other volume is a small quarto, bearing this
singular title: "A whole crew of Kind Gossips, all met to be Merry."
This is a satire on the time and manners of the period, and is written
in a coarse style worthy of the author. In 1605 there appeared a
little volume bearing for its title, "Laugh and Lie Down, or the
World's Folly." This work describes the fops and men of fashion of its
time, and shows how popular the custom of tobacco taking had become.
In 1609, in "The Gull's Horne Book," a gallant is described as
follows:
"Before the meate comes smoaking to the board our Gallant
must draw out his tobacco box, the ladle for the cold snuff
into his nostrils, the tongs and the priming iron. All this
artillery may be of gold or silver, if he can reach to the
price of it; it will be a reasonable, useful pawn at all
times when the current of his money falles out to rune low.
And here you must observe to know in what state tobacco is
in town, better than the merchants, and to discourse of the
potecaries where it is to be sold as readily as the potecary
himself."
One of the severest tirades against tobacco appeared in 1612, "The
Curtain Drawer of the World." In speaking of the users of the weed,
and especially noblemen, he says:
"Then noblemen's chimneys used to smoke, and not their
noses; Englishmen without were not Blackamoores within, for
then Tobacco was an Indian, unpickt and unpiped,--now made
the common ivy-bush of luxury, the curtaine of dishonesty,
the proclaimer of vanity, the drunken colourer of Drabby
solacy."
In the "Soule's Solace, or Thirty-and-One Spiritual Emblems," by
Thomas Jenner, occurs the following verses:
"The Indian weed, withered quite,
Greene at noone, cut down at night,
Shows thy decay; all flesh is hay;
Thus thinke, then drinke Tobacco.
The Pipe that is so lily-white,
Show thee to be a mortal wight,
And even such, gone with a touch,
Thus thinke, then drinke Tobacco.
And when the smoake ascends on high,
Thinke thou beholdst the vanity
Of worldly stuffe, gone with a puffe,
Thus thinke, then drinke Tobacco.
And when the Pipe grows foul within,
Thinke on thy soul defiled with sin,
And then the fire it doth require;
Thus thinke, then drinke Tobacco.
The ashes that are left behind,
May serve to put thee still in mind,
That unto dust return thou must;
Thus thinke, then drinke Tobacco."
Buttes, in a little volume entitled "Dyets Dry Dinner," (1599) says
that
"Tobacco was translated out of India in the seede or roote;
native or sative in our own fruitfullest soils. It cureth
any griefe, dolour, imposture, or obstruction proceeding of
colde or winde, especially in the head or breast. The fume
taken in a pipe is good against Rumes, ache in the head,
stomacke, lungs, breast; also in want of meate, drinke,
sleepe, or rest."
The introduction of tobacco from the colony of Virginia was followed
soon after by a reduction of price that led to more frequent use among
the poorer classes, such as grooms and hangers on at taverns and
ale-houses, who are alluded to in Rich's "Honestie of this Age":
"There is not so base a groome that comes into an ale-house
to call for his pott, but he must have his pipe of tobacco;
for it is a commodity that is nowe as vendible in every
tavern, wine and ale-house, as eyther wine, ale or beare;
and for apothecaerie's shops, grocer's shops, chandler's
shops, they are never without company, that from morning
till night, are still taking of tobacco. What a number are
there besides, that doe keepe houses, set open shoppes, that
have no other trade to live by, but by selling of tobacco. I
have heard it told, that now very lately there hath been a
catalogue of all those new erected houses that have sett up
that trade of selling tobacco in London, and neare about
London; and if a man may believe what is confidently
reported, there are found to be upwards of seven thousand of
houses that doth live by that trade.
[Illustration: Old London Ale-house.]
"If it be true that there be seven thousand shops in and
about London, that doth vend tobacco, as it is credibly
reported that there be over and above that number, it may
well be supposed to be but an ill customed shop, that taketh
not five shillings a day, one day with another throughout
the whole year; or, if one doth take lesse, two other may
take more; but let us make our account, but after two
shillings sixpence a day, for he that taketh lesse than that
would be ill able to pay his rent, or to keepe open his shop
windows; neither would tobacco houses make such a muster as
they do, and that almost in every lane, and in every
by-corner round about London."
"A Tobacco seller is described after this manner by Blount in a
volume "Micro-Cosmographie; Or A Piece of the World discovered; in
Essays and Characters" (1628).
"A tobacco seller is the only man that finds good in it
which others brag of, but doe not, for it is meate, drinke,
and clothes to him. No man opens his ware with greater
seriousness, or challenges your judgment more in the
operation. His Shop is the Randenvous of spitting, where men
dialogue with their noses, and their conversation is smoke.
It is the place only where Spain is commended, and preferred
before England itself.
"He should be well experienced in the World; for he has
daily tryall as men's nostrils, and none is better
acquainted with humour. His is the piecing commonly of some
other trade, which is bawd to his Tobacco, and that to his
wife, which is the flame that follows the smoke."
Early in the Seventeenth Century began the persecution by royal haters
of the plant, others, however, had denounced the weed and its use and
users, but venting nothing more than a tirade of words against it, had
but little effect in breaking up the trade or the custom.[44] James I.
sent forth his famous "Counterblast" and in the strongest manner
condemned its use. A portion of it reads thus:
[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._]
"Surely smoke becomes a kitchen fane better than a dining
chamber: and yet it makes a kitchen oftentimes in the inward
parts of men, soyling and injecting with an unctuous oyly
kind of roote as hath been found in some great tobacco
takers, that after death were opened. A custom loathsome to
the eye, harmful to the braine, dangerous to the lungs, and
the black stinking fume thereof, nearest resembling the
horrible Stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless."[45]
[Footnote 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."]
Quaint old Burton in his "Anatomy of Melancholy," recognizes the
virtues of the plant while he anathematizes its abuse. He says:--
"Tobacco, divine, rare, superexcellent tobacco, which goes
far beyond all their panacetas, potable gold, and
philosophers' stones, a soveraign remedy to all diseases. A
good vomit, I confesse, a vertuous herb, if it be well
qualified, opportunely taken, and medicinally used; but, as
it is commonly abused by most men, which take it as tinkers
do ale, 'tis a plague, a mischief, a violent purger of
goods, lands, health, hellish, divelish and damned tobacco,
the ruine and overthrow of body and soul."
The duty on importation had been only twopence per pound, a moderate
sum in view of the prices realized by the sale of it.
The King now increased it to the enormous sum of two shilling and ten
pence. James termed the custom of using tobacco an "evil vanitie"
impairing "the health of a great number of people their bodies
weakened and made unfit for labor, and the estates of many mean
persons so decayed and consumed, as they are thereby driven to
unthriftie shifts only to maintain their gluttonous exercise
thereof."[46] Brodigan says of the "Counterblast:"
[Footnote 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."]
"However absurd his reasoning may appear, it unfortunately
happened that he possessed the power to reduce his aversion
to practice, and he may be considered as the author of that
unwarrantable persecution of the tobacco plant, which under
varying circumstances, has been injudiciously continued to
the present time."
Other royal haters of the plant issued the most strenous laws[47] and
affixed penalties of the severest kind, of these may be mentioned the
King of Persia, Amuroth IV. of Turkey, the Emperor Jehan-Gee and Popes
Urban VIII. and Innocent XII., the last of whom showed his dislike to
many other customs beside that of tobacco taking.
[Footnote 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.]
One of the edicts which he issued was against the taking of snuff in
St. Peters, at Rome; this was in 1690; it was, however, revoked by
Pope Benedict XIV., who himself had acquired the indulgence.
[Illustration: Punishment for snuff-taking.]
Early in the Seventeenth Century tobacco found its way to
Constantinople. To punish the habit, a Turk was seized and a pipe
transfixed through his nose.
The death of King James, followed by its occupancy of the throne by
his son Charles I., did not lessen the persecution against
tobacco.[48] In 1625, the year of his accession, he issued a
proclamation against all tobaccos excepting only the growth of
Virginia and Somerites. Charles II. also prohibited the cultivation of
tobacco in England and Ireland, attaching a penalty of 10£ per rood.
Fairholt, in alluding to the Stuarts and Cromwell as persecutors of
tobacco, says:
[Footnote 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.]
"Cromwell disliked the plant, and ordered his troops to
trample down the crop wherever found."
It is an historical fact that both James I. and the two Charleses as
well as Cromwell had the strongest dislike against the Indian weed.
With such powerful foes it seems hardly possible that the custom
should have increased to such an extent that when William ascended the
throne the custom was said to be almost universal.[49] "Pipes grew
larger and ruled by a Dutchman, all England smoked in peace." From
this time forward the varieties used served only to increase the
demand for the tobacco of the colonies, and as its culture became
better understood the leaf grew in favor, until the demand for it was
greater than the production.
[Footnote 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."]
During the reign of Anne, the custom of smoking appears to have
attained its greatest height in England; the consumption of tobacco
was then proportionally greater, considering the population, than it
is at the present time. Spooner, in his "Looking-Glass for Smokers,"
1703, says of the custom:
"The sin of the kingdom in the intemperate use of tobacco,
swelleth and increaseth so daily, that I can compare it to
nothing but the waters of Noah, that swell'd fifteen cubits
above the highest mountains. So that if this practice shall
continue to increase as it doth, in an age or two it will be
as hard to find a family free, as it was so long time since
one that commonly took it."
When tobacco was first introduced into England its sale was confined
to apothecaries, but afterwards it was dealt in by tobacconists, who
sold other goods besides tobacco.
About the middle of the Seventeenth Century the culture of tobacco
commenced in England; it continued, however, only for a short time,
for the rump parliament in 1652 prohibited the planting of it, and two
years later Cromwell and his council appointed commissioners for
strictly putting this act in execution: and in 1660 it was legally
enacted, that from the first of January, 1660-1, no person whatever
should sow or plant any tobacco in England, under certain penalties.
In England drinking or smoking tobacco seems to have met with more
success (as a mode of use) rather than chewing (now so popular). It
was principally confined to the lower classes, and was common among
soldiers and sailors. When used by gentlemen it was common to carry a
silver basin to spit in.
[Illustration: Silver spittoons.]
The habit of smoking or using tobacco in any form was then more
constant than now, and its use was common in almost all places of
public gathering. It was the custom to smoke in theatres; stools being
provided for those who paid for their use and the privilege of smoking
on the stage. Tobacco was also sold at some of the play-houses, and
proved a source of profit, doubtless, beyond even the representation
of the plays. We should infer also from some of the early stage plays,
that the "players" used the weed even when acting their parts.
Rowlands gives the following poem on tobacco in his "Knave of Clubs,"
1611:--
"Who durst dispraise tobacco whilst the smoke is in my nose,
Or say, but fah! my pipe doth smell, I would I knew but those
Durst offer such indignity to that which I prefer.
For all the brood of blackamoors will swear I do not err,
In taking this same worthy whif with valiant cavalier,
But that will make his nostrils smoke, at cupps of wine or beer.
When as my purse can not afford my stomach flesh or fish,
I sop with smoke, and feed as well and fat as one can wish.
Come into any company, though not a cross you have,
Yet offer them tobacco, and their liquor you shall have.
They say old hospitalitie kept chimnies smoking still;
Now what your chimnies want of that, our smoking noses will.
Much vituals serves for gluttony, to fatten men like swine,
But he's a frugal man indeed that with a leaf can dine,
And needs no napkins for his hands, his fingers' ends to wipe,
But keeps his kitchen in a box, and roast meat in a pipe.
This is the way to help down years, a meal a day's enough:
Take out tobacco for the rest, by pipe, or else by snuff,
And you shall find it physical; a corpulent, fat man,
Within a year shall shrink so small that one his guts shall span.
It's full of physic's rare effects, it worketh sundry ways,
The leaf green, dried, steept, burnt to dust, have each their several praise,
It makes some sober that are drunk, some drunk of sober sense.
And all the moisture hurts the brain, it fetches smoking thence.
All the four elements unite when you tobacco take.
For earth and water, air and fire, do a conjunction make.
The pipe is earth, the fire's therein, the air the breathing smoke;
Good liquor must be present too, for fear I chance to choke.
Here, gentlemen, a health to all, 'Tis passing good and strong.
I would speak more, but for the pipe I cannot stay so long."
In 1602 appeared a sweeping tirade entitled, "Work for Chimney
Sweepers, or a Warning against Tobacconists." It abounds with threats
against all who indulge in tobacco. The most singular work, however,
appeared in 1616, bearing the following singular title: "The Smoking
Age, or the Man in the Mist; with the Life and Death of Tobacco.
Dedicated to Captain Whiffe, Captain Pipe, and Captain Snuffe." A
frontispiece is given representing a tobacconist's shop with shelves,
counters, pipes and tobacco; a carved figure of a negro stands upon
the counter, which shows how soon such figures were used by dealers in
pipes and tobacco. The title-page contains the following epigram:
"This some affirme, yet yield I not to that,
'Twill make a fat man lean, a lean man fat;
But this I'm sure (howse'ere it be they meane)
That many whiffes will make a fat man lean."
[Illustration: The Negro Image.]
The following effusion resembles many of the verses of the day on the
fruitful subject:
"Tobacco's an outlandish weed,
Doth in the land strange wonders breed,
It taints the breath, the blood it dries,
It burns the head, it blinds the eyes;
It dries the lungs, scourgeth the lights,
It numbs the soul, it dulls the sprites;
It brings a man into a maze,
And makes him sit for other's gaze;
It makes a man, it mars a purse,
A lean one fat, a fat one worse;
A sound man sick, a sick man sound,
A bound man loose, a loose man bound;
A white man black, a black man white,
A night a day, a day a night;
The wise a fool, the foolish wise,
A sober man in drunkard's guise;
A drunkard with a drought or twain,
A sober man it makes again;
A full man empty, and an empty full,
A gentleman a foolish gull;
It turns the brain like cat in pan,
And makes a Jack a gentleman."
The well-known song of "Tobacco is an Indian Weed," was written most
probably the last half of the Seventeenth Century, Fairholt gives the
best copy we have seen of it. It is taken from the first volume of
"Pills to Purge Melancholy," and reads thus:
"Tobacco's but an Indian weed,
Grows green at morn, cut down at eve,
It shows our decay, we are but clay;
Think of this when you smoke tobacco.
"The pipe, that is so lily white,
Wherein so many take delight,
Is broke with a touch--man's life is such;
Think of this when you smoke tobacco.
"The pipe, that is so foul within,
Shews how man's soul is stained with sin,
And then the fire it doth require;
Think of this when you smoke tobacco.
"The ashes that are left behind
Do serve to put us all in mind
That unto dust return we must;
Think of this when you smoke tobacco.
"The smoke, that does so high ascend,
Shews us man's life must have an end,
The Vapor's gone--man's life is done;
Think of this when you smoke tobacco."
One of the strongest objections against the use of the "Indian
novelty" was its ruinous cost at this period. During the reign of
James The First and Charles The Second, Spanish tobacco sold at from
ten to eighteen shillings per pound while Virginia tobacco sold for a
time for three shillings. In no age and by no race excepting perhaps
the Indians was the habit so universal or carried to such a length as
in the Seventeenth Century--its supposed virtues as a medicine induced
many to inhale the smoke constantly. This was one reason why tobacco
was condemned by so many of the writers and playwrights of the day yet
many of them used the weed in some form from Ben Johnson to Cibber the
one fond of his pipe the other of his snuff.
In 1639 Venner published a volume entitled "A Treatise" concerning the
taking of the fume of tobacco. His advice is "to take it moderately
and at fixed times." Many of the clergy were devoted adherents of the
pipe. Lilly says of its use among them:
"In this year Bredon vicar of Thornton a profound divine,
but absolutely the most polite person for nativities in that
age, strictly adhering to Ptolemy, which he well understood;
he had a hand in composing Sir Christopher Heydon's defence
of judicial astrology, being that time his chaplain; he was
so given over to tobacco and drink, that when he had no
tobacco, he would cut the bell-ropes and smoke them."
CHAPTER V.
TOBACCO IN EUROPE. (Continued.)
Neander in his work "Tobacologia," (1622) gives a list of the various
kinds of tobacco then used and where they were cultivated, among them
are the following well known now as standard varieties of tobacco:
Brazilian, St. Domingo, Orinoco, Virginia, and Trinidad tobacco.
Fairholt says of the latter that it was most popular in England and is
frequently named by early authors.[50] Tobacco when prepared for use
was made into long rolls or large balls which often answered for the
tobacconist's sign. What we now call cut tobacco was not as popular
then as roll. Smokers carried a roll of tobacco, a knife and tinder to
ignite their tobacco. At the close of the Sixteenth Century tobacco
was introduced into the East. In Persia and Turkey where at first its
use was opposed by the most cruel torture it gained at length the
sanction and approval of even the Sultan himself. Pallas gives the
following account in regard to its first introduction into Asia:
[Footnote 50: Neander says that Varinas tobacco was the
best.]
"In Asia, and especially in China, the use of tobacco for
smoking is more ancient than the discovery of the New World,
I too scarcely entertain a doubt. Among the Chinese, and
among the Mongol tribes who had the most intercourse with
them, the custom of smoking is so general, so frequent, and
become so indispensable a luxury; the tobacco purse affixed
to their belt, so necessary an article of dress; the form of
the pipes from which the Dutch seem to have taken the model
of theirs so original; and, lastly the preparation of the
yellow leaves, which are merely rubbed to pieces and then
put into the pipe, so peculiar, that we cannot possibly
derive all this from America by way of Europe; especially as
India, (where the habit of smoking is not so general,)
intervenes between Persia and China. May we not expect to
find traces of this custom in the first account of the
Voyages of the Portugese and Dutch to China? To investigate
this subject, I have indeed the inclination but not
sufficient leisure."
[Illustration: Tobacco and Theology.]
We find by research that smoking was the most general mode of using
tobacco in England when first introduced. In France the habit of
snuffing was the most popular mode and to this day the custom is more
general than elsewhere. In the days of the Regency snuff-taking had
attained more general popularity than any other mode of using the
plant leaves; the clergy were fond of the "dust" and carried the most
expensive snuff boxes, while many loved the pipe and indulged in
tobacco-smoking. The old vicar restored to his living enjoyed a pipe
when seated in his chair musing on the subject of his next Sunday's
discourse, "with a jug of sound old ale and a huge tome of sound old
divinity on the table before him, for the occasional refreshment as
well of the bodily as the spiritual man."
The cultivation of tobacco in Europe was begun in Spain and Portugal.
Its culture in these kingdoms as well as by their colonies brought to
the crown enormous revenues. In 1626, its culture began in France and
is still an important product. A little later it began to be
cultivated in Germany where it had already been used as a favorite
luxury. From this time its use and cultivation extended to various
parts of Europe. The Persecutors whether kings, popes, poets, or
courtiers at length gave up their opposition while many of them
joined in the use and spread of the custom. It has been said with much
truth:
"History proves that persecution never triumphs in its
attempted eradications. Tobacco was so generally liked that
no legislative measures could prevent its use."
At first the use of tobacco was confined to fops and the hangers on at
ale houses and taverns but afterwards by the "chief men of the realm."
Soon after the importation of the "durned weed" from Virginia the
tobacco muse gave forth many a lay concerning the custom. The
following verses describe the method of smoking then in vogue:
Nor did that time know
To puff and to blow
In a peece of white clay,
As they do at this day
With fier and coole,
And a leafe in a hole;
As my ghost hath late seen,
As I walked betwene
Westminister Hall
And the church of St. Paul,
And so thorow the citie
Where I saw and did pitty
My country men's cases,
With fiery-smoke faces,
Sucking and drinking
A filthie weede stinking,
Was ne'r known before
Till the devil and the More
In th' Indies did meete,
And each other there greete
With a health they desire,
Of stinke, smoke and fier.
But who e're doth abhorre it.
The citie smookes for it;
Now full of fier shop,
And fowle spitting chop,
So sneezing and coughing,
That my ghost fell to scoffing.
And to myself said:
Here's filthie fumes made;
Good phisicke of force
To cure a sicke horse.
The Puritans, from the first introduction of the plant, were sincere
haters of tobacco, not only in England but in America. Cromwell had as
strong a dislike of the plant as King James, and ordered the troopers
to destroy the crops by trampling them under foot. Hutton describes a
Puritan as one who
"Abhors a sattin suit, a velvet cloak,
And sayes tobacco is the Devill's smoke."
Probably no other plant has ever met with such powerful determined
opposition, both against its use and cultivation, as the tobacco
plant. It was strenuously opposed by all possible means, governmental,
legislative, and literary. When tea and coffee were first introduced
both were denounced in unmeasured terms, but the opposition was not so
bitter or as lasting.
The following verses bearing the _nom de plume_ of an "Old Salt,"
record much of the history of the plant:--
"Oh muse! grant me the power
(I have the will) to sing
How oft in lonely hour,
When storms would round me lower,
Tobacco's prov'd a King!
"Philanthropists, no doubt
With good intentions ripe,
Their dogmas may put out,
And arrogantly shout
The evils of the pipe.
"Kind moralists, with tracts,
Opinions fine may show:
Produce a thousand facts--
How ill tobacco acts
Man's system to o'erthrow.
"Learn'd doctors have employed
Much patience, time and skill,
To prove tobacco cloyed
With acrid alkaloid,
With power the nerves to kill!
"E'en Popes have curst the plant;
Kings bade its use to cease;
But all the Pontiff's rant
And Royal Jamie's cant
Ne'er made its use decrease.
"Teetotallers may stamp
And roar at pipes and beer;
But place them in a swamp,
When nights are dark and damp--
Their tune would change, I fear.
"No advocate am I
Of excess in one or t'other,
And ne'er essayed to try
In wine to drown a sigh,
Or a single care to smother.
"Yet, in moderation pure,
A glass is well enough;
But, a troubled heart to cure,
Kind feelings to insure,
Give me a cheerful puff.
"How oft a learn'd divine
His sermons will prepare,
Not by imbibing wine,
But, 'neath th' influence fine
Of a pipe of "baccy" rare!
"How many a pleasing scene,
How many a happy joke,
How many a satire keen,
Or problem sharp, has been
Evolved or born of smoke!
"How oft, amidst the jar
Of storms on ruin bent,
On ship-board, near or far,
To the drenched and shiv'ring tar
Tobacco's solace lent!
"Oh! tell me not 'tis bad,
Or that it shortens life.
Its charms can soothe the sad,
And make the wretched glad,
In trouble and in strife.
"Tis used in every clime,
By all men, high and low;
It is praised in prose and rhyme,
So let the kind herb grow!
"'Tis a friend to the distress'd,
'Tis a comforter in need;
It is social, soothing, blest;
It has fragrance, force, and zest;
Then hail the kingly weed!"
While Raleigh[51] and many of Elizabeth's courtiers indulged
frequently in a pipe, some have imagined that even Queen Bess herself
tested the rare virtues of tobacco. This is hardly based upon
sufficient proof to warrant a very strong belief in it; but the
following account of "How to weigh smoke" taken from _Tinsley's
Magazine_ shows that the Queen was acquainted at least with Raleigh's
use of the weed:
[Footnote 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."]
"One day it happened that Queen Elizabeth, wandering about
the grounds and alleys at Hampton with a single maid of
honour, came upon Sir Walter Raleigh indulging in a pipe.
Smoking now is as common as eating and drinking, and to
smoke amongst ladies is a vulgarity. But not so then: it was
an accomplishment, it was a distinction; and one of the
feathers in Sir Walter's towering cap was his introduction
of tobacco. The all-accomplished hero rose and saluted the
Queen in his grand manner, and the Queen, who was in her
daintiest humour, gave him her white hand to kiss, and took
the seat he had left.
"Now, Sir Walter, I can puzzle you at last." "I suppose I
must not be so rude as to doubt your Majesty." "You are bold
enough for that, but your boldness will not help you, Sir
Walter, this time. You cannot tell me how much the smoke
from your pipe weighs." "Your Majesty is mistaken. I can
tell you to a nicety. Will your Majesty allow me to call
yonder page, and send for a pair of scales and weights?" "By
my honour," said the Queen, "were any other subject in our
realm to make request so absurd, we should very positively
deny it. But you are the wisest of our fools, and, though we
expect to see but little use made of these weights when
brought, your request shall be granted. And, supposing you
fail to weigh the smoke, what penalty will you pay?" "I will
be content," said Sir Walter, "to lose my head." "You may
chance to lose it on a graver count than this;" answered the
Queen. "If the head shall have done some slight service to
your Majesty and the realm," replied the courteous knight,
"thee will be well content nevertheless."
[Illustration: Weighing smoke.]
"But your Majesty will soon see that I fail not. First,
madam, I place this empty pipe in the scales, and I find
that it weighs exactly 2 ounces. I now fill it with tobacco,
and the weight is increased to 2-1/10th ounce. I must now
ask your Majesty to allow me to smoke the pipe out. I shall
then turn out the ashes, and place them together with the
pipe in the scale once more. The difference between the
weight of the pipe with the unsmoked tobacco, and weight of
the pipe with the ashes, will be the weight of the smoke."
"You are too clever for us, Sir Walter. We shall expect you
to-night at supper, and if the conversation grow dull, you
shall tell our courtiers the story of the pipe."
Many other anecdotes have been told of the adventures of Raleigh with
his pipe. One is that while taking a quiet smoke his servant entered
and becoming alarmed on seeing the smoke coming from his nose threw a
mug of ale in his face.
The same anecdote is also related of others including Tarlton. He
gives an account of it in his Jests 1611. It is told in this manner:
"Tarlton as other gentlemen used, at the first coming up of
tobacco, did take it more for fashion's sake than otherwise,
and being in a roome, sat betweene two men overcome with
wine, and they never seeing the like, wondered at it, and
seeing the vapour come out of Tarlton's nose, cryed out,
'Fire, fire!' and threw a cup of wine in Tarlton's face.
'Make no more stirre,' quoth Tarlton, 'the fire is quenched;
if the sheriffs come, it will turne a fine as the custom
is.' And drinking that againe, 'Fie,' says the other: 'what
a stinke it makes. I am almost poysoned.' 'If it offend,'
quoth Tarlton, 'let's every one take a little of the smell,
and so the savor, will quickly go;' but tobacco whiffes made
them leave him to pay all."
Rich gives the following account of a similar scene:--
"I remember a pretty jest of tobacco which was this: A
certain Welchman coming newly to London, and beholding one
to take tobacco, never seeing the like before, and not
knowing the manner of it, but perceiving him vent smoke so
fast, and supposing his inward parts to be on fire, cried
out, 'O Jhesu, Jhesu man, for the passion of Cod hold, for
by Cod's splud ty snowt's on fire,' and having a bowle of
beere in his hand, threw it at the other's face, to quench
his smoking nose."
The following anecdote is equally ludicrous. Before tobacco was much
known in Germany, some soldiers belonging to a cavalry regiment were
quartered in a German village. One of them, a trumpeter, happened to
be a negro. A peasant, who had never seen a black man before, and who
knew nothing about tobacco, watched, though at a safe distance, the
trumpeter, while the latter groomed and fed his horse. As soon as this
business was dispatched, the negro filled his pipe and began to smoke
it. Great had been the peasant's bewilderment before; great was his
terror now. The terror reached an intolerable point when the negro
took the pipe from his mouth, offered it to the peasant, and asked
him, in the best language he could command, to take a whiff. "No, no!"
cried the peasant, in exceeding alarm; "no, no! Mr. Devil; I do not
wish to eat fire."
Henry Fielding, in "The Grub Street Opera" written about a century
ago, has the following verses on Tobacco:--
"Let the learned talk of books,
The glutton of cooks,
The lover of Celia's soft smack--O!
No mortal can boast
So noble a toast,
As a pipe of accepted tobacco.
"Let the soldier for fame,
And a general's name,
In battle get many a thwack--O!
Let who will have most
Who will rule the rooste,
Give me but a pipe of tobacco.
"Tobacco gives wit
To the dullest old cit,
And makes him of politics crack--O!
The lawyers i' th' hall
Were not able to bawl,
Were it not for a whiff of tobacco.
"The man whose chief glory
Is telling a story,
Had never arrived at the smack--O!
Between every heying,
And as I was saying,
Did he not take a whiff of tobacco.
"The doctor who places
Much skill in grimaces,
And feels your pulse running tic tack--O!
Would you know his chief skill?
It is only to fill
And smoke a good pipe of tobacco.
"The courtiers alone
To this weed are not prone;
Would you know what 'tis makes them so slack--O?
'Twas because it inclined
To be honest the mind,
And therefore they banished tobacco."
One of the most curious pieces of verse ever written on tobacco is the
following by Southey, entitled "Elegy on a Quid of Tobacco:"--
"It lay before me on the close-grazed grass,
Beside my path, an old tobacco quid:
And shall I by the mute adviser pass
Without one serious thought? now Heaven forbid!
"Perhaps some idle drunkard threw thee there--
Some husband spendthrift of his weekly hire;
One who for wife and children takes no care,
But sits and tipples by the ale-house fire.
"Ah! luckless was the day he learned to chew!
Embryo of ills the quid that pleased him first;
Thirsty from that unhappy quid he grew,
Then to the ale-house went to quench his thirst.
"So great events from causes small arise--
The forest oak was once an acorn seed;
And many a wretch from drunkenness who dies,
Owes all his evils to the Indian weed.
"Let no temptation, mortal, ere come nigh!
Suspect some ambush in the parsley hid;
From the first kiss of love ye maidens fly,
Ye youths, avoid the first Tobacco-quid!
"Perhaps I wrong thee, O thou veteran chaw,
And better thoughts my musings should engage;
That thou wert rounded in some toothless jaw,
The joy, perhaps of solitary age.
"One who has suffered Fortune's hardest knocks,
Poor, and with none to tend on his gray hairs;
Yet has a friend in his Tobacco-box,
And, while he rolls his quid, forgets his cares.
"Even so it is with human happiness--
Each seeks his own according to his whim;
One toils for wealth, one Fame alone can bless,
One asks a quid--a quid is all to him.
"O, veteran chaw! thy fibres savory, strong,
While aught remained to chew, thy master chewed,
Then cast thee here, when all thy juice was gone,
Emblem of selfish man's ingratitude!
"O, happy man! O, cast-off quid! is he
Who, like as thou, has comforted the poor;
Happy his age who knows himself, like thee,
Thou didst thy duty--man can do no more."
Another well known song of the Seventeenth Century is entitled "The
Tryumph of Tobacco over Sack and Ale:"--
Nay, soft by your leaves,
Tobacco bereaves
You both of the garland; forbear it;
You are two to one,
Yet tobacco alone
Is like both to win it, and weare it.
Though many men crack,
Some of ale, some of sack,
And think they have reason to do it;
Tobacco hath more
That will never give o'er
The honor they do unto it.
Tobacco engages
Both sexes, all ages,
The poor as well as the wealthy;
From the court to the cottage,
From childhood to dotage,
Both those that are sick and the healthy.
It plainly appears
That in a few years
Tobacco more custom hath gained,
Than sack, or than ale,
Though they double the tale
Of the times, wherein they have reigned.
And worthily too,
For what they undo
Tobacco doth help to regaine,
On fairer conditions
Than many physitians,
Puts an end to much griefe and paine;
It helpeth digestion,
Of that there's no question,
The gout and the tooth-ache it easeth:
Be it early, or late,
'Tis never out of date,
He may-safely take it that pleaseth.
Tobacco prevents
Infection by scents,
That hurt the brain, and are heady.
An antidote is,
Before you're amisse,
As well as an after remedy.
The cold it doth heate,
Cools them that do sweate,
And them that are fat maketh lean:
The hungry doth feed,
And if there be need,
Spent spirits restoreth again.
The poets of old,
Many fables have told,
Of the gods and their symposia;
But tobacco alone,
Had they known it, had gone
For their nectar and ambrosia.
It is not the smack
Of ale or of sack,
That can with tobacco compare:
For taste and for smell,
It beares away the bell
From them both, wherever they are:
For all their bravado,
It is Trinidado,
That both their noses will wipe
Of the praises they desire,
Unless they conspire
To sing to the tune of his pipe.
The history of the rise and progress of tobacco in England, is one of
the most interesting features connected with the use and cultivation
of the plant. In Spain, Portugal, Germany and Holland the plant was
sustained and encouraged by the throne, and royalty was the strongest
and most devoted defender it had. It saw in the encouragement of its
use, an income of revenue and a source of profit far greater than that
received from any other product. Soon after its cultivation began in
France, Spain, and Portugal, the tobacco trade was farmed out.
From its first cultivation in these countries it has been a government
monopoly. In 1753, the King of Portugal farmed out the tobacco trade,
and from that time until now, the annual amount received has been one
of the principal sources of revenue to the crown. In France, as early
as 1674, a monopoly of the trade was granted to Jean Breton, for six
years, for the sum of 700,000 francs.
In 1720 the Indian Company paid for the privilege 1,500,000 francs per
annum; and in 1771 the price was increased to 25,000,000 francs.
Besides France there are thirteen other European states where the
tobacco trade is a government monopoly, namely, Austria, Spain,
Sicily, Sardinia, Poland, Papal States, Portugal, Tuscany, Modena,
Parma, San Marino, Lichtenstein.
From the first cultivation of the plant, its growers saw in the
tobacco trade a vast and constantly increasing source of wealth.
They doubtless in some measure comprehended the close relation
existing between it and commerce and realized how extensive would be
its use.
From the nature of the plant, it affords states and nations an
opportunity to engage either in its culture or commerce with the
prospect of the largest success. In this respect it is far different
from any other tropical plant, and unlike them is capable of being
cultivated in portions of the earth far remote from the tropics. In
Switzerland and in the Caucassias it attains to a considerable size,
but is nevertheless tobacco although it may possess but few of the
excellences of some varieties, still it affords some enjoyment to the
user, from the fact that it is the Indian weed. Fairholt speaking of
the tobacco trade says:
"The progress of the tobacco trade from the earliest
introduction of the plant into Europe until now, is
certainly one of the most curious that commerce presents.
That a plant originally smoked by a few savages, should
succeed in spite of the most stringent opposition in church
and state, to be the cherished luxury of the whole civilized
world; to increase with the increase of time, and to end in
causing so vast a trade, and so large an outlay of money; is
a statistical fact, without an equal parallel."
The tobacco plant notwithstanding its fascinating powers, has suffered
many romantic vicissitudes in its fame and character; having been
successively opposed and commended by physicians, condemned and
eulogized by priests, vilified and venerated by kings, and alternately
proscribed and protected by governments, this once insignificant
production of a little island or an obscure district, has succeeded in
diffusing itself throughout every clime, and--exhilarating and
enriching its thousands--has subjected the inhabitants of every
country to its dominion. And every where it is a source of comfort and
enjoyment; in the highest grades of civilized society, at the shrine
of fashion, in the depths of poverty, in the palace and in the
cottage, the fascinating influence of this singular plant demands an
equal tribute of devotion and attachment.
CHAPTER VI.
TOBACCO-PIPES, SMOKING AND SMOKERS.
The implements used in smoking tobacco, from the rude pipe of the
Indian to the elaborate hookah of the Turk, show a far greater variety
than even the various species of the tobacco plant. The instruments
used by the Indians for inhaling the tobacco smoke were no less
wonderful to Europeans than the plant itself.
The rude mode of inhaling the smoke and the intoxication produced by
its fumes suggested to the Spaniards a better method of "taking
tobacco." Hariot, however, found clay pipes in use by the Indians of
Virginia, which though having no resemblance to the smoking implements
discovered by Columbus, seem to have afforded a model for those
afterward manufactured by the Virginia colony. The sailors of Columbus
seemed to have first discovered cigar, rather than pipe-smoking,
inasmuch as the simple method used by the natives, consisted of a leaf
of maize, which enwrapped a few leaves of the plant.
The next instruments discovered in use among the Indians were
straight, hollow reeds and forked canes. Their mode of use was to
place a few leaves upon coals of fire and by placing the forked end in
the nostrils and the other upon the smoking leaves, to inhale the
smoke until they were stupified or drunken with the fumes. Their
object in inhaling the fumes of tobacco seemed to be to produce
intoxication and insensibility rather than a mode of enjoyment,
although the enjoyment with them consisted of seeing the most
remarkable visions when stupefied by its fumes. Such were the modes
of smoking among the Indians when Columbus planted the banner of Spain
in America.
A writer in _The Tobacco Plant_ has given a very interesting
description of Indian pipes in use among the natives of both North and
South America. He says:
"In the tumuli or Indian grave mounds of the Ohio and Scioto
valleys, large quantities of pipes have been found, bearing
traces of Indian ingenuity. That their burial mounds are of
great antiquity, is proved by the fact that trees several
centuries old are to be found growing upon them. About
twenty-five years ago, two distinguished archeologists
Squier and Davis--made extensive exploration of these
mounds, the results of which were published in an elaborate
memoir by the Smithsonian Institution. The mounds indicate
that an immense amount of labor has been expended upon them,
as the earthworks and mounds may be counted by thousands,
requiring either long time or an immense population; and
there is much probability in the supposition of Sir John
Lubbock that these parts of America were once inhabited by a
numerous and agricultural population. It may be asked, have
the races who erected these extensive mounds become extinct,
or do they exist in the poor uncivilized tribes of Indians
whom Europeans found inhabiting the river valleys of Ohio
and Illinois? Many of these mounds are in the form of
serpents and symbolic figures, and were evidently related to
the sacrificial worship of the mound builders."
Squier and Davis are of the opinion that:--
"The mound builders were inveterate smokers, if the great
numbers of pipes discovered in the mounds be admitted as
evidence of the fact. These constitute not only a numerous,
but a singularly interesting class of remains. In their
construction the skill of the maker seems to have been
exhausted. Their general form, which may be regarded as the
primitive form of the implement, is well exhibited in the
accompanying sketch. They are always carved from a single
piece, and consist of a flat carved bore of variable length
and width, with the bowl rising from the centre of the
convex side. From one of the ends, and communicating with
the hollow of the bowl, is drilled a small hole, which
answers the purpose of a tube; the corresponding opposite
division being left for the manifest purpose of holding the
implement to the mouth.
"The specimen here represented is finely carved from a
beautiful variety of brown porphyry, granulated with
various-colored materials, the whole much changed by the
action of fire, and somewhat resembling porcelain. It is
intensely hard, and successfully resists the edge of the
finest-tempered knife. The length of the base is five
inches; breadth of the same one inch and a-quarter. The bowl
is one inch and a-quarter high, slightly tapering upwards,
but flaring near the top. The hollow of the bowl is
six-tenths of an inch in diameter. The perforation answering
to the tube is one-sixth of an inch in diameter, which is
about the usual size. This circumstance places it beyond
doubt that the mouth was applied directly to the implement,
without the intervention of a tube of wood or metal."
[Illustration: Indian pipe.]
This is an account of a simple pipe, with a small bowl; but most of
the pipes found in the mounds are highly ornamented with elaborate
workmanship, representing animals such as the beaver, otter, bear,
wolf, panther, raccoon, squirrel, wild-cat, manotee, eagle, hawk,
heron, swallow, paroquet, etc. One of the most interesting of the
spirited sculptures of animal forms to be found on the mound pipes, is
the representation of the Lamantin, or Manotee, a cetacean found only
in tropical waters, and the nearest place which they at present
frequent is the coast of Florida--at least a thousand miles away.
According to Sir John Lubbock, these are no rude sculptures, for the
characteristics of the animal are all distinctly marked, rendering its
recognition complete. Many modern Indians are possessed of a wonderful
aptitude for sculpture, and they appear to gladly exchange their work
for the necessaries of life.
The material most prized for the purpose of pipe-making is the
beautiful red pipe-stone of the Coteau des Prairies, which is an
indurated aluminous stone, highly colored with red oxide of iron. It
is frequently called "Catlinite," out of compliment to George Catlin,
the distinguished collector of Indian traditions, who claims to be the
first European that ever visited the Red Pipe-stone Quarry, which is
situated amongst the upper waters of Missouri. Catlin gives the
following legend as the Indian version of the birth of the mysterious
red pipe:--
"The Great Spirit, at an ancient period, here called
together the Indian warriors, and standing on the precipice
of the red pipe-stone rock, broke from its wall a piece, and
made a huge pipe by turning it in his hand, which he smoked
over them, and to the north, the south, the east and the
west; and told them that this stone was red, that it was
their flesh, that they must use it for their pipes of peace,
that it belonged to them all, and that the war club and the
scalping knife must not be raised on its ground. At the last
whiff of his pipe his head went into a great cloud, and the
whole surface of the rock for several miles was melted and
glazed. Two great ovens were opened beneath, and two women,
guardian spirits of the place, entered them in a blaze of
fire, and they are heard there yet, answering to the
invocations of the priests and medicine-men."
At the pipe-stone quarry there is a row of five huge, granite
boulders, which the Indians regard with great reverence, and when they
visit the spot to secure some red stone to make pipes, they seek to
propitiate the guardian spirits by throwing plugs of Tobacco to them.
Some admirable pieces of pipe-sculpture are produced by the Boheen
Indians, who are found on the coast of the Pacific to the south of the
Russians. These pipes are made from a soft blue clay stone which is
found only in slabs, and the sculptures are wrought on both sides, the
pipes being generally covered with singular groups of human and animal
forms, grotesquely intermingled.
The Chippewas are also celebrated for their pipes, which are cut out
of a close-grained stone of a dark color; and Professor Wilson, of
Toronto, states that Pobahmesad, or the Flier, one of the famed
pipe-sculptors, resides on the Great Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron.
The old Chippewa has never deviated from the faith of his fathers, as
he still adheres to all their rites and ceremonies. He uses the red
pipe-stone and other materials in the production of his pipes, which
are ingenious specimens of sculpture. The calumet, or pipe of peace,
is still an object of special reverence with the Indian tribes, and
the pipe-stem is ornamented with six or eight eagle's feathers. Each
tribe has an official who takes charge of the calumet, which he keeps
rolled up in a bearskin robe; and it's never exposed to view or used,
except when the chief enters into a treaty with some neighboring
chief. On these occasions the pipe is taken out of its covering by the
Indian dignitary, ready charged with the "holy weed," when it is
smoked by all the chiefs, each one taking only a single breath of
smoke, which is regarded as implementing the treaty. The pipe is then
rolled up in its robe of fur, and stowed away in the lodge of its
keeper until it is again required. The war pipe is simply a tomahawk,
with a perforated handle communicating with the bowl, which is
opposite the sharp edge of the weapon. When the Indians joined the
British as allies during the American war, they had to be supplied
with iron tomahawks of the native pattern, before they could enter the
field as allies.
[Illustration: Sculptured pipe.]
Many tribes of Indians use herbs of various kinds to mix with tobacco
to reduce its strength, as they are in the habit of exhaling the smoke
from the nostrils, and not from the mouth. By the adoption of this
means a much smaller quantity of tobacco suffices to produce the
soothing influence on the nervous system so well known to votaries of
the weed.
Longfellow, in his great Indian epic of the Song of Hiawatha, has
portrayed with graphic power in pleasing verse the mysterious legends
describing the birth or institution of the peace-pipe by Gitche
Manito, "The Master of Life;" and a few extracts from "Hiawatha" may
be interesting to illustrate the deep significance of the ideas which
the Indian holds regarding his relations to the Great Spirit of the
Universe, and of the esteem with which he views the peace-pipe, which
in the words of Catlin "has shed its thrilling fumes over the land,
and soothed the fury of the relentless savage."
Longfellow, in the opening of his poem, says:--
Ye whose hearts are fresh and simple,
Who have faith in God and Nature,
Who believe that in all ages
Every human heart is human,
That in even savage bosoms
There are longings, yearnings, strivings,
For the good they comprehend not,
That the feeble hands and helpless,
Groping blindly in the darkness,
Touch God's right hand in that darkness
And are lifted up and strengthened;--
Listen to this simple story,
To the song of Hiawatha.
He then describes the making of the pipe from the great Red Pipe-Stone
Quarry, as follows:--
"On the Mountains of the Prairie,
On the great Red Pipe-Stone Quarry,
Gitche Manito, the mighty,
He the Master of Life, descending,
On the red crags of the quarry
Stood erect, and called the nations,
Called the tribes of men together.
From his foot-prints flowed a river,
Leaped into the light of morning,
O'er the precipice plunging downward
Gleamed like Ishkoodah, the comet.
And the Spirit stooping earthward,
With his finger on the meadow
Traced a winding pathway for it,
Saying to it, 'Run in this way!'
"From the red stone of the quarry
With his hand he broke a fragment,
Moulded it into a pipe-head,
Shaped and fashioned it with figures;
From the margin of the river
Took a long reed for a pipe-stem,
With its dark green leaves upon it;
Filled the pipe with bark of willow;
With the bark of the red willow;
Breathed upon the neighboring forest,
Made its great boughs chafe together,
Till in flame they burst and kindled;
And erect upon the mountains,
Gitche Manito, the mighty,
Smoked the calumet, the Peace-Pipe,
As a signal to the nations."
[Illustration: Pipe of Peace.]
The next verses describe the assembling of the nations at the call of
Gitche Manito, who proceeds to speak to his children words of wisdom
and announces that he:
"'Will send a prophet to you,
A Deliverer of the nations,
Who shall guide you and shall teach you,
Who shall toil and suffer with you.
So you listen to his counsels,
You will multiply and prosper;
If his warnings pass unheeded,
You will fade away and perish!
"'Bathe now in the stream before you,
Wash the war-paint from your faces,
Wash the blood-stains from your fingers,
Bury your war-clubs and your weapons,
Break the red stone from this quarry,
Mould and make it into Peace-Pipes,
Take the reeds that grow beside you,
Deck them with your highest feathers,
Smoke the calumet together,
And as brothers live henceforward!'
* * * * *
"And in silence all the warriors
Broke the red stone of the quarry,
Smoothed and formed it into Peace-Pipes,
Broke the long reeds by the river,
Decked them with their brightest feathers,
And departed each one homeward,
While the Master of Life, ascending
Through the opening of cloud curtains,
Through the doorways of the heavens,
Vanished from before their faces,
In the smoke that rolled around him,
The Pukwana of the Peace-Pipe!"
Along the northern parts of America, are to be found the Esquimaux
population, estimated to number about 60,000.
They are votaries of the weed, making their pipes either out of
driftwood, or of the bones of animals they have used for food.
Tobacco is found growing along the whole western sea-board of South
America until we reach the northern boundaries of Patagonia. Far
inland on the banks of the Amazon, Rio Niger, and other great rivers,
the weed has been found in luxurious abundance, with a delightful
fragrance.
Stephens, in his "Travels in Central America," says that
"the ladies of Central America generally smoke--the married
using tobacco, and the unmarried, cigars formed of selected
tobacco rolled in paper or rice straw. Every gentleman
carries in his pocket a silver case, with a long string of
cotton, steel and flint, and one of the offices of gallantry
is to strike a light. By doing it well, he may help to
kindle a flame in a lady's heart; at all events, to do it
bunglingly would be ill-bred. I will not express my
sentiments on smoking as a custom for the sex. I have
recollections of beauteous lips profaned. Nevertheless, even
in this I have seen a lady show her prettiness and
refinement, barely touching the straw on her lips, as it
were kissing it gently and taking it away. When a gentleman
asks a lady for a light, she always removes the cigar from
her lips."
The Rev. Canon Kingsley, in his fascinating novel of "Westward Ho!"
has some quaint remarks on the method of smoking described by Lionel
Wafer, surgeon to Dampier, which are well worth quoting. He says,
"When they, (the Darien Indians,) will deliberate on war or
policy, they sit round in the hut of the chief; where being
placed, enter to them a small boy with a cigarro of the
bigness of a rolling-pin, and puffs the smoke thereof into
the face of each warrior, from the eldest to the youngest;
while they, putting their hands funnel-wise round their
mouths, draw into the sinuosities of the brain that more
than Delphic vapor of prophecy; which boy presently falls
down in a swoon, and being dragged out by the heels and laid
by to sober, enter another to puff at the sacred cigarro,
till he is dragged out likewise, and so on till the Tobacco
is finished, and the seed of wisdom has sprouted in every
soul into the tree of meditation, bearing the flower of
eloquence, and in due time the fruit of valiant action."
[Illustration: A Model Cigar.]
Tobacco in the form of cigarettes, is extensively used by the
inhabitants of Nicaragua, Guiana, and the dwellers on the banks of the
Orinoco, and the use of the weed is not confined to the male sex, but
is freely used both by the female and juvenile portions of the
community. Mr. Squier, in his "Travels in Nicaragua," states that the
dress of the young urchins consists mainly of a straw hat and a
cigar--the cigar when not in use being stuck behind the ear, in the
manner in which our clerks place their pens. The natives of Guiana use
a tube or pipe not unlike a cheroot, made from the rind of the fruit
of a species of palm. This curious pipe is called a "Winna," and the
hollow is filled with tobacco, the smoking of which affords much
enjoyment to the denizens of the swampy regions of Guiana.
Mr. Cooke, in "The Seven Sisters of Sleep," states that a tube much
resembling the "Winna" of Guiana was some years ago to be met with in
the Tobacconists' Shops in London. The Indian dwelling in the dense
forests in the region of Orinoco has found that tobacco is an
excellent solace to relieve the monotony of his life; he uses it "not
only to procure an afternoon nap, but also to induce a state of
quiescence which they call dreaming with their eyes open." We find
from voyagers up the Amazon, that smoking prevails not merely amongst
the natives inhabiting the regions which skirt that great river, but
also amongst the people on the banks of its numerous tributaries. Mr.
Bates the distinguished Naturalist, when making researches far up one
of the tributaries of the Amazon, found tobacco extensively
cultivated, and some distinguished makers of cigarettes. One maker,
Joan Trinidade, was noted for his Tobacco and Tauri cigarettes. This
cigar is so named from the bark in which the tobacco is rolled. Some
of the tribes inhabiting the district of the lower Amazon indulge in
snuff-taking. This snuff is not made from tobacco, it is the produce
of a plant of the leguminous order, the seeds being carefully
collected and thoroughly dried in the sun before they are pounded in a
mortar, when the powder is ready for use. The snuff-making season is
quite an event in a Brazilian village, the week or so during which it
lasts forming a kind of religious festival mingled with a good deal of
indulgence of fermented liquors, chiefly of native origin.
Humboldt, when traveling in South America, found in use among the
Ottomac Indians a powder called Niopo, or "Indian snuff." Niopo is a
powerful stimulant, a small portion of it producing violent sneezing
in persons unaccustomed to its use. Father Gumilla says:--"This
diabolical powder of the Ottomacs, furnished by an adolescent tobacco
plant, intoxicates them through the nostrils, deprives them of reason
for some hours, and renders them furious in battle." Humboldt,
however, has shown that this stimulating snuff is not the product of
the tobacco plant, but of a species of acacia, Niopo being made from
the pods of the plant after they have undergone a process of
fermentation. Captain Burton, when traveling in the Highlands of
Brazil, found the tobacco plant growing spontaneously, which made him
conclude that it is indigenous to Brazil. He found the "Aromatic
Brazilian" a kind of tobacco with thin leaves and a pink flower, which
is "much admired in the United States, and there found to lose its
aroma after the second year." It is usually asserted that the tobacco
grown in Brazil contains only two per cent. of nicotine, but Captain
Burton is disposed to doubt this, as he states that some varieties of
the "holy herb" grown at Sa'a' Paulo and Nimos suggests a larger
proportion. In the small towns in the Highlands of Brazil, Captain
Burton found that excellent cigars, better than many "Havannas," were
retailed at a halfpenny each. In La Plata, Paraguay, and other
countries to the south of Brazil, nearly every person smokes, and an
American traveler quoted by Mr. Cooke states that women and girls
above thirteen years of age use the weed in the form of quids. A
magnificent Hebe, arrayed in satin and flashing in diamonds, "puts you
back with one delicate hand, while with the fair taper fingers of the
other she takes the tobacco out of her mouth previous to your saluting
her." A European visiting Paraguay for the first time is rather
astonished at the conduct of the fair beauty, but such is the force of
custom that the squeamishness of the new-comer is soon overcome, when
he finds that he has to kiss every lady to whom he is introduced; and
the traveler says that "one half of those you meet are really tempting
enough to render you reckless of consequences."
Smoking is practised by the natives of Patagonia, who are a tall and
muscular class of men, though not such giants as represented by the
early voyagers. Hutchinson, in a valuable paper on the Indians of
South America has an account of the Pehuenches, one of the principal
tribes of Patagonia, in which he states that "their chief indulgence
is smoking. The native pipes are fabricated out of a piece of stone,
fashioned into the shape of a bowl, into which is inserted a long
brass tube. The latter is obtained by barter at Bohia Blanca. The
tobacco in the bowl being lighted, each man of a party takes a suck at
the pipe in his turn." Tilston, who witnessed the operation, describes
it as a most ludicrous one.
"The smoker gives a pull at the pipe,
gulping in a quantity of Tobacco vapour, the cubic
measurement of which my informant would be afraid to guess
at. All the muscles of the body seem in a temporary
convulsion whilst it is being taken in, and the neighbour to
whom the pipe is transferred follows suit by inhaling as if
he were trying to swallow down brass tube, bowl, Tobacco,
fire, and all. Meanwhile, there issues from the nose and
mouth of the previous smoker such a cumulus of cloud as for
a few seconds to render his face quite invisible."
Tobacco is
more used in Chili than in the other countries on the Pacific side of
South America; this is owing to the extensive use of the leaves of the
Cocoa plant as a narcotic by the natives of Bolivia, Peru, and
Colombia.
[Illustration: South Americans smoking.]
We refrain from enlarging on the nature and use of this narcotic, as
on some future occasion we may take an opportunity of making some
observations on Cocoa, which according to Jonson, holds an undisputed
sway over some seven or eight millions of the inhabitants of South
America. The Indians formerly inhabiting the high table-lands of what
is now called Peru and Bolivia appear prior to the invasion of the
Spaniards to have been much further advanced in civilization than the
races occupying the other portions of South America; and there is a
strong probability that they are of a different origin from the races
occupying Chili, Patagonia, Brazil, and the great district washed by
the waters of the West Indian Sea. Science as yet cannot give anything
like an accurate idea of the time man has existed in these
widely-diversified countries, but we cannot go wrong in accepting the
statement of Darwin, who observes that
"we must admit that man has
inhabited South America for an immensely long period,
inasmuch as any change in climate, effected by the elevation
of the land must have been extremely gradual."
Another writer says of the pipes of the Indians of North America:
"Great variety of form and material distinguishes the pipes
of the modern Indians; arising in part from the local
facilities they possess for a suitable material from which
to construct them; and in part also from the special style
of art and decoration which has become the traditional usage
of the tribes. The favorite red pipe-stone of the Coteau des
Prairies, has been generally sought after, both from its
easiness of working and the beauty of its appearance. A pipe
of this favorite and beautiful material, found on the shores
of Lake Simcoe, and now in my possession, measures five
inches and three-quarters in length, and nearly four inches
in greatest breadth, yet the capacity of the bowl hollowed
in it for the reception of tobacco is even less than in the
smallest of the "Elfin Pipes." In contrast to this, a modern
Winnebago pipe recently acquired by me, made of the same red
pipe-stone, inlaid with lead, and executed with ingenious
skill, has a bowl of large dimensions illustrative of Indian
smoking usages modified by the influence of the white man.
From the red pipe-stone, as well as from the lime stone and
other harder rocks, the Chippeways, the Winnebagos, and the
Sioux, frequently make a peculiar class of pipes, inlaid
with lead.
"The Chincok and Puget Sound Indians, who evince little
taste in comparison with the tribes surrounding them, in
ornamenting their persons or their warlike and domestic
implements, commonly use wooden pipes. Sometimes these are
elaborately carved, but most frequently they are rudely and
hastily made for immediate use; and even among these remote
tribes of the flat head Indians, the common clay pipe of the
fur trader begins to supersede such native arts. Among the
Assinaboin Indians a material is used in pipe manufacture
altogether peculiar to them. It is a fine marble, much too
hard to admit of minute carving, but taking a high polish.
This is cut into pipes of graceful form, and made so
extremely thin, as to be almost transparent, so that when
lighted the glowing tobacco shines through, and presents a
singular appearance when in use at night or in a dark lodge.
Another favorite material employed by the Assinaboin Indians
is a coarse species of jasper also too hard to admit of
elaborate ornamentation."
This also is cut into various simple but tasteful designs, executed
chiefly by the slow and laborious process of rubbing it down with
other stones. The choice of the material for fashioning the favorite
pipe is by no means invariably guided by the facilities which the
location of the tribe affords. A suitable stone for such a purpose
will be picked up and carried hundreds of miles. Mr. Kane informs me
that, in coming down the Athabaska River, when drawing near its source
in the Rocky Mountains, he observed his Assinaboin guides select the
favorite bluish jasper from among the water-worn stones in the bed of
the river, to carry home for the purpose of pipe manufacture, although
they were then fully five hundred miles from their lodges. Such a
traditional adherence to a choice of material peculiar to a remote
source, may frequently prove of considerable value as a clue to former
migrations of the tribes. Both the Cree and the Winnebago Indians
carve pipes in stone of a form now more frequently met with in the
Indian curiosity stores of Canada and the States than any other
specimens of native carving. The tube, cut at a sharp right angle with
the cylindrical bowl of the pipe, is ornamented with a thin vandyked
ridge, generally perforated with a row of holes, and standing up
somewhat like the dorsal fin of a fish. The Winnebagos also
manufacture pipes of the same form, but of a smaller size, in lead,
with considerable skill.
Among the Cree Indians a double pipe is occasionally in use,
consisting of a bowl carved out of stone without much attempt at
ornament, but with perforations on two sides, so that two smokers can
insert their pipe-stems at once, and enjoy the same supply of tobacco.
It does not appear, however, that any special significance is attached
to this singular fancy. The Saultaux Indians, a branch of the great
Algonquin nation, also carve their pipes out of a black stone found in
their country, and evince considerable skill in the execution of their
elaborate details. But the most remarkable of all the specimens of
pipe sculpture executed by the Indians of the north-west are those
carved by the Bobeen, or Big-lip Indians,--so called from the singular
deformity they produce by inserting a piece of wood into a slit made
in the lower lip.
The Bobeen Indians are found along the Pacific coast, about latitude
54°, 40', and extend from the borders of the Russian dominions
eastward nearly to Frazer River. The pipes of the Bobeen, and also of
the Clalam Indians, occupying the neighboring Vancouver's Island, are
carved with the utmost elaborateness and in the most singular and
grotesque devices, from a soft blue clay-stone or slate. Their form is
in part determined by the material, which is only procurable in thin
slabs, so that the sculptures, wrought on both sides, present a sort
of double bas-relief. From this, singular and grotesque groups are
carved without any apparent reference to the final destination of the
whole as a pipe. The lower side is generally a straight line, and in
the specimens I have examined they measure from two or three to
fifteen inches long; so that in these the pipe-stem is included. A
small hollow is carved out of some protruding ornament to serve as the
bowl of the pipe, and from the further end a perforation is drilled to
connect with this. The only addition made to it when in use is the
insertion of a quill or straw as a mouth-piece. The Indians have both
war and peace pipes.
The War pipe is a true tomahawk of ordinary size with a perforated
handle the tobacco being placed in the receptacle above the hatchet
the handle serving as a pipe-stem and used for either pipe or
tomahawk. Many varieties of Indian Pipes have been found not only in
the Western and Southern mounds but in Mexico and Central America.
Fine specimens are found in Florida and some elaborately carved have
been unearthed in Virginia. Wilson says of the pipes used by the
Indians: "The pipe stem is one of the characteristics of modern race,
if not distinctive of the Northern tribes of Indians." In alluding to
the pipes more particularly he says:
"Specimens of another class of
clay pipes of a larger size, and with a tube of such length
as obviously to be designed for use without the addition of
a "pipe-stem,"
most of the ancient clay pipes that have been
discovered are stated to have the same form; and this, it may be
noted, bears so near a resemblance to that of the red clay pipe used
in modern Turkey, with the cherry-tree pipe stem, that it might be
supposed to have furnished the model.
[Illustration: A war pipe.]
The bowls of this class of ancient clay pipes are not of the miniature
proportions which induce a comparison between those of Canada and the
early examples found in Britain; neither do the stone pipe-heads of
the mound-builders suggest by the size of the bowl either the
self-denying economy of the ancient smoker, or his practice of the
modern Indian mode of exhaling the fumes of the tobacco, by which so
small a quantity suffices to produce the full narcotic effects of the
favorite weed. They would rather seem to confirm the indications
derived from the other sources, of an essential difference between the
ancient smoking usages of Central America and of the mound-builders,
and those which are still maintained in their primeval integrity
among the Indians of the North West.
Of the mound-builders Foster says:
"The mound-builders were well aware of the narcotic
properties of tobacco, a plant which indigenous to America,
and which since the discovery of the western continent has
been domesticated in every region of the earth where the
soil and climate are favorable to its cultivation. No habit
at this day, it may be said, is more universal or more
difficult to eradicate than that of smoking. With the
mound-builder tobacco was the greatest of luxuries; his
solace in his hours of relaxations, and the choicest
offering he could dedicate to the Great Spirit. Upon his
pipe he lavished all the skill he possessed, in the
lapidary's art.
"From the red stone of the quarry
With his hand he broke a fragment
Moulded it into a pipe head
Shaped and fashioned it with figures."
Many of these pipes are sculptured from the most obdurate stones and
display great delicacy of workmanship. The features of animals are so
truthfully cut that often there is no difficulty in their
identification, and even the plumage of birds is delineated by curved
or straight lines which show a close adherence to nature. The bowl and
stem piece wrought from a single block, are as accurately drilled as
they could be at this day, by the lapidary's art. Both the War pipe
and Peace pipe are the most sacred and the most highly valued of all
the various kinds.
[Illustration: Peace pipe.]
"The calumet, or pipe of peace, ornamented with the war
eagles quill, is a sacred pipe, and never used on any other
occasion than that of peace making, when the chief brings it
into treaty, and unfolding the many bandages which are
carefully kept around it, has it ready to be mutually smoked
by the chiefs, after the terms of the treaty are agreed
upon, as the means of solemnizing it; which is done by
passing the sacred stem to each chief, who draws one breath
of smoke only through it. Nothing can be more binding than
smoking the pipe of peace and is considered by them to be an
inviolable pledge. There is no custom more uniformly in
constant use amongst the poor Indians than that of smoking
nor any more highly valued. His pipe is his constant
companion through life--his messenger of peace; he pledges
his friends through its stem and its bowl, and when its
care-drowning fumes cease to flow, it takes a place with him
in his solitary grave with his tomahawk and war-club
companions to his long-fancied 'happy hunting grounds.'"
From specimens of clay pipes found at the South from Virginia to
Florida it would seem that the Indians had a great variety of pipes
some of which were beautifully carved while others are perfectly
plain. Many of them however are of rude workmanship and might have
been fashioned by some of the tribe unacquainted with pipe-making.
Dall gives the following account of smoking among the natives of
Alaska:
We broke camp about five o'clock in the morning. Nothing
occurred to break the monotony of constant steady plodding.
Two Indians in the bow of the boat would row until tired,
and then we would stop for a few minutes to rest, and let
them smoke. The last operation takes less than a minute;
their pipes are so constructed as to hold but a very small
pinch of tobacco. The bowl, with ears for tying it to the
stem is generally cast out of lead. Sometimes it is made of
soft stone, bone or even hard wood. The stem is made of two
pieces of wood hollowed on one side, and bound to the bowl
and each other by a narrow strip of deerskin. In smoking the
economical Indian generally cuts up a little birch wood, or
the inner bark of the poplar, and mixes it with his tobacco.
A few reindeer hairs pulled from his paska, are rolled into
a little ball, and placed in the bottom of the bowl to
prevent the contents from being drawn into the stem. A pinch
of tobacco cut as fine as snuff is inserted and two or three
whiffs are afforded by it.
The smoke is inhaled into the lungs, producing a momentary stupor and
the operation is over. A fungus which grows on decayed birch trees, or
tinder manufactured from the down of the poplar rubbed up with
charcoal is used with flint and steel for obtaining a light. Matches
are highly valued and readily purchased. The effect of the Circassian
tobacco on the lungs is extremely bad, and among those tribes who use
it many die from asthma and congestion of the lungs. This is
principally due to the saltpetre with which it is impregnated. The
Indian pipe is copied from the Eskimo, as the latter were the first to
obtain and use tobacco. Many of the tribes call it by the Eskimo name.
The Kutchin and Eastern Finneh were modeled after the clay pipes of
the Hudson Bay Company, but they also carve very pretty ones out of
birch knots and the root of the wild rose-bush. The Chukchees use a
pipe similar to those of the Eskimo, but with a much larger and
shorter stem. This stem is hollow, and is filled with fine birch
shavings. After smoking for some months these shavings impregnated
with the oil of tobacco, are taken out through an opening in the lower
part of the stem and smoked over. The Hudson Baymen make passable
pipe-stems by taking a straight-grained piece of willow or spruce
without knots, and cutting through the outer layers of bark and wood.
This stick is heated in the ashes and by twisting the end in contrary
directions the heart-wood may be gradually drawn out, leaving a hollow
tube.
The Kutchin make pretty pipe-stems out of goose-quills wound about
with porcupine-quills. It is the custom in the English forts to make
every Indian who comes to trade, a present of a clay pipe filled with
tobacco. We were provided with cheap brown ones, with wooden stems,
which were much liked by the natives, and it is probable that small
brier-wood pipes, which are not liable to break, would form an
acceptable addition to any stock of trading goods". The Tchuktchi of
north-eastern Asia are devoted worshipers of tobacco, and is one of
the chief articles of trade with them. Their pipes are large, much
larger at the stem than the bowl. In smoking, they swallow the fumes
of the tobacco which causes intoxication for a time. "The desire to
procure a few of its narcotic leaves induces the American Esquimaux
from the Ice Cape to Bristol Bay, to send their produce from hand to
hand as far as the Guosden Islands in Behrings Straits, where it is
bartered for the tobacco of the Tchuktchi, and there again principally
resort to the fair of Ostrownoje to purchase tobacco from the
Russians. Generally the Tchuktchi receive from the Americans as money
skins for half a pond, or eighteen pounds of tobacco leaves as they
afterwards sell to the Russians for two ponds of tobacco of the same
quality.
[Illustration: A Tchuktchi pipe.]
The Russians also are great lovers of the weed. A writer says:--
"Everybody smokes, men, women, and children. They smoke
Turkish tobacco, rolled in silk paper--seldom cigars or
pipes. These rolls are called parporos. The ladies almost
all smoke, but they smoke the small, delicate sizes of
parporos, while the gentlemen smoke larger ones. Always at
morning, noon and night, comes the inevitable box of
parporos, and everybody at the table smokes and drinks their
coffee at the same time. On the cars are fixed little cups
for cigar ashes in every seat. Ladies frequently take out
their part parporos, and hand them to the gentlemen with a
pretty invitation to smoke. Instead of having a smoking car
as we do, they have a car for those who are so 'pokey' as
not to smoke."
Throughout the German States the custom of smoking is universal and
tobacco enters largely into their list of expenditures. A writer says
of smoking in Austria:--
"We have been rather surprised to find so few persons
smoking pipes in Austria. Indeed, a pipe is seldom seen
except among the laboring classes. The most favorite mode of
using the weed here is in cigarettes, almost every gentleman
being provided with a silver box, in which they have Turkish
tobacco and small slips of paper, with mucilage on them
ready for rolling. They make them as they use them, and are
very expert in the handling of the tobacco. The chewing of
tobacco is universally repudiated, being regarded as the
height of vulgarity. The Turkish tobacco is of fine flavor,
and commands high prices. It is very much in appearance like
the fine cut chewing tobacco so extensively used at home."
The cigars made by the Austrian Government, which are the only
description to be had are very inferior, and it is not to be wondered
that the cigarette is so generally used in preference.
The smoking of cigarettes by the ladies is quite common, especially
among the higher classes. In no part of the world is smoking so common
as in South America; here all classes and all ages use the weed.
Smoking is encouraged in the family and the children are early taught
the custom. A traveler who has observed this custom more particularly
than any other, says of the use of tobacco in Peru:--
"Scarcely in any regions of the world is smoking so common
as in Peru. The rich as well as the poor, the old man as
well as the boy, the master as well as the servant, the lady
as well as the negroes who wait on her, the young maiden as
well as the mother--all smoke and never cease smoking,
except when eating, or sleeping, or in church. Social
distinctions are as numerous and as marked in Peru as
anywhere else, and there is the most exclusive pride of
color and of blood. But differences of color and of rank are
wholly disregarded when a light for a cigar is requested, a
favor which it is not considered a liberty to ask, and which
it would be deemed a gross act of incivility to refuse. It
is chiefly cigarritos which are smoked.
"The cigarrito, as is well known, is tobacco cut fine and
dexterously wrapped in moist maize leaves, in paper, or in
straw. Only the laborers on the plantations smoke small clay
pipes. Dearer than the cigarritos are the cigars, which are
not inferior to the best Havanna. Everywhere are met the
cigarrito-twisters. Cleverly though they manipulate,
cleanliness is not their besetting weakness. But in Peru,
and in other parts of South America, cleanliness is not held
in more esteem than in Portugal and Spain."
The Turks have long been noted as among the largest consumers of
tobacco as well as using the most magnificent of smoking implements.
The hookah is in all respects the most expensive and elaborate machine
(for so it may be called) used for smoking tobacco. A traveler gives
the following graphic description of smoking among them:
[Illustration: Turk smoking.]
"As each man smokes only out of his own pipe, it is not
surprising that this instrument is an indispensable
accompaniment of every person of rank. Men of the higher
classes keep two or three servants to attend to their pipes.
While one looks after things at home, the other has to
accompany his master in his walks and rides. The long stem
is on such occasions packed in a finely embroidered cloth
cover, while the bowl, tobacco, and other accessories are
carried by the servant in a pouch at his side. A stranger in
Constantinople will often regard with curiosity and
surprise, a proud Osmanli on foot or horseback, followed by
an attendant who, through the long, carefully-packed
instrument which he carries, gives one the idea that he is a
weapon-bearer of some heroic period following his lord to
some dangerous rendezvous. So are the times altered. What
the armor-bearer was for the warlike races of old, such is
the tchbukdi for their degenerate descendants.
"To smoke from sixty to eighty pipes a day is by no means
uncommon; for whatever be the business, no matter how
serious, in which the Turk is engaged, he must smoke at it.
In the divan, where the grandees of the empire consult
together on the most delicate affairs of State, the question
was once mooted whether the tchbukdes should not be excluded
from such debates as were of a strictly private nature.
There was a great diversity of opinion on the subject.
Politics and reason were on opposite sides. At last it was
decided that they would not disgrace an ancient national
usage, but would allow the harmless attendants to enter the
council-room every now and then to change the pipes. In
Turkey, pipes and tobacco afford means of distinguishing not
only the different classes of the community, but even the
several graduates of rank in the same class. A mushir
(marshal) would find it derogatory to his dignity to smoke
out of a stem less than two yards in length. The artisan or
official of a lower rank, would consider it highly
unbecoming on his part to use one which exceeded the proper
proportions of his class. A superior stretches his pipe
before him to his inferior; while the latter must hold his
modestly on one side, only allowing the end of the
mouth-piece to peep out of his closed fist.
"The pasha has the right to puff out his smoke before him
like a steam engine, while his inferiors are only allowed to
breathe forth a light curl of smoke, and that must be let
off backwards. Not to smoke at all in the presence of a
superior, is held the most delicate homage which can be paid
him. A son, for instance, acts in this manner in the
presence of his father, and only such a one is considered to
be well brought up who declines to smoke even after his
father has repeatedly invited him to do so. The fair sex in
the East is scarcely less addicted to the use of this weed.
"The girl of twelve years old smokes a cigarette of the
thickness of pack-thread. When she has attained her
fourteenth or fifteenth year, and is already marriageable,
she is allowed to indulge her penchant at will, which is
forbidden when younger. After this age the diameter of the
cigarette increases year by year; and when a lady has
reached the mature age of twenty-four, no one sees anything
remarkable in her smoking a modest little chibouque as she
sits on the lower divan of the harem. Elderly matrons--and
in Turkey every lady is an elderly matron in her fortieth
year--are passionately devoted to this enjoyment. The
pipe-bowls and stems always remain of the size appropriated
by etiquette to the use of the harem; but the strongest and
most pungent sorts of tobacco are not unseldom smoked, until
the mouth, which, according to the assurance of the poet, in
the bloom of its youth breathed forth ambergiris and musk,
in its fortieth year acquires so strong a smell that the
lady can be scented from a distance.
"Like their lords, the hanyrus of rank have also their
tchbukdes, of course of their own sex, who accompany them
when out walking or on a visit. In this case, however, the
cover in which the pipe-stem is made, not of cloth, but of
silk. The habit of refreshing oneself with a pipe on some
elevated spot which commands a fine view, is common to both
sexes. Men can indulge this taste whenever their fancy may
suggest, but ladies only in retired spots; for, whenever a
Turkish fair one removes the yas mak (veil) from her lips,
as she does to smoke, all around her must be harem (sacred).
"Sometimes an eunuch stands guard at a little distance off,
and if a stranger of the male sex approaches, gives a
signal; the pipe is held aside, while the mouth is kept
covered by the veil, until the unexpected Acteon has passed
by. But where the pipe plays the most important part is in
the bath. It is well known that the Turkish ladies are
accustomed to frequent the hommams assiduously, and to
remain there for hours together. They enter the bath about
eight o'clock in the morning; take their midday meal there,
and return home between three and four in the afternoon.
During these hours of leisure, the most agreeable in a
Mohammedan woman's life, the pipe is their constant
resource. In the middle of the warmest room is a round
terrace-like elevation, called Gobek-tosh.
"Here are clustered old and young, the snow white daughters
of Circassia and the coal-black beauties of Soudan, and
beguile the hours with never ending gossip, while around
them rise the dense fumes of their pipes. Now one of the
elders of the party tells a story, now a learned lady holds
a discourse on religion, or extols the beauty and virtue of
'Aisha Fatima.'"
The Fairy, or Dane's pipe is the most ancient form of the tobacco pipe
used in Great Britain and of about the same size as the "Elfin pipes"
of the Scottish peasantry. A great variety of pipes both in form and
size have been found in the British Islands some of which are of
ancient origin bearing dates prior to the Seventeenth Century. Some of
these ancient pipes are formed of very fine clay and although they
held but a small quantity of tobacco were doubtless considered to be
fine specimens in their time.
The manufacture of pipes commenced soon after the custom of using
tobacco had become fashionable and soon after the Virginians commenced
its cultivation. Fairholt says:
[Illustration: Old English pipes.]
"The early period at which tobacco pipes were first
manufactured, is established by the fact that the
incorporation of the craft of tobacco-pipe makers took place
on the 5th of October, 1619. Their privileges extending
through the cities of London and Westminster, the kingdom of
England and dominion of Wales. They have a Master, four
Wardens, and about twenty-four Assistants. They were first
incorporated by King James in his seventeenth year,
confirmed again by King Charles I., and lastly on the
twenty-ninth of April in the fifteenth year of King Charles
II., in all the privileges of their aforesaid charters.
"The London Company of Tobacco Pipe Makers was incorporated
in the reign of Charles II (1663); it had no hall and no
livery but was governed by a Master two wardens, and
eighteen assistants. The first pipes used in the British
Islands were made of silver while 'ordinary ones' were made
of a walnut shell and a straw. Afterwards appeared the more
common clay pipes in various forms and which are in use at
the present time."
During the reign of Anne and George I. the pipes assumed a different
form and greater length so long were the stems of some of them that
they were called yards of clay. The French pipe is one of the finest
manufactured and is made of a fine red clay especially those made by
Fiolet of St. Omer, one of the best designers of pipes. Many of these
like German pipes are made of porcelain, adorned with portraits and
landscapes. Others are made of rare kinds of wood turned in the lathe
or artistically carved, and lined with clay to resist the action of
fire.
The French also make pipes of agate, amber, crystal, carnelian and
ivory, as well as the various kinds of pure or mixed metals. Many of
the French and German pipes while they are beautiful in design and
made of the most costly materials are often exceedingly grotesque,
representing often the most ludicrous scenes and all possible
attitudes. Many of them have been termed as satirical pipes taking off
some public character _a la_ Nast.
Fairholt says of satirical pipes:
"England has occasioned the production of one satirical pipe
for sale among ourselves. The late Duke of Wellington toward
the close of his life, took a strong dislike to the use of
tobacco in the army, and made some ineffectual attempts to
suppress it. Benda, a wholesale pipe importer in the city
employed Dumeril, of St. Omer, to commemorate the event, and
the result was a pipe head, in which a subaltern, pipe in
hand, quietly 'takes a sight' at the great commander who is
caricatured after a fashion that must have made the work a
real pleasure to a Frenchman."
Many of the French pipes are
exceedingly quaint representing all manner of comical scenes. One is
formed like a steam-engine the smoke passing through the funnel.
Another is fashioned after a potato or a turnip while others often
represent some military subjects. In England and Ireland also pipes of
a whimsical form are common.
[Illustration: French pipes.]
CHAPTER VII.
PIPES AND SMOKERS. (Continued.)
In Russia and Denmark as also in Norway and Sweden the pipes are more
simple and are principally formed of wood sometimes tipped with copper
but usually of inferior material and work when compared with French
and German pipes. The German pipes considered as works of art are
doubtless the finest made. Many are made of meerschaum (sea foam).
This material is found in various parts of Asia Minor. When first
obtained it is capable of forming a lather like soap, and is used by
the Tartars for washing purposes. The Turks use it for pipes which are
made in the same way that pottery is and afterwards soaked in wax and
is then ready for smoking. It heats slowly and is capable of greater
absorption than any other material used in pipe making. To properly
color a meerschaum is now considered as one of the fine arts and when
completed is considered quite a triumph. When the pipe takes on a rich
deep brown tint it is considered a valuable pipe and is watched and
guarded as a most valuable treasure.
M. Ziegler thus describes the source whence the considerable annual
supply of meerschaum for meerschaum pipes is derived:
"Large quantities of this mineral so highly esteemed by
smokers, comes from Hrubschitz and Oslawan in Austrian
Moravia where it is found embedded between thick strata of
serpentine rock. It is also found in Spain at Esconshe,
Vallecas and Toledo; the best however comes from Asia Minor.
The chief places are the celebrated meerschaum mines from
six to eight miles southeast of Eskis chehr, on the river
Pursak chief tributary to the river Sagarius. They were
known to Xenophon, and are now worked principally by
Armenian Christians, who sink narrow pits, to the beds of
this mineral, and work the sides out until water or imminent
danger drives them away to try another place. Some
meerschaum comes from Brussa, and in 1869 over 3,000 boxes
of raw material were imported from Asia Minor at Trieste,
with 345,000 florins. The pipe manufacture and carving is
principally carried on in Vienna and in Rhula, Duchy of
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The commercial value of meerschaum
carving at these places may be estimated at $2,000,000
annually. However very large quantities of them are not made
from genuine but artificial material. The waste from these
carvings is ground to a very fine powder, and then boiled
with linseed oil and alum. When this mixture has sufficient
cohesion, it is cast in molds and carefully dried and
carved, as if these blocks of mineral had been natural. It
is said that about one-half of all pipes now sold are made
from artificial meerschaum. Meerschaum is one of the
lightest of minerals and it is said that in Italy bricks
have been made of it so light that they would float on the
top of the water. Some pipes (doubtless owing to the quality
of meerschaum) take on more color in a given time than
others this is owing in a great measure however to the
thickness of the bowl."
Pipe-colorers, who go around coloring pipes or meerschaums, pride
themselves on the rapidity with which they are enabled to color a
pipe. The following, on "Pipe Colorers," is from "The Tobacco Plant":
"There are men who pride themselves upon the skill with
which they are able to color the pipes they smoke. Some of
these are amateurs, who smoke Tobacco only with the view of
gratifying that taste for color which is satisfied when a
bowl of clay or meerschaum is sufficiently yellowed,
browned, or blacked. There are men who care nothing for
Tobacco of itself, and would be much more easily and
rationally pleased were they to set their pipes upon an
easel and paint them with oils and camel's-hair. Others of
the class are professional colorers, who hire themselves to
pipe-sellers or connoisseurs by the week, or day, or hour,
to smoke so many ounces or pounds of strong Tobacco through
such and such pipes in such and such a time, with the
view of causing such and such stains of Tobacco-juice to
make themselves visible on the bowls or stems of those
specified pipes. These are mostly old, well-seasoned
smokers, to whose existence the weed has become essential;
who smoke their own old pipes, which lack artistic coloring,
in the intervals when they lay aside the pipes they are
employed to color. Another and much smaller section of the
class are those who smoke for smoking's sake, and yet are
weak enough to nurse some special pipes for show. To such it
is a joy to say, when friends are gathered at the festive
board 'Look! is not that well colored? I colored it myself.'
In such an age as this, when the learned cannot tell us
which of our various branches of knowledge and inquiry are
sciences and which are not, it may not seem a great anomaly
that this pipe-coloring should, by some, be called 'an art.'
Nor is it, when we think that there is such an 'art' as
blacking shoes; and when we must perforce admit that he who,
barber fashion, cuts our hair--and he who, cook-wise, broils
the kidney for our mid-day dinner--is an artist. We have not
come as yet to give this title to the weaver who watches the
loom that weaves our stockings, or to the hammer-man who
beats the red-hot horse-shoe on the anvil in a smithy; but
even there we designate 'artisans,' and 'artists' may come
next. So, hey! for the art of coloring pipes!
[Illustration: Pipe colorer.]
"It may not be denied that there is beauty in a well-colored
meerschaum; but in the admission lies the contradiction of
Keats' well-known line--
"A thing of beauty is a joy for ever."
For, your meerschaum is a fragile thing, and eminently
frangible. This present writer once did see four beauties
break within a single moon. And when they break, what
previous joy of coloring can over-top the sorrow of their
dire destruction? It is a singular difficulty in the way of
those who most desire to beautify utility or utilize the
beautiful, or show that beauty is most lovely when made
practical, that these artistic colorers of pipes are always
those who make least use of Tobacco, save for the immediate
purpose of obtaining the clay in which it is smoked. Ask
such an artist why he smokes, and he will scarcely tell you.
His best reason certainly will be, that others smoke, and,
as a custom, it becomes him. And when you find an ardent
smoker--one who smokes because he likes Tobacco for itself,
or finds it useful--who spends his time in tinting pipes,
you will have found a _rara avis_, or a monstrosity. Apart
from taste, there are some practical objections to this
custom of coloring pipes. Smoking, to be worthy, should be
free and unrestrained; while he who colors his pipe is tied
by system and confined to rule.
"A pipe to be enjoyable, should be its master's slave; but
he who keeps a 'well-colored' pipe is slave thereto. He
cannot smoke it as, or when, or where he will. He must not
smoke it in a draught, or near a fire; he must not lay it
down, or finger it; he must not puff too fast, nor yet too
slow. In short, he is the creature of this 'Joss'--this
home-made deity--to which he bows down and worships. The
pipe-colorers are the Sabbatarians of smoking. Whereas, the
pipe was made for man, they treat man as made for the pipe.
And thus, as in all cases where the cart is expected to draw
the horse, the economy of nature is reversed, and mischief
is evolved."
[Illustration: German porcelain pipes.]
Dibdin, in his "Tour in France and Germany," says of Vienna, that it
is a city of smokers,--"a good Austrian thinks he can never pay too
much for a good pipe." Many of the Germans use a kind of pipe carved
from the root of the dwarf oak; wooden pipes of a similar kind are
made of brier root, and are very common, as are also those made from
maple and sweet-brier. One of the favorite pipes used by Germans is
the porcelain pipe, which consists of a double bowl--the upper one
containing the tobacco, which fits into another portion of the pipe,
allowing the oil to drain into the lower bowl, which may be removed
and the pipe cleaned. The bowls are sometimes painted beautifully,
representing a variety of subjects, and in no way inferior to the
painted porcelain for the table.
The Dutch are famous smokers and are constantly "pulling at the pipe."
They use those with long, straight stems, and both their clay and
porcelain pipes are of the finest form and finish. Irving, in "The
History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the
Dutch Dynasty," has given a good description of the smoking powers of
the Dutch. Speaking of his grandfather's love for the weed, he says:
"My great-grandfather, by the mother's side, Hermanns Van
Clattercop, when employed to build the large stone church at
Rotterdam, which stands about three hundred yards to your
left, after your turn from the Boomkeys; and which is so
conveniently constructed that all the zealous Christians of
Rotterdam prefer sleeping through a sermon there to any
other church in the city. My great-grandfather, I say, when
employed to build that famous church, did, in the first
place, send to Delft for a box of long pipes; then, having
purchased a new spitting-box and a hundred weight of the
best Virginia, he sat himself down and did nothing for the
space of three months but smoke most laboriously.
"Then did he spend full three months more in trudging on
foot, and voyaging in the Trekschuit, from Rotterdam to
Amsterdam--to Delft--to Hærlem--to Leyden--to the
Hague--knocking his head and breaking his pipe against every
church in his road. Then did he advance gradually nearer and
nearer to Rotterdam, until he came in full sight of the
identical spot whereon the church was to be built. Then did
he spend three months longer in walking round it and round
it, contemplating it, first from one point of view, and then
from another,--now would he be paddled by it on the
canal--now would he peep at it through a telescope from the
other side of the Meuse, and now would he take a bird's-eye
glance at it from the top of one of those gigantic windmills
which protect the gates of the city.
"The good folks of the place were on the tip-toe of
expectation and impatience. Notwithstanding all the turmoil
of my great-grandfather, not a symptom of the church was yet
to be seen; they even began to fear it would never be
brought into the world, but that its great projector would
lie down and die in labor of the mighty plan he had
conceived. At length, having occupied twelve good months in
puffing and paddling, and talking and walking,--having
traveled over all Holland, and even taken a peep into France
and Germany,--having smoked five hundred and ninety-nine
pipes and three hundred weight of the best Virginia
tobacco,--my great-grandfather gathered together all that
knowing and industrious class of citizens who prefer
attending to anybody's business sooner than their own, and
having pulled off his coat and five pair of breeches he
advanced sturdily up and laid the corner-stone of the
church, in the presence of the whole multitude,--just at the
commencement of the thirteenth month."
He also alludes to Hudson whom he says was:
"A seafaring man of renown, who had learned to smoke tobacco
under Sir Walter Raleigh, and is said to have been the first
to introduce it into Holland, which gained him much
popularity in that country, and caused him to find great
favor in their High Mightinesses, the lords and states
general, and also of the honorable West India Company. He
was a short, square, brawny old gentleman, with a double
chin, a mastiff mouth, and a broad copper nose, which was
supposed in those days to have acquired its fiery hue from
the constant neighborhood of his tobacco pipe. * * * As
chief mate and favorite companion, the commander chose
Master Robert Juet, of Limehouse, in England. By some his
name has been spelled Chewit, ascribed to the circumstance
of his having been the first man that ever chewed tobacco. *
* * * Under every misfortune he comforted himself with a
quid of tobacco, and the truly philosophical maxim, 'that it
will be all the same a hundred years hence!'"
Further on he
alludes to the attempt to subjugate New Amsterdam to the British crown
and the effect produced by the burghers lighting their pipes.
"When"
he says "Captain Argol's vessel hove in sight, the worthy
burghers were seized with such a panic, that they fell to
smoking their pipes with astonishing vehemence, insomuch
that they quickly raised a cloud, which, combining with the
surrounding woods and marshes, completely enveloped and
concealed their beloved village; and overhung the fair
regions of Pavonia:--so that the terrible Captain Argol
passed on, totally unsuspicious that a sturdy little Dutch
settlement lay snugly couched in the mud, under cover of all
this pestilent vapor."
[Illustration: A Persian water pipe.]
The Persians[52] are said to be the first to invent the mode of
drawing tobacco smoke through water thereby cooling it before inhaling
it. Fairholt says "it is to smoking what ice is to Champagne." The
_London Review_ gives the following description of pipes and smoking
apparatus:
[Footnote 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."]
"The hookah of India is the most splendid and glittering of
all pipes; it is a large affair, on account of the
arrangements for causing the smoke to pass through water
before it reaches the lips of the smoker, as a means of
rendering it cooler and of extracting from it much of its
rank and disagreeable flavor.
"On the top of an air-tight vessel, half filled with water,
is a bowl containing tobacco; a small tube descends from the
bowl into the water, and a flexible pipe, one end of which
is between the lips of the smoker, is inserted at the other
end into the vessel, above the level of the water. Such
being the adjustment, the philosophy of the inhalation may
be easily understood. The smoker sucks the air out of the
vessel, and makes a partial vacuum; the external air,
pressing on the burning tobacco, drives the smoke through
the small tube into the water beneath; purified from some of
its rank qualities, the smoke bubbles up into the vacant
part of the vessel above the water, and passes through the
flexible pipe to the smoker's mouth. Sometimes the affair is
made still more luxurious by substituting rose-water for
water _pur et simple_. The tube is so long and flexible that
the smoker may sit (or squat) at a small or great distance
from the vessel containing the water. In the courts of
princes and wealthy natives the vessels and tubes are
lavishly adorned with precious metals. One mode of showing
hospitality in the East is to place a hookah in the center
of the apartment, range the guests around, and let all have
a whiff of the pipe in turn; but in more luxurious
establishments a separate hookah is placed before each
guest. Some of the Egyptians use a form of hookah called the
narghile or nargeeleh--so named because the water is
contained in the shell of a cocoanut of which the Arabic
name is nargeeleh. Another kind, having a glass vessel, is
called the sheshee--having, like the other, a very long
tube. Only the choicest tobacco is used with the hookah and
nargeeleh; it is grown in Persia.
"Before it is used, the tobacco is washed several times, and
put damp into the pipe-bowl, two or three pieces of live
charcoal are put on the top. The moisture gives mildness to
the tobacco, but renders inhalation so difficult that weak
lungs are unfitted to bear it. The dry tobacco preferred by
the Persians does not involve so much difficulty in 'blowing
a cloud.'"
TURKISH CHIBOUQUES AND WOOD PIPES.
"The stiff-stemmed Turkish pipes, quite different from the
flexible tube of the hookah and narghile, are of two kinds,
the kablioun or long pipe, and the chibouque or short pipe.
Some of the stems of the kablioun, made of cherry tree,
jasmine, wild plum, and ebony, are five feet in length, and
are bored with a kind of gimlet. The workman, placing the
gimlet above the long, slender branchlet of wood, bores half
the length, and then reverses the position to operate upon
the other half. The wild cherry tree wood, which is the most
frequently employed, is seldom free from defects in the
bark, and some skill is exercised in so repairing these
defective places that the mending shall be invisible."
The tubes or pipe-bowls used with these stems are mostly a combination
of two substances--the red clay of Nish and the white earth of
Rustchuk; they are graceful in form and sometimes decorated with
gilding. It is characteristic of some of the Turks that they estimate
the duration of a journey, and with it the distance traveled, by the
number of pipes smoked, a particular size of pipe-bowl being
understood. Dodwell, in his "Tour through Greece," says that
"a Turk
is generally very clean in his smoking apparatus, having a
small tin dish laid on the carpet of his apartment, on which
the bowl of the pipe can rest, to prevent the tobacco from
burning or soiling the carpet. The tubes of the kabliouns
are often as much as seven or eight feet long. Some of the
gardens of Turkey and Greece contain jasmine trees purposely
cultivated to produce straight stems for these pipes."
Of those Turkish pipes which are used in Egypt, Mr. Lane, after
mentioning the narghile and the chibouque or "shibuk," says:--
"The most common kind used in Egypt is made of wood called
garmashak (I believe it is maple). The greater part of the
stick, from the mouth-piece to three-fourths of its length,
is covered with silk, which is confined at each extremity by
gold thread, often intertwined with colored silks, or by a
tube of gilt or silver; and at the lower extremity of the
covering is a tassel of silk. The covering was originally
designed to be moistened with water in order to cool the
pipe, and consequently the smoke by evaporation; but this is
only done when the pipe is old or not handsome. These stick
pipes are used by many persons, particularly in winter; in
summer the smoke is not so cool from them as from the kind
before mentioned. The bowl is of baked earth, colored red or
brown."
AUSTRIAN AND HUNGARIAN PIPE STEMS.
Before passing to the subject of the costly mouth-pieces of Oriental
pipes, we must say a few words concerning the extraordinary care
bestowed on some kinds of plain wood sticks for stems or tubes.
Cherry-tree stems, under the name of agriots, constitute a specialty
of Austrian manufacture. The fragrant cherry (prunus makaleb) is a
native of that country; and the young trees are cultivated with
special reference to this application. They are all raised from seed.
The seedlings, when two years old, are planted in small pots, one in
each; as they grow, every tendency to branching is choked by removing
the bud; and as they increase in size from year to year, they are
shifted into larger pots or into boxes. Great care is taken to turn
them round daily, so that every part shall be equally exposed to
sunshine. When the plants have attained a sufficient height they are
allowed to form a small bushy head; but the daily care is continued
until the stems grow to a proper thickness. They are then taken out
of the ground, the roots and branches removed, and the stem bored
through after being seasoned for some time. The care shown in rearing
insures a perfect straightness of stem, and an equable diameter of
about an inch or an inch and a half. The last specimens, when cut from
the tree, are as much as eight feet in length, dark purple-brown in
color, and highly fragrant. At Pesth are made pipes about eighteen
inches in length, of the shoots of the mock orange, remarkable for
their quality in absorbing the oil of tobacco, they are flexible
without being weak. The French make elegant pipe-bowls of the root of
the tree-heath, but their chief attention is directed, as far as
concerns wood pipes, to those of brier-root, which are made by them in
large quantities. The bowl and the short stems are carried out of one
piece, and the wood is credited with absorbing some of the rank oil of
tobacco.
Amber--the only kind of resin that rises to the dignity of a gem--is
unfitted for the bowl of a tobacco-pipe, because it cannot well bear
the heat; but it is largely used for mouth-pieces, especially by
wealthy Oriental smokers. The Turks have a belief that amber wards off
infection; an opinion which, whether right or wrong, tells well for
the amber workers. There has always been a mystery connected with this
remarkable substance. So far back as the Phenicians, amber was picked
up on the Baltic shore of what is now called Prussia; and the same
region has ever since been the chief store-house for it. Tacitus was
not far wrong when he conjectured that amber is a gum or resin exuded
from certain trees, although other authorities have preferred a theory
that it is a kind of wax or fat which has undergone slow petrifaction.
At any rate, it must at one time have been liquid or semi-liquid; for
insects, flies, detached wings and legs, and small fragments of
various kinds, are often found imbedded in it--those odds and ends of
which Pope said:--
"The things, we know, are neither rich nor rare;
The wonder's how the devil they got there!"
Whether new stores of amber are now being formed, or whether, like
coal, it was the result of causes not now in operation, is an unsolved
problem. The specimens obtained differ considerably; some are pale as
primrose, some deep orange or almost brown; some nearly as transparent
as crystal, some nearly opaque. Large pieces, uniform in color and
translucency, fetch high prices; and there are fashions in this matter
for which it is not easy to account,--seeing that the Turks and other
Orientals buy up, at prices which Europeans are unwilling to give, all
the specimens presenting a straw-yellow color and a sort of cloudy
translucency. The Russians, on the contrary, prefer orange-yellow
transparent specimens. The amber is seldom obtained by actual mining.
[Illustration: Searching for amber.]
It is usually found on sea-coasts, after storms, in rounded nodules;
or, if scarce on shore, it is sought for by men clad in leather
garments, who wade up to their necks in the sea, and scrape the
sea-bottom with hooped nets attached to the end of long poles; or
(rather dangerous work) men go out in boats, and examine the faces of
precipitous cliffs, picking off, by means of iron hooks, the lumps of
amber which they may see here and there. Sometimes a piece weighing
nearly a pound is found, and a weight of even ten pounds is recorded.
As small pieces can easily be joined by smoothing the surfaces,
moistening them with linseed oil, and pressing them together over a
charcoal fire, and as gum copal is sometimes very like amber, there is
much sophistication indulged in, which none but an expert can guard
against. In fashioning the nodules of amber, whether genuine or
fictitious, into pipe mouth-pieces, they are split on a leaden plate
in a turning lathe, smoothed into shape by whet-stones, rubbed with
chalk and water, and polished with a piece of flannel. It is an
especially difficult kind of work; for unless the amber is allowed
frequent intervals for cooling, it becomes electrically excited by the
friction and shivers into fragments; the men, too, are put into
nervous tremors if kept too long at work at one time. Amber is one of
the most electrically excitable of all known substances; in fact, the
name electricity itself was derived from _electron_, the Greek name
for amber. Hookahs, chibouques, narghiles, meerschaums, all are
largely adorned with amber mouth-pieces. The mouth-piece often
consists of two or three pieces of amber, interjoined with ornaments
of gold and gems; it is in such case the most costly part of the pipe.
At one of the greater industrial exhibitions four Turkish amames, or
amber mouth-pieces, were shown, illustrating clearly enough the value
attached to choice specimens; two of them were worth £350 each, two
£200 each, diamond studded. The Turkish and Persian pipes have often a
small wooden tube inside the amber mouth-piece. They require frequent
cleaning with a long wire and a bit of tow, and in some large towns
there are professional pipe-cleaners.
The natives of British Guiana have a curious kind of pipe, made of the
rind of the fruit of the areca-palm, coiled up into a kind of cheroot,
with an internal hollow to hold the tobacco. The poorer Hindoos make a
simple pipe of two pieces of bamboo,--one cut close to a knot for the
bowl, and a more slender piece for the tube. A lower class of natives
in India make two holes of unequal length, with a piece of stick, in a
clay soil; the holes are unequally inclined so as to meet at the
bottom; the tobacco is placed in the shorter hole, and the smoker,
applying his mouth to the longer, inhales the fumes in this primitive
fashion. The pipes used for opium-smoking in various parts of the East
have small bowls; the drug is too costly to be used otherwise than in
small portions at a time, and too powerful to need more than a few
whiffs to produce the opium-smoker's dreary delirium.
The Tunisians use reeds for pipes. Stone pipes are found among the
natives of Vancouver; while Strong Bow, the North American Indian
chief, has his long wooden pipe of peace, decked out with tassels and
fringes, but with an ominous-looking sharp steel cutting instrument
near the end most remote from the bowl.
Chinese, Japanese, Philippine Islanders, Madagascans, Central
Africans, Algerine Arabs, Mexicans, Paraguayans, Siamese, Tahitians,
South American Indians, Mongols, Malays, Tartars, Turcomans, as well
as the nations of Europe and the chief nations of Southern Asia, all
have their smoking-pipes, plain or ornate, as the case may be, and
made of wood, reeds, bamboo, bone, ivory, stone, earthenware, glass,
porcelain, amber, agate, jade, precious metals and common metals,
according to the civilization of the country and the pecuniary means
of the smoker.
[Illustration: Fancy pipes.]
"The French clay pipes have quite a special character; they
are well made, and great ingenuity is shown in the
preparation of the moulds in which they are pressed; but
being mostly intended for a class of purchasers who prefer
grotesque ideas to refined taste, the bowls are often
ornamented with queer shaped heads, having bead-like eyes;
sometimes imaginary beings, sometimes caricature portraits
of eminent persons. Where more than the head is represented,
license is given to a certain grossness of idea; but this is
not a general characteristic. The clay of which these French
pipes are made is admitted to be superior to that of
England, due to the careful mixture of different kinds, and
to skilful manipulation.
"We need not say much about Dutch pipes as distinct articles
of manufacture, because the process adopted in their
production are pretty much like those in use elsewhere. The
Dutch are famous clay-pipe smokers, not countenancing the
cigar so much as their neighbors the Belgians, nor the
meerschaum so largely as their German neighbors on the Rhine
frontier. A notable bit of sharp practice is on record in
connexion with the pipe-smokers of Holland--a dodge only to
be justified on the equivocal maxim that all is fair in
trade provided it just keeps within the margin we need not
speak. A pipe manufactory was established in Flanders about
the middle of the last century.
"The Dutch makers, alarmed at the competition which this
threatened, cunningly devised a stratagem for nipping it in
the bud. They freighted a large worn-out ship with an
enormous quantity of pipes of their own make, sent it to
Ostend, and wrecked it there. By the municipal laws of that
city the wreck became public property; the pipes were sold
at prices so ridiculously low that the town was glutted with
the commodity; the new Flemish factory was thereby
paralyzed, ruined, and closed."
The Turks (especially those of the lower orders) use a kind of clay
pipe made of red earth decorated with gilding. The stem of the pipe is
made from a branch of jasmine, cherry tree or maple and is
sufficiently long to rest on the floor when used by the smoker. A
writer in the _Tobacco Plant_ says of Old English Clay pipes:
"Of all the various branches of the subject of tobacco, that
of the history of pipes is one of the most interesting, and
one that deserves every attention that can possibly be
given. Whether considered ethnographically, historically,
geographically, or archæologically, pipes present food for
speculation and research of at least equal importance to any
other set of objects that can be brought forward. Some
branches of the subject have already been treated in these
columns, and others, in what is intended shall follow, will
hereafter be discussed. The present article will be devoted
to 'Fairy Pipes' and the history of the earliest pipes of
this country. Smoking is an old and venerable institution in
this kingdom of ours, and dates far back beyond the
introduction of tobacco to our shores. Long before Sir
Walter Raleigh was thought of, there is reason to believe
herbs and leaves of one kind or other--coltsfoot, yarrow,
mouse-lax, sword-grass, dandelion, and other plants, and
even dried cow-dung--were smoked for one ailment or other,
and in some instances for relaxation and pleasure, and thus,
no doubt, became habitually used. These are still, in some
of our rural districts, smoked by people as cures for
various ailments, and are considered not only highly
efficacious but very pleasant. I have known these or other
herbs smoked through a stick from which the pith had been
removed, the bowl being formed of a lump of clay moulded by
the fingers at the time, and baked in the household fire.
[Illustration: Clay and reed pipes.]
"The small branches of the elder tree, or sometimes the stem
of the briar and bramble, are what I have seen used, but
even the stem of the hemlock and keckse are sometimes
brought into requisition for the purpose.
"I believe that long before the time Dr. Wilson states on
the authority of Sharpe, that it was common within memory,
for the old wives of Annandale to smoke a dried white moss
gathered on the neighboring moors, which they declared to be
much sweeter than tobacco, and to have been in use long
before the American weed was heard of; before Sir Walter
Raleigh wooed and won Elizabeth Throgmorton, or Sir Richard
Granville voyaged to Virginia with Masters Ralph Layne,
Thomas Candish, John Arundell, Master Stukely, Bremize,
Vincent, Heryot, and John Clarke; before Sir Francis Drake
made his first voyage, or the Spanish Armada was dreamed of;
before Sir John Hawkins, Captain Price, Coft, Keat or others
for whom the honor of the introduction of tobacco has been
claimed, drew breath--smoking was to some extent indulged in
by our forefathers and (still medicinally, of course) in
this country. In mediæval times, when the Ceramic art was
but little practiced, and when all the domestic vessels that
were produced were of the rudest and coarsest character both
in material, form, and decoration, it is not to be expected
that pipes for the smoking of herbs would be manufactured as
a matter of sale, and those of the people who wished for
such an indulgence would naturally be thrown on their own
primitive resources such as I have described, for
instruments for the purpose.
"A portion of a very rude pipe-head, formed of common red
clay--a lump of clay moulded by hand, and ornamented with
small circles pressed into it as from the end of a
stick--has come under my notice, as have also others of an
equally primitive character, found in different parts of
this kingdom. These I have no hesitation in ascribing to a
pre-Raleigh period. It is not to these, however, but to the
small pipes formerly used in this kingdom for smoking
tobacco, and tobacco alone, that I wish to draw attention.
Most people, especially in the Midland and Northern counties
of England, as well as in Scotland and Ireland, will have
heard the name of Fairy Pipes applied to the small,
old-fashioned, and sometimes oddly-shaped tobacco pipes
which are not infrequently turned up in digging and plowing
and other operations. To these and the general forms of old
English pipes, I purpose confining myself in the present
article. Many years ago I collected together a large number
of these 'Fairy Pipes' from all parts of the kingdom. Since
then, my own researches have, with the aid of inquiries
carried on for me, enabled me to bring forward many
interesting points, so as to verify dates of manufacture and
more fully to carry out their classification. Like their
Irish brethren and sisters, English people were formerly apt
to ascribe everything unusually small to the fairies, and
anything out of the common way to the people of very remote
ages.
"Thus, these small pipes are commonly in England called
'fairy pipes,' or 'Carl's pipes,' or 'old man's pipes;' in
Ireland, where they are likewise known as 'fairy pipes,'
they are also called 'Dane's pipes;' and in Scotland, where
their common name is 'elf pipes,' or 'elfin pipes,' they
are, in like manner, known as 'Celtic pipes.' They are also
sometimes named 'Mab pipes,' or 'Queen's pipes,' from the
same fairy majesty, Queen Mab. Thus, while in each country
they are ascribed to the elfin race--the 'small people' of
Cornish folk-lore--their secondary names attach to them a
popular belief in their extreme antiquity. Anything
apparently old is at once, by the Irish, set down to the
'Danes;' by the Scots to the 'Celts;' and by people in the
rural districts of our own country to the 'carls,' or 'old
men'--carl being indicative of extreme antiquity. In
Ireland, the pipes are believed to have belonged to the
_cluricaunes_--a kind of wild, ungovernable, mischievous
fairy-demon--who were held in awe by the 'pisantry;' and
whenever found, these pipes were, with much superstitious
feeling, immediately broken up, so as to destroy and break
up the spell their finding might have cast around the
finder. But it was not only among the peasantry that this
belief in the extreme antiquity of tobacco pipes existed.
"Serious essays were written to prove their pre-historic
origin, and to claim for them a history that in our day
reads as arrant nonsense. In 1784, a short pipe was asserted
to have been found between the jaws of the skull of an
ancient Milesian exhumed at Bannockstown, county Kildare.
Upon this discovery, an elaborate and learned paper was
written in the 'Anthologia Hibernica,' setting forth this
pipe as a proof of the use of tobacco in Ireland long before
that country was invaded by the Danes. This pipe has been
proved by comparison to be probably quite late in the reign
of Elizabeth. They also have a more modern pipe, the stem of
which describes one or more circles, while another is tied
in a knot, yet allows a free passage of air. At another
time, in opening an Anglo-Saxon grave mound, some of the men
employed came across a fairy pipe which evidently had rolled
down from among the surface-soil, and, being turned out in
juxtaposition with undoubted Anglo-Saxon remains, was
immediately set down by the learned director of the
proceedings as a relic of that period. At another time I had
brought to me, as a great curiosity, two 'Roman pipes,' as I
was informed--the finders jumping to the conclusion that
because they had dug them up at little Chester (the Roman
station Derventio), they must be Roman pipes! I believe they
expected to receive a large sum from these relics: how
grievously they were disappointed I need not tell. Instances
of this kind are far from rare.
[Illustration: Fairy pipes.]
"I remember a man once bringing me some fragments of Roman
pottery and other things of the same period, which he had
turned up in the course of excavations, and among them was a
Tobacco stopper formed of a Sacheverell medal! and a George
II. half-penny, all of which he was ready to swear he had
found "all of a heap together," inside a hypocaust tile,
which, on examination, certainly had remained _in situ_ from
Romano-British times! The cupidity of a man had evidently
led him to collect together these odds and ends, and try to
turn them to profitable account. Some twenty years ago, a
large number of "elfin pipes" were dug up at Bomington, near
Edinburgh, along with a quantity of placks or bodles of
James VI., which thus gave trustworthy evidence of their
true date. Others were found in the ancient cemetery at
North Berwick, adjoining to which is a small Romanesque
building of the Twelfth Century, close upon the shore.
Within the last half-century, the sea has made very great
inroads upon this ancient burial-place, carrying off a
considerable ruin, and exposing the skeletons, and bringing
to light many interesting relics at almost every
spring-tide. Among these, many pipes have been washed down.
A similar circumstance has occurred on the seashore at Hoy
Lake, Cheshire, where several "fairy pipes" have been found.
"Notices of several discoveries occur. Dr. Wilson says, in
the statistical accounts of Scotland, many of which are
suggestive of a pre-Raleigh period. Thus, 'in an ancient
British encampment in the parish of Kirk Michael,
Dumfriesshire, on the farm of Gilrig, a number of pipes of
burnt clay were dug up, with heads smaller than the modern
tobacco-pipes, swelled at the middle and straighter at the
top. Again, in the vicinity of a group of standing stones at
Cairney Mount, in the parish of Carluke Lanarkshire, a celt
or stone hatchet, elfin bolts (flint and bone arrow-heads),
elfin pipes, numerous coins of the Edwards and of later
date, and other things are all stated to have been found.'
An example is also recorded of the discovery of a
tobacco-pipe in sinking a pit for coal, at Misk, in
Ayrshire, after digging through many feet of sand. All these
notes are pregnant with significant warnings of the
necessity for cautious discrimination in determining the
antiquity of such buried relics."
In Turkey the jasmine is cultivated for the purpose of pipe smoking.
Barillet describes the growing of the common jasmine near
Constantinople. He says:
"The object sought is a long straight stem, free from leaves
and side branches. For this purpose the plants are grown
quickly in a rich soil, and drawn up by being grown in a
sheltered situation, to which the sun has little access at
the sides, but only at the top. Pinching is resorted to, and
during the second year's growth one end of a thread is
attached to the top of the jasmine stem. This thread passes
over a pulley attached to the post to which this jasmine is
trained, and from it is suspended a weight, the effect of
which is to keep the stem always in a vertical direction.
When the jasmine stem is about two centimeters (say three
quarters of an inch) in diameter a cloth is wrapped around
it to prevent access of dust and of the sun's rays. Twice or
thrice in the year the stem is washed with citron-water,
which is said to give the clear color so much esteemed. When
the stem has acquired a length of some fifteen feet, it is
cut down and perforated by the workmen, and fitted with a
terra-cotta bow and an amber mouth-piece."
Blackburn, in his work entitled "Artists and Arabs," gives the
following picture of life and manners in Algiers:--
[Illustration: Female smoking in Algiers.]
"There is one difficulty here, however, for the artist--that
of finding satisfactory models. You can get one at last, and
here is her portrait. Her costume, when she throws off her
haik (and with it a tradition of the Mohammedan faith, that
forbids her to show her face to an unbeliever), is a rich,
loose, crimson jacket embroidered with gold, a thin white
bodice, loose silk trousers reaching to the knee and
fastened round the waist by a magnificent sash of various
colors, red morocco slippers, a profusion of rings on her
little fingers, and bracelets and anklets of gold filagree
work. Through her waving black hair are twined strings of
coins and the folds of a silk handkerchief, the hair falling
at the back in plaits below the waist. She is not beautiful,
she is scarcely interesting in expression, and she is
decidedly unsteady. She seems to have no more power of
keeping herself in one position or of remaining in one part
of the room, or even of being quiet, than a humming-top. The
whole thing is an unutterable bore to her, for she does not
even reap the reward--her father, or husband, or other male
attendant always taking the money. She is petite,
constitutionally phlegmatic, and as fat as her parents can
manage to make her; she has small hands and feet, large
rolling eyes--the latter made to appear artificially large
by the application of henna or antimony black; her attitudes
are not ungraceful, but there is a want of character about
her, and an utter abandonment to the situation, peculiar to
all her race. In short, her movements are more suggestive of
a little caged animal that had better be petted and
caressed, or kept at a safe distance, according to her
humor. She does one thing--she smokes incessantly, and makes
cigarettes with a skill and rapidity which are wonderful.
Her age is thirteen, and she has been married six months;
her ideas appear to be limited to three or four, and her
pleasures, poor creature, are equally circumscribed. She had
scarcely ever left her father's house, and had never spoken
to a man until her marriage. There seems to be in the
Moorish nature a wonderful sense of harmony and contrasts of
color. Two Orientals will hardly walk down a street side by
side unless the colors of their costumes harmonize. You find
a negress selling oranges or citrons; an Arab boy with red
fez and white turban, carrying purple fruit in a basket of
leaves--always the right juxtaposition of colors. The sky
furnishes them a superb background of deep blue, and the
repose of these solemn Orientals, who sit here like bronze
statues, save that they smoke incessantly, inspires you with
a curious respect. They are men who believe in fate--what
need that they should make haste?"
In Africa the pipes are made of clay and horn, and are mostly rude
affairs, but well suited to their ideas of implements used for holding
tobacco. King gives the following description of smoking among them:--
"A party of headmen and older warriors, seated cross-legged
in their tents, ceremoniously smoked the daghapipe, a kind
of hookah, made of bullock's horn, its downward point filled
with water, and a reed stem let into the side, surmounted by
a rough bowl of stone, which is filled with the dagha, a
species of hemp, very nearly, if not the same, as the Indian
bang. Each individual receives it in turn, opens his jaws to
their full extent, and placing his lips to the wide mouth of
the horn, takes a few pulls and passes it on. Retaining the
last draught of smoke in his mouth, which he fills with a
decoction of bark and water from a calabash, he squirts it
on the ground by his side through a long ornamented tube in
his left hand, performing thereon, by the aid of a reserved
portion of the liquid, a sort of boatswain's whistle,
complacently regarding the soap-like bubbles, the joint
production of himself and neighbor. It appeared to be a sign
of special friendliness and kindly feeling to squirt into
the same hole."
[Illustration: African pipe.]
We give an engraving of a kind of pipe used by the natives of interior
Africa. It is made of clay, and holds but a small portion of the weed.
The natives are great smokers and indulge in it almost constantly, but
their love for it can hardly exceed that of the more hardy Laplanders,
who are described as "passionately fond of the plant." Nothing is so
indispensable as tobacco to their existence. A Laplander who cannot
get Tobacco sucks chips of a barrel or pieces of anything else which
has contained it. Tobacco gives the Laplanders a pleasure which often
rises to ecstacy. They both chew and smoke, and they are certainly the
dirtiest chewers in the world. When they chew they spit in their
hands, then raise them to their nose that they may inhale from the
saliva the irritating principles of the plant. Thus they satisfy two
senses at the same time. They regularly smoke after their meals. If
their supply of Tobacco falls short, they sit down in a circle and
pass the pipe round, so that every one in his turn may have a
whiff.[53]
[Footnote 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."]
"A Painter's Camp in the Highlands" defends the custom of smoking in
the following well chosen words:
"People who don't smoke--especially ladies--are exceedingly
unfair and unjust to those who do. The reader has, I
daresay, amongst his acquaintances ladies who, on hearing
any habitual cigar-smoker spoken of, are always ready to
exclaim against the enormity of such an expensive and
useless indulgence; and the cost of Tobacco-smoking is
generally cited by its enemies as one of the strongest
reasons for its general discontinuance. One would imagine,
to hear these people talk, that smoking was the only
selfish indulgence in the world. When people argue in this
strain, I immediately assume the offensive. I roll back the
tide of war right into the enemy's intrenched camp of
comfortable customs; I attack the expensive and unnecessary
indulgences of ladies and gentlemen who do not smoke. I take
cigar-smoking as an expense of, say, half-a-crown a-day, and
pipe-smoking at threepence.
"I then compare the cost of these indulgences with the cost
of other indulgences not a whit more necessary, which no one
ever questions a man's right to if he can pay for them.
There is luxurious eating, for instance. A woman who has got
the habit of delicate eating will easily consume dainties to
the amount of half-a-crown a-day, which cannot possibly do
her any good beyond the mere gratification of the palate.
And there is the luxury of carriage-keeping, in many
instances very detrimental to the health of women, by
entirely depriving them of the use of their legs. Now, you
cannot keep a carriage a-going quite as cheaply as a pipe.
Many a fine meerschaum keeps up its cheerful fire on a
shilling a-week. I am not advocating a sumptuary law to put
down carriages and cookery; I desire only to say that people
who indulge in these expensive and wholly superfluous
luxuries, have no right to be so hard on smokers for their
indulgence.
"Nearly every gentleman who drinks good wine at all will
drink the value of half-a-crown a-day. The ladies do not
blame him for this. Half-a-dozen glasses of good wine are
not thought an extravagance in any man of fair means, but
women exclaim when a man spends the same amount in smoking
cigars. The French habit of coffee-drinking and the English
habit of tea-drinking are also cases in point. They are
quite as expensive as ordinary Tobacco-smoking, and, like
it, defensible only on the ground of the pleasurable
sensation they communicate to the nervous system. But these
habits are so universal that no one thinks of attacking
them, unless now and then some persecuted smoker in
self-defence.
"Tea and tobacco are alike seductive, delicious, and
deleterious. The two indulgences will, perhaps, become
equally necessary to the English world. It is high treason
to the English national feeling to say a word against tea,
which is now so universally recognized as a national
beverage that people forget it comes from China, and that it
is both alien and heathen. Still, I mean no offence when I
put tea in the same category with Tobacco. Now, who thinks
of lecturing us on the costliness of tea? And yet it is a
mere superfluity. The habit of taking it as we do is unknown
across the Channel, and was quite unknown amongst ourselves
a very little time ago, when English people were no less
proud of themselves and their customs than they are now, and
perhaps with equally good reason. A friend of mine tells me
that he smokes every day, at a cost of about sixpence
a-week. Now, I would like to know in what other way so much
enjoyment is to be bought for sixpence. Fancy the
satisfaction of spending sixpence a-week in wine! It is well
enough to preach about the selfishness of this expenditure;
but we all spend more selfishly, and we all love pleasure,
and I should very much like to see that cynic whose
pleasures cost less than sixpence a-week."
[Illustration: Egyptian pipes.]
The Egyptian pipes, especially those of modern date are exceedingly
fanciful in shape and resemble somewhat the pipes used by the
Persians. Many of them are made of clay and are sold very cheap.[54]
The Chinese use a variety of pipes but all of them have small bowls
for the tobacco. Some of their pipes are made of brass and attached to
the pipe is a receptacle for water, so as to cool the smoke before it
passes into the mouth. The Japanese use both copper and silver pipes,
most of them similar in shape and size to those used by the Chinese.
[Footnote 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."]
[Illustration: Japanese pipes.]
A writer says of smoking among the Japanese:
"Let us sit down to a good Japanese dinner--down on the
floor. Food on the floor. Fire and cigars or pipes on the
floor. Sit on your heels, waiting. Enter first
course--Fish-skin soup. Smoke. Third--Fish, cake and
bean-cheese. Smoke. Fourth--Row fish and horse-radish.
Smoke. Fifth--Broiled fish. Smoke again, Sixth--Custard
soup. Smoke. Seventh--Chicken stew, turnips and onions.
Smoke a little. Eighth--Cuttle-fish, wafer cakes, Nipon tea.
Here, if tired you can stop at the end of about two hours'
ankle-ache. All is cleanly, well spiced with talk, and
served with the utmost politeness. Sipping tea may be
substituted for the infinitesimal whiffs of polite smoking.
A grand dinner is much more elaborate; at least, so far as
the variety of smokes is concerned. After dinner, rest and
smoke."
An English writer could very appropriately call this a cloud of smoke
as he has another scene herein described.
"'Tis all smoke, possibly, but what cannot we discern,
through a cloud of smoke? Objects dim, but
'Thick as autumnal leaves that strew the brooks
In Vallambrosa.'
Be the medium of the smoke an honest 'churchwarden,' a short
clay, or a costly meerschaum; does the smoke emanate from a
refined Havana, a neat Manilla, or a dainty cigarette, such
as we are at this moment enjoying as a sequel to a modest
breakfast, 'tis all smoke."
We have thus given a somewhat lengthy description of the custom and
implements used in smoking, from the first discovery of the plant
until now, and turn to other implements used in connection with the
pipe. We, however, give the following from Cop's "Tobacco Plant,"
descriptive of the part played by tobacco on the stage two centuries
ago:
"The 'Return from Parnassus' was published anonymously, and
the copy I have used is dateless. It was 'publicly acted by
the students of St. John's College in Cambridge.' In Act I.,
Scene 2d, characters are given of Spenser, Ben Jonson,
Marlow, Drayton, Marston and Shakespeare, together with some
other of the known poets and dramatists of the Elizabethan
age. It contains many references to tobacco. In 'Act IV.,
Scene 1st,' the characters are thus placed: 'Sir Rodericke
and Prodigo at one corner of the stage, Recorder and
Amaretto at the other. Two pages scouring of Tobacco pipes.'
Actual smoking from tobacco-pipes was introduced on the
stage afterwards; and instances from the early dramas have
been given by the writers on tobacco history. In the second
scene of Act III. smoking is alluded to as one of the marks
of the current man of fashion, and is coupled with that of
wearing love-locks, which was to prove such a scandal to the
Puritans. 'He gins to follow fashions. He wore thin
sireduelt in a smooky roofe, must take tobacco and must
weare a locke.' 'Work for Chimney Sweepers, or a Warning
against Tobacconists, by J. H.,' was published in quarto in
the year 1602.
"It was answered in the same year by the anonymous 'Defence
of Tobacco,' a quarto of seventy pages. The author of the
attack followed the line of King James, or, I should rather
say, showed him the line to take, for the King's
'Counterblast' did not appear until he had been King of
England for some years. The book is divided into sections,
each section being called 'A Reason.' The seventh 'Reason'
against the use of tobacco is, that the devil is the
discoverer and suggester of smoking. 'It was first used and
practised,' says J. H., 'by devils, priests, and, therefore,
not to be used by us Christians. That the devil was the
first author hereof. Monardus, in his 'Treatise of Tabaco,'
dooth sufficiently witnesse, saying: The Indian priests,
who, no doubt, were instruments of the devil, whom they
serve, even before they answer to questions propounded to
them by their princes, drinke of this tobacco-fume, with the
vigour and strength whereof they fall suddenly to the ground
as dead men, remaining so according to the quantity of smoke
that they had taken. And when the hearbe hath done his
worke, they revive and wake, giving answers according to the
vissions and illusions which they saw while they were wrapt
in that order.' It is not unlikely that J. H.'s authority
had confused opium with tobacco.
"It was the opinion of the age that every Pagan deity had a
real existence in the world of evil spirits. After further
quotations of Monardus, to prove that the devil is 'the
author of Tobacco, and of the knowledge thereof,' J. H.
concludes his seventh reason by declaring, 'Wherefore in
mine opinion this practice is more to be excluded of us
Christians, who follow Veritie and Truth, and detest and
abhor the devil as a lyar and deceiver of mankind.' In the
first year of this century, pipes were not only exhibited,
but were used upon the stage. They seem at first to have
been smoked, not during 'the induction.' In the induction to
Ben Jonson's 'Cynthia's Revels' (1601), the Third Child
says: 'Now, sir, suppose I am one of your genteel auditors,
that am come in, having paid my money at the door, with much
ado; and here take my place, and sit down, I have my three
sorts of tobacco in my pocket, my light by me, and thus I
begin.' The Third Child thereupon smokes; but it seems as if
the smoking on the stage was a kind of protest against a
prior smoking in the pit. In John Webster's 'Malcontent,' as
augmented by John Marston in 1604, Sly says in the
introduction: 'Come, coose, (coz or goose!) let's take some
tobacco.'
"In 'The Puritan, or the Widow of Watling Street,' published
in 1607, and attributed by some to Shakespeare,
tobacco-taking or tobacco-drinking (as smoking was then
usually called) appears no longer in the induction, but in
the play itself, Idle, the highwayman, says to the old
soldier, Skirmish, 'Have you any tobacco about you?' Idle
being supplied, smokes a pipe on the stage. These extracts,
however, may have been cited before, together with others of
like character in the great days of the English Drama. Pipes
continued to appear upon the stage until its abolition (in
company with the Prayer Book) by the Puritan rulers. They
reappeared on the stage of the Restoration. In Thomas
Shadwell's 'Virtuos' (1676),--to take one instance,--Mirando
and Clarinda fling away Snarl's cane, hat and periwig, and
break his pipes, because he 'takes nasty tobacco before
ladies.'"
There is printed evidence, however, in this same period to show not
only that all the English ladies of the time were not enemies to
tobacco, but that some of them were themselves smokers. In 1674 an
anonymous quarto appeared under the title of "The Women's Petition
against Coffee." It was a protest against the growing influence of the
coffee-houses in seducing men away from their homes to sit together
making mischief and drinking "this boiled soot." It was answered in
the same year by "The Men's Answer to the Women's Petition." After
speaking of the providential introduction of coffee into England in
the midst of the Puritan epoch, when Englishmen wanted some kind of
drink which would "at once make them sober and merry," the writer
glorifies the coffee-house.
John Taylor, "the Water Poet," made a kind of compromise when he
attributed the introduction of tobacco, not to the devil, but to
Pluto,--"Pluto's Proclamation concerning his Infernal Pleasure for the
Propagation of Tobacco." It appears in the folio collection of his
works of the year 1628. The confusion of tobacco with opium and such
destructive drugs seems to have been common with the travelers of the
Sixteenth and Seventeenth centuries. Camerarius, in his "Historical
Meditations," translated into English by John Malle (folio, 1621),
speaks of tobacco as to be seen growing in many gardens throughout
Europe. He quotes Jerome Benzo as saying that in Hispaniola "there be
among them some that take so much of it, as their senses being all
overcome and made drunke with the same, they fell down flat to the
ground as if they were dead, and there lie without sense or feeling
most part of the day or of the night."
The tobacco-box, during the reign of Elizabeth, was no unimportant
part of a dandy's outfit; sometimes a pouch or bag was used.
Tobacco-boxes came into general use in England soon after the
introduction of tobacco, and were much sought after by all who "drank"
tobacco. Marston, the Duke of New Castle, and other dramatists,
alluded to the tobacco-box as a part of the smoker's outfit; thus in
the play of "The Man in the Moone" (1609), one character, in answer to
an inquiry who one of the company is, answers: "I know not certainly,
but I think he cometh to play you a fit of mirth, for I behelde pipes
in his pocket; now he draweth forth his tinder-box and his touchwood,
and falleth to his tacklings; sure his throate is on fire, the smoke
flyeth so fast from his mouth; blesse his beard with a bason of water,
lest he burn it; some terrible thing he taketh, it maketh him pant and
look pale, and hath an odious taste, he spitteth so after it."
The tobacco boxes of the Seventeenth Century were much larger than
those of the present. Some of them held a pound of tobacco besides
space for a number of pipes.
Many of them were made of brass while others were fashioned from horn:
"There is also a simple and ingenious tobacco-box used
frequently in ale-houses, 'which keeps its own account,'
with each smoker and acts also as a money-box. It is kept on
parlor tables for the use of all comers; but none can obtain
a pipe-full, till the money is deposited through a hole in
the lid. A penny dropped in, causes a bolt to unfasten, and
allow the smoker to help himself from a drawer full of
tobacco. His honor is trusted so far as not to take more
than his pipe-full, and he is reminded of it by a verse
engraved on the lid:--
'The custom is, before you fill,
'To put a penny in the till.'"
[Illustration: Engraved boxes.]
Some of the tobacco boxes were made of silver and beautifully engraved
with fancy sketches, historical scenes, or representations of
personages, landscapes, flowers, etc. The late Duke of Sussex had a
large collection of pipes and tobacco boxes.
A journal describing them says of the collection:
"The Duke of Sussex
had a wonderful collection of these, the values attached to
some of them being almost fabulous. One example from the
work-shop of Vienna--long celebrated for this description of
art,--represented the combat of Hector and Achilles, the
cover of the pipe being a golden hemlet cristatus of the
Grecian type."
Swiss and Tyrolean artists also produce exquisite
carving, but use wood as a material; and in the famous collection of
Baron de Watteville will be found a marvelous piece of carving
representing Bellerophon overturning the Chimera. But French pipes are
the most interesting of all to collectors, from the fact that tobacco
was introduced into that country long before it was known in England,
and also from the ingenuity of a people who can give interest of
various kinds to what might seem a simple and prosaic branch of
manufacture. In the sentiment of the following lines on "A pipe of
Tobacco" by John Usher, all lovers of the plant will heartily join:
"Let the toper regale in his tankard of ale,
Or with alcohol moisten his thropple,
Only give me I pray, a good pipe of soft clay,
Nicely tapered, and thin in the stopple;
And I shall puff, puff, let who will say enough,
No luxury else I'm in lack o',
No malice I hoard, 'gainst Queen, Prince, Duke or Lord,
While I pull at my pipe of Tobacco.
"When I feel the hot strife of the battle of life,
And the prospect is aught but enticin',
Mayhap some real ill like a protested bill,
Dims the sunshine that tinged the horizon;
Only let me puff, puff,--be they ever so rough,
All the sorrows of life I lose track o',
The mists disappear, and the vista is clear,
With a soothing mild pipe of Tobacco.
"And when joy after pain, like the sun after rain,
Stills the waters, long turbid and troubled,
That life's current may flow, with a ruddier glow,
And the sense of enjoyment be doubled,--
Oh! let me puff, puff, till I feel _quantum suff_,
Such luxury still I'm in lack o',
Be joy ever so sweet, it would be incomplete,
Without a good pipe of tobacco.
"Should my recreant muse,--Sometimes apt to refuse
The guidance of bit and of bridle,
Still blankly demur, spite of whip and of spur,
Unimpassioned, inconstant, or idle;
Only let me puff, puff, till the brain cries enough,
Such excitement is all I'm in lack o',
And the poetic vein soon to fancy gives reign,
Inspired by a pipe of Tobacco.
"And when with one accord, round the jovial board,
In friendship our bosoms are glowing;
While with toast and with song we the evening prolong,
And with nectar the goblets are flowing;
Still let us puff, puff--be life smooth, be it rough,
Such enjoyment we're ever in lack o';
The more peace and goodwill will abound as we fill
A jolly good pipe of Tobacco."
[Illustration: Tobacco jars.]
The tobacco jar is another accessory of more recent date than tobacco
pipes but interesting from the varieties of style and shapes. The
finest are made of porcelain and are lavish in design and enrichment.
Of all the articles of the smokers' paraphernalia none however exhibit
more fanciful designs than Tobacco-stoppers used by smokers for
crowding the tobacco into the pipe while smoking. The author of "A
Paper of Tobacco" says:
"This was the only article on which the English smoker
prided himself. It was made of various materials--wood,
bone, ivory, mother-of-pearl, and silver: and the forms
which it assumed were exceedingly diversified. Out of a
collection of upwards of thirty tobacco-stoppers of
different ages, from 1688 to the present time, the following
are the most remarkable: a bear's tooth tipped with silver
at the bottom, and inscribed with the name of Captain James
Rogers of the Happy Return whaler, 1688; Dr. Henry
Sacheverel in full canonicals, carved in ivory, 1710; a
boat, a horse's hind leg, Punch, and another character in
the same Drama, to wit: his Satanic majesty; a countryman
with a flail; a milkmaid; an emblem of Priopus; Hope and
Anchor; the Marquis of Granby; a greyhound's head and neck;
a paviour's rammer; Lord Nelson; the Duke of Wellington; and
Bonaparte. The tobacco-stopper was carried in the pocket or
attached to a ring worn on the finger."
In Butler's Hudibras it is alluded to in connection with the
astronomer's sign.
"----Bless us! quoth he,
It is a planet now I see;
And if I err not, by his proper
Figure that's like tobacco-stopper,
It should be Saturn!"
In James Boswell's "Shrubs of Parnassus" (1760) a description in verse
of the various kinds of tobacco-stoppers is given:
"O! let me grasp thy waist, be thou of wood
Or levigated steel, for well 'tis known
Thy habit is disease. In iron clad
Sometimes thy feature roughen to the sight,
And oft transparent art thou seen in glass,
Portending frangibility. The son
Of laboring mechanism here displays
Exuberance of skill. The curious knot,
The motley flourish winding down the sides,
And freaks of fancy pour upon the view
Their complicated charms, and as they please,
Astonish. While with glee thy touch I feel,
No harm my fingers dread. No fractured pipe
I ask, or splinters aid, wherewith to press
The rising ashes down. Oh! bless my hand,
Chief when thou com'st with hollow circle crowned
With sculptured signet, bearing in thy womb
The treasured Cork-screw. Thus a triple service
In firm alliance may'st thou boast."
Tobacco-stoppers were often made of wood from some relic like a
celebrated tree or mansion which gave additional value by its
historic associations. Taylor alludes to several made from the well
known Glastonbury thorn. He says:--
[Illustration: Tobacco stoppers.]
"I saw the sayd branch, I did take a dead sprigge from it,
wherewith I made two or three tobacco-stoppers, which I
brought to London."
Pipes and tobacco-stoppers have often been favorite testimonials of
friendship and reward. Fairholt says:--
"It was the custom during the last century to present
country churchwardens with tobacco-boxes, after the faithful
discharge of their duties."
The following lines from "The Tobacco Leaf," penned by some favored
one on receiving a rare pipe, are no doubt as neat as the object that
called them forth:--
"I lifted off the lid with anxious care,
Removed the wrappages, strip after strip,
And when the hidden contents were laid bare,
My first remark was: "Mercy, what a pipe!"
A pipe of symmetry that matched its size,
Mounted with metal bright--a sight to see--
With the rich umber hue that smokers prize,
Attesting both its age and pedigree.
A pipe to make the royal Freidrich jealous,
Or the great Teufelsdrockh with envy gripe!
A man should hold some rank above his fellows
To justify his smoking such a pipe!
What country gave it birth? What blest of cities
Saw it first kindle at the glowing coal?
What happy artist murmured "_Nunc dimittis_,"
When he had fashioned this transcendent bowl!
Has it been hoarded in a monarch's treasures?
Was it a gift of peace, or price of war?
Did the great Khalif in his "Houre of Pleasures,"
Wager and lose it to the good Zaafar?
It may have soothed mild Spenser's melancholy,
While musing o'er traditions of the past,
Or graced the lips of brave Sir Walter Raleigh,
Ere sage King Jamie blew his "Counterblast."
Did it, safe hidden in some secret cavern,
Escape that monarch's pipoclastic ken?
Has Shakespeare smoked it at the Mermaid Tavern,
Quaffing a cup of sack with rare old Ben?
Ay, Shakespeare might have watched his vast creation
Loom through its smoke--the spectre-haunted Thane,
The Sisters at their ghostly invocations,
The jealous Moor and melancholy Dane.
Round its orbed haze and through its mazy ringlets,
Titania may have led her elfin rout,
Or Ariel fanned it with his gauzy winglets,
Or Puck danced in the bowl to put it out.
Vain are all fancies--questions bring no answer;
The smokers vanish, but the pipe remains;
He were indeed a subtle necromancer,
Could read their records in its cloudy stains.
Nor this alone: its destiny may doom it
To outlive e'en its use and history--
Some ploughman of the future may exhume it
From soil now deep beneath the eastern sea.
And, treasured by some antiquarian Stultus,
It may to gaping visitors be shown,
Labelled: "The symbol of some ancient Cultus,
Conjecturally Phallic, but unknown."
Why do I thus recall the ancient quarrel
'Twixt Man and Time, that marks all earthly things?
Why labor to re-word the hackneyed moral,
[Greek: Ôs phhyllôngenehê], as Homer sings?
For this: Some links we forge are never broken:
Some feelings claim exemption from decay;
And Love, of which this pipe was but the token,
Shall last, though pipes and smokers pass away."
The verse that has been written in praise as well as dispraise of the
"Indian Novelty" would of itself fill a volume of no "mean
pretentions." The following clever lines from The Tobacco Plant
entitled "Puffs from a Pipe," convey much advice to all smokers of
tobacco.
Sage old friend! with judgment ripe;
Come and join me in a pipe.
Brother student! brother joker,
Thee I greet, O! brother smoker.
Smoke, O! men of every station,
Every climate, every nation.
East and West, and South and North,
Recognize Tobacco's worth.
Red man! let thy warfare cease:
Smoke the calumet of peace.
Chinaman! shun opium-grief:
Use the pure Tobacco leaf.
Frenchmen! no more foes provoke:
Follow arts of peace--and smoke!
German victors! crowned with laurel,
Smoke, content; and seek no quarrel.
Americans no one needs bid
To blow a cloud, or take a quid.
Though rows shake Dame Europa's school,
Johnny Bull smokes, calm and cool.
Toffy, it will ease thy brain, man!
Smoke and snuff, and smoke again, man!
Paddy, light of heart and gay,
Smoke thy dhudeen: short black clay.
Sawney, on thy Hielen' hill,
Tak' thy sneishin'; tak' thy gill!
Tourist, thou hast journey'd far;
Rest, and light a mild cigar.
Sailor, from the stormy seas,
Take a quid, and take thine ease.
"Soldier tired," put off thy shako;
Prepare to fire, and burn tobacco.
Workman, prize thine honest labor;
Burn thy weed, and love thy neighbor!
Evil-doers, when ye burn
The weed; think how soon 'twill be your turn.
Artist, let thy "coloring" be
Of a pipe; thy "drawing," free!
Miser, moderate thy greed!
Mend thy life, and take a weed.
Lawyer, loose thy bitter gripe!
Burn thy writ--to light a pipe.
Statesman, harassed night and day,
Blow a cloud; puff care away!
Hardy tiller of the soil!
Light a pipe; 'twill lighten toil.
Usurer, we surely know
Thou wilt have thy _quid pro quo_.
Merchant, smoke thy pipe; hang care!
Draughts are always honored there.
Gentle friend, whom troubles fret!
Smoke a soothing cigarette.
Preacher! take a pinch with me:
Snuff is dust, and so are we.
Hence with moralizings musty!
I say life is "not so dusty."
Smoke in gladness; smoke in trouble;
Soothe the last, the former double!
Teach the Fiji Indians, then,
To chew their quids, instead of men.
Pain from heart and brain to wipe,
Pass the weed, and fill your pipe!
Prince and peasant, lord and lackey,
All in some form take their 'Baccy.
[Illustration: Lord and lackey.]
The evil effects occasioned by man's indulging too frequently in
tobacco have been the subject of many a fierce debate between the
friends and foes of the "great plant." Many, however, are not aware of
the fatality attending its use by the brute creation. A modern English
poet on hearing of the result produced on a cow from chewing tobacco,
penned the following sad lines which he entitles--"An elegy on
somebody's Cow."
Weep! weep, ye chewers! Lowly bend, and bow;
Here lieth what was once a happy cow.
No more her voice she'll raise, now low, now high,
In amber fields, beneath an autumn sky;
No more she'll wander to the milking-pail,
While swine stand by to see her chew "pig-tail;"
No more round her the bees, a busy crew,
Shall linger, eager after "honey-dew;"
No more for her shall smoking grains be spread:
All bellowless remains her empty shed.
Sad was her fate. Reflect, all ye who read:
Life's flower destroyed by the accursed weed.
When first the yellow juice streamed o'er her lip,
One might have said, "This is a sad cow-slip."
To chew the peaceful cud by nature bid,
Degraded man taught her to chew a quid.
Sad the effect on body and on mind:
Her coat grew "shaggy," her milk nicotined;
Over her head shall naught but clover grow,
While o'er her peaceful grave the clouds shall blow.
No invalid shall ask for her cow-heel,
To heal his ailments with the simple meal;
Her whiskful tail into no soup shall go;
Mother of "weal" that would but bring us woe.
Her tripe shall honor not the festive meal,
Where smoking onions all their joys reveal;
Nor shall those shins that oft lagged on the road,
Be sold in cheap cook-shops as "_a la mode_,"
Her tongue must soon be sandwiched under ground,
Nor at pic-nics with cheap champagne go round;
Yea, even her poor bones are past all hope--
Not fit to be boiled down for scented soap.
Ah! hide her hide, poor beast. Her stomachs five
Dyed with the chewing she could not survive;
The very worms from her will turn away,
To seek some anti-chewer for their prey.
Ye chewers! be ye pilgrims to her tomb;
Lament with us o'er her untimely doom.
Awhile she stood the anti-chewer's butt,
Till scythe-arm'd Time gave her an "ugly cut."
She stagger'd to her death, and feebly cried,
And sneezed, "Achew! achew!" and chewing died.
There are many parodies of popular poems written in praise of the
weed; of which the following in imitation of Tennyson's "Charge of the
Light Brigade," entitled "The Charge of the Tobacco Jar Brigade," is
one of the best.
"Epigrams, epigrams,
Pour'd in, and numbered--
Good, bad, indifferent--
More than Six Hundred.
"Epigrams potters want,"
Quoth The Tobacco Plant:
Write! you for fame who pant;
Write! we'll three prizes grant."
Wrote for Tobacco-Jars,
Over Six Hundred.
Postmen, ere morning's light;
Postmen, whilst day was bright;
Postmen, as closed in night,
Ran--tan'd and thunder'd
Loud at our office door;
Brought letters, many score--
Contents of bags--to pour
Table and desk all o'er:
Handfuls and armfuls bore,
Casting them on the floor.
Then through the town they tore,
Hastening back for more--
More than Six Hundred.
Letters to right of us,
Letters to left of us,
Letters in front of us,
Seeming unnumbered!
Envelopes every size
Met our astonish'd eyes.
Writer with writer vies!
Which wins the chiefest prize
Out of Six Hundred.
How did each writer strain
After a happy vein!
Pegasus, spurning rein,
Shied, jibb'd, and blunder'd.
Reverend writers, then
Took up the winged pen;
Suff'rers on beds of pain
Sought the bright muse again;
Lawyer and barrister
Courted and harassed her;
M. D.s and editors;
Debtors and creditors;
Artists and artisans,
Nicotine's partisans;
Nurses and gentle dames
Call'd it endearing names;
Poets, ship-masters, too;
Ay! poetasters, too;
Wooing fair Nicotine,
Six hundred scribes were seen.
Anti-Tobacco cant,
Bigoted, bilious rant,
Bursting to vent their spleen,
Joined the Six Hundred.
Flash'd many fancies rare;
Flash'd like Aurora's glare;
Quick jotted down with care;
Some the reverse of fair;
Some that we well could spare;
Some that were made to bear
Blunders unnumbered.
Plunging in metaphor,
Not a bit better for--
Pardon the Cockney rhyme!--
Similies plunder'd.
Praising Tobacco smoke,
Heeding not grammar's yoke,
Prosody's rules they broke.
Many a rhyming moke,
Sense from rhyme sundered:
Many wrote well, but not--
Not the Six Hundred.
Honour Tobacco! roll'd,
Cut, press'd, however sold.
Alpha and Beta, bold,
Ye shall be tipp'd with gold.
Omega shall be sold,
Others in type behold
Nearly Six Hundred."
The following poem entitled "Weedless," after Byron's "Darkness,"
gives a vivid description of the world without tobacco.
"I had a dream, and it was all a dream:
Tobacco was abolish'd, and cigars
Were flung by "Antis" fearsome space--
The foreign and the British fared alike--
And the blue smoke was blown beyond the moon.
Night came and went and came, and brought no "weed,"
And men forgot their suppers, in the dread
Of the dire desolation; and all tongues
Were tingling with the taste of empty pipes;
And they did live all wretched; old hay bands,
And street-door mats, and clover brown and dry;
Carpets, rope-yarn, and such things as men sell,
Were burnt for 'bacca; haystacks were consumed,
And men were gathered round each blazing mass,
To have another makeshift sniff.
Happy were those who smoked, with smould'ring logs,
The harmless Yarmouth bloater after death--
Another pipe not all the world contain'd;
The furze was set on fire, but, hour by hour,
The stock diminish'd; all the prickly points
Quivered to death, and soon it all was gone.
The lips of men by the expiring stuff
Drew in and out, and all the world had fits.
The cinders fell upon them; some sprang up,
And blew their noses loud, and some did stand
Upon their heads, and sway'd despairing feet;
And others madly up and down the world
With "two-pence" hurried, shouting out for "Shag;"
And wink'd and blink'd at th' unclouded sky,
The "Anti's" smokeless banner--then again
Flung all their halfpence down into the dust,
And chewed their tainted pockets; snuffers wept,
And, flatt'ning noses on the dreary ground,
Inhaled the useless dust; the biggest "rough"
Came mild, tobacco-begging; p'licement came,
And mix'd themselves among the multitude,
"Run in" forgotten; uniforms were chew'd,
And teeth which for a moment had had rest,
Did move themselves again; old beaver hats
Fetch'd little fortunes; they were torn in bits,
And smok'd or chew'd at will; no bits were left.
All earth was but one thought, and that was smoke,
Immediate and glorious; and a pang
Of horror came at intervals, and men
Cried; and the boys were restless as themselves,
Till by degrees their stockings were devour'd;
E'en pipes were dropp'd despairing--all, save one,
One man was faithful to his pipe, and kept
Despair and deeper misery at bay,
By seeking ever for a "topper," dropped
From some spurned pipe, but that he could not find;
So, with a piteous and perpetual glare,
And a quick dissolute word, sucking the pipe,
Which answer'd never with a whiff, he slept;
The crowd dispersed by slow degrees, but two
Of all the dreary company remain'd,
And they kept 'bacca shops; they sat upon
The scanted lid of a tobacco tub,
Wherein was heap'd a mass of coined bronze--
Profits of 'bacca, sold--they were sold out;
They, grinning, scraped with their warm, eager hands
The little halfpence and the bigger pence,
Counted a little time, and cried "Haw! haw!"
Like a whole rookery; then lifted up
The tub as it grew lighter, and beheld
Each other's profits; saw, and smiled, and winked,
Uncaring that the world was poor indeed,
So they were rich in pence. The world was mad,
The populace and peerage both alike
Birds--Eyeless, Shagless, and returnless, too--
Oh! day of death, oh! chaos of hard times!--
And princes, dukes, and lords, they all stood still,
Feeling within their pockets' silent depths;
And sailors went a-moaning out to sea,
And chew'd their cables piecemeal: then they wept,
And slept on the abyss without a quid.
All quids were gone, cigars were in their graves;
The plant, their mother, had been rooted up;
Pawnbrokers had a ton of pipes apiece,
And "Antis" triumph'd. Then they had no need
To keep a "Sec.," so Reynolds got the "sack."
One of the best of all parodies is one in imitation of Longfellow's
"Excelsior," entitled "Tobacco." It is from "Copis' Tobacco Plant."
[Illustration: The strange youth.]
"The summer blight was falling fast,
When straight through dirty London passed
A youth, who bore, through road and street,
A packet, thereon written neat;
"Tobacco!"
His brow was glad, his laughing eye
Flashed like a gooseberry in a pie;
And like a penny whistle rung
The piping notes of that strange tongue--
"Tobacco!"
In dusty homes he saw the light
Of supper fires gleam warm and bright;
Above, the ruddy chimneys smoked:
He from his lips the word evoked--
"Tobacco!"
"Try not the weed," good Reynolds said;
"I've smoked it 'till I'm nearly dead:
Take not the juice in thy inside;"
But loud the jovial voice replied--
"Tobacco!"
"Oh! stay," the maiden said, "and rest;
I have got on my Sunday best:"
A wink stood in his bright blue eye,
And answered he, without a sigh--
"Tobacco!"
"Beware the briar's poison'd root;
Beware the birds-eye put into 't."
This was the Anti's latest greet.
A voice replied, far up the street--
"Tobacco!"
At break of day, on Clapham Rise.
A pot-boy opened both his eyes,
And to himself did gently swear,
To hear a voice call through the air--
"Tobacco!"
A traveler up a tree he found,
Who smoked and spat upon the ground;
And then among the blossoms ripe
He cried, while puffing at his pipe--
"Tobacco!"
There in the grayish twilight, "What's
That you say?" cried eager Pots,
And from the branch so green and far,
A voice fell like a broken jar--
"Tobacco."
The following lines from the same source have been very appropriately
called "The Smoker's Calendar."
When January's cold appears,
A glowing pipe my spirit cheers;
And still it glads the length'ning day,
'Neath February's milder sway.
When March's keener winds succeed,
What charms me like the burning weed?
When April mounts the solar car,
I join him, puffing a cigar;
And May, so beautiful and bright,
Still finds the pleasing weed a-light.
To balmy zephyrs it gives zest,
When June in gayest livery's drest.
Through July Flora's offspring smile,
But still Nicotia's can beguile;
And August, when its fruits are ripe,
Matures my pleasure in a pipe.
September finds me in the garden,
Communing with a long churchwarden.
Ev'n in the wane of dull October,
I smoke my pipe and sip my "robur,"
November's soaking show'rs require
The smoking pipe and blazing fire:
The darkest day in drear December's--
That's lighted by their glowing embers.
The Hon. "Sunset" Cox in his lecture on American Humor alluded to the
national characteristics of the French, Spanish, German, and other
nationalities, says:--
"The highest enjoyment of a Frenchman is to hear the last
cantatrice, the Spaniard enjoys the most skillful thrust of
the matador in the bull arena, the Neapolitan the taste of
the maccaroni, the German his beer and metaphysics, the
darkey his banjo, and the American--
'To the American there's nothing so sweet
As to sit in his chair and tilt up his feet,
Enjoy the Cuba, whose flavor just suits,
And gaze at the world through the toes of his boots.'"
This would seem to be a feature of the Dutch according to a late
traveler, who says:--
"I like Holland--it is the antidote of France. No one is
ever in a hurry here. Life moves on in a slow, majestic
stream, a little muddy and stagnant, perhaps, like one of
their own canals; but you see no waves, no breakers; not an
eddy, nor even a froth bubble, breaks the surface. Even a
Dutch child, as he steals along to school, smoking his short
pipe, has a mock air of thought about him."
The following epigrams for tobacco jars from "The Tobacco Plant"
evince much "taste, wit, and ingenuity."
Fill the bowl, you jolly soul,
And burn all sorrow to a coal.
_Henry Clay._
That man is frugal and content indeed,
Who finds food, solace, pleasure in a weed.
_The "Weed"._
Behold! this vessel hath a moral got,
Tobacco-smokers all must go to pot.
_Epigrammatic._
A weed you call me, but you'll own
No rose was e'er more fully blown.
_Sic Itur ad Nostra._
Great Jove, Pandora's box with jars did fill
This Jar alone has power those jars to still.
_In Nubilus._
Tobacco some say, is a potent narcotic,
That rules half the world in a way quite despotic;
So to punish him well for his wicked and merry tricks,
We'll burn him forthwith, as they used to do heretics.
_Zed._
[Illustration: Smoker reading epigrams.]
No use to draw upon a bank if no effects are there,
But a draw of this Tobacco is quite a safe affair;
And a pipe with fragrant weed (such as I hold) neatly stuffed,
Is just the only thing on earth that ought to be well puffed.
_R. S. Y. P._
Poor woman "pipes her eye,"
When in affliction's gripe;
But man, far wiser grown,
Just eyes his pipe.
_In Nubilus._
Sir Walter Raleigh! name of worth,
How sweet for thee to know
King James, who never smoked on earth,
Is smoking down below.
_Ex Fumo dare Lucem._
Travelers say Tobacco springs
From the graves of Indian kings:
Fill your pipe, then--smoke will be
Incense to their memory.
Though the weed's nor rich nor rare,
'Tis a balm for every care.
_Peter Piper._
Give me the weed, the fragrant weed,
My wearied brain to calm;
In a wreath of smoke, while I crack my joke,
I'll find a healing balm.
Day after day, let come what may,
The pipe of peace I'll fill;
I readily pay for briar or clay,
To save a doctor's bill.
_Pompone._
Great men need no pompous marble
To perpetuate their name;
Household gear and common trinkets
Best remind us of their fame.
Raleigh's glory rests immortal
On ten thousand thousand urns,
Every jar is _in memoriam_,
Every fragrant pipe that burns.
_At an Ash._
There are jars of jelly, jars of jam,
Jars of potted-beef and ham;
But welcome most to me, by far,
Is my dear old Tobacco-Jar.
There are pipes producing sounds divine,
Pipes producing luscious wine;
But when I consolation need,
I take the pipe that burns the weed.
_Jars._
Friend of my youth, companion of my later days,
What needs my muse to sing thy various praise?
In country or in town, on land or sea,
The weed is still delightful company.
In joy or sorrow, grief or racking pain,
We fly to thee for solace once again.
Delicious plant, by all the world consumed,
'Tis pity thou, like man, to ashes too art doom'd.
_Erutxim._
Hail plant of power, more than king's renown,
Beloved alike in country and in town;
In hotter climes oft mingled with the jet
Of falling fountains; whilst the cigarette
Kisses the fair one's lips, and by thy breath
Redeems the wearied heart from ennui's death.
_Theta._
If e'er in social jars you join,
Seek this, and let them cease:
Let all your quarrels end in smoke,
And pass the pipe of peace.
_Fumigator._
[Illustration: The explosion.]
Many a jar of old outbroke
Into fire and riot;
This will yield, with fragrant smoke,
Happy thought, and quiet.
41,911.
The moralist, philosopher, and sage.
Have sought by every means, in every age,
That which should cause the strife of men to cease,
And steep the world in fellowship and peace;
But all their toil and diligence were vain,
'Till Raleigh, noble Raleigh! crossed the main,
And brought to Britain's shores the wish'd-for prize,
The sovereign balm of life--within it lies.
_Dum Spiro Fumigo._
To rich men a pastime, to poor men a treat,
To all a true tonic most bracing and sweet,
To talent a pleasure, to genius a joy,
To workmen a comfort, to none an alloy,
The tyrant it softens; it soothes him if mad,
The king who may rule if he smokes not, is sad.
_Kit._
Sacred substance! sweet, serene;
Soothing sorrow's saddest scene:
Scent-suffusing, silv'ry smoke,
Softly smoothing suffering's stroke;--
Solacing so silently--
Still so swift, so sure, so sly:
Smoke sublimated soars supreme,
Sweetest soul-sustaining stream!
_Similia Similibus._
Why should men reek, like chimneys, with foul smoke,
Their neighbors and themselves to nearly choke?
Avoid it, ye John Bulls, and eke ye Paddies!
Avoid it, sons of Cambria, and Scottish laddies!
Let reason convince you that it very sad is,
And far too bad is,
And enough to make one mad is
To be smoked like a red herring or rank Finedon haddies.
_J. S._
No punishment save hanging's too severe
For those who'd rob the poor man of his beer;
But for the wretch who'd take away his pipe,
I think he's fully execution ripe!
_Pipe Clay._
Weeds are but cares! Well, what of that!
There's one weed bears a goodly crop;
And this exception, then, 'tis flat,
Doth give that rule a firmer prop.
Tobacco brings the genial mood,
Warm heart, shrewd thought, and while we reap
From this poor weed such harvest good,
We'll hold more boasted harvests cheap.
_Festus._
To poets give the laurel wreath, let heroes have their lay,
Of roses twine for lovely youth the garland fresh and gay;
But we poor mortals, quite content, life's fev'rish way pursue,
Can we but crown our foolish pates with wreaths of fragrant blue,
Convinced that all terrestrial things which please us or provoke,
Of ashes come, to ashes go, and only end in smoke.
_Pocosmipo._
Whilst cannon's smoke o'erwhelms with deadly cloud
The soldier's comrades in a common shroud,
And whilst the conflagration in the street,
With crushing roar the ruin makes complete,
Tobacco's smoke like incense seeks the skies--
Blesses the giver, and in silence dies!
_Theta._
Use me well, and you shall see
An excellent servant I will be;
Let me once become your master,
And you shall rue the great disaster!
As coin does to he who borrows,
I'll soothe your cares and ease your sorrows;
Abuse me, and your nerves I'll shatter,
Your heart I'll break, your cash I'll scatter,
_Use, not Abuse._
The savage in his wild estate,
When feuds and discords cease,
Soothes with the fragrant weed his hate,
And smokes the pipe of peace.
Long may the plant good-will create,
And banish strife afar:
Our only cloud its incense sweet,
And this our only jar.
_Scire Facias._
Breathes there a man with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said;
I'll have to smoke, or I'll be dead?
If so, then let the caitiff dread!
My wrath shall fall upon his head.
'Tis plain he ne'er the Plant hath read;
But "goody" trash, perchance, instead.
Dear Cope, good night!--Yours, Master Fred.
That tobacco in one form or another has been patronized from the
cottage to the throne, no one will deny who is at all acquainted with
the history of the plant. And while it has had many a royal hater, it
can also boast of having many a kingly user. A favorite of king and
courtier, its use was alike common in the palace and the courtyard. It
can claim, also, many celebrated physicians who have been its patrons,
and among them the noted Dr. Parr. We give an anecdote of him showing
his love of weed and wit.
The partiality this worthy Grecian always manifested for smoking is
well known. Whenever he dined he was always indulged with a pipe. Even
His Majesty, when Dr. Parr was his guest at Carlton Palace,
condescended to give him a smoking-room and the company of Colonel
C----, in order that he might suffer no inconvenience. "I don't like
to be smoked myself, doctor," said the royal wit, "but I am anxious
that your pipe should not be put out." One day, Dr. Parr was to dine
at the house of Mr. ----, who informed his lady of the circumstance,
and of the doctor's passion for the pipe. The lady was much mortified
by this intimation, and with warmth said, "I tell you what, Mr. ----,
I don't care a fig for Dr. P.'s Greek; he shan't smoke here." "My
dear," replied the husband, "he must smoke; he is allowed to do so
everywhere." "Excuse me, Mr. ----, he shall not smoke here; leave it
to me, my dear, I'll manage it." The doctor came; a splendid dinner
ensued; the Grecian was very brilliant. After dinner, the doctor
called for his pipes. "Pipes!" screamed the lady. "Pipes! For what
purpose?" "Why, to smoke, madam!" "Oh! my dear doctor, I can't have
pipes here. You'll spoil my room; my curtains will smell of tobacco
for a week." "Not smoke!" exclaimed the astonished and offended
Grecian. "Why, madam, I have smoked in better houses." "Perhaps so,
sir," replied the lady, with dignity; and she added with firmness, "I
shall be most happy, doctor, to show you the rights (rites?) of
hospitality; but you cannot be allowed to smoke." "Then, madam," said
Dr. Parr, looking at her ample person; "then, madam,--I must say,
madam,--" "Sir, sir, are you going to be rude?" "I must say, madam,"
he continued, "you are the greatest tobacco-stopper in all England."
Of the clergy, Whatley was one of the greatest in intellect, and, as a
smoker was devotedly attached to tobacco; his pipes, when out, served
him for a book-marker. In summer-time he might be seen, of an evening,
sitting on the chains of Stephen's Green, thinking of "that," as the
song says, and of much more, while he was "smoking tobacco." In winter
he walked and smoked, vigorously in both cases, on the Donnybrook
road; or he would be out with his dogs, climbing up the trees to hide
amid the branches a key or a knife, which, after walking some
distance, he would tell the dogs he had lost, and bid them look for it
and bring it to him.
[Illustration: Theory against experience.]
Of many warriors, none have been more devoted to the plant than
Napoleon, Frederick of Prussia and Blücher the Bold. The following
anecdote of the latter is one of the best of its kind: "As is
well-known, Field-Marshal Blücher, in addition to his brave young
'fellows' (as he called his horsemen), loved three things above all,
namely, wine, gambling, and a pipe of Tobacco. With his pipe he would
not dispense, and he always took two or three puffs, at least, before
undertaking anything. 'Without Tobacco, I am not worth a farthing,' he
often said. Though so passionately fond of Tobacco, yet old 'Forwards'
was no friend of costly smoking apparatus; and he liked best to smoke
long, Dutch clay pipes, which, as everybody knows, very readily break.
Therefore, from among his 'young fellows' he had chosen for himself a
Pipe-master, who had charge of a chest well packed with clay pipes;
and this chest was the most precious jewel in Blücher's field baggage.
If one of the pipes broke, it was, for our hero, an event of the
greatest importance. On its occurrence, the 'wounded' pipe was
narrowly examined, and if the stem was not broken off too near the
head, it was sent to join the corps of Invalids, and was called
'Stummel' (Stump, or Stumpy). One of these Stumpies the
Field-Marshal usually smoked when he was on horseback, and when the
troops were marching along or engaged in a reconnoissance, and
eye-witnesses record that many a Stumpy was shot from his mouth by the
balls of the enemy--nothing but a piece of the stem then remaining
between his lips. Blücher's Pipe-master, at the time of the Liberation
War, was Christian Hennemann, a Mecklenburg and Rostock man, like
Blücher himself, and most devotedly attached to the Field-Marshal. He
knew all the characteristic peculiarities of the old hero, even the
smallest, and no one could so skillfully adapt himself to them as he.
His duties as Pipe-master, Hennemann discharged with great fidelity;
yea, even with genuine fanatical zeal. The contents of the pipe-chest
he thoroughly knew, for often he counted the pipes. Before every
fierce fight, Prince Blücher usually ordered a long pipe to be filled.
After smoking for a short time, he gave back the lighted pipe to
Hennemann, placed himself right in the saddle, drew his sabre, and
with the vigorous cry, 'Forward, my lads!' he threw himself into the
fierce onset on the foe.
On the ever-memorable morning of the battle of Belle-Alliance
(Waterloo), Hennemann had just handed a pipe to his master, when a
cannon-ball struck the ground near, so that earth and sand covered
Blücher and his gray horse. The horse made a spring to one side, and
the beautiful new pipe was broken before the old hero had taken a
single puff. 'Fill another pipe for me,' said Blücher; 'keep it
lighted, and wait for me here a moment, till I drive away the French
rascals. Forwards, lads!' Thereupon there was a rush forwards; but the
chase lasted not only 'a moment,' but a whole hot day. At the
Belle-Alliance Inn, which was demolished by shot,--the battle having
at last been gained,--the victorious friends, Blücher and Wellington,
met and congratulated each other on the grand and nobly achieved work,
each praising the bravery of the other's troops. 'Your fellows slash
in like the very devil himself!' cried Wellington. Blücher replied,
'Yes; you see, that is their business. But brave as they are, I know
not whether one of them would stand as firmly and calmly in the midst
of the shower of balls and bullets as your English.' Then Wellington
asked Blücher about his previous position on the field of battle,
which had enabled him to execute an attack so fatal to the enemy.
Blücher, who could strike tremendous blows, but was by no means a
consummate orator, and could not paint his deeds in words, conducted
Wellington to the place itself. They found it completely deserted; but
on the very spot where Blücher had that morning halted, and from which
he had galloped away, stood a man with his head bound up, and with his
arm wrapped in a handkerchief. He smoked a long, dazzling white clay
pipe. 'Good God!' exclaimed Blücher, 'that is my servant, Christian
Hennemann. What a strange look you have, man! What are you doing
here?' 'Have you come at last?' answered Christian Hennemann, in a
grumbling tone; 'here I have stood the whole day, waiting for you. One
pipe after another have the cursed French shot away from my mouth.
Once even a blue bean (a bullet) made sad work with my head, and my
fist has got a deuce of a smashing. That is the last whole pipe, and
it is a good thing that the firing has ceased; otherwise, the French
would have knocked this pipe to pieces, and you must have stood there
with a dry mouth.' He then handed the lighted pipe to his master, who
took it, and after a few eagerly-enjoyed whiffs, said to his faithful
servant, 'It is true, I have kept you waiting a long time; but to-day
the French fellows could not be forced to run all at once.' With
astonishment, Wellington listened to the conversation. Amazed, he
looked now at the Field-Marshal, now at the 'Pipe-master,' and now at
the branches of trees and the balls scattered all round, which made it
only too evident what a dangerous post this spot must have been during
the battle. The wound in Hennemann's head proved to be somewhat
serious; his hand was completely shattered; and yet, in the midst of
the tempest of shot, he had stood there waiting for his beloved
master."[55]
[Footnote 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.]
[Illustration: The faithful attendant.]
Tobacco smoking, however, can boast of many patrons besides warriors,
physicians and statesmen, some of the finest writers of the last three
centuries have indulged in the weed. The following extract from the
"Australasian" entitled, "Tobacco Smoking" refers to many literary
smokers.
"Burke felt himself precluded from 'drawing an indictment
against a whole community.' The critical moralist pauses
before the formidable array of the entire social world,
civilized and savage. The Cockney, leaving behind him the
regalias and meerschaums of the Strand, finds the wax-tipped
clay-pipe in the parlors of Yorkshire: finds dhudeen and
cutty in the wilds of Galway and on the rugged shores of
Skye and Mull. The Frenchman he finds enveloped in clouds of
Virginia, and the Swede, Dane, and Norwegian, of every grade
or class, makes the pipe his travelling companion and his
domestic solace. The Magyar, the Pole and the Russian rival
the Englishman in gusto, perhaps excel him in refinement;
the Dutch boor smokes finer Tobacco than many English
gentlemen can command, and more of it than many of our
hardened votaries could endure; but all must yield, or
rather, all must accumulate, ere our conceptions can
approach to the German. America and the British colonies
round off the picture, adding Cherokees, Redmen and
Mongolians _ad libitum_. The Jew whether in Hounds ditch,
Paris Hamburgh, or Constantinople, ever inhales the choicest
growths, and the Mussulman's 'keyf' is proverbial. India and
Persia dispute with us the palm of refinement and intensity,
but the philosopher of Australia is embarrassed when he asks
himself to whom shall I award that of zealous devotion?
"Dr. Adam Clarke, who could never reconcile himself to the
practice, deemed it due to his piety to find a useful
purpose in the creation of tobacco by all-seeing Wisdom, and
as that discovered by the instincts of all the nations of
the planet, and practiced by mankind for three centuries, is
wrong, the benevolent Wesleyan of Heydon, applied himself
diligently and generously to correct the world, and to
vindicate its Author. 'In some rare cases of internal injury
tobacco may be used but not in the customary way.' Be it
known, then, that the Creator has not created it in vain.
Dr. Clarke must have been a very good-natured man. He
tortured his brains to find a hope of pardon for Judas
Iscariot, and held that the creature (Nachash) who tempted
Eve was not a serpent but a monkey cursed by the forfeiture
of _patella_ and _podex_; therefore doomed to crawl! But I
fear, if the present form of using tobacco be not the true
one, we must despair of ever finding it, and people will go
on smoking and 'hearing reason' as long as the world goes
round. Robert Hall received a pamphlet denouncing the pipe.
He read it, and returned it. 'I cannot, sir, confute your
arguments, and I cannot give up smoking,' was his comment.
It is loosely asserted that smoking is more prevalent among
scholars, intellectualists, and men who live by their
brains, than among artisans and subduers of the soil. This
is an error. Tobacco is less a fosterer of thought than a
solace of mental vacuity. The thinker smokes in the
intervals of work, impatient of _ennui_ as well as of
lassitude, and the ploughman, the digger, the blacksmith or
the teamster, lights his cutty for the same reason. No true
worker, be he digger, or divine, blends real work with
either smoking or drinking. Whenever you see a fellow drink
or smoke during work, spot him for a gone coon; he will come
to grief, and that right soon. Sleep stimulates thought, and
sometimes a pipe will bring sleep, but trust it not of
itself for either thought or strength. It combats _ennui_,
lassitude, and intolerable vacuity, soothing the nerves and
diverting attention from self. Sam Johnson came very near
the mark: 'I wonder why a thing that costs so little
trouble, yet has just sufficient semblance of doing
something to break utter idleness, should go out of fashion.
To be sure, it is a horrible thing blowing smoke out; but
every man needs something to quiet him--as, beating with his
feet.'
"Life is really too short for moralists and medici who have
read Don Quixote, to attack a verdict arrived at and acted
upon by the combined nations of the entire world, during the
experience of three centuries, and apparently deepened by
their advancing civilization. Give us rules and
modifications, give us guides and correctives, give us
warnings against excess, precipitancy, and neglect of other
enjoyments, or of important duties, if you will. The urbane
æstheticism that regulates pleasure also limits it; and true
refinement ever modifies the indulgence it pervades. But it
is emulating Mrs. Partington and her mop to attempt to
preach down a world. When they do agree, their unanimity is
irresistible. Prohibition may give zest to enjoyment, and
provocation to curiosity, but can never overcome the
instincts of nature or cravings of nervous irritability, and
he who rises in rebellion against her absolute decree will
respect the limits and study the laws of a recognized and
regulated enjoyment.
"Let, then, the moralist point out what social duties may be
imperilled; let the physician apprise us of the disorders to
be guarded against; and let the lover of elegance see that
no neglect or slight awaits her. Of abstract arguments we
have seen the futility, of moral and medical crusades even
the most patient are weary, and we gladly turn to something
real, in the suffrages of a by-gone great man of
acknowledged fame--Ben Jonson. Ben Jonson loved the 'durne
weed,' and describes its every accident with the gusto of a
connoisseur. Hobbes smoked, after his early dinner, pipes
innumerable. Milton never went to bed without a pipe and a
glass of water, which I cannot help associating with his:
'Adam waked,
So custom'd, for his sleep was æry light, of pure digestion bred
And temperate vapors bland!'
"Sir Isaac Newton was smoking in his garden at Woolsthorpe
when the apple fell. Addison had a pipe in his mouth at all
hours, at 'Buttons.' Fielding both smoked and chewed. About
1740 it became unfashionable, and was banished from St.
James' to the country squires and parsons. Squire Western,
in _Tom Jones_, arriving in town, sends off Parson Supple to
Basingstoke, where he had left his Tobacco-box! The
snuff-box was substituted. Lord Mark Kerr, a brave officer
who affected the _petit maitre_ (_à la_ Pelham, in Lord
Lytton's second novel), invented the invisible hinges, and
it was this 'going out of fashion' that Jonson alluded to in
1774.
[Illustration: Newton and his pipe.]
"We next find Tobacco rearing its head under the auspices of
Paley and Parr. Paley had one of the most orderly minds ever
given to man. A vein of shrewd and humorous sarcasm,
together with an under-current of quiet selfishness, made
him a very pleasant companion. 'I cannot afford to keep a
conscience any more than a carriage,' was worthy of Erasmus,
perhaps of Robelais. 'Our delight was,' said an old
Jonsonian to the writer, 'to get old Paley, on a cold
winter's night, to put up his legs, wrap them well up, stir
the fire, and fill him a long Dutch pipe; he would talk
away, sir, like a being of a higher sphere. He declined
any punch, but drank it up as fast as we replenished his
glass. He would smoke any given quantity of Tobacco, and
drink any _given_ quantity of punch.'
"Parr smoked ostentatiously and vainly, as he did
everything. He used only the finest Tobacco, half-filling
his pipe with salt. He wrote and read, and smoked and wrote,
rising early, and talking fustian. He was a sort of
miniature Brummagem Johnson. Except his preface to
_Bellendenus_, you might burn all he has written. His 'Life
of Fox' is beneath contempt. His letters are simply
laughable, especially his characters of contemporaries. He,
however, was an amiable and good-natured man, and had
sufficient humanity to regard dissent as an impediment to
his recognition of intellectual or moral worth. Parr was an
arrogant old coxcomb, who abused the respectful kindness he
received, and took his pipe into drawing-rooms. I pass over
the Duke of Bridgewater, because he was early crossed in
love by a most beautiful girl, could not bear the sight of a
flower even growing, and passed life in a pot-house with a
pipe, listening to Brindley, whose intellect and dialect
must have been alike incomprehensible to him.
"The cigar appeared about 1812; it received the countenance
of the Regent, who had hitherto confined himself to macobau
snuff, scented with lavender and the tonquin bean. Porson
smoked many bundles of cheroots, which nabobs began to
import. After 1815 the continental visits were resumed, and
the practice of smoking began steadily to increase. The
German china bowl with globular receiver of the essential
oil, the absorbent meerschaum, the red Turkish bell-shaped
clay, the elaborate hookah,--a really elegant ornament, and
perhaps the most healthful and rational form of
smoking,--pipes of all shapes, began to fill the shops of
London. Coleridge, when cured of opium, took to snuff. Byron
wrote dashingly about 'sublime Tobacco,' but I do not think
he carried the practice to excess. Shelley never smoked, nor
Wordsworth, nor Keats. Campbell loved a pipe. John Gibson
Lockhart was seldom without a cigar. Sir Walter Scott smoked
in his carriage, and regularly after dinner, loving both
pipes and cigars. Professor Wilson smoked steadily, as did
Charles Lamb. Carlyle, now somewhat past seventy, has been a
sturdy smoker for years. Goethe did not smoke, neither did
Shakespeare. I cannot recall a single allusion to Tobacco in
all his plays; even Sir Toby Belch does not add the pipe to
his burnt sack. But Shakespeare hated every form of
debauchery. The penitence of Cassio is more prominent than
was his fun. 'What! drunk? and talk fustian and speak
parrot, and discourse with one's shadow?' Shakespeare held
drunkenness in disgust. Even Falstaff is more an
intellectual man than a sot. What actor could play Falstaff
after riding forty miles and being well thrashed? Yet, when
Falstaff sustains the evening at the Boar's Head, he has
ridden to Gadshill and back, forty-four miles! No palsied
sot, he. Hamlet's disgust at his countrymen is well known.
'Grim death, how foul and loathsome is thine image!' is the
comment on the drunken Kit Sly. In short, when you look at
the smooth, happy, half-feminine face of Shakespeare, you
see one to whom all forms of debauchery were ungenial. A
courtier certainly, and a lover of money. The king had
written against Tobacco, and Will Shakespeare set his watch
to the time. Raleigh and Coliban Jonson might smoke at the
Mermaid--Will kept his head clear and his doublet sweet.
[Illustration: Tennyson, smoking.]
"Alfred Tennyson is a persistent smoker of some forty years.
Dickens, Jerrold and Thackeray all puffed. Lord Lytton loves
a long pipe at night and cigars by day. Lord Houghton smokes
moderately. The late J. M. Kemble, author of 'The Seasons in
England,' was a tremendous smoker. Moore cared not for it;
indeed, I think that Irish gentlemen smoke much less than
English. Wellington shunned it; so did Peel. D'Israeli loved
the long pipe in his youth, but in middle age pronounced it
'the tomb of love.' While I am writing, it is not too much
to aver that 99 persons out of 100, taken at random, under
forty years of age, smoke habitually every day of their
lives. How many in Melbourne injure wealth and brain, I
leave to more skilled and morose critics. But my mind
misgives me. Paralysis is becoming very frequent.
"I have seen stone pipes from Gambia, shaped like the letter
U consisting each of one solid flint, hollowed through,
also hookahs made by sailors with cocoanut shells. All,
however, now agree that it is impossible to have either
comfortable, cool, or safe smoking, unless through a
substance like clay, porous and absorbent, especially as
portable pipes are the mode. Those of black charcoal are not
handsome; indeed, I always feel like a mute at a funeral
while smoking one, but they are delightfully cool, absorbing
more essential oil of nicotine, and more quickly than any
meerschaum. I caution the smoker to have an old glove on; as
these pipes 'sweat,' the oil comes through, and nothing is
more pertinacious than oil of tobacco when it sinks into
your pores, or floats about hair or clothes. My own taste
inclines to the German receiver, long cherry tube and amber,
and to my own garden, for all street smoking is unæsthetic,
and the traveller by coach, boat, or rail has the tastes of
others to consult. Surely it is not urbane to throw on
another the burden of saying that he likes not the smell or
the inhaling of burning tobacco. Better postpone your solace
to more fitting time and place--the close of day and your
own veranda. Indoor smoking is detestable. Life has few
direr disenchanters than the morning smells of obsolete
tobacco, relics though they be of hesternal beatitude. Give
me, in robe or jacket, a hookah, or German arrangement,
Chinese recumbency in matted and moistened veranda, and the
odors of fresh growing beds of flowers wafted by the
southern breeze. Nor be wanting the fragrant perfume of
coffee. 'Meat without salt,' says Hafiz, 'is even as tobacco
without coffee.' The tannin of the coffee corrects the
nicotine. And it may not be amiss to learn that a plate of
watercress, salt, and a large glass of cold water should be
at hand to the smoker by day; the watercress corrects any
excess, and is at hand in a garden. Smoke not before
breakfast, nor till an hour has elapsed after a good meal.
Smoke not with or before wine, you destroy the wine-palate.
If you love tea, postpone pipe till after it; no man can
enjoy fine tea who has smoked. In short, smoke not till the
day is done, with all its tasks and duties.
"I have seen men of pretension and position treat carpets
most contumeliously, trampling on the pride of Plato with a
recklessness that would bring a blush to the cheek of
Diogenes himself. Can they forget the absorbent powers of
carpet tissues, and the horrors of next morning to
non-smokers, perhaps to ladies? Surely this is unæsthetic
and illiberal: it is in an old man most pitiable, in a young
one intolerable, in a scholar inexcusable, from an
uncleanness that seems willful. Let the young philosopher
avoid such practice, and give a wide berth to those who
follow them. Take the following rules, tyro, _meo
periculo_:--
1. Never smoke when the pores are open: they absorb, and you
are unfit for decent society. Be it your study ever to
escape the noses of strangers. First impressions are
sometimes permanent, and you may lose a useful acquaintance.
2. Learn to smoke slowly. Cultivate 'calm and intermittent
puffs.'--_Walter Scott._
3. On the first symptom of expectoration lay down the pipe,
or throw away the cigar; long-continued expectoration is
destructive to yourself and revolting to every spectator.
4. Let an interval elapse between the filling of succeeding
pipes.
5. Clean your tube regularly, and your amber mouthpiece with
a feather dipped in spirits of lavender. Never suffer the
conduit to remain discolored or stuffed.
6. A German receiver can be washed out like a teacup, and
the oil collected is of value, but a meerschaum should never
be wetted. A small sponge at the end of a wire dipped in
sweet oil should be used carefully and persistently round
and round, coaxing out any hard concretions, till the inside
be smooth in its dark polished grain, of a rich mahogany
tint. The outside, also, well polished with sweet oil and
stale milk, then enveloped in chamois leather. The rich dark
coloring is the pledge of your safety--better there than
darkening your own brains.
"The pale gold c'noster and Turkey have now given way to the
splendid varieties of America, and my knowledge halts behind
the age. The black sticks resembling lollipops are said to
be compounds of rum, bullocks' blood and tobacco lees. A
taste for them, when once contracted, is abiding. Fine
volatile tobacco, with aromatic delicacy, requires a long
tube; used in a short pipe of modern fashion, they parch and
shrivel the tongue. In short, what is true of all other
pleasures is also true of tobacco-smoking. Fruition is
sometimes too rapid for enjoyment, as the dram-drinker is
less wise than the calm imbiber of the fragrant vintage of
the Garonne. With Burke's common sense I began, and with it
I end. Depurate vice of all her offensiveness, and you prune
her of half her evil. Let not your love of indulgence be so
inordinate as to purchase short pleasure by impairing
health, neglecting duty, or, while promoting your own
self-complacency, allow yourself to become permanently
revolting to society, by offending more senses as well as
more principles than one.'"
[Illustration: Modern smokers.]
Mantegazza, one of the most brilliant of all writers on tobacco, in
alluding to the enchantment of the "weed," says:--
"If a winged inhabitant of some remote world felt the
impulse to traverse space, and, with an astronomical map, to
fly round our planetary system, he would at once recognize
the earth by the odor of tobacco which it exhales, forasmuch
as all known nations smoke the nicotian herb. And thousands
and thousands of men, if compelled to limit themselves to a
single nervous aliment, would relinquish wine and coffee,
opium and brandy, and cling fondly to the precious narcotic
leaf. Before Columbus, tobacco was not smoked except in
America; and now, after a lapse of a few centuries in the
furthest part of China and in Japan, in the island of
Oceanica as in Lapland and Siberia, rises from the hut of
the savage and from the palace of the prince, along with the
smoke of the fireplace, where man bakes his bread and warms
his heart, another odorous smoke, which man inhales and
breathes forth again to soothe his pain and to vanquish
fatigue and anxiety.
"In the early times of the introduction of tobacco, smokers
in many countries were condemned to infamous and cruel
punishments; had their noses and their lips cut off, and
with blackened faces and mounted on an ass, exposed to the
coarse jests of the vilest vagabonds and the insults of the
multitude. But now the hangman smokes, and the criminal
condemned to death smokes before being hanged. The king in
his gilt coach smokes; and the assassin smokes who lies in
wait to throw down before the feet of the horses the
murderous bomb. The human family spends every year two
thousand six hundred and seventy millions of francs (about a
hundred millions in English money) on tobacco, which is not
food, which is not drink, and without which it contrived to
live for a long succession of ages.
"In the discomfitures and disasters which befell the Army of
Lavalle, in the civil wars of the Argentine Republic, the
poor fugitives had to suffer the most horrible privations,
which can be imagined. By degrees the tobacco came to an
end, and the Argentines smoked dry leaves. One man, more
fortunate than his comrades, continued to use with much
economy the most precious of all his stores--tobacco. A
fellow soldier begged to be allowed to put the economist's
pipe in his own mouth, and thus to inhale at second-hand the
adored smoke, paying two dollars for the privilege. What is
more striking still, when, in 1843, the convicts in the
prison of Epinal, France, who had for some time been
deprived of tobacco, rose in revolt, their cry was 'tobacco
or death!' When Col. Seybourg was marching in the interior
of Surinam against negro rebels, and the soldiers had to
bear the most awful hardships, they smoked paper, they
chewed leaves and leather, and found the lack of tobacco the
greatest of all their trials and torments."
Elsewhere, inquiring what nervous aliments harmonize the one with the
other, he says:--
"The only, the true, the legitimate companion of coffee is
the nicotian plant; and wisely and well the Turkish epicures
declare that for coffee--the drink of Heaven--tobacco is the
salt. The smoke of a puro, of a manilla, or of real Turkish
tobacco, which passes amorously through the voluptuous tip
of amber, blends magnificently with the austere aroma of the
coffee, and the inebriated palate is agitated between a
caress and a rebuke."
From a Southern paper we extract these whimsical lines.
"On the Great
Fall in the Price of Tobacco in 1801," by Hugh Montgomery,
Lynchburgh, Va.,
"Lately a planter chanced to pop
His head into a barber's shop--
Begged to be shaved; it soon was done,
When Strap (inclined oft-times to fun,)
Doubling the price he'd asked before,
Instead of two pence made it four.
The planter said, 'You sure must grant,
Your charge is most exhorbitant.'
'Not so,' quoth Strap, 'I'm right and you are wrong,
For since tobacco fell, your face is twice as long.'"
Another quaint whim in the form of an advertisement for a lost
meerschaum is from an Australian paper:
"To Honest men and others,--Driving from Hale Town to
Bridgetown, on Sunday, last, the advertiser lost a cigar
holder with the face of a pretty girl on it. The intrinsic
value of the missing article is small, but as the owner has
been for the last few months converting the young lady from
a blonde into a brunette, he would be glad to get it back
again. If it was picked up by a gentleman, on reading this
notice, he will, of course, send it to the address below. If
it was picked up by a poor man, who could get a few
shillings by selling it, on his bringing it to the address
below, he shall be paid the full amount of its intrinsic
value. If it was picked up by a thief, let him deliver it,
and he shall be paid a like amount, and thus for once can do
an honest action, without being a penny the worse for it."
A humorous writer thus discourses on man, who he denominates as
"common clays":
"Yet we are all common clays! There are long clays and
short clays, coarse clays and refined clays, and the latter
are pretty scarce, that's a fact. To follow out the simile,
life is the tobacco with which we are loaded, and when the
vital spark is applied we live; when that tobacco is
exhausted we die, the essence of our life ascending from the
lukewarm clay when the last fibre burns out, as a curl of
smoke from the ashes in the bowl of the pipe, and mingling
with the perfumed breeze of heaven, or the hot breath
of--well, never mind; we hope not. Then the clay is cold,
and glows no more from the fire within; the pipe is broken,
and ceases to comfort and console. We say, 'A friend has
left us,' or 'Poor old Joe; his pipe is out.' We have all a
certain supply of life, or, if we would pursue the
comparison, a share of tobacco. Some young men smoke too
rapidly, even voraciously, and thus exhaust their share
before their proper time,--then we say they have 'lived too
fast,' or 'pulled at their pipes too hard.' Others, on the
contrary, make their limited supply go a long way, and when
they are taking their last puffs of life's perfumed plant
their energy is unimpaired; they can run a race, walk a mile
with any one, and show few wrinkles upon their brow.
[Illustration: The artist.]
"A delicate person is like a pipe with a crack in the bowl,
for it takes continued and careful pulling to keep his light
in; and to take life is like willfully dashing a lighted
pipe from the mouth into fragments, and scattering the
sparks to the four winds of heaven. An artist is a good
coloring pipe; an attractive orator is a pipe that draws
well; a communist is a foul pipe; a well-educated woman
whose conversation is attractive is a pipe with a nice
mouthpiece; a girl of the period is a fancy pipe, the
ornament of which is liable to chip; a female orator on
woman's rights is invariably a plain pipe; an old toper is a
well-seasoned pipe; an escaped thief is a cutty pipe, and
the policeman in pursuit is a shilling pipe, for is he not a
Bob?"
From these ingenious "conceits" we turn to a few thoughts on the
present condition and history of the plant.
[Illustration: The Yankee smoker.]
The calumet or pipe of peace, decorated with all the splendor of
savage taste, is smoked by the red man to ratify good feeling or
confirm some treaty of peace. The energetic Yankee bent upon the
accomplishment of his ends, puffs vigorously at his cigar and with
scarcely a passing notice, strides over obstacles that lie in his path
of whatever nature they may be. The dancing Spaniard with his eternal
castanets whispers but a word to his dark-eyed senorita as he hands
her another perfumed cigarette. The lounging Italian hissing intrigues
under the shadow of an ancient portico, smokes on as he stalks over
the proud place where the blood of Cæsar dyed the stones of the
Capitol, or where the knife of Virginius flashed in the summer sun.
The Turk comes forth from the Mosque only to smoke. The priest of
Nicaragua with solemn mien strides up the aisle and lights the altar
candles with the fire struck from his cigar. The hardy Laplander
invites the stranger to his hut and offers him his pipe while he
inquires, if he comes from the land of tobacco. The indigent Jakut
exchanges his most valuable furs and skins for a few ounces of the
"Circassian weed." Its charms are recognized by the gondolier of
Venice and the Muleteer of Spain. The Switzer lights his pipe amid
Alpine heights. The tourist climbing Ætna, or Vesuvius' rugged side,
puffs on though _they_ perchance have long since ceased to smoke.
Tobacco, soothed the hardships of Cromwell's soldiers and gave novelty
to the court life of the daughters of Louis XIV, delighted the
courtiers of Queen Elizabeth and bidding defiance to the ire of her
successors, the Stuarts, has never ceased to hold sway over court and
camp, as well as over the masses of the people.
In nothing cultivated has there been so remarkable a development.
Originally limited to the natives of America, it attracted the
attention of Europeans who by cultivation increased the size and
quality of the plant. But not alone has the plant improved in form and
quality, the rude implements once used by the Indians have given away
(even among themselves) to those of improved form and modern style.
These facts are without a doubt among the most curious that commerce
presents. That a plant primarily used only by savages, should succeed
in spite of the greatest opposition in becoming one of the greatest
luxuries of the civilized world, is a fact without parallel. It can
almost be said, so universally is it used, that its claims are
recognized by all. Though hated by kings and popes it was highly
esteemed by their subjects. Their delight in the new found novelty was
unbounded and doubtless they could sing in praise as Byron did in
later times of:
"Sublime tobacco which from East to West
Cheers the tar's labor and the Turkman's rest."
CHAPTER VIII.
SNUFF, SNUFF-BOXES AND SNUFF-TAKERS.
The custom of snuff-taking is as old at least as the discovery of the
tobacco plant. The first account we have of it is given by Roman Pane,
the friar who accompanied Columbus on his second voyage of discovery
(1494), and who alludes to its use among the Indians by means of a
cane half a cubit long. Ewbank says:
"Much has been written on a revolution so unique in its
origin, unsurpassed in incidents and results, and
constituting one of the most singular episodes in human
history; but next to nothing is recorded of whence the
various processes of manufacture and uses were derived. Some
imagine the popular pabulum[56] for the nose of translantic
origin. No such thing! Columbus first beheld smokers in the
Antilles. Pizarro found chewers in Peru, but it was in the
country discovered by Cabral that the great sternutatory was
originally found. Brazilian Indians were the Fathers of
snuff, and its best fabricators. Though counted among the
least refined of aborigines, their taste in this matter was
as pure as that of the fashionable world of the East. Their
snuff has never been surpassed, nor their apparatus for
making it."
[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."]
Soon after the introduction and cultivation of tobacco in Spain and
Portugal its use in the form of snuff came in vogue and from these
notions it spread rapidly over Europe, particularly in France and
Italy. It is said to have been used first in France[57] by the wife
of Henry II., Catherine de Medici, and that it was first used at court
during the latter part of the Sixteenth Century. The Queen seemed to
give it a good standing in society and it soon became the fashion to
use the powder by placing a little on the back of the hand and
inhaling it. The use of snuff greatly increased from the fact of its
supposed medicinal properties and its curative powers in all diseases,
particularly those affecting the head, hence the wide introduction of
snuff-taking in Europe. Fairholt says of its early use:
[Footnote 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."]
"Though thus originally recommended for adoption as a
medicine, it soon became better known as a luxury and the
gratification of a pinch was generally indulged in Spain,
Italy and France, during the early part of the Seventeenth
Century. It was the grandees of the French Court who 'set
the fashion' of snuff, with all its luxurious additions of
scents and expensive boxes. It became common in the Court of
Louis le Grand, although that monarch had a decided
antipathy to tobacco in any form."
Says an English writer "Between 1660 and 1700, the custom of
taking snuff, though it was disliked by Louis XIV., was
almost as prevalent in France as it is at the present time.
In this instance, the example of the monarch was
disregarded; _tobac en poudre_ or _tobac rape_[58] as snuff
was sometimes called found favor in the noses of the French
people; and all men of fashion prided themselves on carrying
a handsome snuff-box. Ladies also took snuff; and the belle
whose grace and propriety of demeanour were themes of
general admiration, thought it not unbecoming to take a
pinch at dinner, or to blow her pretty nose in her
embroidered _mouchoir_ with the sound of a trombone. Louis
endeavored to discourage the use of snuff and his
valets-de-chambre were obliged to renounce it when they were
appointed to their office. One of these gentlemen, the Duc
d'Harcourt, was supposed to have died of apoplexy in
consequence of having, in order to please the king, totally
discontinued the habit which he had before indulged to
excess."
[Footnote 58: Grated tobacco.]
Other grandees were less accommodating: thus we are told that
Marechal d'Huxelles used to cover his cravat and dress with it. The
Royal Physician, Monsieur Fagon, is reported to have devoted his best
energies to a public oration of a very violent kind against snuff,
which unfortunately failed to convince his auditory, as the excited
lecturer in his most enthusiastic moments refreshed his nose with a
pinch.
[Illustration: A tobacco grater.]
Although disliked by the most polished prince of Europe, the use of
snuff increased and soon spread outside the limits of the court of
France and in a short time became a favorite mode of using tobacco as
it continues to be with many at this day.[59] The snuff-boxes of this
period were very elegant and were decorated with elaborate paintings
or set with gems. It was the custom to carry both a snuff-box and a
tobacco grater, which was often as expensive and elegant as the
snuff-box itself. Many of them were richly carved and ornamented in
the most superb manner. Others bore the titles and arms of the owner
and it was considered as part of a courtier's outfit to sport a
magnificent box and grater. The French mode of manufacturing snuff was
to saturate the leaves in water, then dry them and color according to
the shade desired. The perfume was then added and the snuff was
prepared for use. The kind of tobacco used was "Tobac de Virginie."
Spanish snuff was perfumed in the same manner with the additional use
of orange-flower water. Carver gives the mode of manufacturing snuff
in America (1779).
[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."]
"Being possessed of a tobacco wheel, which is a very simple
machine, they spin the leaves, after they are properly
cured, into a twist of any size they think fit; and having
folded it into rolls of about twenty pounds weight each,
they lay it by for use. In this state it will keep for
several years, and be continually improving, as it every
hour grows milder. When they have occasion to use it, they
take off such a length as they think necessary, which, if
designed for smoking, they cut into small pieces, for
chewing into larger, as choice directs; if they intend to
make snuff of it they take a quantity from the roll, and
laying it in a room where a fire is kept, in a day or two it
will become dry, and being rubbed on a grater will produce a
genuine snuff. Those in more improved regions who like their
snuff scented, apply to it such odoriferous waters as they
can procure, or think most pleasing."
Dutch snuff was only partially ground, and was therefore coarse and
harsh in its effects when inhaled into the nostrils. The Irish,
according to Everards, used large quantities of snuff "to purge their
brains." Snuff-taking became general in England[60] at the
commencement of the Seventeenth Century, and scented snuffs were used
in preference to the plain. Frequent mention is made in the plays of
this time of its use and varieties. In Congreve's "Love for Love," one
of the characters presents a young lady with a box of snuff, on
receipt of which she says, "Look you here what Mr. Tattle has given
me! Look you here, cousin, here's a snuff-box; nay, there's snuff
in't: here, will you have any? Oh, good! how sweet it is!"
[Footnote 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._]
Portuguese snuff seemed to be in favor and was delicately perfumed. It
was made from the fibres of the leaves, and was considered among many
to be the finest kind of the "pungent dust." Some varieties of snuff
were named after the scents employed in flavoring them. In France many
kinds became popular from the fact of their use at court, and by the
courtiers throughout the kingdom. Pope notes the use of the snuff-box
by the fops and courtiers of his time in this manner:--
"Sir Plume of amber snuff-box justly vain,
And the nice conduct of a clouded cane;
With earnest eyes, and round, unthinking face,
He first the snuff-box open'd, then the case."
The mode of "tapping the box" before opening was characteristic of the
beaux and fops of this period, and is commented on in a poem on
snuff:--
"The lawyer so grave, when he opens his case,
In obscurity finds it is hid,
Till the bright glass of knowledge illumines his face,
As he gives the three taps on the lid."
Spain, Portugal, and France early in the Seventeenth Century became
noted as the producers of the finest kinds of snuff. In Spain and
Portugal it was the favorite mode of using tobacco, and rare kinds
were compounded and sold at enormous prices. Its use in France by the
fair sex is thus commented on by a French writer:--
[Illustration: Demi-journées.]
"Everything in France depends upon _la mode_; and it has
pleased _la mode_ to patronize this disgusting custom, and
carry about with them small boxes which they term
_demi-journées_."
The most expensive materials were employed in the manufacture of
snuff-boxes, such as agate, mosaics, and all kinds of rare wood, while
many were of gold, studded with diamonds. Some kinds were made of
China mounted in metal, and were very fanciful. In "Pandora's Box," a
"Satyr against Snuff," 1719, may be found the following description of
the snuff-boxes then in vogue:
"For females fair, and formal fops to please,
The mines are robb'd of ore, of shells the seas,
With all that mother-earth and beast afford
To man, unworthy now, tho' once their lord:
Which wrought into a box, with all the show
Of art the greatest artist can bestow;
Charming in shape, with polished rays of light,
A joint so fine it shuns the sharpest sight;
Must still be graced with all the radiant gems
And precious stones that e'er arrived in Thames.
Within the lid the painter plays his part,
And with his pencil proves his matchless art;
There drawn to life some spark or mistress dwells,
Like hermits chaste and constant to their cells."
Some of the more highly perfumed snuffs sold for thirty shillings a
pound, while the cheaper kinds, such as English Rappee and John's
Lane, could be bought for two or three shillings per pound. There are
at least two hundred kinds of snuff well known in commerce. The Scotch
and Irish snuffs are for the most part made from the midribs; the
Strasburgh, French, Spanish, and Russian snuffs from the soft parts of
the leaves. An English writer gives the following account of some of
the well-known snuffs and the method of manufacturing:--
"For the famous fancy snuff known as Maroco, the recipe is
to take forty parts of French or St. Omer tobacco, with
twenty parts of fermented Virginia stalks in powder; the
whole to be ground and sifted. To this powder must be added
two pounds and a half of rose leaves in fine powder; and the
whole must be moistened with salt and water and thoroughly
incorporated. After that it must be 'worked up' with cream
and salts of tartar, and packed in lead to preserve its
delicate aroma. The celebrated 'gros grain Paris snuff' is
composed of equal parts of Amersfoort and James River
tobacco, and the scent is imported by a 'sauce,' among the
ingredients of which are salt, soda, tamarinds, red wine,
syrup, cognac, and cream of tartar."
The mode of manufacture of snuff now is far different than that
employed in the Seventeenth Century. Then the leaves were simply dried
and made fine by rubbing them together in the hands, or ground in some
rude mill; still later the tobacco was washed or cleansed in water,
dried, and then ground. Now, however, the tobacco undergoes quite a
process, and must be kept packed several months before it is ground
into snuff. One of the most celebrated manufacturers of snuff was
James Gillespie, of Edinburgh, who compounded the famous variety
bearing his name. The following account of him we take from "The
Tobacco Plant:"--
[Illustration: James Gillespie.]
"In the High Street of Edinburgh, a little east from the
place where formerly stood the Cross,--
"'Dun-Edin's Cross, a pillar'd stone,
Rose on a turret octagon,'
was situated the shop of James Gillespie, the celebrated
snuff manufacturer. The shop is still occupied by a
tobacconist, whose sign is the head of a typical negro, and
in one of the windows is exhibited the effigy of a
Highlander, who is evidently a competent judge of
'sneeshin.' Not much is known regarding the personal history
of James Gillespie, but it is understood that he was born
shortly after the Jacobite rebellion of 1715, at Roslin, a
picturesque village about six miles from Edinburgh. He
became a tobacconist in Edinburgh, along with his brother
John, and by the exercise of steady industry and frugality,
he was enabled to purchase Spylaw, a small estate in the
parish of Colinton, about four miles from Edinburgh, where
he erected a snuff-mill on the banks of the Water of Leith,
a small stream which flows through the finely-wooded grounds
of Spylaw. The younger brother, John, attended to the shop,
while the subject of our notice resided at Spylaw, where he
superintended the snuff-mill. Mr. Gillespie was able to
continue his industrious habits through a long life, and
having made some successful speculations in tobacco during
the war of American Independence, when the 'weed' advanced
considerably in price, he was enabled to increase his Spylaw
estate from time to time by making additional purchases of
property in the parish.
"Mr. Gillespie remained through life a bachelor. His
establishment at Spylaw was of the simplest description. It
is said that he invariably sat at the same table with his
servants, indulging in familiar conversation, and entering
with much spirit into their amusements. Newspapers were not
so widely circulated at that period as they are now, and on
the return of any of his domestics from the city, which one
of them daily visited, he listened with great attention to
the 'news, and enjoyed with much zest the narration of any
jocular incident that had occurred. Mr. Gillespie had a
_penchant_ for animals, and their wants were carefully
attended to. His poultry, equally with his horses, could
have testified to the judicious attention which he bestowed
upon them. A story is told of the familiarity between the
laird and his riding horse, which was well-fed and full of
spirit.
"The animal frequently indulged in a little restive
curvetting with its master, especially when the latter was
about to get into the saddle. 'Come, come,' he would say, on
such occasions, addressing the animal in his usual quiet
way, 'hae dune, noo, for ye'll no like if I come across your
lugs (ears) wi' the stick.'
"Even in his old age Mr. Gillespie regularly superintended
the operations in the mill, which was situated in the rear
of his house. On these occasions he was wrapped in an old
blanket ingrained with snuff. Though he kept a carriage he
very seldom used it, until shortly before his death, when
increasing infirmities caused him occasionally to take a
drive. It was of this carriage, plain and neat in its
design, with nothing on its panel but the initials 'J. G.'
that the witty Henry Erskine proposed the couplet--
'Who would have thought it
That noses had bought it?'
as an appropriate motto. In those days snuff was much more
extensively used than at present, and Mr. Gillespie was in
the habit of gratuitously filling the 'mulls' of many of the
Edinburgh characters of the last century. Colinton appears
to have been a great snuff-making centre. About thirty years
ago there were five snuff mills in operation in the parish,
the produce of which was sold in Edinburgh. Even now a
considerable quantity of snuff is made in the district,
chiefly by grinders to the trade."
Murray, alluding to the popularity of the custom in England during
the reign of the House of Brunswick, says:--
[Illustration: Fops taking snuff. (_From an old print_).]
"The reigns of the four Georges may be entitled the snuffing
period of English history. The practice became an appanage
of fashion before 1714, as it has continued after 1830, to
be the comfort of priests, literary men, highlanders,
tailors, factory hands, and old people of both sexes. George
IV. was a nasute judge of snuffs, and so enamoured of the
delectation, that in each of his palaces he kept a jar
chamber, containing a choice assortment of tobacco powder,
presided over by a critical superintendent. His favorite
stimulant in the morning was violet Strasburgh, the same
which had previously helped Queen Charlotte to 'kill the
day'--after dinner Carrotte--named from his _penchant_ for
it. King's Carrotte, Martinique, Etrenne, Old Paris, Bureau,
Cologne, Bordeaux, Havre, Princeza, Rouen, and Rappee, were
placed on the table, in as many rich and curious boxes."
Sterne, in his "Sentimental Journey," gives a pleasing description of
snuff-taking with the poor monk. He writes:
"The good old monk was within six paces of us, as the idea
of him crossed my mind; and was advancing towards us a
little out of the line, as if uncertain whether he should
break in upon us or no. He stoop'd, however, as soon as he
came up to us with a world of frankness; and having a horn
snuff-box in his hand, he presented it open to me.
"'You shall taste mine,' said I, pulling out my box (which
was a small tortoise one), and putting it into his hand.
"''Tis most excellent,' said the monk.
"'Then do me the favor,' I replied 'to accept of the box and
all, and when you take a pinch out of it, sometimes
recollect it was the peace-offering of a man who once used
you unkindly, but not from his heart.'
"The poor monk blushed as red as scarlet, 'Mon Dieu?' said
he, pressing his hands together, 'you never used me
unkindly.'
"'I should think,' said the lady, 'he is not likely.'
I blushed in my turn; but from what motives, I leave to the
few who feel to analyze. 'Excuse me, madam,' replied I, 'I
treated him most unkindly, and from no provocations.'
"''Tis impossible,' said the lady.
"'My God!' cried the monk, with a warmth of asseveration
which seemed not to belong to him, 'the fault was in me, and
in the indiscretion of my zeal.'
"The lady opposed it, and I joined with her in maintaining
it was impossible, that a spirit so regulated as his could
give offence to any. I knew not that contention could be
rendered so sweet and pleasurable a thing to the nerves as I
then felt it. We remained silent, without any sensation of
that foolish pain which takes place when, in a circle, you
look for ten minutes in one another's faces without saying a
word.
[Illustration: Horn snuff-boxes.]
"Whilst this lasted, the monk rubb'd his horn box upon the
sleeve of his tunic; and as soon as it had acquired a little
air of brightness by the friction, he made a low bow and
said, 'twas too late to say whether it was the weakness or
goodness of our tempers which had involved us in this
contest, but be it as it would, he begg'd we would exchange
boxes. In saying this, he presented this to me with one, as
he took mine from me in the other; and having kissed it,
with a stream of good nature in his eyes, he put it into his
bosom, and took his leave. I guard this box as I would the
instrumental parts of my religion, to help my mind on to
something better: in truth I seldom go abroad without it;
and oft and many a time have I called up by it the
courteous spirit of its owner, to regulate my own in the
jostlings of the world; they had found full employment for
his, as I learnt from his story, till about the forty-fifth
year of his age, when upon some military services
ill-requited, and meeting at the same time with a
disappointment in the tenderest of passions, he abandoned
the sword and the sex together, and took sanctuary, not so
much in his convent as in himself. I feel a damp upon my
spirits, as I am going to add, that in my last return
through Calais, upon inquiring after Father Lorenzo, I heard
he had been dead near three months, and was buried, not in
his convent, but according to his desire, in a little
cemetery belonging to it about two leagues off. I had a
strong desire to see where they had laid him, when, upon
pulling out his little horn box, as I sat by his grave, and
plucking a nettle or two at the head of it, which had no
business to grow there, they all struck together so forcibly
upon my affections that I burst into a flood of tears--but I
am as weak as a woman; I beg the world not to smile, but
pity me."
Many pleasing effusions have been written promoted doubtless by a
sneeze among which the following on "A pinch of Snuff" from "The
Sportsman Magazine," exhibits the custom and the benefits ascribed to
its indulgence.
"With mind or body sore distrest,
Or with repeated cares opprest,
What sets the aching heart at rest?
A pinch of snuff!
"Or should some sharp and gnawing pain
Creep round the noddle of the brain,
What puts all things to rights again?
A pinch of snuff!
"When speech and tongue together fail,
What helps old ladies in their tale,
And adds fresh canvass to their sail?
A pinch of snuff!
"Or when some drowsy parson prays,
And still more drowsy people gaze,
What opes their eyelids with amaze?
A pinch of snuff!
"A comfort which they can't forsake,
What is it some would rather take,
Than good roast beef, or rich plum cake?
A pinch of snuff!
"Should two old gossips chance to sit,
And sip their slop, and talk of it,
What gives a sharpness to their wit?
A pinch of snuff!
"What introduces Whig or Tory,
And reconciles them in their story,
When each is boasting in his glory?
A pinch of snuff!
"What warms without a conflagration
Excites without intoxication,
And rouses without irritation?
A pinch of snuff!
"When friendship fades, and fortune's spent,
And hope seems gone the way they went,
One cheering ray of joy is sent--
A pinch of snuff!
"Then let us sing in praise of snuff!
And call it not such 'horrid stuff,'
At which some frown, and others puff,
And seem to flinch.
"But when a friend presents a box,
Avoid the scruples and the shocks
Of him who laughs and he who mocks,
And take a pinch!"
From "Pandora's Box" from which we have already quoted, we extract the
following in which the use of snuff is deprecated by the author:
--"now, 'tis by every sort
And sex adored, from Billingsgate to court.
But ask a dame 'how oysters sell?' if nice,
She begs a pinch before she sets a price.
Go thence to 'Change, inquire the price of Stocks;
Before they ope their lips they open first the box.
Next pay a visit to the Temple, where
The lawyers live, who gold to Heaven prefer;
You'll find them stupify'd to that degree,
They'll take a pinch before they'll take their fee.
Then make a step and view the splendid court,
Where all the gay, the great, the good resort;
E'en they, whose pregnant skulls, though large and thick,
Can scarce secure their native sense and wit,
Are feeding of their hungry souls with pure
Ambrosial snuff. * * * *
But to conclude: the gaudy court resign,
T' observe, for once, a place much more divine,
When the same folly's acted by the good,
And is the sole devotion of the lewd;
The church, more sacred once, is what we mean,
Where now they flock to see and to be seen;
The box is used, the book laid by, as dead,
With snuff, not Scripture, there the soul is fed;
For where to heaven the hands by one of those,
Are lifted, twenty have them at the nose;
And while some pray, to be from sudden death
Deliver'd, others snuff to stop their breath."
Paolo Mantegazza, one of the most brilliant and witty of Italian
writers on tobacco, says of its use and "some of the delights that may
be imagined through the sense of smell:"--
"Human civilization has not yet learned to found on the
sense of smell aught but the moderate enjoyment derived from
snuffing, which, confined within the narrow circle of a few
sensations, renders us incapable of entering into the most
delicate pleasures of that sense.
"Snuff procures us the rapture of a tactile irritation, of a
slight perfume; but, above all, it furnishes the charm of an
intermittent occupation which soothes us by interrupting,
from time to time, our labor. At other times it renders
idleness less insupportable to us, by breaking it into the
infinite intervals which pass from one pinch of snuff to
another. Sometimes our snuff-box arouses us from torpor and
drowsiness; sometimes, it occupies our hands when in society
we do not know where to put them or what to do with them.
Finally, snuff and snuffing are things which we can love,
because they are always with us; and we can season them with
a little vanity if we possess a snuff-box of silver or of
gold, which we open continually before those who humbly
content themselves with snuff-boxes of bone or of wood. We
gladly concede the pleasures of snuffing to men of all
conditions, and to ladies who, having passed a certain age,
or who, being deformed, have no longer any sex; but we
solemnly and resolutely refuse the snuff-box to young and
beautiful women, who ought to preserve their delicate and
pretty noses for the odors of the mignonette and the rose."
With royalty snuff has been a prime favorite. Charles III. of Spain
had a great predilection for rappee snuff, but only indulged his
inclination by stealth, and particularly while shooting, when he
imagined himself to be unnoticed. Frederick the Great and Napoleon[61]
both loved and used large quantities of the "pungent dust." Of the
former the following anecdote is related:--
[Footnote 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.]
"The cynical temper of Frederick the Great is well known.
Once when his sister, the Duchess of Brunswick, was at
Potsdam, Frederick made to the brave Count Schwerin the
present of a gold snuff-box. On the lid inside was painted
the head of an ass. Next day, when dining with the king,
Schwerin, with some ostentation, put his snuff-box on the
table. Wishing to turn the joke against Schwerin, the king
called attention to the snuff-box. The Duchess took it up
and opened it. Immediately she exclaimed, 'What a striking
likeness! In truth, brother, this is one of the best
portraits I have ever seen of you.' Frederick, embarrassed,
thought his sister was carrying the jest too far. She passed
the box to her neighbor, who uttered similar expressions to
her own. The box made the round of the table, and every one
was fervently eloquent about the marvelous resemblance. The
king was puzzled what to make of all this. When the box at
last reached his hands, he saw, to his great surprise, that
his portrait was really there. Count Schwerin had simply,
with exceeding dispatch, employed an artist to remove the
ass's head, and to paint the king's head instead. Frederick
could not help laughing at the Count's clever trick, which
was really the best rebuke of his own bad taste and want of
proper and respectful feeling."
"As Frederick William I., of Prussia, was eminently the
Smoking King, so his son Frederick the Great was eminently
the Snuffing King. Perhaps smoking harmonizes best with
action; and it might, without much stretch of fancy, be
shown that as the Prussian monarchy was founded on tobacco
smoke, it flourished on snuff. Possibly, if Napoleon the
Great, who like Frederick the Great, was an excessive
snuffer, had smoked as well as snuffed, he might have
preserved his empire from overthrow, seeing that smoking
steadies and snuffing impels. The influences of smoking and
snuffing on politics and war are ascertainable. What the
effect of chewing is on political and military affairs, it
is not so easy to discover. We recommend the subject for
meditation to the profoundest metaphysicians. How many of
the American politicians and generals have been chewers as
well as snuffers and smokers? Is there to be some mysterious
affinity between chewing and the revolutions, especially the
social revolutions of the future? May not apocalyptic
interpreters be able to show that chewing is the symbol of
anarchy and annihilation?"
[Illustration: Scotch snuff-mills.]
When first used in Europe snuff was made ready for use by the
takers--each person being provided with a box or "mill," as they were
termed, to reduce the leaves to powder.
In connection with this, the following may not be irrelevent:--
The following anecdote of Huerta the celebrated Spanish guitarist, is
taken from one of M. Ella's programmes:--
"In the year 1826 the famous Huerta, who astonished the
English by his performances on the guitar, was anxious to be
introduced to the leader of the Italian Opera Band--a
warm-hearted and sensitive Neapolitan--Spagnoletti. The
latter had a great contempt for guitars, concertinas, and
other fancy instruments not used in the orchestra. He was
fond of snuff, had a capacious nose, and, when irritated,
would ejaculate '_Mon Dieu!_' On my presenting the vain
Spaniard to Spagnoletti, the latter inquired, 'Vat you
play?' Huerta--'De guitar-r-r, sare.' Spagnoletti--'De
guitar! humph!' (takes a pinch of snuff.) Huerta--'Yeas,
sare, de guitar-r-r, and ven I play my _adagio_, de tears
shall run down both side your pig nose.' 'Vell den,' (taking
snuff,) said Spagnoletti, 'I vill not hear your _adagio_.'"
The anecdote related of Count de Tesse, a celebrated courtier of
France, is one of the best of its kind:--
"Count de Tesse, Marshal of France, was an eminent man
during the reign of Louis XIV. Though he was a brave soldier
and by no means an incompetent general, yet he was more
remarkable as a skillful diplomatist and a pliant and
prosperous courtier. During the War of Succession in Spain,
he besieged Barcelona with a considerable army, in the
spring of 1705. Terrible was the assault, and terrible was
the resistance. At the end of six weeks the arrival of the
British fleet, and reinforcements thrown into the place,
forced Marshal Tesse to retire. Besides immense losses in
dead and wounded, he had to abandon two hundred and twenty
cannon and all his supplies. Incessantly fighting for
fifteen days in his retreat towards the Pyrenees, he lost
three thousand more of his men. It ought to be said, in
vindication of Tesse, that he undertook the siege by express
and urgent command of the French King, and contrary to his
own judgment; for in writing to a friend, he said: 'If a
Consistory were held to decide the infallibility of the
King, as Consistories have been held to decide the
infallibility of the Pope, I should by my vote declare His
Majesty infallible. His orders have confounded all human
science.'
"Soon after the siege of Barcelona, a lady at a fashionable
party took out her snuff-box and offered a pinch to any one
who wished it. Marshal Tesse approached to take a pinch; but
suddenly the lady drew her snuff-box back, saying, 'For you,
Marshal, the snuff is too strong--it is Barcelona.'"
In Scotland the dry kinds of snuff are in favor and are esteemed as
highly as the moister snuffs. Robert Leighton gives the following pen
picture of the snuff-loving Scotchman; it is entitled "The Snuffie
Auld Man:"--
"By the cosie fire-side, or the sun-ends o' gavels,
The snuffie auld bodie is sure to be seen.
Tap, tappin' his snuff-box, he snifters and sneevils,
And smachers the snuff frae his mou' to his een.
'Since tobacco cam' in, and the snuffin' began,
There hasna been seen sic a snuffie auld man.
"His haurins are dozen'd, his een sair bedizzened.
And red round the lids as the gills o' a fish;
His face is a' bladdit, his sark-breest a' smaddit.
As snuffie a picture as ony could wish.
He makes a mere merter o' a' thing he does,
Wi' snuff frae his fingers an' drops frae his nose.
"And wow but his nose is a troublesome member--
Day and nicht, there's nae end to its snuffie desire:
It's wide as the chimlie, it's red as an ember,
And has to be fed like a dry-whinnie fire.
It's a troublesome member, and gi'es him nae peace,
Even sleepin', or eatin', or sayin' the grace.
"The kirk is disturbed wi' his hauckin' and sneezin'
The dominie stoppit when leadin' the psalm;
The minister, deav'd out o' logic and reason,
Pours gall in the lugs that are gapi' for balm.
The auld folks look surly, the young chaps jocose,
While the bodie himsel' is bambazed wi' his nose.
"He scrimps the auld wife baith in garnal and caddy
He snuffs what wad keep her in comfort and ease;
Rapee, Lundyfitt, Prince's Mixture, and Toddy,
She looks upon them as the worst o' her faes.
And we'll see an end o' her kooshian nar
While the auld carle's nose is upheld like a Czar."
Sharp has written some verses founded upon the following singular
anecdote in Dean Ramsay's "Reminiscences of Scottish Life and
Character:"
"The inveterate snuff-taker, like the dram-drinker, felt
severely the being deprived of his accustomed stimulant, as
in the following instance: A severe snow-storm in the
Highlands, which lasted for several weeks, having stopped
all communication betwixt neighboring hamlets, the
snuff-boxes were soon reduced to their last pinch. Borrowing
and begging from all the neighbors within reach were first
resorted to, but when these failed all were alike reduced to
the longing which unwillingly abstinent snuff-takers alone
know. The minister of the parish was amongst the unhappy
number; the craving was so intense that study was out of the
question, and he became quite restless. As a last resort,
the beadle was dispatched through the snow, to a neighboring
glen, in the hope of getting a supply; but he came back as
unsuccessful as he went. 'What's to be done, John? was the
minister's pathetic inquiry. John shook his head, as much as
to say that he could not tell, but immediately thereafter
started up, as if a new idea occurred to him. He came back
in a few minutes, crying, 'Hae!' The minister, too eager to
be scrutinizing, took a long deep pinch, and then said,
'Whour did you get it?' 'I soupit (swept) the poupit,' was
John's expressive reply. The minister's accumulated
superfluous Sabbath snuff now came into good use."
[Illustration: Sweeping from the Pulpit.]
"Near the Highlands,
Where the dry lands
Are divided into islands,
And distinguish'd from the mainland
As the Western Hebrides.
"Stormy weather,
Those who stay there,
Oftentimes for weeks together
Keep asunder from their neighbors,
Hemm'd about by angry seas.
"For, storm-batter'd,
Boats are shattered,
And their precious cargoes scatter'd
In the boist'rous Sound of Jura,
Or thy passage, Colonsay;
"While the seamen,
Like true freemen,
Battle bravely with the Demon
Of the storm, who strives to keep them
From their harbor in the bay.
"For this reason
One bad season,
(If to say so be not treason,)
In an island town the people
Were reduced to great distress.
"Though on mainland
They would fain land,
They were storm-bound in their ain land,
Where each luxury was little,
And grew beautifully less.
"But whose sorrow,
That sad morrow,
When no man could beg or borrow
From a friend's repository,
Equall'd theirs who craved for snuff.
"But, most sadden'd,
Nearly madden'd
For the lack of that which gladden'd
His proboscis, was the parson,
Hight the Rev'rend Neil Macduff.
"If a snuffer,
Though no puffer,
You may guess what pangs he'd suffer
In his journey through a snow-drift,
Visiting a neighboring town.
"From his rushing
For some sneishing;
But his choring and his fishing
Could procure no Toddy's Mixture,
Moist Rappee, or Kendal Brown.
"In his trouble--
Now made double,
Since his last hope proved a bubble--
To his aid came Beadle Johnnie,
In his parish right-hand man.
"With a packet,
Saying, Tak' it,
It's as clean as I can mak' it,
If ye'd save yer snuff on Sabbath
A toom box ye needna scan.
"Being lusty
(Though 'twas musty)
To his nose the snuff so dusty
Put the minister, too much in want,
The gift to scrutinize.
"An idea
He could see a
Blessing in this panacea;
So he took such hearty pinches as brought
Tears into his eyes.
"Then to Johnnie,
His old cronie,
Cried--'I fear'd I'd ne'er get ony.'
'Well, I'll tell ye,' said the beadle,
'Whaur I got the stock of snuff.'
"'In the poupit
Low I stoopit,
An' the snuff and stour I soupit,
Then I brocht ye here a handfu',
For ye need it sair enough.'"
The old Scottish snuff-mill, which consisted of a small box-like
receptacle into which fitted a conical-shaped projection with a short,
strong handle was a more substantial affair than the rasp used by the
French and English snuff-takers. (See page 232). Both, answered the
purpose for which they were designed, the leaves of tobacco being
"toasted before the fire," and then ground in the mill as it was
called. The more modern snuff-mill is similar in shape, but is used to
hold the snuff after being ground, rather than for reducing the leaves
to a powder.
Boswell gives the following poem on snuff, in his "Shrubs of
Parnassus:"
"Oh Snuff! our fashionable end and aim!
Strasburg, Rappee, Dutch, Scotch, what'eer thy name,
Powder celestial! quintessence divine!
New joys entrance my soul while thou art mine.
Who takes--who takes thee not! where'er I range,
I smell thy sweets from Pall Mall to the 'Change.
By thee assisted, ladies kill the day,
And breathe their scandal freely o'er their tea;
Nor less they prize thy virtues when in bed,
One pinch of thee revives the vapor'd head,
Removes the spleen, removes the qualmish fit,
And gives a brisker turn to female wit,
Warms in the nose, refreshes like the breeze,
Glows in the herd and tickles in the sneeze.
Without it, Tinsel, what would be thy lot!
What, but to strut neglected and forgot!
What boots it for thee to have dipt thy hand
In odors wafted from Arabian land?
Ah! what avails thy scented solitaire,
Thy careless swing and pertly tripping air,
The crimson wash that glows upon thy face,
Thy modish hat, and coat that flames with lace!
In vain thy dress, in vain thy trimmings shine,
If the Parisian snuff-box be not thine.
Come to my nose, then, Snuff, nor come alone,
Bring taste with thee, for taste is all thy own."
There seems to be as great a variety of design in snuff-boxes as among
pipes and tobacco-stoppers. The Indians of both North and South
America have their mills for grinding or pulverizing the leaves. In
the East a great variety of snuff-boxes may be seen; they are made of
wood and ivory, while many of them have a spoon attached to the box,
which they use in taking the dust from the box to the back of the
hand, whence it is taken by the forefinger and conveyed to the nose.
In Europe we find greater variety of design in snuff-boxes than in the
East. In Europe they are made of the most costly materials, and
studded with the rarest gems.
In the East they are made of ivory, wood, bamboo, and other materials.
Of late years boxes made of wood from Abbotsford or some other noted
place have been used for the manufacture of snuff-boxes. Formerly when
snuff-taking was in more general use by kings and courtiers than
now--a magnificent snuff-box was considered by royalty as one of the
most valuable and pleasing of "memorials." Many of these testimonials
of friendship and regard were of gold and silver, and set with
diamonds of the finest water.
Among the anecdotes of celebrated snuff-takers, the following from
White's "Life of Swedenborg," will be new to many:
"Swedenborg took snuff profusely and carelessly, strewing it
over his papers and the carpet. His manuscripts bear its
traces to this day. His carpet set those sneezing who shook
it. One Sunday he desired to have it taken up and beaten.
Shearsmith objected, 'Better wait till to-morrow,' 'Dat be
good! dat be good!' was his answer."
We copy the following article on the manufacture of snuff from a
well-known English journal, "Cope's Tobacco Plant:"--
"Although snuff is still extensively consumed in this
country (Great Britain), the mode of its manufacture is very
little known to those who use it; and there are very few
persons of even the most inquisitive turn of mind who can
say they have ever penetrated into the mysterious precincts
of a snuff-mill. Even those who have been privileged, and
have had the courage to inspect the interior of such an
establishment, have come away with very vague notions of
what they saw. The hollow whirr of the revolving pestles,
the hazy atmosphere closely resembling a London fog in
November, a phenomenon which is produced by the innumerable
particles of tobacco floating about, and causing the gas to
flicker and sparkle in a mysterious way, and producing a
lively irritation of the mucous membrane, all combine in
placing the visitor in a state of amusing bewilderment, and
he is compelled to make a speedy exit, having only had just
a running peep at the interesting process of snuff-making.
It is therefore our duty to give a description of a process
which will be new to a large number of people, and will help
to clear up some of the obscure theories that a great many
more entertain of it.
"Those persons who have travelled on the Continent, and who
have noticed on tobacconists' counters a small machine,
somewhat like a coffee-mill, which a man works with one
hand, while he holds a hard-pressed plug of tobacco about a
pound weight against the revolving grater, and produces
snuff while the snuff-taker waits for it, may imagine that
snuff in England is produced on a somewhat similar small
scale. But this, like many kindred theories, is quite a
mistake. In this country there exist large snuff-mills
worked by steam power, and in Scotland there is one
water-mill which is driven by a water-power of the strength
of thirty horses. The grinding of snuff is at present
carried on much as it was one hundred years ago. The
apparatus, although effective, is very primitive, and would
lead one to suppose that mechanical ingenuity had wholly
neglected to trouble itself about improving that branch of
machinery.
[Illustration: Snuff-mill a century ago.]
"All kinds of snuff are made from tobacco leaves, or tobacco
stalks, either separate or mixed. This in the first instance
goes through a kind of fermentation, and, like the basis of
soup at the modern hotels, forms, as it were, the stock from
which all the varieties in flavor and appearance are
produced by special treatment and flavoring. Of course the
strength and pungency of the snuff will depend a good deal
upon the richness of the tobacco originally put aside for
it. About one thousand pounds of tobacco would form an
ordinary batch of snuff. The duty on this would amount to
about £150, and this has to be paid before the tobacco is
removed from the bonded warehouse. Having got his heap of
material ready, the snuff-maker moistens it, then places it
in a warm room and covers it over with warm cloths--coddles
it, as it were, to make it comfortable, so that the cold air
cannot get to it--and the heap is then left for three or
four weeks, as the case may be, to ferment.
"In France, where, under the Imperial _régime_, snuff-making
was a Government monopoly, the tobacco was allowed to
ferment for twelve or eighteen months; and in the principal
factory (that at Strasburg) might have been seen scores of
huge bins, as large as porter vats, all piled up with
tobacco in various stages of fermentation. The tobacco,
after being fermented, if intended for that light, powdery,
brown-looking snuff called S. P., is dried a little; or if
for Prince's Mixture, Macobau, or any other kind of Rappee,
is at once thrown into what is called the mull. The mull is
a kind of large iron mortar weighing about half a ton and
lined with wood; and there is a heavy pestle which travels
round it, forming, as it were, a large pestle and mortar.
These mulls are placed in rows and shut up in separate cupboards, to
keep in the dust. The snuff-maker wanders from one to the other, and
feeds them as they require.
"When the grinding of the snuff is completed it is then
ready for flavouring, and in this consists the great art and
secret of the trade. Receipts for peculiar flavors are
handed down from father to son as most valuable heir-looms,
and these receipts are in fact a valuable property in many
instances, for so delicate is the nose of your snuff-taker
that he can detect the slightest variation in the
preparation of his favorite snuff. It is related of one old
snuff-maker in London, who had acquired a handsome fortune
and retired from business, that he made it a consideration
with his successors that he should be allowed, so long as he
lived, to attend one day in the week at the business and
flavor all the snuff. Most people will also be familiar with
some one of the numerous versions of the origin of the once
famous Lundy Foote Snuff, better known as 'Irish
Blackguard.'
"The excise are very rigid in their laws for regulating the
manufacture of snuff; and with the exception of a little
common salt, which is added to make the tobacco keep, and
alkalies for bringing out the flavor, nothing is allowed to
be used but a few essential oils. And here we must digress
for a moment to correct a popular error, viz., that snuff
contains ground glass, put there for titillating purposes.
What appears to be ground glass is only the little crystals
or small particles of alkali that have not been dissolved.
So that fastidious snuff-takers may dismiss this bugbear at
once and forever.
"The essential oils referred to form a very expensive item
to the manufacture of snuff. The ladies would be much
surprised to see a dusty snuff-maker drain off five pounds'
worth of pure unadulterated otto-of-roses into a tin can,
and as they (the ladies) would suppose, throw it away on a
heap of what would appear to them rubbishy dust in one
corner of the snuff-room. Of course the ladies would
consider the proper place for it to be on the cambric
handkerchief, but this idea would be about the last to occur
to your matter-of-fact snuff-maker.
[Illustration: Perfuming snuff.]
"In addition to otto-of-roses, the scent-room contains great
jars of essence of lemon, French geranium, verbena, oil of
pimento, bergamotte, etc., all of which are used in the
various flavoring combinations. There would most likely also
be a few hundred-weight of fine Tonquin beans, and one of
these beans is generally presented to any visitor who drops
in, as souvenir to carry away in his waistcoat pocket. Snuff
is very extensively used in the mills and factories of
Lancashire. Those who toil long in heated and noisy mills
seem to require, and doubtless do require, tobacco in some
shape or other to keep them from flagging; and as chewing is
not polite, and smoking in a mill not allowed, the only
resource left to the operative is his snuff. A singular
feature connected with this is, we believe, the fact that
spinners in very few instances use snuff-boxes, they prefer
having their supply of snuff screwed up in a piece of paper.
One retail shop-keeper in a busy spinning town in Lancashire
assured us that he retailed over four hundred weight of
snuff a week in pennyworths.
"It is impossible to state the exact quantity of snuff used
in this country; but, as far as we can arrive at it from
statistics at hand, we should say it cannot be less than
five hundred tons per annum. This seems an enormous
quantity, considering the comparatively small number of
persons who now use snuff; but the great bulk of snuff seems
to be consumed by particular communities, such as the
Lancashire operatives, and the consumption of it is
therefore not generally observable; and further it should be
remembered that those who do take snuff, individually use
large quantities."
Snuff-manufacturing has in some cases been attended with considerable
affluence. One instance is the London manufacturer already mentioned,
whose profits accumulated to the extent of nearly a quarter of a
million; another is the Lundy Foote business, and the third a Scotch
manufacturer (Gillespie), who by the way, practised a bit of
benevolence, in the shape of building an hospital, in return for the
good things fortune had sent him. Of course an hospital, like many
other things, may have a doubtful origin, as witness the famous Guy's,
which stands as a lasting monument to the wonderful profits that used
to be made out of the iniquitous advance note system. But we do not by
any means wish to make comparisons which must be odious and although
the profits of snuff-manufacturing are for a variety of
reasons--amongst others the decreased consumption of the manufactured
article--not nearly as large as they were fifty years ago; yet we are
sure that the fortunes accumulated by some of the old snuff-makers
were the result of honest, upright industry.
Of European tobacco used in the manufacture of snuff that of Holland
and France (St. Omer) is considered to be equal to any grown in
Europe. Of the varieties grown in America, Virginia leaf is used quite
extensively for some grades of snuff and "good stout rich snuff leaf"
commands excellent prices and meets with a ready sale.
A writer gives the following account of the love the Terra Del
Fuegians have for tobacco.
"This morning we were up early, a large party going ashore
for various scientific purposes, and the others taking the
ship out in the channel to do a little dredging; both
parties were very successful, and added much to our
collection. As we on the shore were about ready to come off,
we were visited by a party of Fuegians, five men, four
women, and nine children, with three dogs. They came in an
English-built boat, stolen or lost from some English ship.
The men and dogs landed and came towards us with a great
frankness of manner. They could talk neither English nor
Spanish, except the few words, boat, fire, tobac, galleto,
arco. But they understood the imperial manner of one of our
officers, who said quietly but firmly, 'keep back those
dogs,' and immediately drove back the barking curs with
sticks and stones. They warmed themselves at our fire, and
seemed disposed to be very civil and friendly. We gave them
our remaining biscuit, and what little tobacco there was in
our party to spare. One of them accepted a pinch of snuff
and pretended to sneeze, crying 'Hatchee!' with mock
solemnity.
[Illustration: Fuegian snuff-takers.]
An old man sat down on a stone and sang to us a low, sweet
recitation, or chant, in wild key, or mode, ending on a
rising melody with each stanza.
They followed us to the ship, and we gave them some calico
and beads, and tobacco, and also bought bows and arrows, and
a sea-urchin, paying them in tobacco. They clung to the ship
as we got under way, men and women, crying, 'Tobacco!' and
frantic to catch any fragment of the precious weed thrown to
them. But at length they let go, and we left the bay with
the cry of tobacco ringing in our ears."
Having spoken of most of the modes of using snuff in both the Old and
New World, we come now to a description of using snuff at the South,
known as "dipping," and by some as "rubbing," both terms used to
denote the same manner of use. The description of it as given by A. L.
Adams is as follows:--
"In the South, and more especially in Virginia, where
tobacco has been cultivated for more than two hundred and
fifty years, and where a few pounds of it was the
legitimate price for a wife, it is not surprising that it
should be more highly prized and come into more general use
than in any other section of our country. On the banks of
the James River it was first successfully cultivated by the
English colony, and this simple fact alone must forever
throw a charm around it, which will foster the pride of the
Virginian who has any respect for his ancestry, and hold him
under sacred obligations to use, cherish, and defend the
plant and its use--all of which he regards as no less a
pleasure than a duty. Here too its many virtues were first
discovered, and its soothing effects first felt and
appreciated.
"To the old Virginian it is indeed a cherished weed,
charming all manner of diseases, comforting in sorrow,
soothing the ills of life, and preserving to a good old age
and in a happy frame of mind all who use it. He believes in
its superior virtues, and ascribes to it more good qualities
than to any other known plant. He always carries it about
with him, and if perchance he gets out he is truly
miserable. He not only loves but worships it as a cure all.
His wife and daughters know its virtues full well, and use
it with equal grace and relish, believing it gives a lustre
to the eye and a freshness to the cheek rarely surpassed.
Among the variety of ways in which it is used none attracted
my attention so much as the novel manner of snuff-taking in
various parts of Virginia, West Virginia, the Carolinas and
Georgia.
"In some localities the practice is unknown, while in many
others it is very common. I first discovered young ladies
putting snuff into their mouths as if eating it, when my
curiosity was excited to an alarming extent, but on being
invited to 'dip' with them I soon learned that they were not
eating, but 'rubbing and chewing' it, as they called it, and
in such a lively manner as to soon convince me that they
appreciated it. I found the habit to be quite common even
among the young of both sexes--all indulging in it as if it
afforded real satisfaction to the appetite for tobacco in
some form.
"The young ladies however seemed the more attached to the
'rubbing process,' as it has been appropriately styled, and
defended it with equal logic and grace whenever it was
assailed. The young gentlemen when in the society of the
young ladies generally join them in this unique use of
snuff, as they are always sure to be invited and urged if
they decline, and to merit their favor of course they must
appear social. I believe, in credit to their taste,
however, that they really prefer a good cigar, and think it
more in keeping with their ideas of manhood and neatness. I
have seen young girls of ten 'rubbing and chewing,' as if
they appreciated it as much as mother Eve did the apple in
the garden of paradise.
"I have also seen old ladies with trembling limbs and few
teeth 'rubbing and chewing,' as if it made them feel young
again. I have frequently been ushered unexpectedly into the
presence of young ladies, and found them puffing their
cigarettes in a manner that convinced me that they knew how
to smoke. There is nothing that will more surely and quickly
bring a stranger into the fellowship and good graces of the
ladies than to join them in their pet habit of
snuff-rubbing. It seems to form a bond of friendship which
they regard as sacred as the vows of wedlock.
"The older matrons 'rub' less and smoke more, which is in
accordance with nature and philosophy: The older we grow the
more we smoke. They find solid pleasure in sitting by the
open grate after tea with fifteen inches of pipe's tail
between their teeth, and slowly but gracefully puffing the
perfumes of the exhilarating weed into the room, and
watching with childish pleasure the hazy curling wreaths of
smoke as they gently float around, changing in form and
color until they finally disappear up the chimney, affording
rich themes for meditation and profitable study, and perhaps
suggestive of earlier days when grandmother, an innocent,
blooming maid, was exchanged for the weed, the seed of which
produced the plant she is now burning. Everywhere I marked
only pleasant and soothing effects from the use of tobacco.
"The planter is never more indifferent to the ills of life
and in sympathy with good feeling and pleasure, than when he
sits down after dinner in his vine-thatched portico and
lights his pipe, passing to his guests pipes, cigars, and
tobacco in various forms, leaving them to choose their
favorite mode of using it. Sambo is never more contented
than when he burns the weed in a cob pipe, and draws the
delicious smoke through an elder sprig or mullen stem. But
the maid is happiest of all when with her lover she sits
face to face, and they 'dip' together from the same magic
plant--tobacco.
"In every walk of life throughout the sunny South tobacco in
some form may be found, and its effects are always the same,
whether drawn from the pocket of the beggar or taken with
gloved fingers from the golden tobacco-box of the planter.
For snuff the ladies have very nice round boxes with lids
which, they always carry with them full of black snuff
highly but pleasantly flavored. They also carry little
brushes or sticks about three inches long with pliable ends;
these they wet in the mouth, then dip into the snuff-box,
and then place it in the mouth outside of the gums and rub
earnestly for two or three minutes. 'Will you dip with me?'
is the usual way of putting the invitation, when the box is
drawn from the pocket and rapped slightly on the cover,
sometimes by all present, who thus signify their readiness
to 'dip,' then it is repassed open to all, and the 'dipping
and rubbing' begins in earnest.
[Illustration: Snuff-dipping.]
"The only advantage I ever discovered in this unnatural way
of snuffing is in avoiding all unpleasant sneezing which
snuffing is sure to produce, although it is claimed that it
whitens and preserves the teeth and sweetens the mouth, and
produces a beneficial effect on the lungs, all of which is
true or not, just as you choose to believe. 'Will you dip
and rub with me?' said one of the prettiest belles of
Winchester, and in another city in another state the
daughter of an ex-governor, handing me a silver-tipped brush
and opening a rose-wood snuff-box richly inlaid with gold,
politely asked me to 'dip' with her, expressing the belief
that friendship would always follow. I have frequently been
asked by ladies when travelling through the country and
stopping at farm-houses, if I used tobacco--as a hint to
offer them some, and it was a pleasure to comply, and
receive the thankful smile of an appreciative heart."
[Illustration: Snuffers.]
In other parts of the country the habit of snuff-taking is confined
principally to old ladies, who use any kind, either black or yellow,
and who prefer themselves the cheaper kinds. But few varieties are
used, and there seems to be but little taste manifested in the
selection of the "dust." Foreign varieties are used only to a limited
extent, being chiefly confined to those of transatlantic birth and
tastes. The custom of chewing and smoking seems to be more popular
with the male sex than snuff-taking, and one rarely finds a man
addicted to the latter habit, unless it be one somewhat advanced in
years.
Stewart in his admirable paper on snuff gives much useful information
in regard to the universal custom of using it as well as its origin
and distinguished uses of the great sternutatory.
"The luckless fate of inventors and originators has become
proverbial, but the ingenious individual whose nostrils
rejoiced in the first pinch of snuff stood in no need of the
niggardly praise of contemporaries or the lavish gratitude
of posterity. That first 'pinch' was its own priceless
reward, far above present appreciation or future fame. What
matters it, that his great name has not been reverently
handed down to us: that posterity seeks in vain his honored
tomb, on which to hang her grateful votive wreath; that
zealous antiquaries have raised up innumerable pretenders to
his unclaimed honors, and striven to rob him of his fame?
Enough for that lucky inventor, wherever he may rest, that
he enjoyed in his lifetime the reward for which ordinary
benefactors of their kind are fain to look to the future.
"It is perfectly vain to attempt now to penetrate into the
mystery which envelopes the name and nation of the first
snuff-taker: long before rough, noble-hearted Drake cured
his dyspepsia by the use of tobacco, or Raleigh transplanted
some roots of that precious weed into English soil, there
were European noses which had rejoiced at its pulverized
leaves. Conjecture, lost in the mazy distance, gladly lays
hold of something substantial in the shape of snuff's first
royal patron. This was Catherine de Medicis, who, receiving
some seeds of the tobacco plant from a Dutch colony,
cherished them, and elevated the dried and pounded leaves
into a royal medicine, with the proud title of 'Herbe à la
Reine.' For in the beginning men took snuff, not as an
everyday luxury, but as a medicament. Like tea--which a
hundred years later was advertised as a cure for every
ill--the new sneezing powder was hailed a universal
specific; and so pleasant in its operation, that mankind,
acting upon the wholesome aphorism that prevention is much
better than cure, and eagerly anticipated the disease it was
supposed to remedy."
"The use of 'the pungent grains of titillating dust'
received a somewhat heavy and discouraging blow from an
unexpected quarter. That ubiquitous power which hurled
anathemas alike at the heresies of Luther and the length of
clerical wigs, discountenanced its use, and at length fairly
lost its temper in the contest with snuff. Whether from a
prescience of the beneficial influence it was destined to
exert upon mankind, or from a suspicion of its power of
sharpening intellects, it is difficult to say; but Popes
Urban VIII., and Innocent waged quite a miniature crusade
against snuff, anathematizing those who should use it in
any church, and positively threatening with excommunication
all impious persons who should provoke a profane sneeze
within the sacred precincts of St. Peter's pile; Louis XIV.,
that good son of the Church, filially complied with the
paternal injunction, but his courtiers were less yielding;
and the ante-chamber of Versailles frequently resounded with
the effects of the pleasant stimulant.
"All persecution has a distinct tendency to establish the
object of its hate, and so it was with the subject of our
article--it only required to be loved; and I do not doubt
that, had circumstances required them, snuff would have
found its martyrs. Its use was not general in England until
Charles II. introduced it, upon his return from exile, with
other important fashions. It had been known and used before,
as had the periwig, but it was not until his reign that it
became common. When the Stuarts relieved the country of
their presence for the second and last time, it had become
firmly established; and, by the days of good Queen Anne, was
such a necessary of life, that there were in the metropolis
alone no less than seven thousand shops where the
snuff-boxes of the Londoners could be replenished.
"At that time, indeed, gallants were as proud of their
jewelled boxes of amber, porcelain, ebony and agate as they
were of their flowing wigs and clouded canes, the handles of
which were not unfrequently constructed to hold the
cherished dust. We are told by courtly Dick Steel, that a
handsome snuff-box was as much an essential of 'the fine
gentleman' as his gilt chariot, diamond ring, and brocade
sword-knot. We know them to have been manufactured of the
costliest material, heavy with gold and brilliant with
jewels, as they needed to be when their masters carried wigs
'high on the shoulder in a basket borne,' worth forty or
fifty guineas, and wore enough Flanders lace upon their
persons to have stocked a milliner's stall in New England.
"Unfortunately, but very naturally, this extravagance
rendered snuff a butt for the wits (who all took it, by the
way), to shoot at. Steele, whose weakness for dress and show
were proverbial, levelled many of his blunt shafts at its
use; and Pope, who himself tells us 'of his wig all powder
and all snuff his band,' let fly one of his keener arrows at
the beaux, whose wit lay in their snuff-boxes and tweezer
cases. As the men laid by, in the Georgian era, much of the
magnificence of their attire, so their snuff-boxes became
plainer and decidedly uglier. Rushing into an opposite
extreme, the most outrageous receptacles for the precious
dust were devised. Boxes in the shape of bibles, boots,
shoes, toads, and coffins outraged public taste. The
strangest materials were used in their construction; the
public taste leaning towards relics possessing historical
interest. Thus the mulberry tree planted by Shakespeare, the
hull of the Royal George, in which 'brave Kempenfelt went
down, with twice four hundred men,' and the deck of the
Victory, on which Nelson died 'for England, home, and
beauty,' have alone been supposed to supply material for
snuff-boxes to an extent which, if known, must considerably
weaken the faith of their possessors in their genuineness.
[Illustration: Fancy snuff-boxes.]
"Nor has snuff itself been less liable to the rule of
fashion than the boxes that held it. We will give a few
familiar instances. In the naval engagement of Viga, in
1703, when a large Spanish fleet was taken or destroyed, a
great quantity of musty snuff was made prize of, and
patriotism ran high enough to cause the 'town' for some
length of time to resist all that was not manufactured to
imitate the flavor from which it took its well-known name of
'musty.' Nearer to our own time, a large tobacco warehouse
having been destroyed by fire, in Dublin, a poor man
purchased some of the scorched or damaged stock, and
manufacturing it into coarse snuff, sold it to the poorer
class of snuff-takers. Forthwith capricious fashion adopted
it, endowing it with fabulous qualities, and Lundy Foot's
Irish Black-guard (so it was termed) filled the most
fashionable boxes.
"Again, during the Peninsular campaigns, in which the light
division of the British army bore so memorable a part, the
mixture used by and called after its gallant leader, General
Sir. Amos Norcott, had a more extensive sale than any other.
When Napoleon was at Elba, and folks began to tire of
legitimacy, as they soon did, it became fashionable to use
snuff scented with the spirit of violet, and significantly
to allude to the perfume. Garrick, when he was manager of
Drury Lane Theatre, brought a mixture into fashion by using
or alluding to it in one of his most famous parts. The
tobacconist whom he thus favored was his under-treasurer,
Hardham, whom no writer about snuff should omit to notice.
He was a great favorite with Garrick, whom in his turn he
almost revered. One of Hardham's most important duties was
to number the house from a hole in the curtain above the
stage; and it is amusing to fancy the little tobacconist,
snuff-box in hand, calmly watching the pit fill, or from his
elevated position admiring the histrionic talents of his
gifted patron. His shop in Fleet street is also memorable.
It was the general resort of theatrical men and tyros, who
sought to reach the manager through his subordinates, and
his little back parlor witnessed the _début_ of many who
afterwards gained applause from larger, though not more
exacting audiences.
"Her Majesty Queen Charlotte has bequeathed her name to a
once favorite mixture, and George the Fourth has some slight
chance of being remembered by the famous 'Prince's Mixture,'
which was so popular when it was the fashion to admire and
imitate that gifted individual. It would be a grateful but
almost an impossible task to enumerate the kings, soldiers,
lawyers, poets and actors who had sought from and found in
the snuff-box comfort and inspiration. Prominent among the
rulers of the earth who have acknowledged the pleasing
influence of snuff is Frederick the Great. His snuff-box was
the pocket of the long waistcoats of that period, in which
he kept large quantities loose--a dirty habit, which
Napoleon, who was a great plagiarist, adopted. It would be
easy to draw out a famous list of literary names attached to
snuff, beginning with Dryden, who was particular enough to
manufacture his own mixture, and selfish enough to preserve
the secret of its excellence, with a view, probably, of
enhancing the value of the pinch from his box, for which the
beaux and wits at Will's intrigued.
"In the pulpit, at the bar, and on the stage, snuff has been
equally valuable in adding to the persuasive eloquence and
talent of its patrons. By the female portion of human-kind
it was at one time pretty generally taken, nor was it
uncommon for young and even pretty women to offer and accept
a pinch in public. After the gentle sex had to a great
extent given up the habit, some strong minded females were
to be found who retained it. Mrs. Siddons, when she came off
the stage after dying hard, as Desdemona, or harrowing the
hearts of her audience by her representation of Jane Shore,
could composedly ask those around for a pinch of the
precious restorative. When we consider the beneficial
influence which snuff has exerted over mankind generally, we
cannot help regretting that its virtues were not sooner
known.
"For we put forth the proposition seriously, that its effect
upon the world has been to render it more humane and
even-tempered, and that had the western hemisphere
discovered the tobacco plant earlier, historians would have
had more pleasant events to chronicle. For instance, it is
not impossible--nay, most probable--that the fate of Rome,
discussed by the Triumvirate over their snuff-boxes, would
have been different. Is it likely that, under the humanizing
influence of mutual pinches, Antony would have asked for, or
Augustus resigned, the head of Cicero to his bloodthirsty
colleague; or that the other details of the conscription
which deluged the streets of Rome with the blood of her best
citizens, would have been agreed to? Again, can any one
imagine Charles the Ninth and his evil counsellors plotting
the massacre of St. Bartholomew over pinches of the soothing
dust? Is it probable that the High Court of Justiciary would
have entitled its royal martyr to a special service in the
Book of Common Prayer, if its deliberation had been inspired
by the kindly snuff which since that time has so often
softened the rigor of the law? My hypothesis may seem an
absurd one, but history supports it.
"When Charles the Second introduced snuff into general use,
men's hands had scarcely adapted themselves to more
peaceable occupations than cutting their neighbors' throats,
and the ashes of a long and bitter civil war needed little
fanning to break into a blaze again; and yet, for forty
years of misgovernment the nation kept its temper. How can
this forbearance be accounted for? Was it that circumstances
no longer called for as stern and as effectual remedies as
before? No. Was the second Charles one whit more desirable
than the first of that ilk? Was Clarendon more liked than
Stafford? Was Russell's head of less consequence than
Prynne's ears? No. Again, wrongs as grievous as those which
Hampden had died in resisting were to be avenged, but in a
milder, better fashion; for mankind had in the meantime
learned to take snuff. Much of the haste and irritation
which had previously led to blows discharged itself in a
good-natured sneeze. Snuff made men forbearing, even jocular
over their wrongs. Who can doubt that the revolution which
ended in placing William of Orange on his father-in-law's
throne owed its bloodless character not a little to the
influence of snuff. We read of difficulties in its course,
which, fifty years previously, would inevitably have led to
bloodshed, being easily, almost humorously surmounted. The
plagued nation effected a revolution over its snuff-boxes in
the happiest conceivable manner.
"Having ventured so far I am inclined to put forward a yet
higher claim which snuff has upon our gratitude, and to hint
that the great deeds of great men who were snuff-takers may
be traced by a chain of reasoning--slight, yet
conclusive--to this dearly prized luxury. The hackneyed
saying that time is money, or money's worth, has more truth
in it than most of the fallacies which are supposed to
regulate our conduct. The most important events of our lives
often hinge on moments. A moment to stifle passion, to
summon reflection, to plunge into the past and bring up a
buried memory, to consider results, is often of the utmost
consequence, and this valued moment the pinch of snuff
insures, when, without it, delay would be simply
embarrassment. The pinch of snuff, taken at the right
instant, secures an important reprieve, during which the
unpleasant question may be evaded, the hasty reply
reconsidered, or an angry _repartee_ thought better of,
while the same time gained serves to improve the
diplomatist's _equivoque_, to point the orator's satire, and
polish the wit's _mot_. In a word, its use on important
occasions affords, to every one who needs them, better means
of acting upon Talleyrand's mischievous yet clever
aphorism--that language is useful rather to conceal than to
express our thoughts. Moreover, the action necessary in
conveying the tempting graces to their destination has not
unfrequently been found useful. It employs the hasty hand
that may itch to take illegal vengeance for fancied insults;
it serves to hide the angry twitching mouth and passionately
expanding nostrils, to give a natural expression to changes
of the countenance which would otherwise indicate emotion,
and to parry attention till reason has been summoned to
supplant passion.
"It is denied (in a rather irritating way sometimes) that
the subject of our article has any beneficial influence upon
the intellects of its patrons. We are not about to claim for
it any such exalted qualities, but we may be allowed to
mention a fact or so which entitles it to some respect
medicinally. As we have before stated, in its early days it
was considered to possess powerful healing qualities, and
even now is found of use in cases of headache and weak
sight. It was also supposed valuable in cases of heaviness
and obtuseness of intellect. Is it, therefore unreasonable
to presume that it may have had some share in gaining for
our brethren beyond the Tweed that shrewdness of national
character which has become proverbial?
[Illustration: Curing a headache.]
"The specimens which came in the reign of James I.,
southward, did not command much respect or admiration from
our countrymen; indeed they were the bulls at which every
satirist hurled his shafts, and blunt must have been that
one which did not pierce some potent folly of language or
manner. The town rang with anecdotes of their rags, beggary,
and quarrels; ballad-singers made merry at their expense,
and the stage resounded with uncomplimentary allusions.
Indeed, in one of the most popular plays of that period, the
king himself was not spared, and the actors (Ben Jonson
among them) had very nearly lost their ears for their
boldness. Nor was it at least for a hundred and fifty years
after this period that the Scotch became noted for that
enterprise and talent which now distinguish them.
"We do not deny that the union may have developed their
traits, but it is clear that within that time snuff had
become a national stimulant. To the observer of men and
manners there is something very characteristic in the
various fashions in which the pinch of snuff is taken. 'The
exercise of the snuff-box,' as it was once termed, was an
acknowledged science, but few were the great proficients who
could mutely express their feelings by its aid. We have not
space to run through all its exercise, but we may mention
the 'pinch military,' which Frederick, and after him,
Napoleon practiced inhaling snuff copiously, and with much
waste, as though it were human life they were throwing away;
the 'pinch malicious,' of which Pope was perfect master; the
'pinch dictatorial,' which burly Jonson established; the
'pinch sublimely contemptuous,' such as Reynolds took when
some travelling virtuoso hinted at excellence away from
Leicester-square, and ruffled his complacent vanity; and,
above all, the 'pinch polite,' which Talleyrand understood
so well.
"From snuff to sneezing is but a step, which we purpose
taking before we bring this cursory article to a close. The
act of sneezing appears to have been variously regarded at
various stages of the world's history, but from the earliest
times of which we have any authentic record, it has been the
customs of those around to give vent to a short benediction
immediately upon its commission. The Robbins considering
themselves bound to find a reason for this universal custom,
and being hard pressed, gave the somewhat incomprehensible
explanation that, previous to Jacob, man sneezed but once in
his lifetime, and then immediately before death; so that
those around, warned of his imminent journey, hastened to
wish it a good termination. How it was that Jacob instituted
a new order of things we are not told, but as a proof of the
truth of their assertion they give the fact that in all
nations of the earth a similar custom will be found
existing.
"Strangely enough this assertion was corroborated by the
first colonists of America, who found the habit to be in
common use amongst the aboriginal tribes. The Greeks and
Romans certainly had a similar habit, but far from attaching
any ill-omen to the sneeze they regarded it as of good
augury. Thus Catullus assures us that when Cupid upon a
memorable occasion sneezed, all:
'The little loves that waited by
Bowed and blessed the augury.
And in the 'Life of Themistocles,' Plutarch informs his
readers that sneezing by the General on the eve of a battle
was regarded as a certain sign of conquest. Strangely enough
we find that in comparatively modern times, the custom of
giving expression to good wishes when a friend sneezed was
attributed to the fearful plague which periodically swept
over Europe. Sneezing was one of its first and most
dangerous symptoms, and those who were by, as they gathered
their robes about them and fled from their doomed
fellow-creature, would ejaculate a quick 'God bless you,'
hurriedly invoking from a more merciful quarter the aid they
feared to give. Violent sneezing was not only among the
first, but was one of the last fatal signs of that fearful
scourge, and was often too rapidly followed by death to give
time for more than a short benediction. Anyhow, the custom
still exists and one of the most pleasant reminiscences
attached to the first pinch of snuff is the chorus of hearty
good wishes of sympathizing friends which follows upon the
inevitable sneeze."
[Illustration: Highlanders.]
The variety of taste in snuff is accounted for by the proverb, "So
many men to so many noses." Highland gentlemen of every degree are
mostly fond of Gillespie; while operatives from the Lowlands generally
prefer plain Scotch. When two Highlanders meet, they usually exchange
a pinch of snuff, mutually _preeing_ the contents of their _mulls_,
while their _colleys_, (dogs) after a fashion of their own, take a
reciprocal _sniff_ of each other. Cuba is the favorite of the
gentlemen of the stock exchange; the tradesman's box usually contains
rappee; high dried Irish is grateful to those who love to feel the
taste of snuff in their throat. Sea-faring men seldom take snuff: a
sailor with a snuff-box is as rarely to be met with as a sailor
without a knife.
The history of the rise and progress of snuff-taking abounds in
incidents and anecdotes, among the most curious of all that relate to
the various modes of using the weed. Though once the most popular and
fashionable manner of using tobacco it now falls far behind the other
and more common and more popular forms of indulging in the herb. In
France and Spain the introduction of tobacco ushered in this form of
using it, and to inhale a few grains of the pungent dust was the
delight of polished and favored courtiers who regardless of the forms
royalty patronized and gave sanction to the custom. Thus its use in a
short time became popular all over Europe and gave unlimited scope for
the satirist and dramatist to ridicule the habit. In spite, however,
of frown and ridicule this ancient custom though not now as popular or
as fashionable, still claims many sincere votaries and doubtless will
as long as the plant is cultivated or used in any form.
CHAPTER IX.
CIGARS.
"The poet may sing of the leaf of the rose,
And call it the purest and sweetest that blows;
But of all the leaves that ever were tried,
Give me the tobacco leaf rolled up and dried."
The smoking of cigars is now considered the best as it is the most
fashionable mode of using the weed. The word cigar is from the Spanish
_cigarro_, and signifies a cylindrical roll of tobacco leaves, made of
short pieces or shreds of the leaves divested of the stem and wound
about with a binder, and enveloped in a portion of the leaf known by
the name of wrapper--acute at one end and truncated at the other. In
the East Indies a sort of cigar called _cheroot_ is also made with
both ends truncated. The smoking of tobacco in the form of cigars is
doubtless the most general as well as the most ancient mode of its
use. When Columbus landed in Hispaniola, the sailors saw the natives
smoking the leaves of a plant, "the perfume of which was fragrant and
grateful." But while cigars are of very ancient origin in the West
Indies, they were not generally known in Europe until the beginning of
the Nineteenth Century. In fact, of all the various works on
gastronomy and the pleasures of the table, written and published from
1800 to 1815, not one speaks of this now indispensable adjunct of a
good dinner. Even Britlat-Savarin, in his _Physiologie du Gout_,
entirely ignores tobacco and all its distractions and charms. Benzo
gives the following account of the manufacture of a cigar in
Hispaniola:--
"They take a leafe from the stalks of their great bastard
corn (which we commonly called Turkie--wheat) together with
one of these tobacco-leaves and fold them up together like a
coffin of paper, such as grocers make to put spices in, or
like a small organ-pipe. Then putting one end of the same
coffin to the fire, and holding the other end in their
mouths, they draw their breath to them. When the fire hath
once taken at the pipe's end, they draw forth so much smoke
that they have their mouth, nose, throat, and head full of
it; and, as if they tooke a singular delight therein they
never leave supping and drinking till they can sup no more,
and thereby loose their breath and their feeling."
Sahagun, in his "History of New Spain," speaks of the natives as using
the leaves of tobacco rolled into cigars, which they ignite and smoke
in tubes of tortoise-shell or silver. The following article from the
_New York Times_ contains much valuable information in regard to
cigars, especially Havanas:
[Illustration: Cigars.]
"It is perfectly safe to say that there is more money spent
every day in New York for cigars than for bread," (doubted.)
"From the fine gentlemen, who buy their cigars at
Delmonico's, or get them direct from the importers, down to
the little barefoot boys in the streets, who buy theirs from
the Chinamen at the corners or pick up the stumps that are
thrown away, all smoke. In some countries pipes and
cigarettes are made to do duty by the poorer classes, but in
New York cigars seem to be almost invariably preferred. Now,
while there is nothing better, in the way of something to
smoke, than a first-class Havana cigar, there is nothing
nastier than some of the cheap abominations made in that
shape in New York. To the truth of this last proposition,
anyone will readily testify who has ever been so unfortunate
as to have had to ride from Harlem to New York in a late
smoking-car, with half a dozen roughs smoking cheap cigars
on board.
"The cigars sold in this market may be divided into three
classes--the imported, those made of imported tobacco, and
those made of domestic tobacco. These may be again
classified under many different heads, as there are many
kinds and grades of each. The cheapest cigars in New York
are dispensed by dilapidated Chinamen, who have little
stands about the streets and markets. These are certainly
the vilest cigars made anywhere in the world, and are sold
from one to five cents each. Next in order come the common
domestic cigars. They are sold at five cents each, or six
for twenty-five cents, and are of the kind kept at the cheap
refreshment stalls, lager beer saloons, and low groggeries.
After these are the more pretentious home-made cigars,
manufactured of selected domestic tobacco, which are sold
all over the city, and in the making of which Havana
'fillers' are supposed to be used. A filler, be it known, in
technical parlance means that portion of the tobacco of
which the inside of the cigar is made. Price, ten to fifteen
cents. Then comes the best class of cigars in which domestic
tobacco is used, those which are made with clear Havana
fillers and Connecticut wrappers. Fifteen cents is the
price, and many are palmed off on the unwise for the real
imported article. Cigars made wholly of imported Cuban
tobacco come next on the list. Some of them are excellent,
and compare favorably with many of the imported. They bring
from fifteen to fifty cents each at the cigar stores. Last
in line, but best of all, is the genuine, imported Havana
cigar. Few and rare are they, and great is the price of the
higher grades thereof.
"There are some places in New York where an imported cigar
of a reasonable size may be bought for fifteen cents, but
they are few and far between. Twenty or twenty-five cents is
the price usually charged, and from that to a dollar. All
the cigars made in the United States are invariably put up
in imitation Havana boxes, with imitation Havana labels and
brands. It is doubtful, however, whether this transparent
device deceives anybody, for in accordance with the United
States Internal Revenue laws, all boxes of cigars
manufactured in the United States must not only bear the
manufacturer's label, giving his full name and place of
business, and the number of his manufactory, but they must
also bear the United States inspector's brand. Before the
present law was in force, and the duties on tobacco were
low, this scheme may have been profitable. But why the
practice is still adhered to by the manufacturers is hard to
imagine, for the boxes now used, being made of imported
cedar, must be very costly, and must materially increase the
price of cigars. Only those of the very poorest quality are
packed in white wooden boxes.
[Illustration: Cigar-holders.]
"Some people seem to smoke not because they like it, but
only to be in the fashion. Some days ago the writer of this
article happened to be in a cigar-store, when two
well-dressed young men came in and asked for some ten cent
cigars. The clerk handed out the box, and after a critical
inspection the purchaser asked: "Are these medium?' 'Yes,
sir,' said the clerk. 'Then I'll take a dollar's worth.'
After they had gone the writer asked the clerk what they
meant by 'medium.' He said he didn't exactly know, but
supposed they wanted to know whether the cigars were between
strong and mild. 'I told them they were,' said he, 'because
I thought they would buy if I said so, but they are all
alike.' And in this connection it is very singular that
although the Island of Cuba is so near to the United States
and so many cigars are imported into this city, so little is
known about the different sizes and brands of cigars,
excepting, of course, by those in the business. It is a
common thing here to see a man ask in a cigar store for a
_Flor del Fumar_, a _Figaro_, or an _Espanola_. By this he
means a cigar of a certain size, and does not seem to know
that these are not the names which designate the size, but
are the names of the manufactories. In Havana, were a man to
ask for a _Flor del Fumar_, the dealer would ask him what
size he wanted.
"Every box of cigars packed in Havana has, at least, six
distinctive works on it. First is the brand, which is burned
in the upper side of the lid of the box, with an iron made
for the purpose; second the label, this bears the name and
address of the manufactory; third, the mark designating the
size and shape of the cigars, this is usually put on with a
stencil; there are not so very many regular sizes, or
_vitolas_, made in Havana as might be imagined, a list of
them may prove interesting. These are: Damos, Entre Actos,
Opera, Concha, Regalia de Concha, Londres, Londres de Corte,
Regalia de Londres, Regalia Britanica, Regalia del Rey,
Regalia de la Reina, Reina Victoria, Panetelos, Trabucos,
Embajadores, Especiales, Imperiales, Brevos, Prensados,
Cilindrados, Millar Vegueros. The _Damos_ (Dames) as their
name indicates, are meant for the ladies, and are the
smallest made. The _Cozadores_ (huntsmen) are the longest,
and the _Trabucos_ (blunderbusses) the fattest. The
_Prensados_ (pressed) are flat, and _Cilindrados_
(cylindrical) are so called because, when green, they are
put in bundles of twenty-five, and tightly rolled in strong
tissue paper, which is twisted at each end of the roll. When
the cigars are dry the paper is taken off, and the bunch
retains the cylindrical shape given it. The _Brevos_ (figs)
are also tied up while green, and tightly pressed. This
makes them stick together something like figs, hence their
name. The _Vegueros_ (plantation) take their name from the
fact that they are supposed to be made like those made on
the plantations, but they are not made in the same way.
"In the _Vegos_ (plantations) the _veguero_, or planter,
makes his cigar of a single leaf of tobacco, which he
carries ready moistened for the purpose, by rolling it on
his knee. Besides the above, some fancy sizes have been
adopted of late years, but they are made by only a few of
the larger manufacturers in Havana. Fourth is the color
mark, which is also put on in stencil. Fifth, the class
mark. All the round cigars made in Havana are separated into
three classes: _Primera_, or first; _Segunda_, or second;
and _Tercera_, or third. Some manufacturers never mark any
of their cigars as of the third class, not because they do
not make them, but because they think they sell better
without the mark. They make the first class _Flor_, the
second _Primera_, and the third _Segunda_. Others mark all
their cigars as of the first class, and indicate the classes
by the color of the labels, and in this way none but the
wholesale purchaser knows the secret. Sixth, the last, is
the mark denoting the number of cigars in the box. This is
stenciled on the side in Arabic numerals.
"A theory has obtained that cigars made in Havana, by reason
of some inexplicable climatic influence, are better than
those made in New York, even should they be made of tobacco
from the same plantation. This may be so, but it is doubtful
whether this was ever fairly tested, or, indeed, whether it
was ever tested at all. The truth is that all the best
tobacco grown in the island of Cuba is bought up by the
heavy manufacturers in Havana. The crops of the best
plantations are contracted for in advance, and the
old-established firms buy from the same _vegos_ year after
year. Hence it is why their cigars are so uniform in
quality. All Cuban tobacco is not good, by any means. The
tobacco from the Vuelta de Arriba is not so good as that
from the Vuelta de Abajo, and yet there is but little
difference in their geographical position. And in the Vuelta
de Abajo, a short distance makes a difference in the quality
of the tobacco. Some _vegos_ are celebrated for their good
crops, while others, perhaps not a hundred yards away, do
not produce good crops at all. There are many poor cigars
made in Cuba, as all who have ever been there know, and all
over the island the Havana cigar is deemed the best. In
Havana, and, indeed, in all parts of the island, green or
freshly-made cigars are preferred, and the most esteemed
cigar-cases are made of carefully prepared bladders, in
which the cigars are rolled to prevent the evaporation of
the moisture.
"When a Cuban gentleman gives a cigar to a friend, he does
not, as we do, open his case, and offer it to him to choose
from but he examines its contents carefully and critically,
selects the one he thinks the best and offers it. And there
is a great deal more in the choice of a cigar, by selecting
it on account of its outside appearance, than one not
accustomed to it would suppose. A wrapper which has that
which the Cubans call _calidad_ makes the cigar much
stronger than one which does not possess it. That is to say,
that the wrapper which has _calidad_ contains more essential
oil, is denoted by an abundance of small pustules on the
surface of the leaf, and by a general rich, oily appearance.
As a proof of the foregoing proposition, it is only
necessary to know how cigars are made. A lot of tobacco is
worked up into say 50,000. After they are all made, they are
turned over to be assorted, according to color and class,
and are packed and marked. The fillers are all alike, it is
the wrappers that make the difference. To assort the colors
a very, correct eye is required, and those who do this part
of the work make better wages than those who make the
cigars.
"The value of cigars does not increase in direct ratio with
their size, for owing to the difficulty in getting good
wrappers for the larger kinds, the expense of their
manufacture is much increased. Upon one occasion, in Havana,
a manufacturer received an order for a thousand cigars
intended for the Queen of Spain's husband, Don Francisco de
Asis, which he agreed to make for $1,000. They were
delivered in due time, and packed in a richly-mounted cedar
chest, were sent to the royal recipient. They were
magnificent cigars, of the cazadores size, all of the same
color, and so smoothly made as to look as if they had been
turned out of hard wood instead of rolled tobacco. They were
placed on exhibition for a few days before they were sent to
Spain, and a gentleman who saw them, wishing to make a
present to some dignitary, asked the manufacturer to make
him a like number at the same price. To his surprise, the
order was refused. The manufacturer said he could not do it
for the money. His explanation was that it was not the
actual cost of the tobacco and labor of making them, but it
was on account of the trouble and expense met with in
selecting the wrappers. He said he had to pick over
thousands of bales before he could secure a sufficient
number of the proper length, color, and fineness.
"Some two years ago there was a story of a Cuban
cigar-dealer in Broadway, who selected cigars for his more
favored customers by ear. It was said that he put the cigar
to his ear, and listened intently for a moment, and by the
cracking of the tobacco was enabled to judge of its quality.
This was a good advertising dodge, but in practice it was
all nonsense. None but that wily Cuban ever heard of such a
mode of trying a cigar. In the Island of Cuba that which we
call a cigar is called a _tabaco_ (a tobacco) and when it is
required to discriminate between the manufactured and
unmanufactured article it is called _tabaco torcido_, or
rolled tobacco. This, however, is only necessary when used
in the plural. In Mexico a cigar is called a _puro_, and in
Peru[62] and some of the other Spanish American countries it
is called a _cigarro puro_, in contradistinction to the
_cigarro de papel_, or cigarette. Cigarettes in Cuba are
called _cigarros_, and their consumption is enormous.
Strange as it may appear, there are some confirmed smokers
in Cuba who never use cigars at all, but confine themselves
to cigarettes. To the New Yorker it looks curious to see a
great, bearded man smoking a tiny cigarette; and, indeed
were he to smoke his cigarette as the New Yorker would smoke
his cigar, it would be labor lost, so far as getting any
effect of the tobacco was concerned. But the cigarette
smoker inhales the greater part of the smoke, it goes
directly into his lungs, and into contact with a large
surface of mucous membrane, and, indeed, with the blood
itself. Were the New York cigar-makers to smoke a cigarette
in the same way it would make him so giddy that he would be
compelled to give it up long before it was consumed. That
the smoke does go into the lungs is proved by the fact that
a cigarette smoker can inhale the smoke and exhale it again
after drinking a glass of water."
[Footnote 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?'"]
[Illustration: Life in Mexico.]
All tobacco grown upon the island of Cuba is not of the finest
quality; the majority of it is far inferior to the best Mexican coast
tobacco. The value of the tobacco lands of this last mentioned country
has not been fully developed. The variety of soil, exposure, climate,
and atmospheric influences are greater than can possibly be in Cuba,
and when the best is discovered, combining all the requisites, which
undoubtedly will be the case with an increased culture of the plant,
it will be found to be equal to the Vuelta Abogo of Cuba, and much
more extensive. The subject of tobacco lands, evidently, is not well
understood in Mexico, as it must be, from great experience, in Cuba.
All of these varieties of lands and circumstances exist in Mexico, and
it is safe to predict that, at some day, this country will stand
pre-eminent over all others in this industry.
We extract the following from the _Tobacco Leaf_ in regard to
cigar-making in Cuba:--
"The rule is that a cigar-maker devotes all his ingenuity
and diligence to one class of goods. For example, one
workman makes only _Londres_; another only _Regalias_;
another only _Milores Communes_; and so on. In the Cuban's
factory the operatives are allowed to smoke as many cigars
as they like when at work; and to take home with them, when
they leave work in the evening, five cigars each. The
immigration of Chinese laborers into Cuba has modified, and
must further modify, the labor market there. In the
cigarette factories at Havana, Chinese workmen are almost
exclusively employed. Though objectionable for many of their
moral habits, these workmen are nevertheless docile,
ingenious, laborious, and contented."
A writer, alluding to the manufacture of cigars, says:--
"The colors or strengths are _Amarillo Claro_, bright
yellow; _Amarillo Obscuro_, dark yellow; _Claro_, bright;
_Colorado Claro_, bright red; _Colorado_, red; _Colorado
Obscuro_, dark red; _Colorado Maduro_, red-ripe or mellow;
_Maduro_, ripe or mellow; _Maduro Obscuro_, dark ripe or
mellow; _Pajizo Claro_, bright straw-colored; _Pajizo_,
straw-colored; _Pajizo Obscuro_, dark straw-colored;
_Fuerte_, strong or heavy; _Entre Fuerte_, rather strong or
heavy; _Flajo_, light. Then there are the indications of the
qualities:--Superfine; _Firo_, not quite so fine; _Flor_,
finest or firsts; _Superior_, next, or seconds; _Buenos_,
next, or thirds. The cigar has a notable history. First has
to be determined the part of the plant from which it is
taken; then the part of the leaf from which it is taken, the
tobacco being best which is furthest away from the root or
middle of the leaf. One elaborate process follows another
for the perfection of a work of art--for as such we must
regard a cigar."
Hazard, in his admirable work on Cuba, devotes considerable space to
cigars, their manufacture, varieties, and use, in which he speaks of
the various brands as follows:--
"The brands known as '_Yara Mayau_,' and the '_Guisa_,' are
perhaps the most celebrated made upon the Island. Of the
'_Yara_,' which has some considerable reputation,
particularly in the London market, I confess I cannot speak
favorably. Cigars that I smoked made from this leaf, and
which are much smoked in the vicinity of Santiago de Cuba, I
found had a peculiar saline taste which was very unpleasant,
as also a slight degree of bitterness; many smokers,
however, become very fond of this flavor. When I state that
in Havana alone there are over one hundred and twenty-five
manufacturers of cigars, it will readily be understood there
must be a great many inferior cigars made even in Cuba.
Havana may be called the 'City of cigars,' from its
reputation and the immense number of factories there are in
it for the manufacture of cigars, from the smallest shop
opening on the street, employing three or four hands to the
immense _fabricos_ erected expressly for this purpose, and
employing five or six hundred.
[Illustration: Cuban cigar shop.]
"Let not any one imagine, then, that because he is in Havana
he will get no poor cigars, for a greater mistake can not be
made, for just as vile trash can there be purchased as any
where; and it appeared to me that in buying, from time to
time in different _fabricos_, a few cigars it was rarely I
found a really good one. It behooves, then, every lover of a
good cigar to make himself familiar with the best makers and
brands, and to purchase those, and those only, that suit
his taste. To the traveler in Havana, this is easy enough,
as he can there buy sample boxes from any of the factories
and of any of the brands. There are, in addition to these
hundreds of other cigar factories, some of which, such as
_Cabargos_, _Figaros_, _Luetanos_, _Victorias_, etc., are
first-class, three or four at least in whose cigars every
smoker may have perfect confidence, the brands of which are
known all over the world. These are: _Cabaños_, _Uppmann_
and _Partagas_; for whose brands, perhaps, one pays
something more, but has always the satisfaction of finding
them good. To the kindness of the gentlemen connected with
some of these factories I am indebted for most of the
information in this article, and particularly to Señor Don
Avulmo G. del Valle, the present proprietor of the Cabaños
Factory, who was good enough to show me through his
establishment, carefully explaining to me its peculiarities.
As the process of manufacture and description of grades and
qualities are the same with all the best makers, I give here
a detailed history of this factory and its products.
"The factory for Cabaños cigars has been established
seventy-two years the founder of it being Don Francisco
Cabaños, his son, Don de P. Cabaños, succeeding him, to whom
has succeeded his son-in-law, Señor del Valle, the present
proprietor and director of the factory. When it was founded,
the cigars were sold to the public in bundles of twenty,
only amounting to a total number per year, of four or five
hundred thousand cigars, the sales of which kept constantly
increasing until 1826, when there were sold two millions. At
this period the demand for exportation commenced, increasing
each year until 1848, when the number sold amounted to three
and a half millions. At this time, the present director came
in charge, and increased the sale to eight millions per
year, until, in 1866, the total sales by this one house
only, amounted to the enormous number of sixteen million
cigars, which went to different parts of the world. The
tobacco manipulated in this factory is, with some few
exceptions, that grown upon plantations in the Vuelta Abojo,
with the proprietors of which Señor del Valle has a special
contract for their product. The most noted of these places
are known as '_La Lena_,' '_San Juan aj Martin_,' '_Los
Pilotos_,' '_Rio Hondo_.' The firm also own three _vegas_,
as do also Partagas, Uppmann, and others, in a greater or
less degree. The amount raised upon these _vegas_ in
connection with the Cabaños Factory, amounts to five
thousand bales, of from first to eighth quality, leaving
the most inferior qualities, which amount to about one
thousand bales, for exportation, the factory not using such
common grades. It is a custom of the manufacturers to keep a
supply of the best qualities always on hand from year to
year, in order that, should the tobacco crop, in any one
year, be bad, the reputation of the house can be maintained
by using the good tobacco in the store. The factory is a
large stone building, opposite the Canipo de Moste, in which
all the operations connected with cigar making are carried
on (excepting the manufacture of boxes) by over five hundred
operatives, all males. The following is the process of
manufacture:
"Arrived at the factory, the tobacco bales, carefully packed
and wrapped in palm leaves, are kept in a cool, dark, place
on the first floor, being divided off into classes according
to quality and value, which latter varies from twenty to
four hundred dollars per bale of two hundred pounds. When
wanted, the bales are opened, the _manojas_ and _gabillos_
are separated, and the latter carried in their dry state to
the moistening room. Here are a number of men whose business
it is to place the leaves, for the purpose of moistening and
softening them, into large barrels in which is a solution of
saltpetre in water; this done, the water is poured off, and
other workmen spread out the leaves with their hands upon
the edges of the barrels, ridding them as much as possible,
of any surplus water; after which, the leaves, from being
moistened, unfold very easily, and, with care, without
tearing. The stem is then taken out, the process being known
as _disbalillar_. These stems, with the refuse of other
tobacco, are sometime used as filling for the commonest kind
of cigars. The filling is known as _tripa_, the very best
being selected, like the leaf, for the best cigars. Now
comes the maker, and supplying himself with a handful of
leaf (_copa_) for wrappers, and a lot of the _tripa_ for
filling or really making the body of the cigar itself he
carries it to a little table, and spreading the wrapper upon
the table, cuts with a short knife the different portions of
the leaf. This is a very nice operation, requiring skill,
knowledge, and experience; for it is in this operation that
the different qualities of tobacco are separated, the
outside of the leaf being generally the best; next that,
another quality; and that portion adjoining the stem the
worst.
[Illustration: Tobacco leaf.]
"The general sorting of the tobacco is done by hands of
great experience and judgment, who are the highest in
consideration in the factories, some of them receiving
large pay; thus for instance, the official _escojedor_, or
chooser, gets from five to seven dollars (gold) per day, and
the _torcedores_, or twisters, from two to four, the workmen
being paid so much per thousand cigars, generally from two
to four dollars. To show how very careful the maker must be
in cutting out the leaf to make the most of it: Mr. del
Valle was explaining to me the process of manufacture, and
directed the maker to cut the leaf. This the man did drawing
his knife in the manner denoted by the dotted lines in the
engraving. This it appears was not making the most of the
fine part of the leaf, for Mr. del Valle, annoyed, took the
knife himself, and after rating the maker soundly for his
carelessness, showed him how to cut it properly, as defined
by the black line, the difference being, as far as I could
judge, a slight inequality of color between the two parts.
The manufacture of the cigar is very simple. The cigar
maker, being seated before a low work table, which has
raised ledges on every side except that nearest him, takes a
leaf of tobacco, spreads it out smoothly before him, and
cuts it as in the drawing. He then lays a few fragments of
tobacco (_tripa_) in the centre or a leaf strip and rolls
the whole into the shape of a cigar, and taking then a
wrapper, rolls it spirally around the cigar. If the workman
is skillful, he makes it of just the right length and size,
without any trimming of the knife. The cigars are assorted,
counted, and done up in bundles of generally twenty-five
each, and then packed in the boxes, ready for market, under
their different names of _Londres_, _Regalias_, etc. These
names are generally understood to have the same meaning
throughout the trade, the '_Vegueros_,' for instance, being
the plantation cigars, made at the _regas_, and much
esteemed by smokers, though they are rarely to be met with
for sale, or, if so, at an exhorbitant price. The '_Regalia
Imperial_,' the finest and best, is nearly seven inches
long, the price varying from one hundred and fifty to three
hundred dollars per thousand (gold). The '_Regalia_' is not
so large but fine, the '_Trabuco_,' short and thick; the
'_Londres_,' the most convenient in shape, and most smoked
in this country and England; the '_Dama_' the small sized
one used by ladies(?) or by men between acts of the opera
(_entr' operas_). There are also other names which each
factory has for some particular kinds. Artificial flavors
are given to cigars, when some particular taste is to be
satisfied, by the use of flavoring extracts. Each of the
above names has different qualities, as:
_Londres_ '_superfine_' the very best of that size (delicious).
" '_fino_,' not quite so fine.
" '_flor_,' finest, or firsts.
" '_superior_,' next, or seconds.
" '_buenos_,' next, or thirds.
Again, these different qualities have different colors,
known as: '_maduro_,' strongest; '_oscuro_,' strong (dark);
'_colorado_,' medium; '_claro_,' mild; '_Brevors_,' means
pressed. Thus, supposing one wanted a good cigar to suit his
taste, he would perhaps order: 'Partagas' (maker), 'londres'
(size), 'flor' (quality), 'Colorado' or 'oscuro' (strength),
and he would get a good cigar, nice size, best quality, not
too strong, or too mild.
"I must confess to a weakness for the Uppmann cigars, which
I have found, without exception, to be good, and which have
a fine reputation throughout the West Indies. A millionaire
need not want a better cigar to smoke than their '_Londres
superfine_,' at sixty dollars (gold) per thousand, in
Havana, or their '_Cazadores_,' at fifty dollars. Partagas
cigars of course, every one knows are good; and he keeps
generally pretty well sold up, but fills orders as they come
in. For a new experience, one of his '_Regalio Reyno flor_,'
is something to try, even if they do cost out there
eighty-five dollars, gold.
"In all the factories they make about the following rates:
For every order of ten thousand, costing fifty dollars per
thousand, five per cent. discount is allowed. Less than five
thousand will pay five dollars extra. I should, perhaps,
mention that no distinction is made to dealers, the only
advantage they have over the private buyer is, that they are
enabled to get the discount for large lots. The absurd
notion so prevalent with us, that the Cubans only smoke
their cigars green, is an error, since the leaf is entirely
dried in the sun before being touched by the manufacturer.
The Cubans are very particular indeed to preserve the aroma
and fragrance of the cigars, by keeping them in wrappers of
oiled and soft silks; it is, in fact, quite a sight to see
with what ceremony some of these are produced at gentlemen's
tables, with much unction, like the ushering in of old wine.
My chapter on cigars would be incomplete did I fail to note
the beautiful and courteous way in which all Cubans no
matter of what position, whether the exquisite at the club,
or the _portero_ at the door, ask you for a light. 'Do me
the favor Señor?' and you present your cigar, the lighted
end towards the speaker. He takes the cigar delicately
between his thumb and fore-finger, lights his own, and then,
with a quick, graceful motion, turns yours in his fingers,
presenting you, with another wave, the mouth end, makes you
a hand salute, utters his _gracios_, and leaves you studying
out the 'motions' and thinking what a charming thing is
national politeness."
In the selection of leaves for the manufacture of cigars in the
factories only the large fine ones are used for _Regalias_,
_Imperiales_, or _Medios Regalias_; and also for _Cazadores_,
_Panetelos_, _Imperiales_, _Caballeros_, and so on; the smaller fine
leaves for _Panetelos_ and _Londres_; the dark inferior leaves for
_Canones_. The commonest tobacco goes to form the _Milores Communes_;
the worst is converted into cigars which are generally pressed flat,
and known as _Prinsados_. For the smallest kind of _Londres_ and for
_Damos_, a proportionally small leaf is employed.
In Cuba and Luzon, one of the Philippine Islands, is found one of the
largest factories for cigars in the world. In Manilla there are three
factories where 7,000 families and 1,200 males are employed: one in
Cavite, in which 5,000 operatives, mostly females, are engaged; and
one in Malabar, which gives employment to about 2,000 more, also
females. The tobacco is worked into both cigars and cheroots both of
which have a variety of shapes. In both Manilla and Havana the custom
of smoking is universal and one rarely meets with any of the male sex
without a cigar between his lips.
A writer speaking of the universality of the custom says:
"In Havana, the custom of smoking is a universal one. There,
young and old indulge freely in the use of the weed,
dividing their attention pretty equally between the cigar
and the cigarette. Even the ladies of the better class in
many instances indulge; though not to so great an extent as
is commonly reported."
"Smoking in Cuba" says an American writer, "is like the
habit of making shoes in Lynn, Massachusetts, everybody
smokes!--in the house, and by the way; in the cars, and on
horseback; everywhere, and at all times. You meet whole
regiments of youngsters, from six to eight years of age,
with black beaver hats, tail-coats, and canes, each with a
cigar, nearly his own size, in his mouth. You feel like
putting the miniature dandies into the water of the next
fountain basin, which shallow as it is, would fully, suffice
to drown the largest of them."
[Illustration: Wenches smoking.]
You have a right to accost any one smoking in the street, however much
may be his superiority or inferiority to yourself, and to ask a light
for your cigar; even negroes hatless and shirtless, thus address
well-dickied gentlemen, and _vice versa_. Refuse to take a cigar with
a Cuban, and you refuse his friendship. The negroes cannot work at all
without their quota of cigars; "and looking out of the windows of a
room in that magnificent hotel '_El Telegrafo_,' the writer remembers
to have caught a glimpse more than once of the negro women at work in
the laundry, every one of whom held a long cigar in her mouth, and
puffed incessantly as the clothes were manipulated upon the
washboards." In Havana, as throughout Cuba, there is a cigar
etiquette, to infringe any of the rules of which is construed as an
insult. It is, for instance considered a breach of etiquette when you
are asked for a light to hand your cigar without first knocking off
the ashes. A greater breach, however, is to pass the cigar handed for
you to obtain a light from, to a third party for a similar purpose;
the rule is to hand back the cigar with as graceful a wave as you can
command, and then if necessary, pass your own cigar to the third
party.
[Illustration: A moonlight reverie in Havana.]
The insult direct in cigar etiquette is for the party to whom you
apply for a light, to pass on and leave you with the remains of his
cigar, or to intimate to you, by word or action, that he has no
further use for it, and that you can throw it away. In Cuba, where
cigars are plentiful, the usual custom is, when you ask for a light,
even if the party be a stranger, to pull out your case and offer him a
cigar, by way of recognizing the civility in stopping to accommodate
you. The Spaniards are naturally a polite people, and the stranger
stepping into the Louvre and other public places of resort in Havana,
is struck at once with the marked contrast in this respect to familiar
gatherings elsewhere. In no place is a cigar more enjoyable than in
Havana. Seated upon the roof of one of the large hotels in that city
in a bright moonlight night, within hearing of the dreamy roll on the
beach: the regular throb of the sea, lulling one into quietness; the
sigh of the summer breeze a lullaby to the senses; while a
high-flavored prime cigar, as it wastes and floats away in air, is
the fairy wand which opens the enchanted gates of Reverie and
Imagination.
What need of a friend under such soothing circumstances? What need of
the jolly _camarade_ of former days to sigh back sigh for sigh, puff
for puff, and wander in gentle reminiscences over the Lesbian
labyrinth of the past, when Julia was most kind, or Cynthia, darling
girl, delighted in the perfume of a capital havana? Here, in this
quaint old city by the sea, is the place for dreams and reveries and
the utter rendering of one's self up--to a good cigar. Is it not a
place for reverie? Has not one with this most respectable weed, this
prime _havana_, the concomitants of a thousand reveries? Will not one
puff of that narcotic breath drowse deep all watching dragons, and
make for him the sleeping beauties of his will? And, _presto_, there
they are! and, oh! ye houris of the South, with what a smile and
glance between the azure puffs! Well let me not forget myself. With a
sterner morality he sees how the bending Bedouin fashions his pipe in
the moistened ground; he sees the slender Indian reed with the flat
bowls of Lahore and Oude, the pipe of the Anglo-eyed celestial, the
red clay of Bengal, and the glittering gilded cups in which the
dark-skinned races of Siam, the Malacca Isles, and the Philippines,
love to enshrine their dreamy opium-haunted spirits of the weed. He
sees how in the squatter's hut the old squaw sits by her hunter lord,
and puffs at the corn-cob sweetness, and how by lonely ways the
traveler rests and thinks of home, and in the blue smoke greets once
more the faces of the loved, perhaps forever gone. He sees how the
Esquimaux, with his hollow Walrus-tooth, makes bearable the stifling
squalor of his den; or, sterner and graver still, some item of
historic lore mingles rudely with his dreams, and elbows sharply the
airy spirits of his smoke-engendered thoughts. Softly tremble in the
delicate blue mist and the azure spirals from his old Virginia
clay--the domes of a sea-bathed city. Loftily pierce the tall white
minarets into the quivering heavens, while the solemn cypress throws
its shade below. Before him, silent-paced as in a dream, files the
weird array of Arab camels, bowing their long necks tufted with
crimson braids, and measuring the brown sands of the desert with
ghost-like tread. 'Tis the moon of Egypt and the waters of the Nile;
'tis the palm-bough waves for him; and women, free-limbed, with
flashing eyes, and antique water-vases on their heads, move past him
from the low-rimmed shadowy wells. And he sees them there and smiles.
[Illustration: By the sea.]
He sees on beach by the sea the summer idler sitting beneath the
jutting rock, gazing far out upon the sea, yet ignoring the white
sails that pass up and down before him, as well as the open volume
upon his knee, while his thoughts float outward and upward with the
graceful wreaths of smoke that encircle his head; and if of a
practical turn, he listlessly wonders why, if his own delightful land
furnishes some twentieth of the whole Tobacco produce of the world,
and does honor to her native weed by being its mightiest consumer,
why, in the name of all disasters, the product is so dear--ay, doubly
dear? And thus as his pipe burns low, a hundred other statistics;
then, knocking out his whitened ashes on the floor, he reads sedately
(his pipe being out) that the "Tobacco plant furnishes ashes to the
amount of one-fourth of its bulk, being a much greater proportion than
that of any other vegetable product," and, moreover, that "Tobacco
exhausts the soil at the ratio of fourteen tons of wheat to one of
Tobacco!" Oh, base insinuation! But, as he relights his pipe, and the
graceful vapor circles in fresh buoyancy and grace before him, he
only, in his contented mind, retains that one supreme expression--"_One
ton of Tobacco!_" Ah,
"Think of it, picture it
Now, if you can!"
From "A Paper of Tobacco,"[63] we extract the following humorous
description of Yankee cigar smokers, which to a certain extent is true
to life, but like most of the articles descriptive of American life by
English Authors, who travel in America and write _a book_ afterwards,
it is exaggerated or overdrawn:
[Footnote 63: London, 1839.]
[Illustration: An American smoker.]
"The Americans, who pride themselves on being the
fastest-going people on the 'versal globe'--who build
steamers that can out-paddle the sea-serpent and breed
horses that can trot faster than an ostrich can run--are,
undoubtedly, entitled to take precedence of all nations as
consumers of the weed. The sedentary Turk, who smokes from
morn to night, does not, on an average, get through so much
tobacco per annum, as a right slick, active, go-ahead
Yankee, who thinks nothing, 'upon his own relation,' of
felling a wagon-load of timber before breakfast, or of
cutting down a couple of acres corn before dinner. The
Americans, it is to be observed, generally smoke cigars; and
tobacco in this form burns very fast away in the open air,
more especially when the consumer is rapidly locomotive,
whether upon his own legs, the back of a horse, the top of a
coach, the deck of a steamboat, or in an open railway
carriage. The habit of chewing tobacco is also prevalent
in 'the States,' nor is it, as in Great Britain and Ireland,
almost entirely confined to the poorer classes. Members of
the House of Representatives and of the Senate, doctors,
judges, barristers, and attorneys chew tobacco almost as
generally as the laboring classes in the old country. Even
in a court of justice, more especially in the Western
States, it is no unusual thing to see judge, jury, and the
gentlemen of the bar, all chewing and spitting as liberally
as the crew of a homeward-bound West Indiaman. It must
indeed be confessed that Brother Jonathan loves tobacco 'not
wisely but too well,' and that the habits which are induced
by his manner of using it are far from 'elegant.' The truth
is, he neither smokes nor chews like a gentleman; he lives
in a land of liberty, and takes his tobacco when and where
he pleases. He spits as freely as he smokes and chews--upon
the carpet or in the fire-place--for he is not particular as
to where he squirts his copious saliva, and does not think
with the late Dr. Samuel Parr, that a spitting-box is a
necessary article of household furniture. The free-born
citizen of the States laughs at the aristocratic
restrictions imposed on smoking in England, where, on board
of the numerous steamboats that ply on the Thames,
conveying the pride of the city to Gravesend and Margate, no
smoking is allowed abaft the funnel, and where, in
public-houses ashore, no gentleman is permitted to smoke in
the parlor before two o'clock in the afternoon. A pipe of
tobacco, or a cigar, after a day's hard exercise, whether
mental or bodily, and after the cravings of hunger and
thirst are appeased, may be fairly ranked amongst the most
delightful and most harmless of all earthly luxuries. It
fills the mind with pleasing visions, and the heart with
kindly feelings. A hard-working laborer, smoking by the side
of his hearth at night, presents a perfect picture of quiet
enjoyment. I see him now in my mind's eye. He is seated in
an old high-backed, cushionless arm-chair, but an easy one,
nevertheless, to him, who from dawn till sunset, has been
engaged in ploughing, thrashing, ditching, or mowing. With
one leg thrown over the other, he quietly reclines backward,
and with an expression of perfect mental composure, he gazes
on the smoke that ascends from his pipe. There is a
sentiment-exciting power[64] in the smoke of tobacco when
perceived by the eye, as well as a pleasing sedative effect
when inhaled; and those smokers who have any doubt of the
fact should take a pipe with their eyes closed. A person who
smokes with his eyes shut cannot very well tell whether his
cigar is lighted or not. How soothing is a pipe or a cigar
to a wearied sportsman, on his return to his inn from the
moors! As he sits quietly smoking, he thinks of the absent
friends whom he will gratify with presents of grouse; and,
in a state of perfect contentment with himself and all the
world, he determines to give all his game away. Full of such
kindly feelings, he retires to bed; but, alas, with
day-light, when the effect of the tobacco has subsided, the
old leaven of selfishness prevails, and his good intentions
are abandoned. 'Mary,' said an old Cumberland farmer to his
daughter, when she was once asking him to buy her a new
beaver, 'why dost thou always tease me about such things
when I'm quietly smoking my pipe?' 'Because ye are always
best-tempered then, feyther,' was the reply. 'I believe,
lass, thou's reet,' rejoined the farmer; 'for when I was a
lad, I remember that my poor feyther was just the same;
after he had smoked a pipe or twee he wad ha' gi'en his head
away if it had been loose.'"
[Footnote 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._]
The following ode to a Cigar is no doubt familiar to many, yet will
pay a re-perusal:
"And oft, mild friend, to me thou art
A monitor, though still;
Thou speak'st a lesson to my heart
Beyond the preacher's skill.
"Thou'rt like the man of worth, who gives
To goodness every day,
The odor of whose virtues lives
When he has passed away.
"When in the lonely evening hour,
Attended but by thee,
O'er history's varied page I pore,
Man's fate in thine I see.
"Oft, as thy snowy column grows,
Then breaks and falls away,
I trace how mighty realms thus rose,
Thus trembled to decay.
"Awhile, like thee, earth's masters burn,
And smoke and fume around,
And then like thee to ashes turn,
And mingle with the ground.
"Life's but a leaf adroitly rolled,
And time's the wasting breath,
That, late or early, we behold
Gives all to dusty death.
"From beggar's frieze to monarch's robe
One common doom is passed;
Sweet nature's work, the swelling globe,
Must all burn out at last.
"And what is he who smokes thee now?
A little moving heap,
That soon, like thee, to fate must bow,
With thee in dust must sleep.
"But though thy ashes downward go,
Thy essence rolls on high;
Thus, when my body must lie low,
My soul shall cleave the sky."
In Charles Butler's "Story of Count Bismarck's Life," a good anecdote
is told of the Count and his last cigar:--
"'The value of a good cigar,' said Bismarck, as he proceeded
to light an excellent Havana, 'is best understood when it is
the last you possess, and there is no chance of getting
another. At Königgrätz I had only one cigar left in my
pocket, which I carefully guarded during the whole of the
battle as a miser does his treasure. I did not feel
justified in using it. I painted in glowing colors in my
mind the happy hour when I should enjoy it after the
victory. But I had miscalculated my chances.' 'And what was
the cause of your miscalculation?' 'A poor dragoon. He lay
helpless, with both arms crushed, murmuring for something to
refresh him. I felt in my pockets and found I had only gold,
and that would be of no use to him. But, stay, I had still
my treasured cigar! I lighted this for him, and placed it
between his teeth. You should have seen the poor fellow's
grateful smile! I never enjoyed a cigar so much as that one
which I did not smoke.'"
In European cities juveniles offer the smoker, at every street corner,
a "pipe" or a "cigar light." The following description, entitled
"Light, Sir," is from an English journal, and contains much
interesting information on the various modes of lighting pipes and
cigars.
[Illustration: "Light, Sir."]
"''Ere y'are, sir--pipe-light, cigar-light, on'y 'ap'ny a
box--'ave a light, sir.' Every smoker of the larger cities
knows the cry. Every tender-hearted smoker is familiar with
the appeal, by day and by night, and remembers pangs of
regret he has felt when the want of ha'pence or the
repletion of his match-box has prevented his much-besought
response. There is no need now to enlarge upon the
sufferings, the adventures, the dangers of these peripatetic
juvenile trades folk, sparse of clothes and food, and full
of the material which may make or mar a nation; for all
this was done, and even overdone, by the graphic
sensationalists of the London penny dailies when Chancellor
Lowe proposed a tax on matches. We may, upon occasion, feel
for the manufacturers and venders of 'lights,' but more
generally we find ourselves constrained to sympathize with
the purchasers of such contrivances for the ignition of
pipes and cigars. The smoking of tobacco is an art; an art
which, in its proper exercise, requires much care, much
prudence, and not a little skill. This is a proposition
which must, from its very nature, be startling to
non-smokers, and surprising to many smokers. The tobacco
hater (invariably an illogical creature, who hates that
which he knows not) will hold up hands in amazement, and
sniff with the nose in contempt, to whom reply would be
superfluous.
"With the smoker the case is otherwise. A German writer
recently said that the English were better smokers than the
Germans; because, whereas the German smoked incessantly,
without rule, system, or moderation, the English smoked with
care, with slow and appreciative lovingness, and the
determination not to overstep the bounds of rational
enjoyment. Had he known more of English smokers, he would
not have made so wild a statement; and had he known English
women better, he would never have attributed to their sweet
influence the fancied superiority he describes in English as
compared with German smoking. In truth, the art of tobacco
using is nowhere more ignored, nowhere more contemptuously
neglected than in these 'favored isles.' For one man who
smokes with a reason, for a purpose, or by system, you shall
find a thousand who smoke without either; and the result is
that those who smoke have little defense, in the general
way, for their practice, while those who condemn the habit
have far better grounds for their opposition than they have
ever yet been able to explain. To those who do know why they
use tobacco, it is well-nigh incredible that so many of
their fellow-smokers should be ignorant of the properties,
the uses, the abuses, of the weed they burn and the fumes in
which they delight. Yet, even this is not so surprising as
the fact that so few of those who smoke--smoke much, often
and constantly--should be ignorant of, or indifferent to,
the conditions which are necessary to their own adequate
enjoyment of the weed.
"You will see a man light a cigar so carelessly that one
side of the roll will burn rapidly, with prodigious
fumigation and giving out a dark and offensive cloud, while
the other side remains untouched by the fire, only to wither
and crackle and twist into uncouth shapes, until the smoker
flings the cigar away, with an accompaniment of expletives
which attach rather to his own stupidity than to the piece
of tobacco he has so abominably abused. You will see another
with a good pipe, laden with good tobacco, well lit, blowing
incessantly down the mouth-piece and the stem until the
moisture introduced with his breath into the bowl of his
pipe effectually prevents the tobacco from burning, and puts
out the fire; and then you will hear him lament that he
should have paid so good a price for a pipe so bad that it
'fouls' before he has smoked a single hour. You will see
another who, while he talks to his friends, allows his
tobacco to go out every three or four minutes, so that at
length his mouth is sore and his palate nauseated with the
combined fumes of lucifer matches, burnt paper and exhausted
tobacco dust; and he inveighs against the 'cabbage-leaf
which that rascally tobacconist sold him for good Shag or
Cavendish.' Another knows so little of the art of smoking
that he never 'stops' his pipe, and so allows the light dust
of the burnt weed to fly about him in flakes and minute
particles, to the permanent damage of his own and his
neighbors' clothes. But in nothing is the inartistic
character of English smoking so conspicuously exemplified as
in the use of 'lights.' Those who form the great majority of
smokers amongst the English-speaking races seem to consider
that, so long as their pipes are set alight, it matters not
how or from what source the light is obtained. Thus, one
will place his pipe-bowl in a flame of gas, and pull away at
the stem till his tobacco is on fire; another will thrust
the bowl into the midst of a coal fire, and when he sees a
glow in the bowl withdraw it, and contentedly puff away;
another stops an obliging policeman or railway guard, and
ignites his tobacco by hard pulling at the flame of an
oil-lamp; another will stick the end of a choice cigar into
the bowl of a pipe filled with coarsest Shag, thus ruining
the flavor of his 'prime Havana' forever; while yet another
will light lucifer matches, and apply the blazing brimstone
to his pipe or cigar, thus saturating the whole mass with
sulphurous and phosphoretic fumes, to the ruin of the weed
and the injury of his own health.
"How much wiser the West Indian negro, who takes a burning
stick from the wood fire, and tenderly lights his weed
therewith, or joyfully brings a handful of the white-hot
ashes in his thick-skinned palm, that 'massa' may fire his
cigar! Or the travelling peddler or tinker, who, as he sits
by the way-side, patiently wooes the sun with a
'burning-glass' till his tobacco ignites, or uses with equal
prudence and skill the ancient but inimitable tinder-box.
[Illustration: Bringing a light.]
"But this is the age of Fusees. What a name! When, in our
youth, those longitudinal strips of tinder, semi-divided
into innumerable transverse slips, all tipped with harmless,
ignitable matter, first assumed the title, we had little
notion of the atrocities which would come to be dignified by
their name. This was soon after the world had been delighted
by the Congreves, which drove Lucifer to the wall, and
before English and German ingenuity had taught us to find
'death' in the box, as well as 'the pot.' The innocent old
fusee had his faults, certainly. He would not always light;
he had a bad habit of turning back on your finger-nail and
burning its quick when you struck him; and he would
occasionally light up, all by himself, and set fire to fifty
of his fellows in your waist-coast pocket, or the tail of
your best dress-coat. (Those were the days when waist-coats
were gorgeous and tail-coats immense.) But what were these
peccadilloes compared with the sins of the modern
'cigar-light?' 'Fusees,' forsooth! More like bomb-shells,
military mines, torpedoes, and nitroglycerine trains. Who
has not had them explode in his eye, on his cheek, down his
neck, scarring his skin, burning holes in his coats and
trousers, frightening passers-by, and doing all manner of
deep-dyed devilment? Nor is this the worst. Those who will
trust their skins, and their eyes, and their clothes to
'Vesuvians,' 'Flamers,' and the like, are not to be pitied;
for they are more cruel to their tobacco than the fusees are
to them. Our grievance is that so many engines of
destructiveness and offensiveness should be so largely
patronized by smokers, to their own discomfort, the
ruination of their tobacco, the scandalization of gentle and
simple, and the encouragement of vicious manufactures. Now,
we are not going to particularize too closely, for fear of
consequences. In these days, when a man may bring an action
for libel because it has been said of him that he sells bad
soup at a railway station, prudence is the better part of
valor. But, just examine this heterogeneous pile of
'cigar-lights,' which rears its audacious head upon the
table. Here are Palmers, Barbers, Farmers, Lord Lornes,
Tichbornes, Bryants and Moys, Bells and Blacks, Alexandres,
Bismarcks, King Williams, Napoleons, and scores of other
varieties. Some light 'only on the box,' some light
anywhere, some everywhere, and some nowhere. Some are on
wood, some on porcelain, some on glass, some on dire deeds
intent. There are vestas, safety-matches, patent
flint-and-steel contrivances, with silver tubes and
marvellous screws wherewith to put them out when they have
served your turn. Some are excellent, many passable, still
more intolerable. One of these times it may be worth while
to speak of the good ones, but at present we care only to
treat of those that are bad, and that briefly.
"Here's a 'Flamer'--we name no names--everybody seems to
make flamers; and this one deserves his title. We want to
light a peaceful pipe, and he bursts out in a fury like unto
nothing on earth so much as Etna in convulsion, or the
Tuilleries in petroleum blaze. But, if you have any respect
for your tobacco, your lips, your nostrils, or your lungs,
you will let him get rid of his flames before you apply him
to your cigar; and, when you do venture so far, he drops off
the stick and burns a hole in the carpet. Or, if you be
daring enough to take a light from the flamer while he
flames, you spoil your tobacco, foul your mouth, and get a
taste of sulphur-suffocation such as Asmodeus might have
were he to take a whiff of a smoke-and-fire belching chimney
in the Black Country as he flies across that district by
night. Haven't got a light? Glad of it. Try a
Vesuvian-round, black and tipped with blue. There's a
pyrotechnic display for you! Now, in with it, after the
approved style illustrated by the two human hands engaged in
lighting a cigar on the illuminated cover of the box. 'Ugh!'
you say. Just so; you've got a mouthful of choice
abominations, which will cost you much waste of saliva,
several shivers, and the whole piece of tobacco you were
about to enjoy. Here, put that away; take another, light it
quietly with this wax-vesta, or this wooden 'spill,' or this
screw of paper; smoke gently, don't let the fire out, and
you'll be all right. In future, you may be wise enough to
avoid cheap cigar-lights and pipe-lights, even for use in
the streets. Our word upon it--they are far dearer than
those which cost more."
The following description of "Home Made Cigars" is from _All the Year
Round_, and will doubtless be read with interest by many growers of
the weed who may recall similar scenes:
"'Apropos of cigars,' said Wilkins, lighting a second
fragrant Havana with the stump of the first, 'let's go and
see the farmer's establishment for making them. You see that
field of tobacco over yonder? Old Standish raises his own
weed, dries it in the big open sheds behind the barn, cures
it--I don't quite know the whole process--and then has it
made into sixes and short fives, Conchas and Cabanas, like a
Cuban señor. I went over the establishment about a year ago,
and it is worth seeing.'
"We strolled first over to the tobacco field. The weed was
then just at its full ripeness, and the long, flappy,
delicately-furred green leaves bent gracefully over toward
the ground, growing smaller and smaller the higher they were
on the stout stalk. Few foreigners know that even as far
north as New England, in the sunny valleys of Connecticut,
sheltered as they are from the bleak east winds of the
Atlantic and accustomed to a long and steady summer heat,
tobacco is grown in large quantities, flourishes
exuberantly, and is one of the chief sources of profit to
the farmers. It needs a rich warm soil and careful tending;
but it gives in its growth, a sentimental reward to the
cultivator; for it comes up gracefully, rapidly, and
beautifully, and is with some care, one of the most
satisfactory crops to 'handle.' Having gazed at and tasted
the thick leaves, we sauntered behind the barn, and there
saw the long open shed, with beams running parallel from
end to end, where the gathered tobacco leaves were hung to
be thoroughly dried by the sun.
[Illustration: Making cigars.]
"Then Wilkins conducted us for some distance along the river
bank; we jumped into a boat and rowed perhaps half a mile,
landing by the side of a little shop-like building, where we
heard the hum of voices and the commotion of many busy
persons. We entered and found ourselves in a long, low room,
having wide tables ranged along the walls; here, working
rapidly, were rows of chatty country girls, who, as they
worked, laughed and talked, and now and then hummed a verse
of some familiar ballad. Neatly packed piles of the dried
and cured leaf lay upon the table before them.
"Each was armed with knives and cutters, and we watched the
quick transformation of the flat leaves into the smooth and
compact cigars. The tobacco grown upon the farm was, we
discovered, only used as wrappers for the cigars. The good
farmer imported, for the interior filling, a fine tobacco
from Havana. Strips and little pieces of this the girls
placed in the centre of the cigar, wrapping the Connecticut
tobacco in wide strips tightly about it, then pasting each
of the last with some paste in a pot by their side. It
seemed to be done almost in an instant; the Havana slips
were laid down, cut and trimmed, and pressed into shape in
a twinkling; the wrappers were cut as quickly; and, more
rapidly than I can describe it, the cigar was made. These
girls were mostly daughters of neighboring farmers, who
received so much per hundred cigars made; intelligent,
bright-eyed and witty; many of them comely, with rosy cheeks
and ruddy health; educated at the common schools, and able,
their day's work over, to sit down at the piano and rattle
away _ad infinitum_.
"His stock of cigars thus made up, from the first sowing to
the last finishing touch, the good squire (being
Yankee-like, a sort of Jack-of-all-trades,) would have them
put up in gorgeously labeled boxes, carry them to town, and
sell them to retail dealers; not disdaining himself, twice
or thrice a year, to go through the neighboring States with
samples, and acting as his own commercial traveler."
This description, however, may not convey a correct idea of the exact
mode of manufacture to many growers of tobacco in the Connecticut
Valley inasmuch as many planters of the "weed" make the entire cigar
(more particularly for their own use) wrapper, binder and filler
wholly of seed-leaf tobacco, such cigars do not readily sell to the
trade except at inferior prices which admit of but a small profit to
the manufacturer. The following spicy article from the "London
_Figaro_" may be interesting to all smokers as well as guide them in
the selection of a good cigar.
"I am an imaginative person, and 'society' has treated me
shamefully of late--its tangible delights are absent from
me. Allow me, then, to console myself by the 'creations of
smoke,' as Lord Lytton puts it. I am scouted by society
because I am in love. I am told I look:
"As hyenas in love are supposed to look, or
A something between Abelard and old Blücher."
And, moreover, I am an ugly man, but there was only a
fortnight's difference in gaining a woman's love between
John Wilkes and the handsomest man in England, courage,
Jehu! I like idleness, because it shows that one can afford
it; so I am puffing idly--ah! the balmy fragrance of this
mild Havana! 'Oh! the effect of that first note from the
woman one loves!' says one; 'Oh! the kiss on the dimpled
cheek, the sound of the silver voice!' says another; but
what can compare to the dreamy exquisite luxury of a good
cigar? But, heavens, what am I saying? I am in love, and
Julia reads the "_Figaro_!" The paleness of Flaxman's
illustrations spreads over me--please, reader, look upon the
sentiment as sarcastic. I am in a fog of smoke, and am
quaffing claret from the silvered pewter. There's plenty of
it; and no soul can say:
"That in drinking from _that_ beaker
I am sipping like a fly.'
How changed from the long, long days ago, when I was a
connoisseur in Parparillo cigars, brown-paper cigarettes,
and cane cheroots! Then I fondly adored Sir Walter Raleigh
as my earthly idol, for giving me tobacco--when I had the
halfpence to buy it--and delighted in the story, told by
queer Oldys, of Sir Walter's servant extinguishing the
Virginny smoke that issued from his master's lips, by
drenching him with ale. Alas! my idol is shattered by
Hawkins. The Spaniards say, 'The lie that lasts for half an
hour is worth telling.' History has lied for longer, by a
considerable period. Fond even as I was of my brown-papered
cigarettes when baccy failed, I must confess I never reached
the stage attained by Sir Christopher Haydon's chaplain,
William Breedon, parson of Thornton, in Bucks, who was so
given to
"October store and best Virginia,"
that when he had no tobacco (and too much drink) he used to
cut the _bell-ropes_ and smoke them!
"The Polyglot--three parts--my text;
Howbeit--likewise--now to my next."
"On Smoke.--It is a vulgar, ludicrous, and foolish custom to
bite off the nose of a cigar. Don't be a Vandal--you are not
a Sandwich Islander, about to chew your _Kava_. A cigar
should be handled daintily; it is a fragile, graceful
creature--don't mar its beauty. Tear off the twist, and the
pleasure of smoking is at an end! The outer leaf becomes
untwirled. Ere it is half finished, you have a ragged end
between your lips--nasty, foul, and unsightly--through which
the smoke comes in huge clouds to your mouth, instead of
slender streams on the palate. 'How, then,' say you; 'prick
it, or cut it, or what? Tear it not, cut it not; nor yet
puncture it. Don't be frightened of the cigar--thrusting a
half-inch alone into the mouth; but, when you begin, take a
good half of it in the mouth; pull at it lustily for a few
seconds, to open its pores; then draw it out, allowing but
an inch to be held within the lips--believe me, you will
enjoy it a hundred-fold more; and there are but few cigars
that will not allow of their virtue being drawn though their
leaves. Never bite the end off, and never use your cigar
cruelly, by squeezing it, biting it, or re-lighting it.
Cigar-holders, tubes, quills, and such like inventions, we
despise. If you cannot bear the cigar in your mouth--aye,
and enjoy it--you have no business with it: go back to your
brown paper and cane!
"What is the best beverage to imbibe whilst inhaling the
precious weed? Momentous question! Coffee, or claret, says
Jehu. I do not believe in bitter, as an accompanying liquid
to a cigar. The Corporation of Christ-church, years ago,
smoked cigars, and drank with them that then famous
concoction known as 'Ringwood Beer.' What was the result?
The first toast at every civic banquet held for years in
that borough was gravely given out, and bumpered with due
solemnity, as follows:--
'Prosperation to this Corporation.'
Brandy is a perfect antidote to inebriation from beer, so we
are told. The Corporation should have known this, and been
awakened from their long and pleasant dream of
_prosperation_. Brandy I should hardly reckon amongst the
drinks that ought to be with cigars, notwithstanding that
Tennyson has asked:--
'For what delights can equal those
Which stir, with spirits, inner depths? &c.'
Brandy-and-water, gin, whisky, and the likes are only fit
for those who nocturnally lay the foundation for matutinal
'hot coppers,' with the vilest shag in the most odorous of
yards of clay. 'Smoking leads to drinking,' has been a
favorite old woman's saying for time out of mind. How I hate
old women's sayings! A grain--requiring to be picked out
with a pin and microscope--of truth, with a bushel of bunkum
or cant. How is it, that ever since the days of James I, of
'hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain' memory, there
have always been carpers on the injurious effects of
smoking? 'Nicotine!' they say, with a
would-be-taken-for-know-all-about-it-air. Quite so; but, as
recent investigations have proved that, so far as the actual
'poisoning' is concerned, it would take upwards of a
thousand years to kill the most inveterate of healthy
smokers, we have still time to breathe--and 'it please the
pigs.' _Mem._ for pipers--French tobacco contains the
greatest, Turkish the least, per-centage of nicotine.
Havana, two and one-half per cent.
"But an unique old woman of Jehu's acquaintance goes further
still; boldly asserting that 'smoking is well for making
good soldiers, well for making good sailors, well for making
sometimes good lawyers; not so well for making good
Christians.' Oh! ashes of Hawkins and Raleigh, shudder for
the results of 'baccy on degraded human nature.' There must
be a rarity of good Christians, then amongst the parsons;
they are all fond of it. Dean Aldrich was, perhaps, tho
greatest smoker of his day. His excessive attachment to this
habit was the cause of many wagers. Here's one:--At
breakfast, one morning, at the 'Varsity, an undergraduate
laid his companion long odds that the Dean was smoking at
that instant. Away they hastened; and, being admitted to the
Dean's study, stated the occasion of their visit. The Dean
replied, in perfect good humor, to the layer of the bet,
'You see, sir, you have lost your wager; for I am not
smoking, but filling my pipe.' But--my cigar has reached its
last dying speech, and there is but a drop left in the
beaker.
'I'll not leave thee, thou lone drop!
'Twould be mighty unkind,
Since the rest I have swallow'd,
To leave thee behind.'
"Final exhortation. Choose the small, sound, tolerably firm,
and elastic cigar: the dwarf contains stuff within which the
giant hath not. Don't flatter yourself you're smoking
cabbage, if not tobacco--its any odds on rhubarb!
'For me there's nothing new or rare,
Till wine deceives my brain;
And that, I think, 's a reason fair
To fill my pipe again.'"
Charles Lamb, "the gentle Elia" was during a portion of his
lifetime a famous smoker. In a letter to Hazlitt he writes,
"I am so smoky with last night's ten pipes, that I must
leave off." It is said that he smoked only the coarsest and
strongest he could procure. Dr. Parr inquired of him how he
acquired his "prodigious smoking powers." "I toiled after
it, sir," was the reply, "as some men toil after virtue!"
Lamb was constant in his use of tobacco, and among all the
great luminaries of English literature we know of none more
addicted to the use of the pipe. Lamb might often be seen in
his chambers in Mitre Court Building, puffing the coarsest
weed from a long clay pipe, in company with Parr who used
the finest kind of tobacco in a pipe half filled with salt.
It was no easy task to relinquish the use of tobacco and it
cost him many a struggle and much determined effort. In
writing to Wordsworth he says:--"I wish you may think this a
handsome farewell to my 'Friendly Traitress.' Tobacco has
been my evening comfort and my morning curse for these five
years. I have had it in my head to do it (Farewell to
Tobacco) these two years; but tobacco stood in its own light
when it gave me headaches that prevented my singing its
praises."
Lamb's poem is without doubt one of the finest pieces of verse ever
written on tobacco, and seemingly contains both words of praise and
dispraise--the latter however in some sense are insincere.
"May the Babylonish curse
Straight confound my stammering verse
If I can a passage see
In this word-perplexity,
Or a fit expression find,
Or a language to my mind,
(Still the phrase is wide or scant,)
To take leave of thee, GREAT PLANT!
Or in my terms relate
Half my love, or half my hate;
For I hate, yet love thee so,
That whichever thing I show,
The plain truth will seem to be
A constrain'd hyperbole,
And the passion to proceed
More from a mistress than a weed.
Sooty retainer to the vine,
Bacchus' black servant, negro fine;
Sorcerer, thou mak'st us dote upon
Thy begrimed complexion,
And for thy pernicious sake,
More and greater oaths to break
Than reclaimed lovers take
'Gainst women: thou thy siege do'st lay
Much too in the female way,
While thou suck'st the lab'ring breath
Faster than kisses or than death.
Thou in such a cloud do'st bind us,
That our worst foes cannot find us.
And ill fortune that would thwart us,
Shoots at rovers shooting at us;
While each man through thy height'ning steam
Does like a smoking Ætna seem,
And all about us does express
(Fancy and wit in richest dress)
A Sicilian fruitfulness.
Thou though such a mist dost show us
That our best friends do not know us,
And for those allowed features
Due to reasonable creatures,
Liken'st us to feel Chimeras
Monsters that, who see us, fear us;
Worse than Cerberus or Geryon,
Or, who first loved a cloud, Ixion.
Bacchus we know, and we allow,
His tipsy rites, but what art thou,
That but by reflex canst show
What his deity can do,
As the false Egyptian spell
Aped the true Hebrew miracle?
Some few vapors thou may'st raise,
The weak brain may serve to amaze,
But to the reins and nobler heart
Canst nor life nor heat impart.
Brother of Bacchus, later born,
The old world was sure forlorn,
Wanting thee, that aidest more,
The gods' victories than before
All his panthers, and the brawls,
Of his piping Bacchanals.
These, as stole, we disallow
Or judge of thee meant: only thou
His true Indian conquest art;
And, for ivy round his dart,
The reformed god now weaves
A finer thyrsus of thy leaves.
Scent to match thy rich perfume--
Chemic art did ne'er presume,
Through her quaint alembic strain,
None so sov'reign to the brain.
Nature, that did in thee excel,
Framed again no second smell.
Roses, Violets but toys
For the smaller sort of boys;
Or for greener damsels meant;
Thou art the only manly scent.
Stinking'st of the stinking kind,
Filth of the mouth and fog of the mind,
Africa, that brags her fois on
Breeds no such prodigious poison,
Henbane, nightshade, both together,
Hemlock, aconite----
Nay, rather,
Plant divine of rarest virtue:
Blisters on the tongue would hurt you.
'Twas but in a sort I blamed thee;
None e'er prospered who defamed thee;
Irony all, and feigned abuse,
Such as perplex'd lovers use,
At a need, when in despair,
To paint forth their fairest fair,
Or in part but to express
That exceeding comeliness
Which their fancies doth so strike,
They borrow language of dislike;
And instead of Dearest Miss,
Jewel, Honey, Sweetheart, Bliss,
And those forms of old admiring,
Call her Cockatrice and Siren,
Basilisk, and all that's evil,
Witch, Hyena, Mermaid, devil,
Ethiop, Wench, and Blackamoor,
Monkey, Ape, and twenty more;
Friendly traitress, loving foe,
Not that she is truly so,
But no other may they know,
A contentment to express,
Borders so upon excess,
That they do not rightly wot,
Whether it be pain or not;
Or, as men constrained to part
With what's nearest to their heart,
While their sorrow's at the height
Lose discrimination quite,
And their hasty wrath let fall,
To oppose their frantic gall,
On the darling thing whatever
Whence they feel it death to sever,
Though it be, as they, perforce,
Guiltless of the sad divorce.
For I must (nor let it grieve thee,
Friendliest of plants,
That I must) leave thee.
For thy sake, TOBACCO, I
Would do anything but die,
And but seek to extend my days
Long enough to sing thy praise.
But as she who once hath been,
A king's consort, is a queen
Ever after, nor will bate
Any title of her state,
Though a widow, or divorced,
So I, from thy converse forced,
The old name and style retain,
A right Katherine of Spain,
And a seat, too, 'mongst the joys
Of the blest Tobacco Boys;
Where, though I, by sour physician,
Am debarred the full fruition
Of thy favors, I may catch,
Some collateral sweets, and snatch,
Sidelong odors, that give life
Like glances from a neighbor's wife;
And still live in the by-places,
And the suburbs of thy graces;
And in thy borders take delight,
An unconquered Canaanite."
Thomas Jones, in the following neat little tribute to tobacco, pays a
deserved compliment, not only to the plant, but to the great English
smoker, "ye renowned Sir Walter Raleigh."
"Let poets rhyme of what they will,
Youth, Beauty, Love or Glory, still
My theme shall be Tobacco!
Hail, weed, eclipsing every flow'r,
Of thee I fain would make my bow'r
When fortune frowns, or tempests low'r,
Mild comforter of woe!
"They say in truth an angel's foot
First brought to life thy precious root,
The source of every pleasure!
Descending from the skies he press'd
With hallow'd touch Earth's yielding breast,
Forth sprang the plant, and then was bless'd,
As man's chief treasure!
"Throughout the world who knows thee not?
Of palace and of lowly cot
The universal guest;
The friend of Gentile, Turk and Jew,
To all a stay--to none untrue,
The balm that can our ills subdue,
And soothe us into rest.
"With thee the poor man can abide
Oppression, want, the scorn of pride,
The curse of penury,
Companion of his lonely state,
He is no longer desolate,
And still can brave an adverse fate,
With honest worth and thee!
"All honor to the patriot bold,
Who brought instead of promised gold,
Thy leaf to Britain's shore;
It cost him life; but thou shall raise
A cloud of fragrance to his praise,
And bards shall hail in deathless lays
The valiant knight of yore.
"Ay, Raleigh! thou wilt live till Time
Shall ring his last oblivious chime,
The fruitful theme of story;
And man in ages hence shall tell,
How greatness, virtue, wisdom fell,
When England sounded out thy knell,
And dimmed her ancient glory.
"And thou, O Plant! shall keep his name
Unwither'd in the scroll of fame,
And teach us to remember;
He gave with thee content and peace,
Bestow'd on life a longer lease,
And bidding ev'ry trouble cease,
Made Summer of December!"
The smoker of cigarettes is passionately attached to his "little roll"
and regards this mode of obtaining the flavor of tobacco the best. The
finest are made in Havana and, vast quantities are used by the Cubans
and Spaniards. A writer in "The Tobacco Plant" gives this pleasing
effusion in regard to them:--
"Your cigarette is a sort of hybrid--half-pipe and
half-cigar; neither the one nor the other; neither the
delight of the epicure nor the solace of the true
tobacco-lover. Far be it from us to deny, or even to
question, its value, its utility, or its charm. We have
smoked too many to dream of treating them with
scorn--cigarettes of Virginia shag, strong, pungent,
luscious; of light and fragrant Persian, innocuous and
soothing; cigarettes rolled by ladies' dainty fingers,
compressed by elegant French machines of silk and silver,
cut, stamped, and gummed by prosy, matter-of-fact, and even
vulgar Titanic engines in great tobacco-factories. But the
thorough-paced smoker renders to his cigarette only a
secondary and diluted adoration: it is nice, it is delicate,
it is pretty--a thing to be toyed with, to be fondled, even
to burn one's fingers (or, perchance, one's lips) withal;
but by no means an object to call forth a passion.
"But just as the world would be a tame and an insipid
institution were all men's tastes alike, so the world of
smokers would lose much of its romance were all the lovers
of the weed of temperament too robust to love a cigarette.
Brevity and sweetness are proverbially held to constitute
claims upon the respect and admiration of the voluptuous,
and to the cigarette these cannot be denied. There is
something touching in the self-abnegation of a tobaccoite
who will devote five mortal minutes and the sweat of his
refined intelligence, with the skill of his delicate
fingers, to the preparation of a tiny capsule of the weed,
which burns itself to ashes in five minutes more. There is a
butterfly-beauty about the cigarette to which the cigar and
the pipe can lay no claim--a summer charm to stir the dreamy
rapture of a poet, and to excite the Lotus-eating
philosopher even to analogy. Just as the suns, and flowers,
and balmy zephyrs of a century have gone to form the gauzy,
multi-colored insect that flits across your path throughout
a single summer's day, and then returns to dust and vapor,
so the harvest of West-Indian and East-Asian fields, the
long voyage of the mariner, the merchant's hours of soil,
the steam-power and manual labor of the factory, the
thoughtful calculations of the trader, the skill of the
tissue-paper maker, all have gone, and more than these, to
the creation of a fairy-cylinder of Tobacco, which glows,
delights, expires, and meets its end in ten or fifteen
fleeting minutes."
Although the cigarette is not a favorite with us, still we admire its
use as a sort of appendage to a good dinner, and as preparatory work
for a "good smoke." The Spaniards have always been great lovers of
their minute rolls, and with them, no other method of burning tobacco
appears so delicate or refined. Especially is this true among the
ladies, who prefer "Seville cigarettes" to all others. Many smokers
make their own cigarettes, sometimes using Havana tobacco, and
sometimes making them of two or more kinds. An excellent cigar is made
by using equal parts of Virginia and Perique tobacco, or equal parts
of Havana and Perique. A fine flavored cigarette is also made from
Yara and Havana tobacco, equal parts of each being used. Thos. Hood
has signalized his attachment to cigar in the following pleasing
little poem:--
THE CIGAR.
"Some sigh for this and that,
My wishes don't go far;
The world may wag at will,
So I have my cigar.
"Some fret themselves to death
With Whig and Tory jar;
I don't care which is in,
So I have my cigar.
"Sir John requests my vote,
And so does Mr. Marr;
I don't care how it does,
So I have my cigar.
"Some want a German row,
Some wish a Russian war;
I care not. I'm at peace,
So I have my cigar.
"I never see the Post,
I seldom read the Star;
The Globe I scarcely heed,
So I have my cigar.
"Honors have come to men
My juniors at the Bar;
No matter--I can wait,
So I have my cigar.
"Ambition frets me not;
A cab or glory's car
Are just the same to me,
So I have my cigar.
"I worship no vain gods,
But serve the household Lar;
I'm sure to be at home,
So I have my cigar.
"I do not seek for fame,
A General with a scar;
A private let me be,
So I have my cigar.
"To have my choice among
The toys of life's bazar,
The deuce may take them all,
So I have my cigar.
"Some minds are often tost
By tempests like a tar;
I always seem in port,
So I have my cigar.
"The ardent flame of love
My bosom cannot char,
I smoke but do not burn,
So I have my cigar.
"They tell me Nancy Low
Has married Mr. R.;
The jilt! but I can live,
So I have my cigar."
Lord Byron, a "good smoker" as well as a great poet, has immortalized
his love of the cigar in the following graceful lines:--
"Sublime Tobacco! which from east to west,
Cheers the tars labors, and the Turkman's rest--
Which on the Moslem's ottoman divides
His hours, and rivals opium and his brides;
Magnificent in Stamboul, but less grand,
Though not less loved in Wapping or the Strand;
Divine in hookhas, glorious in a pipe,
When tipped with amber, mellow, rich, and ripe,
Like other charms, wooing the caress
More dazzingly when dawning in full dress.
Yet thy true lovers more admire by far
Thy naked beauties--Give me a Cigar!"
Having given a general description of the cigar and its mode of
manufacture, we come now to a more particular account of the various
kinds known as the best and of world-wide reputation. Standing at the
head of the various kinds of cigars, either of the Old or New World,
are those known to all smokers as:
HAVANA CIGARS.
[Illustration: Havanas.]
These are, by common consent, the finest in the world. They possess
every quality desirable in a cigar, and seemingly to its greatest
extent. Grown in the richest portion of the tropical world, the leaf
has a rich, oily appearance, and, when made into cigars, possesses a
flavor as rich as it is rare. Unlike most tobaccos suitable for
cigars, every taste can be met in the Havana cigars, its many
varieties of flavor and strength suiting it alike to both sexes, and
to the making of the delicate cigarette or the largest Cabanas. These
cigars are made up of all the various colors and parts of the leaf,
and also of all sizes common to the trade. In shape they are usually
round, though sometimes pressed (flat), and in color are (according to
our description) light and dark brown, light and dark red, straw
colored and dark straw colored, and some other shades or strengths. It
is necessary to have all the various shades of color in order to meet
the demand for the various flavors desired. Without doubt a greater
variety of flavors can be found among Havana cigars than in any other
kind, owing to the many shades of color, which determines the strength
and flavor of the cigar. The Havana cigar is made of a leaf tobacco
well known for its good burning qualities, when properly cured and
sweated,--burning with a clear, steady light, leaving a fine white or
pearl-colored ash, according to the color chosen. These cigars rarely
"char" in burning; certainly not, if made of good quality of tobacco
and thoroughly sweat. If a full-flavored cigar is desired, choose the
dark colors, and the lighter if a mild cigar is preferable. The
lighter the color of the tobacco the lighter the ash and the milder
the flavor of the cigar. Light-colored cigars usually burn freer and
more evenly than dark ones. In selecting a cigar for its good burning
qualities, choose those (if such are to be had) covered with white
specks, or white rust; such cigars burn well, as white rust is found
only on well-ripened leaves. Select a firm, well-made cigar--one that
contains a good quantity of fillers--avoiding, however, in Havana
cigars, one made _too_ nicely, as it is sometimes the case that
superior external appearance is made to cover defects in the more
important qualities.
Such a selection will insure a cigar of good quality; one that will
hold fire and last the length of time appropriate to its size. A cigar
should not be chosen simply because it is made well, and neither
because its outside appearance (wrapper) is fine, both in color and
quality of leaf; rather depend upon the manufacture of the brand.
Havana cigars have as many distinct flavors as there are colors of the
leaf, ranging from very mild to very strong.
The first great requisite of a cigar is its burning quality, and the
second its flavor; without the first the latter is of little value. A
cigar made from leaf that does not burn freely will not possess any
desirable flavor, but will char and emit rank-smelling smoke, without
any desirable feature whatever. When both of these qualities are in a
measure perfect the cigar will prove to be good. There are two
varieties, at least, known as non-burning tobacco, of which we shall
speak hereafter. The flavor and burning quality of a cigar always
determine its character, and are found in perfection in those made of
fine even-colored leaf. Dark cigars have a thicker leaf or more body,
and consequently are stronger than light-colored cigars. When the
cigar is made of fine, well-sweat tobacco, and contains the full
quantity of fillers, the pellet of ashes will be firm and strong, and
should possess the same color all through, if the filler, binder and
wrapper are of the same shade of color. The finest-flavored cigars are
those of a medium shade, between a light and a dark brown,--not so
dark as to be of strong, rank taste, or so mild as to be deficient in
a decided tobacco flavor, but simply possessing sufficient strength to
give character to the cigar.
YARA CIGARS.
[Illustration: Yara cigars.]
This variety of cigars is made from tobacco grown on the Island of
Cuba, bearing the same name as the cigars. They are highly esteemed by
those who smoke only this kind, but are not liked by most smokers of
Havana cigars. Most of them are exported to Europe, very few of them
finding their way to this country. It is somewhat difficult to compare
them with Havana cigars, as the flavor is essentially different. In
comparison with other brands made upon the Island, the Yara holds an
unimportant place, yet, in some parts of Cuba, it is preferred to any
other kind. In London the Yara is a favorite with many old smokers,
who use no others. Old smokers describe the Yara cigar as having a
"sweet" flavor, but one unaccustomed to them, like Hazard and others,
pronounce them bitter, and having a "peculiar saline taste." It can,
doubtless, be said with truth concerning the Yara cigar, that unlike
other varieties, such as Havana, Manilla, Paraguayan, Swiss and
Brazil, the taste for them is not natural, but, when once formed,
becomes very decided. As a general rule smokers of Yara cigars think
other kinds are deficient in flavor, and are wanting in quality,
because they lack the peculiar flavor belonging only to Yara cigars.
Be this as it may, we hardly think the Yara cigar suited to the
cigarist's taste at the present time. Its aromatic flavor is not
adapted to the general taste, and some little time is required to
develop a decided love for it. We prefer the "Cubas," made from a good
quality of leaf grown near Trinidad, Puerto-Principe, and other cities
east of Havana. The peculiar flavor of Yara cigars is owing to the
character of the soil, rather than to any artificial process employed
in manufacturing. In moistening Havana leaf Catalan wine is used, and
other flavoring extracts. This may (and does) change the condition and
quality of the tobacco, but even _with_ this treatment, the flavor of
Yara tobacco would be unlike that of Havana leaf.
MANILLA CIGARS.
[Illustration: Manilla cigar and cheroot.]
This well-known variety of cigars is manufactured from Manilla tobacco
grown in Luzerne, one of the Philippine Islands, which is known as
superior leaf for cigar purposes. Manilla cigars have an extensive
reputation, but principally in the East and in Europe. These cigars
are made in various forms and shapes, some of them are called cheroots
(the term used in the East for cigars) and are principally known for
their aromatic flavor, entirely distinct from that of Havana cigars.
Some smokers think that they have the same effect as varieties of
tobacco that have been moistened with the juice of the poppy, giving
the cigar a flavor like that of opium, and as a natural result,
securing a light-colored ash. There are not as many colors of Manilla
cigars as there are of Havana, and they are not as closely assorted.
Some of them are a high-cinnamon color, and are far from being a
strong cigar. Their flavor is not always uniform, and is not denoted
by the color as in other varieties. The flavor is not unpleasant, but
is better suited to those who prefer a mild rather than a full
flavored cigar. The aroma is pleasant and mild, and to those but
little acquainted with them, agreeable. Manilla tobacco usually burns
well, if the leaf is of good quality and well sweated, still it is
known as a non-burning tobacco. As the tobacco is of good body, the
cigars do not usually burn as well as other kinds. Select a
light-colored rather than a dark cigar if one of good quality is
desired. Both the cigars and cheroots are made of the same quality of
leaf, and are of about the same size--differing, however, in shape.
There are but few grades of Manilla cigars, and most of them are solid
and well wrapped. They are flat rather than round, and draw well but
do not hold fire like some other cigars. The leaf makes a very good
wrapper for a tobacco of its thickness and strength.
SWISS CIGARS.
[Illustration: Swiss cigars.]
These well-known cigars have but little reputation in this country,
owing to the fact of their being but little known. In Europe the
cigars of Luzerne have no insignificant reputation, and are generally
liked by smokers who prefer a mild and agreeable cigar. These cigars
are usually dark-colored, but not strong, and have but little variety
of flavor. Travelers and tourists through Switzerland speak of Swiss
cigars as being of agreeable flavor, and unlike any other found in
Europe. With American tobacco, those of a dark color are usually
strong, but with European tobaccos this is not always the case--they
possess much less strength, and can be used more freely than the
tobacco of America. These cigars are usually pressed, and burn well,
leaving a dark-colored ash, and emitting a fragrant odor. Most of
those used in this country may be more properly termed cheroots, both
ends being cut, allowing a free passage of air, which is usually the
case with all kinds of cheroots, or Eastern and European cigars. There
is not that freshness of flavor to Swiss cigars peculiar to Havana's,
and they lack that essential quality which renders the latter so
delicious and enjoyable. The Swiss cigar is in perfection when just
made or rolled, and such should be chosen instead of those that have
been made for some time and closely packed and dried.
PARAGUAY CIGARS.
[Illustration: Paraguay cigars.]
These cigars are made of one of the finest varieties of leaf tobacco
known to commerce. Although unknown to this country--both the cigars
and the leaf tobacco have a deserved reputation in Europe, and it is
beyond all question one of the finest tobaccos in the world for
cigars. These cigars have a delicacy of flavor unapproachable in any
other variety, and may justly be termed the finest at least of all
South American cigars. It is one of the finest burning tobaccos in the
world, and does not fail to suit the taste of the most fastidious of
smokers. The finest are of dark color and wholly free from any rank or
unpleasant taste. These cigars are uniformly mild and have but little
variety of flavor, the ash is dark-colored, firm and strong, clinging
with tenacity to the cigar, which is the best evidence of the quality
of the leaf. In Paraguay they are considered superior to all other
kinds and are smoked continuously without any seemingly ill effect.
Page alludes to the custom of smoking as being universal, "Men, women,
and children--delicate, refined girls, and youngsters who would not
with us be promoted to the dignity of pantaloons--smoke with a gravity
and gusto that is irresistibly ludicrous to a foreigner." The
Paraguayans consider excessive smoking of other tobacco as injurious
but not of the delicate flavored leaf of Paraguay. These cigars are
rolled firm and strong usually small and hold fire until the entire
cigar has been consumed.
GUATEMALA CIGARS.
This variety of cigars, although of excellent flavor, is hardly known
outside of Central America. They are made from Guatemala tobacco--one
of the few varieties of tobacco bearing white blossoms, and possessed
of a similar flavor to Mexican tobacco. Although Guatemala tobacco has
not been thoroughly tested by the great manufacturers of cigars either
in Europe or America, it doubtless is well suited for cigars. It is a
distinct variety from those kinds bearing pink and yellow blossoms,
and its growth and quality would seem to suggest some doubt as to its
quality and adaptability for cigars. Stephens and other travelers seem
to regard it as tobacco of excellent quality, and allude to its
constant use by the ladies who smoke _puros_, a cigar made of a single
leaf, or formed entirely of tobacco. They also use the _papelotes_
wrapped in paper and sometimes in the dried leaf of maize. It would
seem probable from the climate of Central America, that Guatemala
tobacco would be exactly suited for the manufacture of cigars, but so
little is known concerning it, and its cultivation is so limited, that
at present it is simply a matter of conjecture.
BRAZILIAN CIGARS.
The cigars of Brazil, like those made of South American tobacco, are
noted for their superior flavor. They are made of "Brazilian Aromatic"
one of the finest tobaccos of Brazil. Although but little known in
this country, both the tobacco and the cigars are highly esteemed in
Europe, where most of the leaf is sent. Both Brazilian cigars and the
celebrated "Tauri Cigarettes" possess a delicacy of flavor, described
by travelers as unapproachable by any other variety of cigars and
cigarettes. A late traveler says concerning them:--"Accustomed to
smoke only Havana cigars, I was unprepared to recognize any others as
being worthy even of the name of cigars. I was presented with a box of
Brazilian cigars of commendable size and finish, of a dark color and
of a good flavor, before trying them, I ignited one, merely to test
their quality and not from any impression that they were worth even
the value of the cheapest Havanas. Great was my surprise to find them
of an agreeable flavor and very pleasant to the taste."
The leaf is very thin, and without doubt, well suited for a cigar
wrapper. The flavor of all cigars made from South American tobacco is
similar, especially those made from tobacco grown east of the Andes. A
writer, alluding to their mode of manufacturing cigars for their own
use says:
"They take the leaf after it is cured and ready for
manufacture into cigars, and dampen it, not with pure water
but with water containing the juice of the poppy so as to
produce the effect of opium. When prepared in this manner
they are much esteemed by the Brazilians and especially by
the herders."
AMERICAN CIGARS.
This was the name given to cigars made some forty or fifty years ago
composed of Connecticut seed-leaf, or as it was then called, American
tobacco. The fillers were selected from various kinds of tobacco,
including Virginia, Kentucky, and Spanish, using for a wrapper
Spanish, American or Maryland leaf. At this time the tobacco was not
sorted as now, and was made up into cigars after being stripped, but
the cigars after being manufactured were kept for some time before
they were sold. At this time but little pains comparatively was taken
in their manufacture: they were not assorted or shaded according to
the present standard, and were packed in chestnut instead of cedar
boxes containing from one to five hundred cigars each. A manufacturer
of cigars nearly fifty years ago gives the following account of his
method:
"We selected for wrappers those leaves having white specks
(white rust) upon them, which greatly increased the sale of
the cigars, and which were considered by smokers to be much
better than those not wound with fancy wrappers. After the
cigars were packed in the boxes a little Spanish bean was
grated upon the cigars, or a single bean was placed between
the cigars in the box."
At this time some little taste was
evinced for colors, and cigars of a "bright cinnamon red," and
afterwards, of a dark brown, were considered the finest, while leaf
that was black was considered worthless for wrappers. A kind of cigar
which is distinctly American and which is made to a considerable
extent, is called a seed cigar, and is made from tobacco grown in
Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, or Ohio. These cigars have but
little reputation, and are of inferior quality and manufacture. A very
good cigar, call a "sprig cigar," is made from Havana and Connecticut
seed-leaf filler wound with a seed wrapper which gives a good flavor
similar to clear Havana.
A full flavored cigar like a sip of rare old wine is inspiring to a
lover of the "royal plant" and amid the sublime and companionable
thoughts that its fragrance engenders, one is led oftentimes to
reflect on its rare virtues and the benign effects it produces
wherever known. Thus it lightens the toil of the weary laborer
plodding along the highway of life. The student poring over musty
tomes sees with a clearer perception as its fragrance accompanies him
along the pathway of science and of history. The poet "as those
wreathes up go" sees Helicon's fresh founts flowing clearer and purer.
The musician "lord of sounds," evokes tones from his instrument never
before heard by mortal ear. The warrior, "fresh from glory's field" is
charmed by its fragrance as he dreams of shattered battalions and
sleeping hosts. The farmer nurtured amid the odors of the "balmy
plant" honors the "useless weed" as a promoter of happiness and an
increaser of gains. While:
"Kings smoke when they ruminate
Over grave affairs of state."
The exile too, far from home and kindred smokes on as he muses of
happier hours gone never to return. And thus amid all the varied ranks
and walks of life this solace of the mind and comfort of life exhales
its fragrance and breathes its benedictions over all.
CHAPTER X.
TOBACCO PLANTERS AND PLANTATIONS.
The grounds selected for the cultivation of tobacco are called by
various names even in the same countries. Thus in the Connecticut
Valley, such lands are called tobacco fields, at the South they are
known as tobacco plantations, while in Cuba they are called Vegas or
tobacco farms. In Cuba almost the entire tobacco farm is planted to
tobacco while at the South and in New England this is rarely the case
unless the plantations or tobacco farms are small and contain but a
few acres. In the Connecticut Valley and more especially along the
banks of the Connecticut River, where the farms are frequently small,
this is sometimes the case but farther removed from the river, where
the farms are much larger but a few acres of the best land is used for
this purpose.
In the Connecticut Valley the tobacco fields average from one to forty
acres, rarely exceeding the latter and indeed seldom including as
large an area. The average size of tobacco fields is about five
acres--sometimes all in one lot but oftener divided into several small
pieces on various parts of the farm.
The Connecticut planter is deeply interested in the plant and gives it
his undivided attention from seed-sowing until it is sold to the
speculator or manufacturer. All other crops in his opinion are of but
little importance compared with the great New England product, one
crop is frequently not off his hands before he is preparing for
another. The Connecticut planter stands first in the rank of tobacco
growers; he is thoroughly acquainted with the nature of the plant and
knows just what land to select and what kind of fertilizers to apply.
He has reduced the cultivation to almost an exact science and can
obtain (the season being favorable) the color most desirable. He has
thoroughly tested all kinds of fertilizers, and knows just what kinds
will produce the various shades of color as well as the desired
texture and size of leaf. No other tobacco planter so thoroughly
understands the methods of curing, sweating and doing up the crop, and
he takes no little pride in showing his crop to the buyer.
[Illustration: Connecticut tobacco field.]
It is his aim to obtain not only the best leaf for a cigar-wrapper but
also a tobacco of the finest possible flavor; hence he tries the
principal varieties grown in Cuba, Brazil and other countries in order
to judge of their quality and whether they can be cultivated with
profit on his lands. He has the best constructed sheds for hanging and
curing and the latest and most improved agricultural implements for
the cultivation of the plants. The greatest pains are taken in
securing the crop and harvesting and handling the plants without
injuring the leaves. The tobacco fields are kept in the best possible
condition, no weeds or grass is allowed to grow and the entire
surface is as free from stones as a lawn. He usually, if his farm is
small, plants the same field year after year, securing a much finer
leaf and by yearly manuring keeping the ground fertile and in good
condition. When the tobacco is stripped the utmost care is taken to
assort the leaves and he frequently shades or assorts the colors,
obtaining fancy prices for such "selections."
The Connecticut grower is well acquainted with the different soils,
and is able to judge with considerable accuracy in regard to selecting
the right fields for tobacco. The warmest land is chosen--mellow and
free from stones or shaded by trees and prepared as if for a garden.
All of the improved methods of obtaining early plants as well as
transplanting, he adopts, and in spite of early freezing, is generally
able to outwit Jack Frost, and secure the plants before this great foe
of the weed ravages the fields. It may safely be said of the
Connecticut planter that he secures more even crops than any other
grower of the plant, and obtains the finest colored leaf for cigar
wrappers.
The growers are thoroughly informed as regards the prices, and
although the buyers may steal suddenly upon them, are generally
prepared to "set" a price upon their crops. Some refuse to sell on the
poles, or even after it is stripped, preferring to pack their tobacco
until it has passed through the sweat, when larger prices are
obtained. Many growers not only pack their own crop, but buy up that
of others, thus acting as both producer and buyer. During the growing
of the crop, and particularly after it has been cured and stripped,
the growers congregate together, and talk over the condition of the
crop and the prices likely to be realized. Sometimes they form an
association or club, agreeing to "hold" the tobacco for satisfactory
prices, and frequently employing an agent to sell the crop. Many of
the tobacco fields or farms in the Connecticut valley are very
valuable, especially those near large cities and means of
transportation; such lands often selling for one thousand dollars per
acre.
The finest tobacco lands in the Connecticut valley are located in
the vicinity of Hartford about fifty miles from Long Island Sound.
These lands are near enough to the sound to get the salts in the
atmosphere from the south winds that blow up the valley in the precise
amount which the plant needs. Not much farther north does the
atmosphere possess this peculiar quality, while lower down the river
the salt air is too strong for the plant, and the leaves in
consequence are thick and harsh. Fine tobacco leaves can be
manufactured as well as fine broadcloth or costly silks. These results
depend in a great manner upon the proper soil and the fertilizers,
applied together with the most thorough cultivation of the plants. The
soil of our best Connecticut tobacco fields is alluvial, varying in
composition from a heavy sandy loam to a light one containing very
little clay.
For the past few years light soil has been preferred for the tobacco
field, on account of the demand for light colored leaf. The soil can
hardly be too light when leaf of a light cinnamon color is desired; as
the color of all kinds of tobacco depends upon the soil and the
fertilizers used.
A quarter of a century since Havana tobacco commanded very high
prices, both in this country and in Europe. It burnt freely and
purely. The Cuban planters, although getting rich on the ordinary
crops, were not satisfied with their gains, and attempted to increase
their crops by the use of guano and artificial fertilizers. They
secured heavier crops, but the quality became poorer. The prices fell
off and the planters did not realize as much for their crops as
formerly, although the growth was larger. About this time Connecticut
seed leaf became known as a cigar wrapper, and in a short time took
the lead for this purpose, as it still continues to. It cured finely,
burnt white and free, and in a short time brought high prices. The
profit realized from its growth led some Connecticut growers into the
same mistake as it did the Cuban planters, when they, by misguided
culture, nearly ruined their crops and injured the reputation of Cuban
tobacco.
Artificial fertilizers and strong manure produce a leaf larger and
heavier, but their effect on the character of the leaf is injurious,
the salts destroying its fine qualities, so that it sweats and cures
poorly, and compared with the finest leaf burns dark and emits a rank
and unpleasant odor.
The Connecticut tobacco grower requires considerable capital when
engaged extensively in the business, as ordinarily he buys large
quantities of fertilizers and requires many hands to cultivate the
crop. On the largest tobacco farms the sheds or "hanging houses" are
built near or in the field, and are sometimes very large, say two or
three hundred feet in length, and capable of holding the crop of from
five to ten acres.
[Illustration: Home of the Connecticut planter.]
His broad fields of the weed can usually be seen from his house and he
loves to show to visitors the plants growing in all their luxuriance,
or to sit on his piazza and call attention to their waving leaves and
graceful showy tops. Few tobacco-growers can discuss the relative
merits of the numerous varieties like the Connecticut planter, and he
is well acquainted not only with the various kinds grown in his own
country but also with those of others. Indeed you may often see
growing in his garden specimens of Cuban, Brazil or Latakia tobacco;
such is his love for all that pertains to this great tropical plant.
He considers it one of the greatest of all the vegetable products and
never tires of lauding the plant and its use. He sincerely hates all
anti-tobaccoites and has a supreme disgust for the memory of King
James I. and all royal foes of the plant. He is, however, a man of
large and liberal views and bestows his favors with a princely hand.
If fortune frowns he may lessen his crop but never his attachment for
the plant. Amid all the cares and perplexities incident to life, he
puffs away and as the ashes drop from his cigar meditates upon the
probable future of tobacco growers and all users of the weed.
The Connecticut tobacco grower is in all respects a man of genuine
refinement and nobility of soul. He is always ready to give
information on his particular system of culture, and how he obtains
such large and fine crops. He is a good judge of leaf tobacco, and can
tell in a moment the quality of his famous variety. He is thoroughly
awake to modern improvements, and always willing to try new
implements, such as tobacco hangers or transplanters in his sheds or
fields. He is just the person one likes to meet, jovial and
good-natured; he naturally loves the plant he cultivates and uses it
freely; lighting his after-dinner cigar or evening pipe with a gusto
that is peculiar to the grower of tobacco everywhere. Indeed he is
hardly in a proper frame of mind to converse about tobacco until he
lights a cigar.
No other cultivator of the soil gains as many friends as the
tobacco-grower. His table is well supplied from the choicest his
larder affords and he cheerfully welcomes all to its side. He is the
friend of the poor and the companion of the rich. No meanness or low
chicanery is his. His attachment for home, friends, and country is as
firm and strong as for the plant he cultivates.
Olmsted in his work "The Seaboard Slave States" gives the following
description of a Virginia plantation:
[Illustration: Negro quarters.]
"Half an hour after this I arrived at the negro quarters--a
little hamlet of ten or twelve small and dilapidated cabins.
Just beyond them was a plain farm gate at which several
negroes were standing; one of them, a well-made man, with an
intelligent countenance and prompt manner, directed me how
to find my way to his owner's house. It was still nearly a
mile distant; and yet, until I arrived in its immediate
vicinity, I saw no cultivated field, and but one clearing.
"In the edge of this clearing, a number of negroes, male and
female, lay stretched out upon the ground near a small
smoking charcoal pit. Their master afterwards informed me
that they were burning charcoal for the plantation
blacksmith, using the time allowed them for holidays--from
Christmas to New Years--to earn a little money for
themselves in this way. He paid them by the bushel for it.
When I said that I supposed he allowed them to take what
wood they chose for this purpose, he replied that he had
five hundred acres covered with wood, which he would be very
glad to have any one burn, or clear off in any way. Cannot
some Yankee contrive a method of concentrating some of the
valuable properties of this old field pine, so that they may
be profitably brought into use in more cultivated regions?
Charcoal is now brought from Virginia; but when made from
pine it is not very valuable, and will only bear
transportation from the banks of the navigable rivers whence
it can be shipped, at one movement to New York. Turpentine
does not flow in sufficient quantity from this variety of
the pine to be profitably collected, and for lumber it is of
very small value.
[Illustration: The planter's home.]
"Mr. W.'s house was an old family mansion, which he had
himself remodeled in the Grecian style, and furnished with a
large wooden portico. An oak forest had originally occupied
the ground where it stood; but this having been cleared and
the soil worn out in cultivation by the previous
proprietors, pine woods now surrounded it in every
direction; a square of a few acres only being kept clear
immediately about it. A number of the old oaks still stood
in the rear of the house, and, until Mr. W. commenced his
improvements, there had been some in its front. These,
however, he had cut away, as interfering with the symmetry
of his grounds, and in place of them had ailanthus trees in
parallel rows.
"On three sides of the outer part of the cleared square
there was a row of large and comfortable-looking negro
quarters, stables, tobacco-houses, and other offices, built
of logs. Mr. W. was one of the few large planters, of his
vicinity, who still made the culture of tobacco their
principal business. He said there was a general prejudice
against tobacco, in all the tide water regions of the State,
because it was through the culture of tobacco that the once
fertile soil had been impoverished; but he did not believe
that, at the present value of negroes, their labor could be
applied to the culture of grain with any profit, except
under peculiarly favorable circumstances. Possibly the use
of guano might make wheat a paying crop, but he still
doubted. He had not used it, himself. Tobacco required fresh
land, and was rapidly exhausting, but it returned more
money, for the labor used upon it, than anything else;
enough more, in his opinion to pay for the wearing out of
the land. If he was well paid for it, he did not know why he
should not wear out his land. His tobacco-fields were nearly
all in a distant and lower part of his plantation; land
which had been neglected before his time, in a great
measure, because it had been sometimes flooded, and was,
much of the year, too wet for cultivation. He was draining
and clearing it, and it now brought good crops. He had had
an Irish gang draining for him, by contract. He thought a
negro could do twice as much work in a day as an Irishman.
He had not stood over them and seen them at work, but judged
entirely from the amount they accomplished: he thought a
good gang of negroes would have got on twice as fast. He was
sure they must have 'trifled' a great deal, or they would
have accomplished more than they had. He complained much of
their sprees and quarrels. I asked why he should employ
Irishmen, in preference to doing the work with his own
hands. It's dangerous work, (unhealthy!) and a negro's life
is too valuable to be risked at it. If a negro dies it's a
considerable loss, you know.' He afterwards said that his
negroes never worked so hard as to tire themselves--always
were lively, and ready to go off on a frolic at night. He
did not think they ever did half a fair day's work. They
could not be made to work hard: they never would lay out
their strength freely, and it was impossible to make them do
it. This is just what I have thought when I have seen slaves
at work--they seem to go through the motions of labor
without putting strength into them. They keep their powers
in reserve for their own use at night, perhaps.
"Mr. W. also said that he cultivated only the coarser and
lower-priced sorts of tobacco, because the finer sorts
required more pains-taking and discretion than it was
possible to make a large gang of negroes use. 'You can make
a nigger work,' be said, 'but you cannot make him think.'"
In speaking of the early tobacco culture of Virginia, he says:--
The light, rich mould resting on the sandy soil of Eastern
Virginia was exactly suited to the cultivation of tobacco,
and no better climate for this plant was to be found on the
globe. This had just been sufficiently proved, and a
suitable method of culture learned experimentally, when the
land was offered to individual proprietors by the king,
(James I.) Very little else was to be obtained from the soil
which would be of value to send to Europe, without an
application to it of a higher degree of art than the slaves,
or stupid, careless servants of the proprietors could
readily be forced to use. Although tobacco had been
introduced into England but a few years, an enormous number
of persons had initiated themselves in the appreciation of
its mysterious value.
"The king, having taken a violent prejudice against it,
though he saw no harm in the distillation of grain, had
forbidden that it should be cultivated in England. Virginia,
therefore, had every advantage to supply the demand.
Merchants and the super-cargoes of ships, arriving with
slaves from Africa, or manufactured goods, spirits, or other
luxuries from England, very gladly bartered them with the
planters for tobacco, but for nothing else. Tobacco,
therefore, stood for money, and the passion for raising it,
to the exclusion of everything else, became a mania, like
the 'California fever' of 1849.
"The culture being once established, there were many reasons
growing out of the social structure of the colony, which,
for more than a century, kept the industry of the Virginians
confined to this one staple. These reasons were chiefly the
difficulty of breaking the slaves, or training the
bond-servants to new methods of labor, the want of
enterprise or ingenuity of the proprietors to contrive other
profitable occupations for them, and the difficulty or
expense of distributing the guard or oversight, without
which it was impossible to get any work done at all, if the
laborers were separated, or worked in any other way than
side by side, in gangs, as in the tobacco-fields.
"Owing to these causes the planters kept on raising tobacco
with hardly sufficient intermission to provide sustenance,
though often, by reason of the excessive quantity raised,
scarcely anything could be got for it. Tobacco is not now
considered peculiarly and excessively exhaustive; in a
judicious rotation, especially as a preparation for wheat,
it is an admirable fallow crop, and, under a scientific
system of agriculture, it is grown with no continued
detriment to the soil. But in Virginia it was grown without
interruption or alternation, and the plantations rapidly
deteriorated in fertility. As they did so, the crops grew
smaller in proportion to the labor expended upon them; yet,
from the continued importation of laborers, the total crops
of the colony increased annually, and the market value fell
proportionately to the better supply.
"With smaller return for labor and lower prices, the
planters soon found themselves bankrupt, instead of nabobs.
How could they help themselves? Only by forcing the
merchants to pay them higher prices. But how to do that,
when every planter had his crop pledged in advance, and was
obliged to hurry it off at any price he could get for it, in
order to pay for his food, and drink, and clothing, and to
keep his head above water at credit for the following year.
The crop supplied more tobacco than was needed, but no one
man would cease to plant it, or lessen his crop for the
general good. Then it was agreed all men must be made to do
so, and the colonial legislature was called upon to make
them.
"Acts were accordingly passed to prevent any planter from
cultivating more than a certain number of plants to each
hand he employed in labor, and prescribing the number of
leaves which might be permitted to ripen upon each plant
permitted to be grown. An inspection of all tobacco, after
it had been prepared for market, was decreed, and the
inspectors were bound by oath, after having rejected all of
inferior quality, to divide the good into two equal parts,
and then to burn and destroy one of them. Thus, it was
expected the quantity of tobacco offered for sale would be
so small that merchants would be glad to pay better prices
for it, and the planters would be relieved of their
embarrassment."
Mrs. M. P. Handy gives the following interesting sketch, entitled "On
the Tobacco Plantation":--
[Illustration: "Burning the patch."]
"Riding through Southside, Virginia, any warm, bright
winter's day after Christmas, the stranger may be startled
to see a dense column of smoke rising from the forest
beyond. He anxiously inquires of the first person he
meets--probably a negro--if the woods are on fire. Cuffee
shows his white teeth in a grin that is half amusement, half
contempt, as he answers: 'No, sar, deys jis burnin' a
plant-patch.' For this is the first step in tobacco-culture.
"A sunny, sheltered spot on the southern slope of a hill is
selected, one protected from northern winds by the
surrounding forest, but open to the sun in front, and here
the hot-bed for the reception of the seed is prepared. All
growth is felled within the area needed, large dead logs are
dragged and heaped on the ground as for a holocaust, the
whole ignited, and the fire kept up until nothing is left of
the immense wood-heap but circles of the smoldering ashes.
These are afterward carefully plowed in; the soil,
fertilized still further, if need be, is harrowed and
prepared as though for a garden-bed, and the small brown
seed sown, from which is to spring the most widely-used of
man's useless luxuries. Later, when the spring fairly opens,
and the young plants in this primitive hot-bed are large and
strong enough to bear transplanting, the Virginian draws
them, as the New Englander does his cabbages, and plants
them in like manner, in hills from two to four feet apart
each way. Lucky is he whose plant-bed has escaped the fly,
the first enemy of the precious weed. Its attacks are made
upon it in the first stage of its existence, and are more
fatal, because less easily prevented, than those of the
tobacco-worm, that scourge, _par excellence_, of the tobacco
crop. Farmers often lose their entire stock of plants, and
are forced to send miles to beg or buy of a more fortunate
planter. Freshly-cleared land--'new ground,' as the negroes
call it--makes the best tobacco-field, and on this and the
rich lowlands throughout Southside is raised the staple
known through the world as James River tobacco.
"On this crop the planter lavishes his choicest fertilizers;
for the ranker the growth, the longer and larger the leaf,
the greater is the value thereof, though the manufacturers
complain bitterly of the free use of guano, which, they say,
destroys the resinous gum on which the value of the leaf
depends. Once set, the young plant must contend, not only
with the ordinary risk of transplanting, but the cut-worm is
now to be dreaded. Working underground, it severs the stem
just above the root, and the first intimation of its
presence is the prone and drooping plant. For this there is
no remedy, except to plant and replant, until the tobacco
itself kills the worm. In one instance, which came under our
observation, a single field was replanted six times before
the planter succeeded in getting 'a good stand,' as they
call it on the plantations; but this was an extreme case.
[Illustration: Stringing the primings.]
"When the plants are fairly started in their growth, the
planter tops and primes them, processes performed, the first
by pinching off the top bud, which would else run to seed,
and the second by removing the lower leaves of each plant,
leaving bare a space of some inches near the ground, and
retaining from six to a dozen stout, well-formed leaves on
each stem, according to the promise of the soil and season,
and these leaves form the crop. The rejected lower leaves or
primings, in the days of slavery, formed one of the
mistress' perquisites and were carefully collected by the
'house-gang,' as the force was styled, strung on small
sharp sticks like exaggerated meat-skewers, and cured, first
in the sun, afterwards in the barn, often placing a pretty
penny in her private purse. Now when all labor must be paid
for in money, they are not worth collecting, and, except
when some thrifty freedman has a large family which he
wishes to turn to account, are left to wither where they
fall.
"There is absolutely no rest on a large tobacco plantation,
one step following another in the cultivation of the
troublesome weed--the last year's crop is rarely shipped to
market before the seed must be sown for the next--and
planting and replanting, topping and priming, suckering and
worming, crowd on each other through all the summer months.
Withal the ground must be rigidly kept free from grass and
weeds, and after the plants have attained any size this must
be done by hoe; horse and plow would break and bruise the
brittle leaves.
"'Suckering' is performed by removing every leaf-bud which
the plant throws out after the priming (and topping), thus
retaining all its sap and strength for the development of
the leaves already formed, and this must be done again and
again through the whole season. Worming is still more
tedious and unremitting. In the animal kingdom there are
three creatures, and three only, to whom tobacco is not
poisonous--man, a goat found among the Andes, and the
tobacco-worm. This last is a long, smooth-skinned worm, its
body formed of successive knobs or rings, furnished each
with a pair of legs, large prominent eyes, and is in color
as green as the leaf upon which it feeds. It is found only
on the under side of the leaves, every one of which must be
carefully lifted and examined for its presence. Women make
better wormers than men, probably because they are more
patient and painstaking. When caught the worm is pulled
apart between the thumb and finger, for crushing it in the
soft mold of the carefully cultivated fields is impossible.
Carelessness in worming was an unpardonable offence in the
days of slavery, and was frequently punished with great
severity. An occasional penalty on some plantations--very
few, in justice to Virginia planters be it said--was to
compel the delinquent wormer to bite in two the disgusting
worm discovered in his or her row by the lynx-eyed overseer.
Valuable coadjutors in this work are the housewife's flock
of turkeys, which are allowed the range of the tobacco lots
near the house, and which destroy the worms by scores. The
moth, whose egg produces these larvæ, is a large white
miller of unusual size and prolificness. Liberal and kind
masters would frequently offer the negro children a reward
for every miller captured, and many were the pennies won in
this way. One of these insects, placed one evening under an
inverted tumbler, was found next morning to have deposited
over two hundred eggs on the glass.
[Illustration: Worming.]
"As the plant matures the leaves grow heavy, and, thick with
gum, droop gracefully over from the plant. Then as they
ripen, one by one the plants are cut, some inches below the
first leaves, with short stout knives,--scythe or reaper is
useless here,--and hung, heads down, on scaffolds, in the
open air, till ready to be taken to the barn. A Virginia
tobacco-barn is totally unlike any other building under the
sun. Square as to the ground plan, its height is usually
twice its width and length. In the center of the bare
earthen floor is the trench for firing; around the sides
runs a raised platform for placing the leaves in bulk; and,
commencing at a safe distance from the fire, up to the top
of the tall building, reach beams stretching across for the
reception of the tobacco-sticks, thick pine laths, from
which are suspended the heavy plants. Safely housed and
beyond all danger of the frost, whose slightest touch is
sufficient to blacken and destroy it, the crop is now ready
for firing, and through the late autumn days blue clouds of
smoke hover over and around the steep roofs of the tall
tobacco-barns. A stranger might suppose the buildings on
fire, but not a blaze is within, the object here, as in
bacon-curing, being _smoke_, not _fire_.
"For this the old field-pine is eschewed, and the planter
draws on his stock of oak and hickory-trees. Many use
sassafras and sweet gum in preference to all other woods for
this purpose, under the impression that they improve the
flavor of the tobacco-leaf. When the leaves, fully cured,
have taken the rich brown hue of the tobacco of commerce, so
unlike the deep green of the growing plant that a person
familiar with the one would never recognize the other as the
same plant, the planter must fold his hands and wait until
they are in condition for what is technically known as
striking, i. e., taking down from the rafters on which they
are suspended. Touch the tobacco when too dry and it
crumbles, disturb it when too high or damp, and its value
for shipping is materially lessened, while if handled in too
cold weather it becomes harsh. But there comes a mild damp
spell, and the watchful planter seizing the right moment,
since tobacco, like time and tide, waits for no man, musters
all the force he can command for the work of stripping and
stemming. This done, the leaves are sorted and tied in
bundles, several being held in one hand, while around the
stalk-end of the cluster is wrapped another leaf, the loose
end of which is tucked through the center of the bundle.
Great care is taken in this operation not to break the leaf,
and oil or lard is freely used in the work. During this
process the crop is divided into the various grades of
commerce from 'long bright' leaf to 'lugs' the lowest grade
known to manufacturers. These last are not packed into
hogsheads, but are sent loose, and sold without the trouble
of prizing, in the nearest market-town.
"Shades imperceptible to a novice, serve to determine the
value of the leaf. As it varies in color, texture, and
length, so fluctuates its market price, and at least half
the battle lies in the manner in which the crop has been
handled in curing. From the mountainous counties of
South-western Virginia, Franklin, Henry, and Patrick, comes
all the rarest and the most valuable tobacco, 'fancy
wrappers' but these crops are smaller in proportion to those
raised along the lowlands of the rivers. This tobacco is
much lighter in color, much softer in texture, than the
ordinary staple, and is frequently as soft and fine as silk.
Some years ago a bonnet made of this tobacco was exhibited
at the Border Agricultural Fair, and had somewhat the
appearance of brown silk. Only one such plant have I ever
seen grown in Southside, and that, a bright golden brown,
and nearly two feet in length, was carefully preserved for
show on the parlor-mantel of the planter who raised it.
"After tying, the bundles are placed in bulk, and when again
'in order,' are 'prized' or packed into the hogsheads,--no
smoothly-planed and iron-hooped cask, by the way, but huge
pine structures very roughly made. The old machine for
prizing was a primitive affair, the upright beam through
which ran another at right angles, turning slightly on a
pivot, heavily weighted at one end, and used as a lever for
compressing the brown mass into the hogsheads. Now, most
well-to-do planters own a tobacco straightener and
screw-press, inventions which materially lessen the manual
labor of preparing the crop for market. Each hogshead is
branded with the name of the owner, and thus shipped to his
commission-merchant, when the hogshead is 'broken' by
tearing off a stave, thus exposing the strata of the bulk to
view. Of late years some planters have been guilty of
'nesting,' or placing prime leaf around the outer part and
an inferior article in the center of the hogshead.
"At a tobacco mart in Southside, occurred perhaps the only
instance of negro-selling since the establishment of the
Freedman's Bureau. At every town is a huge platform scale
for weighing wagon and load, deducting the weight of the
former from the united weight of both to find the quantity
of tobacco offered for sale. A small planter has brought a
lot of loose tobacco to market, which, being sold, was
weighed in this manner, and for which the purchaser was
about to pay, when a bystander quietly remarked, 'You forgot
to weigh the nigger.' An explanation followed, and the
tobacco, re-weighed, was found short 158 lbs., or the exact
weight of the colored driver, who had, unobserved, been
standing on the scales behind the cart while the first
weighing took place.
"Thirty years or more ago--before the Danville and Southside
Railroads were built--the tobacco was principally carried to
market on flat-boats, and the refrain to a favorite negro
song was:--
"'Oh, I'm gwine down to Town!
An' I'm gwine down to Town!
I'm gwine down to Richmond Town
To cayr my 'bacca down!'
"Then all along the rivers, at every landing, was a tobacco
warehouse, the ruins of some of which may still be seen.
With no crop has the Emancipation Act interfered so much as
with this, and the old tobacco planters will tell you with a
sigh that tobacco no longer yields them the profits it once
did: the manufacturers are the only people who make fortunes
on it now-a-days; $12 per hundred is the lowest price which
pays for the raising, and few crops average that now. Still
every farmer essays its culture, every freedman has his
email tobacco patch by his cabin door, and the Indian weed
is still the great staple of Eastern Virginia."
The first planters of tobacco at the West were the Ohioans, who began
its culture about fifty years ago. From the first they have taken much
interest in the plant, and as the result of many experiments not only
produce seed leaf, but the finest cutting leaf grown in this country.
The Ohio tobacco growers have shown a spirit of enterprise in this
direction that is as commendable as it is rare. While they have not
tested the great tropical varieties like their brother tobacco growers
of Connecticut, they have succeeded in producing a leaf for cutting
that is the admiration of the world. At first their experiments were
unsuccessful, and the early growers were ridiculed for entertaining
the belief that tobacco could be grown at the West. Yet despite all
objections and seeming failures, the growers continued its cultivation
until it has become one of the great products of the State. Of late
the Ohio growers have demonstrated that their soil is better adapted
for the finer grades of cutting leaf, than for seed leaf or even the
more common "cinnamon blotch."
The soil is rich, and an experience of half a century has at length
given them a thorough knowledge of the plant and the most successful
modes of cultivation. In appearance an Ohio tobacco field resembles
those of the Connecticut valley--the leaf is large, and though
coarser, cures down a dark rich brown, like "cinnamon blotch," or a
light yellow, the color of the famous "white tobacco." The Ohio
growers have taken much pains with the Ohio broad leaf, and have
produced a seed leaf tobacco that in many respects is a superior
wrapper for cigars. While it does not possess the fine texture of
Connecticut seed leaf it still has many good qualities, and with the
careful culture given it will doubtless become still finer as a leaf
tobacco, for wrapping cigars. But it is in the production of cutting
leaf that the Ohio growers take rank, and ere long will supply the
vast demand made upon them for their great cutting variety.
[Illustration: Ohio tobacco field.]
With a degree of pride peculiar to all tobacco growers, (when any new
variety has originated,) they point with no little egotism to their
fields of "white tobacco," and ask their fellow-growers of New England
to rival this "great plant." So successful have they been of late with
cutting leaf, that their fields yield them returns not inferior to
many of the choicest tobacco farms on the Connecticut River. The Ohio
growers have one advantage over earlier growers of the plant--their
land has not been cultivated as long as the famous tobacco lands of
the Connecticut valley, and does not require that thorough fertilizing
which is so necessary in New England. Still the tobacco field cannot
be too thoroughly prepared for the growth of tobacco, whether in the
tropics or in the more temperate regions.
In the curing of tobacco, the Ohio growers have but few equals, and no
superiors. At first, the complaint made by the buyers of Ohio tobacco
was, that "Ohio tobacco has the appearance of being too hard fired,
indeed so much so as to have the flavor of being baked." The early
culture of tobacco in the State attracted the attention of tobacco
buyers, especially those who had dealt largely in Maryland leaf, and
so much so, that one large firm issued a circular and sent to all the
prominent growers in the tobacco growing section giving instructions
in regard to its cultivation and management. We copy from one lying
before us, and dated 1842. It reads as follows:
"As tobacco is every
year becoming a more prominent article in your State, we
deem it of so much importance that we have had this circular
printed on the subject of its Cultivation and Management,
and take the liberty to address it to you. New ground
produces the finest and highest priced tobacco. The plants
should be set about 2 feet 9 inches or three feet apart,
which will give them sufficient air and sun to ripen, and
give the leaf a good body. It should be topped as soon as it
buttons, kept clear of suckers, and cut as soon as it is
ripe--if favorable weather, it will be fit for the house in
15 to twenty days after it is topped.
"When cut, let it remain until sufficiently lank to handle
without breaking; but it should be housed before it is
sun-killed, or much deadened, to prevent which, put it up in
small heaps, say as much as a man can carry, with the heads
to the sun, as soon as cut, and even then the top plants may
be too much deadened, unless soon removed to the house. If
sun-killed, it will not cure fine. The Maryland system is to
fire without flues, and when the precaution is taken to lay
planks or boards directly over the fire, accidents seldom
occur.
"Slow fires are kept up for the first four or five days
after the house is filled, so as to give it a moderate heat
throughout, until the Tobacco is generally yellow, then the
fires are raised or increased so as to kill the leaf and
stem in forty-eight hours or less. When cured on the stock,
as is done in Maryland, it can be better assorted, or the
different qualities more readily separated than when
stripped in the field and cured in the leaf. When stripping
and tying up in bundles, it should be assorted according to
the following classifications: 1st, Fine Yellow; 2d, Yellow;
3d, Spangled; 4th, Fine Red; 5th, Good Red; 6th, Brown and
Common. It is often put up as if there were but two or three
qualities, hence there is a great mixture of the several
sorts, which is a very serious disadvantage in selling, as
the purchaser generally values it at the price of the most
inferior in the sample.
"The process of curing unfired, or air-dried tobacco, is
similar to the above, except the firing; when so cured, it
is more difficult to condition, so as to make it keep; but
it generally sells quite as well. Planters should be very
careful to have their Tobacco in good dry condition when
they deliver it to the dealer or purchaser, as it is
all-important to him to receive it free from dampness or
moisture, which bruises it and injures its quality. We think
such management as directed above would raise the value of
Ohio tobacco as high as similar quality of Maryland."
[Illustration: Tobacco warehouse.]
As when first cultivated, the Ohio growers still select new land as
the best adapted for tobacco, though not as easy of cultivation. When
the tobacco growers are ready for preparing their "new ground" they
invite in their friends and neighbors, and the field is "grubbed" in a
short time. "Grubbing Day," with the young people, is an event of no
common interest; the farmers gather from the adjoining farms and with
mirth and muscle soon render the field fit for the "Indian herb." In
the evening, the planter's home is filled with the young people, bent
on having a right good time, and with "stripping the willow" and other
games, close the day if not the night in the most enjoyable manner.
Many of the country merchants take the tobacco of the growers when in
condition to handle, paying them (or at least a portion of it,) in
goods, or purchasing the tobacco as they do other merchandise. They
have large warehouses where they receive and pack the tobacco until
shipped to market. In the early Spring the growers take their tobacco
to the workhouses, where it is packed by the merchants who frequently
have a claim on the crop for advances made on the same.
Having given a description of the Connecticut, Virginia and Ohio
tobacco growers, we come now to the most extensive cultivators of
tobacco in America--the Kentuckians. With the exception of the
Virginians they are the oldest growers of the plant in the United
States,[65] and are confessedly among the most thorough cultivators of
the plant in the world. The soil of Kentucky is admirably adapted for
the great staple, and along the banks of the Green River may be seen
the largest tobacco fields in the world. The plant attains a large
size, and grows with a luxuriance common to all products grown in the
famous "blue grass" region.
[Footnote 65: Kentucky was originally a part of
Virginia.]
[Illustration: Kentucky tobacco plantation.]
The system adopted by the Kentucky growers is similar to that adopted
by all growers of cut tobacco, and the fine quality of Kentucky
"selections" has deservedly gained the leaf a reputation that must
place it in the front rank of American tobacco. The vast quantity
grown in the state is an evidence not only of the good quality of
Kentucky tobacco, but of the adaptation of the soil and of the method
of cultivation in use. As a cut tobacco, Kentucky-leaf is held in the
highest esteem, the exportation of the leaf to all parts of Europe
gaining for it a reputation hardly equaled by any Southern tobacco.
The system of cultivation is similar to that pursued by the Virginian,
and the same process of curing is also adopted.
The Kentucky growers generally succeed in getting a "good stand" and
when once the plants have commenced to grow they come forward with a
rapidity that is truly astonishing. The soil of Kentucky is well
adapted for the production of the largest varieties of tobacco as well
as the finest grades of cutting leaf. Much attention is paid to the
selection of soil, that the light standard of Kentucky leaf may be
further advanced. On the large plantations a vast amount of tobacco is
grown, in some instances equaling the entire product of some of the
tobacco-growing towns in the Connecticut Valley. The tobacco is packed
in hogsheads, each one containing twelve hundred pounds, the same as
in Virginia and Missouri.
The Kentucky planter prides himself on the superior quality of
tobacco, as well as his famous blooded stock. If there is anything
more remarkable than the high character of the latter, it must
certainly be the renowned plant which has given the wealthy planters
of Kentucky a national popularity among all cultivators of tobacco.
The Kentuckians are thorough in all of their methods of cultivation,
and with the first stock and tobacco farms in the country bid fair to
achieve still further honors as "tillers of the soil." Possessed of
the largest means, they have brought their farms up to a high state of
cultivation, and produce in their famous valleys the very finest of
Nature's products.
Kentucky planters are men of the largest endowments; Nature, in her
gifts to them has been most lavish, and the princely fortunes which
they have acquired shows how well they have benefited by her
munificence. In manners affable, and in benevolence unsurpassed, the
Kentucky planter gains the plaudits of all. He is polite to both
friend and foe, and possessed with all of that polished manner which
marks the true gentleman, and especially all growers of the "kingly
plant." Easy of approach, he has still that reserve that bids all
sycophants mark well their conduct and demeanor. On the plantation or
at the race, the Kentuckian is ever in his best mood for recreation
and enjoyment.
[Illustration: The Kentucky planter.]
His attachment for the horse has developed qualities of patience and
thoroughness that are shown elsewhere than on the "course." Benefiting
by years of training and study, the success that follows his efforts
shows at once that such talents are not confined to a single field of
operations. In many respects like the Virginia planter, they differ
somewhat in their taste in all that pertains to the turf and the
field. But we would not lose sight, among his many noble traits of
character, of that love of his State that pre-eminently characterizes
the Kentuckian. He is justly proud of her soil and of her sons, and
whether in the halls of Congress or on the field of carnage and blood,
fears not to maintain the honor and safety of the one and the other.
It is surprising to one acquainted with the growth of tobacco and the
value of the Southern States for its production that so small an area
of land is devoted to its culture in Georgia, Florida and Louisiana.
When owned by Spain, West Florida was noted for its tobacco, and
produced large quantities which were exported to Spain and France. The
soil of Florida is well adapted for tobacco, and the rich hummock
lands produce an excellent quality for cigars, not unlike Havana leaf.
Its cultivation has been tried in various parts of the State, but the
result has not warranted its cultivation to any great extent
excepting in Gadsden County where the plant flourishes as well as in
Cuba.
The seed used in Havana and the plant resembles it so closely that
even Cuban planters cannot distinguish it from that grown on the
island. The mode of cultivation is nearly the same, and the soil is
said to produce a leaf of tobacco similar to that of the celebrated
Vuelta de Albajo. Formerly the product was sent to New Orleans, and
the leaf was pronounced by some dealers to be bitter, but most of them
considered it valuable. The planter selects the high lands or
hummocks, the soil of which is light and rich for the tobacco field.
The plants are carefully drawn from the bed, and transplanted
afterwards. The mode of culture is to plow between the rows and hoe
the plants carefully.
A Florida tobacco field in appearance is not unlike a _vega_, or Cuba
tobacco field; the same luxuriant growth of the forest may be seen on
every hand, and the "queen of herbs" grows underneath or near the
fragrant Orange and the stately Magnolia. The soil of Gadsden County
is in some respects unlike that of the rest of the State in that there
is an entire absence of limestone, which is found elsewhere all
through Florida. The climate of the State is well adapted for the
growth of tobacco, and is less changeable on the Gulf side than along
the Atlantic coast.
Formerly larger crops were raised than now. Under the old _régime_
when on every plantation were a score or more of idle negro urchins, a
large portion of the labor could be performed by them, such as
worming, dropping the plants, and picking up the primings, while now
the labor has to be paid for in money or its equivalent. At this time,
the "wrapper leaf" was considered to be among the best for cigars, and
brought high prices. In the days of slavery, tobacco was considered to
be as profitable as the cotton crop, and good tobacco plantations were
considered to be the most valuable in the State.
[Illustration: Florida tobacco plantation.]
This peculiar tobacco region is without doubt capable, with proper
management, of producing a superior article for cigars, both wrappers
and fillers, and when grown on "new ground" the staple is exceedingly
fine. The leaf cures as rapidly, and is of as good color as in Cuba,
and in a favorable season and when harvested fully ripe, is destitute
of that bitter taste formerly ascribed to it. The plants grow large,
and have that smooth, shiny appearance peculiar to Havana tobacco, the
leaves growing erect, and frequently covered with "specks" or "white
rust," one of the best evidences of a fine flavored and a good-burning
tobacco. A Florida tobacco-grower gives the following account of the
plant:
"The Gadsden 'wrapper-leaf' was always in high repute, and
extensively used in the manufacture of cigars, being in
size, firmness, and texture fully equal to the best Cuba,
and far superior to the Connecticut seed-leaf. Where the
variety known as the Cuba filler has been tried, it has
succeeded finely in this county, possessing that delicate
and peculiar aroma so highly prized in the Havana cigars. We
need but the capital to make the most profitable crop that
is grown. It is a fact, that of all the counties of the
State, many of them abounding in the very finest soil,
Gadsden is the only one that has succeeded in making the
Cuba tobacco a staple market-crop. Prior to 1860 it rivaled
in net returns the great staple cotton, and from present
indications, it is about to resume its former status among
the great agricultural products of the country."
"Whether this success is attributable to any peculiarity in
the elements of the soil, I am not able to determine, but
this fact is worthy of note, that, except immediately on the
banks of the Apalachicola River, which forms the Western
boundary of the County, there is an entire absence of the
rotten limestone which so largely pervades the other
sections of the State. For the planter of limited means,
there is no crop so well suited to his condition as the Cuba
tobacco. To produce a given result there is a less area of
land required than is demanded for the production of any
other field crop. The cultivation, harvesting, and
preparation for market is simple, and the labor so light
that it may be participated in by every member of the
family, male and female, over six years of age. The growth
of the plant is so rapid, and its arrival at maturity so
quick, that it never interferes with any of the provision
crops, and rarely with a moderate cotton crop."
In Louisiana the tobacco plant flourishes well and grows as well and
as luxuriantly as sugar cane. Even along the banks of the Mississippi
the plants attain good size, and succeed as finely as in some of the
other parishes in the interior of the State. The Perique and Louisiana
tobacco are the principal varieties cultivated, and attain nearly the
size of Connecticut seed leaf. In St. James parish the soil seems well
adapted for Perique tobacco, and here it readily takes on that black
hue that is one of the peculiar features of this singular variety. In
Coddo parish tobacco is cultivated to some extent, but does not
produce a leaf equal to that grown in St. James Parish. The tobacco
grown in the Parishes of Bossier and Natchitoches is used chiefly by
the growers of the parishes and is fitted for both smoking and snuff.
The Louisiana planters have adopted the method of the French in doing
up their tobacco--twisting it in rolls, or as the French call them,
"Carrots." The planters of St. James Parish annually put up from ten
to fourteen thousand carrots of Perique, each carrot weighing about
four pounds.
Mr. Perique, from whom the tobacco takes its name, made many
improvements in the manner of preparing the tobacco for market, one
of which consisted in taking up the twisted lumps (after remaining in
press for six months), spreading them to fifteen or sixteen inches in
length and having completed four pounds in weight, rolling it into a
lump which retained its shape by means of a rope one-fourth inch in
diameter, tightly twisted around it. The labor in pressing and
twisting is entirely done by hand, and attended to with the most
scrupulous care.
[Illustration: Louisiana tobacco plantation.]
The Creole planters sometimes raise two, and even three crops on the
same field, two of them being the growths of suckers or shoots from
the parent stock or stump. The growers of Perique tobacco have tested
Havana seed, but can see but little difference between the product and
that from Virginia or Kentucky tobacco seed, while the growth is much
smaller. In color Louisiana tobacco is very dark, entirely different
from any other variety grown in the Mississippi valley.
Some few years since tobacco culture was introduced into California,
and the belief then entertained by those who planted the consoling
weed, that the state would soon become as famous for raising tobacco
as she now is for producing wheat and gold seem likely to be
realized. The soil and climate of California are admirably adapted for
tobacco. In the valleys the land is a deep alluvial loam, easily
worked, producing bountiful crops of the finest leaf tobacco. The
planters have experimented with several varieties, including Havana,
Florida, Latakia, Hungarian, Mexican, Virginia, Connecticut, Standard
and White leaf. Large crops are grown, especially of Florida tobacco,
which, with careful culture, produces two thousand five hundred pounds
of merchantable leaf to the acre. The planters get their Havana seed
from Cuba, preferring to do so rather than to risk the seed from their
own plants. At first they used home-grown seed and could not see any
serious deterioration or change in the quality of the tobacco, but a
singular change in the form of the leaf took place. That from
home-grown seed grew longer, and the veins or ribs, which in Havana
tobacco stand out at right angles from the leaf stalks took an acute
angle, and thus became longer and made up a greater part of the leaf.
Of Florida tobacco the home-grown seed comes true.
Tobacco is now being tested in the several counties in the State and
with every promise of success. Many of the ranches seem well adapted
for the plant and the planters are confident by their new process of
curing, of being able to produce an article equal to the best Havana
brand. The plants attain a remarkable size, and grow up like many
kinds of tropical vegetation, without much care being bestowed upon
them, although the plants are regularly cultivated and hoed. The
planters are not troubled with that foe of most tobacco fields, "the
worm." They attribute this in part to the excellence of their soil and
partly to the abundance of birds and yellow jackets. The planters do
not always "top" the Havana and do very little "suckering." If the
ground is rich, and free from weeds they let one of the suckers from
that root grow, and thus become almost as large and heavy as the
original plant. They believe that the soil is strong enough to bear
the plants and suckers, and that they get a better leaf and finer
quality without suckering.
In summer the roads are very dusty in California, and this dust is a
disadvantage to the tobacco planter. On some of the plantations double
rows of shade trees are planted along the main roads, and gravel is
spread on the interior roads; and to protect the fields of tobacco
from the high winds which sweep through the California valley, almonds
and cottonwoods are planted for wind-breaks in the fields.
Some of the planters employ Chinese to cultivate the plants, who are
very careful in hoeing and weeding the tobacco, living an apparently
jolly life in shanties near the fields. A witty California
correspondent of the _Tobacco Leaf_ writes concerning the early
cultivation of tobacco in that State:
"We are doing a great many other things in California now
besides raising grain, fruit, wine, wool, and gold. We are
doing a lively business in tobacco. Fifteen years ago I was
down East on one occasion when they were gathering the
tobacco crop--which goes to New York, and, by a process
equal to wine making, becomes Havana tobacco. It struck me
that this country was admirably adapted to its cultivation,
and I brought back some seed, which I gave to a friend
living on the bank of the Sacramento River, instructing him
to plant it as per direction given me. We sat down and
calculated the immense fortune we would make raising
tobacco, if the experiment was a success. A week later my
friend, who was an impatient sort of a fellow, wrote me just
a line--'No results.' I replied, and asked him if he
expected a crop of tobacco in seven days. A few weeks later
he wrote, 'Here she comes;' two weeks later, 'How big is the
stuff to be?' two weeks later, 'Not room for tobacco and me
too. Who shall quit?' I heard no more for a month and
thought I would go up and see it. I did so, and the
steamboat landed me at my friend's ranch. I could not see
the house, and hallooed. I heard an answer from the depths,
and then following a path, I found my friend swinging in a
hammock in the shade of a grove of tobacco trees. I desire
to maintain my reputation for truth and veracity, so
necessary to a correspondent, so I won't say how big or how
high those tobacco plants were; but my friend's hammock was
slung from them--and he was no feather-weight--the leaves
completely embowered the cottage. I congratulated him on the
results--such a grove and such a shade--and moreover I
said, 'You will be permanently rid of mosquitoes.' 'Will I!'
said he. 'Do you know that these gallinippers have learned
to chew already, and the habit is spreading so that all the
old he-fellows are coming down from Marysville to take a
hand.' I inquired if my friend had cured any or smoked any.
He pointed to a Manyanita pipe split open on the ground, and
said. 'Before it was real strong, some three weeks ago, I
tried a leaf in that pipe. Observe the result--busted it the
second whiff, and knocked me off the log I was sitting on.'
Such was the first experiment in tobacco raising in
California. But now they have learned the trick. They have
searched the State for the poorest and most barren soil,
and, having found it are cultivating a splendid article of
genuine Havana leaf tobacco, manufacturing cigars as good as
you get one time in twenty even in Havana, making several
brands of smoking tobacco, and, lastly, an article of
Louisiana perique, ('peruke' proper,) that any old smoker
would go into ecstasies over, fully equal, it is said to the
genuine old-fashioned article, and that is saying a good
deal. Now if we can supply the world with cigars and
tobacco, we have got a dead sure thing for the future, even
if gold gives out, grain fails and the pigs eat up all the
fruit. Your people who have been paying fifteen cents apiece
for genuine Havana cigars imported direct from--Connecticut,
should rejoice and join in an earnest _hooray!_"
In Mexico the tobacco plantations exhibit a diversity of scenery not
met with in other portions of America. The soil is well adapted for
the crop, and on many of the plantations in the Gulf States the plant
grows as finely as on any of the _vegas_ of Cuba. The Mexicans are
among the best cultivators of the plant in the world, and, like the
Turks, prefer its culture to that of any product grown. The plant is a
strong, vigorous grower, and ripens early, emitting an odor like that
of Havana tobacco. The climate is so favorable that from one to three
crops can be grown on the same field in one year, and yield a
bountiful harvest without seemingly impoverishing the soil.[66]
Transplanted in the summer or autumn, the plants grow through the
winter months, and in spring are gathered and taken to the sheds.
Sartorius, in his work on Mexico, says of its culture on the
plantation:--
[Footnote 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."]
[Illustration: Mexican tobacco plantation.]
"Various kinds of tobacco are planted, mostly that with the
short, dingy, yellow blossoms, which has a very large,
strong leaf. But there is little doubt that the sorts would
be more carefully selected, if the trade were not fettered
by the monopoly. Most of the government planters enter into
an arrangement with the small farmers and peasants who have
to grow a certain number of plants, on conditions of handing
over the harvest at a low figure--six to eight dollars per
crop. These _aviados_ receive something in advance, and
their chief profit consists in securing the sand leaf and
the greater part of the after-harvest, which they sell to
the contrabandists. It is indeed allowed to export whatever
remains; but it is attended with so many annoyances from the
authorities, that it is never attempted. The many ships
which enter the Mexican harbor of the east coast with
European manufactures, find no return freight except gold
and silver, cochineal, vanilla, a few drugs and goat skins,
all of which take up very little room in the ships (money is
usually sent off in the English government steamers);
consequently they must either proceed to Laguna to buy
log-wood, or they must take in sugar, coffee, or tobacco, in
a Cuban or Haytian port. As soon as tobacco becomes an
export article, its cultivation must increase immensely in
the Coast States, the Mexican being very partial to this
branch of agriculture, which occupies him part of the year
only."
Mayer also alludes as follows to the same subject:--
"A large portion of the tobacco sold in the republic is
contraband; for the ridiculous and greedy restrictions and
exactions with which a plant of such universal consumption
is surrounded, necessarily disposes the people to violate
laws which they feel were only made to impair their rights
of production and trade under a constitution professing to
be free."
The government planters in the State of Vera Cruz have large, fine
plantations, and the plants are carefully tended and cultivated as in
all countries where tobacco is a government monopoly. On each plant a
certain number of leaves are taken off, including the sand leaf, which
is thrown away, and everything in the way of topping and suckering
performed as carefully as on the tobacco farms in Cuba. The small
farmers who raise only a few thousand plants are not as careful as the
large planters, and are sometimes guilty of planting more than the
number agreed upon, while the mountain passes towards the table-land
are carefully guarded to prevent smuggling of the crop, which is far
more remunerative than selling to the government.
We will now take the reader to the primitive tobacco plantations of
America about the middle of the Sixteenth Century. The plantations
were not located in Cuba as many have supposed but what has been
variously named Hispaniola, Hayti, and St. Domingo. It was in this
island that the Spaniards first began the cultivation of tobacco and
inaugurated (under the guise of Christianity) that career of monstrous
cruelty, with which their insatiable appetite for the burning of
heretics and for the baiting of bulls so well accords. In 1509, Diego
Columbus, the eldest son of the great discoverer, assumed in St.
Domingo, or as it was then called, Hispaniola, the vice-regal powers
which had been intrusted to him. Diego as portrayed by the historian
"was a man as noble as his father, and almost as gifted; and he had
his father's fate. Like his father, he had to bear all that Spanish
envy and Spanish malignity could inflict. In 1511, Diego Columbus sent
Diego Velasquez to conquer Cuba." From historians Velasquez gets a
better character than most of the _Conquistadores_, who in general
were as ferocious as they were audacious and fortunate. No serious
opposition was or could be offered. With the name of Velasquez the
prosperity of Cuba is inseparably identified. As Governor of Cuba he
was a vigorous colonizer and civilizer. He founded Havana, which he
called the Key of the New World, and which is said to rank as the
eighth place in the hierarchy of commercial cities. Havana, however
had long been flourishing before the seat of Government had been
transferred to it from Santiago. It was Velasquez who introduced
slavery into Cuba; and it was during his vice-royalty and under his
sanction that those memorable exploratory and conquering expeditions
began, the most astonishing of which was that to Mexico, led by
Cortez, the insubordinate lieutenant of Velasquez, whose death is said
to have been hastened by the rebellious and ungrateful conduct of
Cortez, and perhaps by the spectacle of such immense and rapid
success. The agricultural, commercial, and general growth of the West
India islands at this period would have been much more rapid if the
Spaniards had not annihilated the native population, and if they had
not been exposed to incessant piratical attacks. These were often of
the most desolating kind. In 1688, the city of Puerto Principe was
plundered and destroyed. From its strongly fortified position Havana
set the buccaneers at defiance, and sometimes saved the whole island
from ruin.
[Illustration: St. Domingo tobacco field, 1535.]
The exact period of the first cultivation of tobacco in St. Domingo is
not known, but we find that as early as 1535 the negroes had
habituated themselves to the use of it in the plantations of their
master. Soon however its cultivation increased, and during the latter
part of the Sixteenth Century the Spaniards shipped vast quantities
to Europe, a very large amount of which found its way to England,
where it brought fabulous prices. The Spaniards, by the application of
the lash and other cruelties, extorted from the negroes an amount of
labor never equaled by any other task masters in the world. Forcing
these slaves to labor on the plantations from morning until night,
with the fierce rays of a tropical sun shining full upon their
uncovered backs, and goaded on to the performance of the severest
toil, is it any wonder that the haughty cavaliers of Spain grew rich
from their industry, and feasted on the products of the Indies.
Cultivated on the rich soil of this fertile island, the tobacco of St.
Domingo had no competitor, until the Spaniards began its culture a
little later on the island of Trinidad, the product of which in time
stood at the head of all the tobaccos of the Indies and of South
America. The tobacco trade at this time was wholly controlled by the
Spaniards, who, though successful in this direction, made but slow
progress in colonization. Compared in the British colonies in the New
World, the Spanish possessions were weak and incompetent, and for all
their advantages in their great product, it was ultimately rivaled by
the English Colonial tobacco. In the conquest of the New World,
Spanish energy and enterprise seem to have exhausted themselves; and
as Spain was declining, its colonies could not be expected rapidly to
advance. The history of the Spanish conquest in America is a record of
cruelty and of blood, while that of English colonization is marked by
English rigor and enterprise, and is one of successful daring and
ultimate triumph.
The West India plantations, however, were still worked, and for more
than a century St. Domingo yielded a vast amount of tobacco, until the
soil of Cuba was found to be better adapted for its production than
any other of the West India islands, not excepting even the island of
Trinidad.
Hazard, in his work on Cuba, describes the celebrated _vegas_ or
tobacco plantations, of the island as follows:
[Illustration: A Cuban _vega_.]
"The best properties known as _vegas_, or tobacco farms, are
comprised in a narrow area in the south-west part of the
island, about twenty-seven leagues broad. Near the western
extremity of the Island of Cuba, on the southern coast, is
found one of the finest tobaccos in the world. Within a
space of seventy-three miles long and eighteen miles wide,
grows the plant that stands as eminent among tobacco plants
as the lordly Johannisberger among the wines of the Rhine.
Shut in on the north by mountains, and south-west by the
ocean, Pinar del Rio being the principal point in the
district. These _vegas_ are found generally on the margins
of rivers, or in low, moist localities, their ordinary size
being not more than a _coballeria_, which amounts to about
thirty-three acres of our measurement. The half of this is
also most frequently devoted to the raising of the vegetable
known as the _platano_ (banana), which may be said to be the
bread of the lower classes. A few other small vegetables are
raised. The usual buildings upon such places are a dwelling
house, a drying-house, a few sheds for cattle, and perhaps a
small _bohio_ (hut), or two, made in the rudest manner, for
the shelter of the hands, who, upon some of the very largest
places number twenty or thirty, though not always
negroes--for this portion of the labor of the island seems
to be performed by the lower classes of whites. Some of the
places that are large have a mayoral, as he is called, a man
whose business it is to look after the negroes, and direct
the agricultural labors; but, as a general thing, the
planter, who is not always the owner of the property, but
simply the lessee, lives upon, directs, and governs the
place.
"Guided by the results of a long experience transmitted from
his ancestors (says a Spanish author), the farmer knows,
without being able to explain himself, the means of
augmenting or diminishing the strength or the mildness of
the tobacco. His right hand, as if guided by an instinct,
foresees what buds it is necessary to take off in order to
put a limit to the increase or height, and what amount of
trimming is necessary to give a chance to the proper
quantity of leaves. But the principal care, and that which
occupies him in his waking hours, is the extermination of
the voracious insects that persecute the plant. One called
_cachaga_ domesticates itself at the foot of the leaves; the
_verde_, on the under side of the leaves; the _rosquilla_,
in the heart of the plant; all of them doing more or less
damage. The planter passes entire nights, provided with
lights, clearing the buds just opening, of these destructive
insects. He has even to carry on a war with still worse
enemies,--the _vivijagnas_, a species of large, native ants,
that are to the tobacco what the locust is to the wheat.
This plague is so great, at times, that prayers and special
adoration are offered up to San Marcial to intercede against
the plague of ants.
"The plant, whose original name was _cohiba_, seems to have
been cultivated first by Europeans on the island in the
vicinity of Havana. The island of Cuba is without doubt
well adapted for the cultivation of tobacco--the soil,
climate, and improved methods of culture all tend to the
production of a leaf tobacco as celebrated as it is
valuable.
[Illustration: Killing bugs by night.]
"Between the 'Lower Valley,' in the Nicotian, not the
geographical, sense of these words, lie the so-called
_Partidos_ which produce the tobacco that is sent to Europe
as _Partido_ or _Cabañas_. The leaf often surpasses that of
the 'Lower Valley' in size and fineness, as well as in the
beauty of the color; but it is inferior in quality. The
tobacco farmers though stalwart fellows are not fond of
work, and too often waste their time at the tavern. Many of
them from thriftlessness are plunged into debt; and scarcely
is the harvest ended when they borrow money from the tobacco
merchant on the following harvest, who thereby obtains the
right to interfere, it may be despotically, with the
management of the crop. Continual embarrassments tempt the
tobacco planters to be dishonest. To cheat their creditors,
they often sell the best part of the crop in underhand
fashion. Such of the tobacco farmers as wish to produce a
great deal of tobacco, without regard to the excellence of
the article, leave the plant to its natural growth, which is
both scientifically and otherwise objectionable, for it is
on a process of thinning and pruning a due diffusion of sap
in the leaves depends, and consequently the quality of the
tobacco."
The tobacco, after being baled, is sent to the Havana market. The
bales of tobacco are carried on the backs of mules or horses to the
city or to the nearest railway station.
[Illustration: Going to market.]
"In the long line or train of mules or horses, the head of
one mule or horse is tied to the tail of the one before it.
On the back of the foremost sits the driver. The hindmost
carries a bell, which enables the driver to know whether any
of the animals have broken loose."
From the description given by Hazard of Cuba, its soil, climate, and
other resources, it will readily be seen by all acquainted with the
tobacco plant that this famous island is well adapted for the
production of a tobacco that for fineness and delicacy of flavor is
hardly rivaled. With the peculiar composition of the soil, and with a
climate well adapted for the perfection of all kinds of tropical
plants and fruits, it can hardly be imagined that any finer variety of
tobacco can be grown than that produced in Cuba and the adjoining
islands. Doubtless the climate of Cuba is nearly the same as when
Columbus discovered the island, and wrote in such extravagant
language its praise. The soil of Cuba is prolific, and the variety of
tropical plants and fruits grown upon the island is quite remarkable.
Nowhere is this seen to a greater extent than in the varieties of
tobacco cultivated. Although there are several kinds and qualities
grown on the island, the mode of culture upon all the _vegas_ is
nearly the same. These _vegas_ or tobacco farms greatly outnumber the
coffee and sugar estates, but are much smaller, and require a less
number of hands to work them. Hazard estimates the number at ten
thousand, while they are constantly increasing as new fields are being
tried and new modes of culture introduced. Russell says of tobacco
culture in Cuba:--
"In regard to climate, it is worthy of observation that
tobacco is only cultivated during winter, when there is
little rain. It grows most luxuriantly in summer with the
increased heat and moisture; but the leaves grown in this
season are devoid of those qualities for which the weed is
esteemed. The conditions of growth are less powerful in
winter, when the temperature is ten degrees lower, and the
fall of rain small. At the same time, there is more sunshine
to impart those aromatic qualities which are so much
relished by smokers of tobacco. In Virginia the torrid heat
and thunder showers during the summer months are by no means
favorable for developing the mild aroma of a good smoking
leaf. Such atmospheric conditions are better suited for
cotton and Indian corn than tobacco, which must have dry
weather and sunshine to produce it in perfection."
No country in Europe is more celebrated for its tobacco than Germany.
The tobacco plant has been cultivated in some parts of Prussia for
nearly two centuries. The tobacco of Germany is used for all purposes
for which the leaf is designed--for cutting, cigars, and snuff. There
are various kinds of German tobacco, the finest being grown in the
Grand Duchy of Baden. The native tobacco of Germany, however, is not
powerful in flavor, and may be smoked continuously to an extent which
would be dangerous and disagreeable if American tobacco were used.
Although it is cultivated in most of the States of Germany, and by a
large number of growers, still the tobacco fields as a rule are small.
The Germans are among the most thorough cultivators of the plant in
Europe, and every operation in the field is done at the proper time
and in the right manner. After it is cured they prepare it nicely in
rolls and carots, the latter for manufacturing into snuff. The tobacco
fields are faithfully tended, and the utmost pains taken to secure
large, well-formed leaves. The fields present a much more even
appearance than similar fields in France, where the tobacco grown is
small and uneven. The South German growers of tobacco are without
doubt the most successful tobacco-growers in Europe, not excepting the
Hollanders, who raise an excellent tobacco for snuff. The time of
gathering the leaves is the occasion of quite a merry-making among the
growers and villagers, and is considered an event of considerable
importance. Fairholt says:--
"The time of harvesting the leaves is an interesting period
for a stranger to visit the villages, which put on a new
aspect as every house and barn is hung all over with the
drying leaves."
[Illustration: German tobacco field.]
German tobacco cures well, and some of the finer sorts make excellent
cigar wrappers and are much esteemed throughout Europe. The following
account of the cultivation and production of tobacco in the different
German States, will give some idea of the amount cultivated and used
in Germany:--
"The aggregate area of land cultivated with tobacco in
Prussia during the year 1871, amounted to 5.925 hectares (a
hectare being equal to 2.47 English acres). It appears that
the extent of tobacco-growing land has, during the last
fifty years, been gradually diminishing in Prussia, and that
accordingly the expectations entertained in the beginning of
that period of a great future development of this branch of
agriculture, have not been realized; for whilst the area of
land planted with tobacco in the year 1825 was 12.374
hectares, it amounted in 1871 to less than one-half this
amount. The reasons for this gradual decline are considered
to be, on the one hand, the growing competition of the South
German growers, and the increase in the importations of
American tobacco; on the other, the fact that the
cultivation of beet-root (for sugar manufacturing) and of
potatoes (for the distilleries) has proved to be a more
profitable business than the cultivation of tobacco. It has,
moreover, been found by many years' experience, that whilst
the quality of the tobacco cultivated in most parts of
Prussia is not such as to enable the growers to compete
successfully with the importers of foreign (particularly of
North American) sorts, the labor attending its cultivation
and its preparation for the market, as well as the
uncertainty of only an average crop, are out of proportion,
as a rule, to the average profits arising therefrom. The
cultivation of the plant has, consequently, gradually become
restricted, chiefly to those districts of the country where
either the soil is peculiarly adapted for the purpose, or
where it is carried on for the private use of the producer."
With regard to the various provinces of Prussia, it appears
that "In East Prussia the extent of tobacco land is only a
limited one, and is confined to the district around Tilsit,
where about two-thirds of the entire cultivation is in the
hands of peasants, who consume their own produce. In West
Prussia (the western portion of the province of Prussia
proper) the cultivation is rather more extensive,
particularly near the town of Marienwerder; the tobacco,
however, is very inferior. The most important districts of
the province of Posen are those of Chodziesz and Meseritz.
In Pomerania, next to Brandenburg the most important
tobacco-growing province of the kingdom, the area of land
cultivated is very large. The principal districts are those
near Stettin. In Silesia the most important districts are
those around Breslau, Ratibor, and Oels. The principal
tobacco-growing province of Prussia is Brandenburg, and here
again, particularly the part of the government district of
Potsdam, which contains the towns of Neustadt, Eberswalde
and Prenzlau. Besides the districts mentioned, tobacco is
grown largely in that of Frankfort-on-the Oder. In the
province of Saxony the chief districts are those of Stendal,
Salzwedel, Nordhausen, Burg, and Wittenburg. Hanover, like
the other western provinces of the kingdom, produces a
superior quality of tobacco to that raised in the eastern
parts of Prussia--the most important district is that of
Munden. The chief tobacco-growing districts of Hesse-Nossau
are situated near the towns of Cassel and Hanau. In Rhenish
Prussia the plant is cultivated, particularly in the
neighborhood of Cleve, Emmerich, Coblenz, Creuznach, and
Saarbruck; the districts first mentioned produce a very
superior quality. The production of tobacco in Westphalia is
extremely small, while in the province of Schleswig-Holstein
the plant is not cultivated at all. In the account given it
will be seen that the tobacco plant holds an important place
among the products of Prussia, and although not as
extensively cultivated as formerly, has not been entirely
driven from the soil by other products which yield a larger
profit to the producer. The plant is cultivated in other
parts of Germany, especially in Bavaria, where large
quantities of tobacco are grown, particularly so in the
Bavarian Palatinate and in Franconia (viz., the districts
around Nuremberg and Erlangen). In the Kingdom of Saxony but
little tobacco is raised, as is also the case in Wurtemberg,
although the soil and climate in parts of this state are
said to be very favorable to the growth of the tobacco
plant; the area of land cultivated is upon the whole, a very
limited one, and in 1871 did not exceed 178.2 hectares. The
Grand Duchy of Baden has at all times been the chief
tobacco-growing part of Germany; as far back as the end of
the Seventeenth Century, special laws for regulation of the
cultivation, preparation, and warehousing of this article
were in force. The most prominent tobacco-growing districts
of Baden are those of Carlsruhe, Mannheim, Heidelburg,
Badenburg, Schwetzingen, and Lahr; the quality of the plant
grown in those parts being a very superior one (among the
various kinds of German tobacco). The produce of the
districts mentioned is therefore applied chiefly in the
manufacture of cigar wrappers, and is exported in
considerable quantities to Bremen, Hamburg, Switzerland,
Holland, and even to America for the use of cigar
manufacture. The prices of the best kinds of Baden tobacco
are consequently also, on an average, much higher than those
realized by other German growers. In the Grand Duchy of
Hesse the plant is cultivated, the chief district being that
around the town of Darmstadt; in the Thuringian States,
tobacco is grown; the most prominent among them as regards
its production is the Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen. In
Mecklenburg also some tobacco is raised, the most important
district being that of Neu Brandenburg (in
Mecklenburg-Strelitz). In Brunswick only a small extent of
land is used for tobacco growing, the same being situated
near the town of Helmstadt. In Alsace and Lorraine, the
recently acquired provinces of Germany, the cultivation of
tobacco has been extensively carried on for many years, more
especially in the country around Strasburg, Mulhausen,
Schirmeck, and Munster, and to a small extent near Metz and
Thionville."
It is apparent from this account that the German tobacco fields
produce a vast quantity of tobacco, some of which is of excellent
texture and flavor, and well adapted to the taste of European smokers
of the plant.
Ever since the introduction of tobacco into Holland, its cultivation
and its use has been looked upon with favor by the "true-born
Nederlander," who associates the plant with every social enjoyment.
The Dutch, on the discovery of tobacco, were among the first to use it
and encourage its cultivation. In the history of the Dutch colonies in
the Indies it plays an important part. Tobacco began to be cultivated
in Holland about Amersfoot in 1615, and from that time until now, its
culture has increased until it has become one of the greatest of
agricultural products of the country. The plant is grown in the
Veluive (the valley of Guelderland), where the soil is particularly
adapted for the rich snuff-leaf which is manufactured from Amersfoot
tobacco. The Dutch, like the Germans, are excellent cultivators of
tobacco, selecting the richest and the strongest land, and working the
fields of as fine a tilth as possible. The plants do not grow as
rapidly as in America, as they are transplanted into the fields in
May, and are not harvested until the latter part of September or
beginning of October. The plants attain good size--larger than most
of the tobacco of Europe, and a tobacco field in Holland compares
favorably with any in this country. The color of the plants while
growing, is a dark rich green, and they are of a uniform size,
maturing slowly but thoroughly. Connor says of Amersfoot tobacco:
"This tobacco is much esteemed, the fineness of the leaf and its
freedom from fibres fitting it for cigar-wrappers."
[Illustration: Dutch planters.]
The Dutch planters of tobacco are among the happiest cultivators of
the plant in Europe, if not in the world, and unlike the renowned Van
Twiller never "have any doubts about the matter," and believe that
tobacco is absolutely necessary to sustain life. After the evening
meal the planter lights his pipe or calls upon the good dominie, to
have a social chat, discoursing over their favorite beverage the
virtues of two great luxuries. Oftener, however, he passes his
evenings at the village inn, where, surrounded by other comrades, he
discourses as follows of his favorite plant,--tabak:
"That the smoking of tobacco is of infinite benefit, no one
who is impartial and unprejudiced can deny. In a country
like Holland, where the atmosphere is always laden with
heavy and hurtful particles, and where, while people
breathe that atmosphere from above, they feel themselves not
less affected from below by the cold, moist, swampy
soil--the smoking and the chewing of tobacco are the
wholesome prophylactics of which we can make use. To the
Indians and the Negroes, tobacco is almost the only solace
in this transient life. They learn, by means of it, to
support nature, and to encounter valiantly, by its help, all
the tribulations incidental to the human lot. If they are
depressed, they smoke or chew tobacco, and gladden
themselves therewith. If they are exhausted, and the sun and
their hard and inhuman masters appear to conspire to destroy
them, a little tobacco restores their strength, makes them
forget their slavish life, and go vigorously to work again.
In the Thirty Years' War in Germany, the smoking and chewing
of tobacco proved the salvation of many thousands of men,
who by its aid guarded themselves against the deadly effects
of deficient food and of bad meats and drinks. Nothing is so
good, nothing so serviceable to human life, as the smoking
of tobacco--which may well be called a kingly plant, seeing
that the monarchs of the earth are not ashamed to use it.
While tobacco cultivates sociality, and is of great avail in
severe hunger and thirst, it strengthens the body and checks
fluxions, and colds, and slimy humors. Nature has willed it
that men should make use of plants like tobacco, which, by
their heat and sharpness, draw the humors outward, and cause
a slight salivation. Witness, as confirmation of what has
been said, cloves and pepper, which hold sway nearly over
the earth; betel, which to the Hindoos is the remedy for
every disease; the onions and leeks of the Egyptians, who
while building the pyramids and obelisks, spent their money
eagerly on those dainties; and tobacco, which is adopted by
the four quarters of the world.
The justly celebrated British physician, Cheyne, has
remarked that both chewing and smoking of tobacco are
exceedingly serviceable for those who suffer from rheumatic
and catarrhal affections, have a sluggish digestion, or live
a luxurious life. As tobacco has numerous slanderers, so
there are many who know not how to turn tobacco to a good
purpose. Excess and abuse may be found in the smoking and
chewing of tobacco as in other things. Instead of using
tobacco in moderation, there are persons who make themselves
its slaves, and render themselves incapable of the immense
benefit of the enlivening and stimulating effect they would
otherwise owe to it. A little tobacco smoked or chewed
three or four times a day cannot fail to be beneficial. But
the adversaries of tobacco, in order to furnish themselves
with an argument, make tobacco bear all the blame when some
one who has given himself up to an intemperate and luxurious
life, and who is besides a great smoker, becomes the victim
of all kinds of discomforts and sickness. To condemn tobacco
by saying those who begin to chew or smoke it nearly always
suffer from malaise and nausea, is surely preposterous. May
we not in fairness contend that tobacco is essentially
wholesome, that it helps digestion, relieves the mind and
cheers the spirits."
The following humorous account of "Thirsty Tobacco" is a most curious
illustration of the superstitions which spontaneously grow up in the
hearts of the people.
"Soon after the introduction of tobacco into Holland many of
the Dutch were of the opinion that the tobacco plant drank
in moisture greedily and required to be often and abundantly
watered. From this insatiable thirst the belief arose that
tobacco was the cause of rain, brought clouds to the
heavens, and restored the general crops. Once, in the
neighborhood of Amersfoot, the weather was very rainy, and
the crops suffered accordingly. On the tobacco growing round
the town the blame of the calamity was thrown; and it was
resolved to punish tobacco, the sottish rain-drinker and
wicked rain-bringer. A rabble, consisting chiefly of boys
and youths, rushed to the tobacco fields, and scattered
havoc with the ferocity of stupidity. The mad creatures
pulled up the stalks, tore off the leaves, and trampled
leaves and stalks under foot. Before they had done the work
of destruction quite as completely as they desired, soldiers
appeared on the scene. They sternly commanded the rioters to
desist, but the rioters paid no heed either to entreaties or
threats. Thereupon they drew their swords, as if by the mere
flash of these to terrify the rioters, who laughed a laugh
of contempt. Then effectually to frighten the rioters, the
soldiers fired at them with blank cartridges. This harmless
noise drove the mischief-makers to ignominious flight, and
the tobacco plants which were still uninjured were left in
peace."
At what exact time this destruction of "thirsty tobacco" took place we
are left in doubt. It is doubtless a "good joke" got up by some
"ponderous joker" for the amusement of Dutch smokers.
All admirers of tobacco like Holland and its people. It is
emphatically the land of smoke. One is constantly in cloud-land, and
whether in the house or on the street the incense of tobacco is
perpetual, from the good natured dominie who puffs leisurely at many
pipes to the humblest peasant who works modestly among the plants, all
burn the fragrant weed and pay homage to its shrine. Ever since the
Dutch looked upon the plant it has been more to them than king and
courtier. The old Dutch burgomasters "who dozed away their lives and
grew fat upon the bench of magistracy in Rotterdam; and who had
comported themselves with such singular wisdom and propriety, that
they were never either heard or talked of, owed all to the use and
influence of the 'kingly plant.'" Not only are the Dutch prodigious
smokers, but they use the pipe at all places and at all times. On the
way to Church the pipe is lighted, and after service it is the solace
of the evening hour.
[Illustration: Success to Von Tromp.]
In all public places the pipe plays an important part. The traveler is
constantly reminded of the use of tobacco; for even the bridges have
public notices affixed to them requesting all visitors to prevent the
fall of tobacco-ashes on the gravel or grass; and not to knock out
their pipes within bounds of the place. The old Dutch planters were
fond of a "silent pipe," and after the labors of the day gathered
together to drink and smoke to the success of Admiral Von Tromp, whose
exploits in the British Channel carried terror to many a heart. Or,
speculated upon the voyage of the "_Goede Vrouw_" (Good Woman), which
had been fitted out to colonize the new country.
The progress of tobacco-culture in Oceanica, is shown in the following
account which Connor gives of the tobacco plantations of Australia:
"The development of tobacco culture in Australia has been
great and rapid. In these colonies, where only a few years
ago the plant was not known, there are now hundreds of acres
under tobacco. The local manufacture is also keeping pace
with the production of the leaf, and the import of tobacco
into the Australian colonies yearly diminishes in proportion
to the increased consumption of locally grown and
manufactured tobacco. Imported leaf is used in the
manufacture of cigars, those made from colonial leaf being
held in low esteem. Steady efforts are being made by the
cultivators to improve the quality of the produce, and with
every prospect of success, many places in the colonies being
well adapted for the growth of the plant. Colonel De Coin
says Australia is capable of producing very good qualities.
Tobacco has hitherto been grown upon alluvial lands, but a
preference is evinced for lands somewhat less rich but free
from floods. Alluvial land gives a larger crop per acre, but
the flavor is ranker. In 1872 there were 567 acres under
tobacco in New South Wales. The average produce of the
colonies is about 1,300 pounds to the acre. The amount of
produce varied from 976 pounds to the acre in New South
Wales to 2,016 in Tasmania, the climate of this island being
moister and more favorable for tobacco than that of the
other colonies. Manilla and Havana tobacco has been grown
with great success for seed for many years at the Adelaide
Botanic Gardens, and the seed raised has been largely
distributed."
The Australian growers may demonstrate the fact that as good or better
Manilla tobacco can be grown by them than in the Philippine islands.
If the leaf will burn freely, and leave a white, firm ash, the product
will no doubt prove a rival of the leaf grown in Luzon. From the
composition of the soil, it is hardly probable that Havana tobacco
can be grown to perfection; it may, however, resemble in some measure
the Cuban leaf. The climate has much to do with the flavor of tobacco;
more than with the size of the plants or the color of the leaf. Cuba
in this respect has a decided advantage over Australia; and Havana
tobacco will hardly find a rival in Australian leaf, though grown on
the finest soil, and given the most thorough care.
[Illustration: Tobacco field in Algiers.]
So extensive is the cultivation of the tobacco plant, that even the
Arab cultivates it in the burning desert. In Algiers it is an
important product; and through the efforts and encouragement of the
French government its cultivation is assuming large dimensions. Some
portions of Algiers seem to be well adapted for tobacco, the finest of
which is equal to any obtained from America; but a large portion of
the product from that province is of poor quality. It is a favorite
plant with the Arab, and his attention seems to be about equally
divided between his tobacco and his camels. The plant is light in
color and of peculiar flavor, well suited to his taste, and in keeping
with his idea of quality and excellence. The crop is usually
bountiful, notwithstanding the heat of the summer and the absence of
moisture in the soil.
[Illustration: Tobacco field in Africa.]
The tobacco plant is also cultivated in other parts of Africa besides
Algiers. In Egypt and Nubia it is grown to a considerable extent, as
well as by most of the native tribes of the South-west. Among some
tribes it forms an important article of trade, and serves the purpose
of money or its representative. The natives are partial to the plant,
and devotedly attached to smoking. Little patches may be seen near
their huts, on which they lavish their attention and care. In some
parts of Africa tobacco grows to a very great height. Livingstone
gives an account of a variety that attained an altitude much higher
than the American plant. Several varieties are cultivated, some of
them resembling the Shiraz and Latakia, while most of it is said to be
similar to Virginia tobacco, only larger. With careful culture the
plant would doubtless thrive in most parts of Africa, as the soil is
light and the season usually favorable. Though the heat is extreme the
plant flourishes even in the hottest part of the season, and attains a
degree of perfection corresponding to the labor bestowed by the
natives in cultivating. Their manner of curing is simply by drying the
leaves, and is not suited to the taste of any besides themselves. In
Egypt, Algiers, and Nubia, the plant is cultivated with more care, and
a better system of curing is adopted than by the natives of the
interior. Burton gives an account of the cultivation of tobacco by the
natives of East Africa:--
"Tobacco grows plentifully in the more fertile regions of
East Africa. Planted at the end of the rains, it gains
strength by sun and dew, and is harvested in October. It is
prepared for sale in different forms. Everywhere, however, a
simple sun-drying supplies the place of cocking and
sweating, and the people are not so fastidious as to reject
the lower or coarser leaves and those tainted by the earth.
Usumbara produces what is considered at Zanzibar a superior
article; it is kneaded into little circular cakes four
inches in diameter by half an inch deep: rolls of these
cakes are neatly packed in plantain-leaves for exportation.
The next in order of excellence is that grown in Uhiao: it
is exported in leaf or in the form called _kambari_,
roll-tobacco, a circle of coils each about an inch in
diameter. The people of Khutu and Usagara mould the pounded
and wetted material into discs like cheeses, 8 or 9 inches
across by 2 or 3 in depth, and weighing about 3 lbs.; they
supply the Wagogo with tobacco, taking in exchange for it
salt. The leaf in Unyamwezi generally is soft and
perishable, that of Usukuma being the worst; it is sold in
blunt cones, so shaped by the mortars in which they are
pounded. At Karaguah, according to the Arabs, the tobacco, a
superior variety, tastes like musk in the water-pipe. The
produce of Ujiji is better than that of Unyamwezi; it is
sold in leaf, and is called by the Arabs _hamumi_, after a
well-known growth in Hazramaut. It is impossible to give an
average price to tobacco in East Africa; it varies from 1
khete of coral beads per 6 oz. to 2 lbs."
Some of the most beautiful and fragrant tobacco fields in the world
are to be found in Syria. Indeed it may truthfully be said that a
field of Latakia tobacco is hardly inferior in beauty to the large and
fragrant orchards of the olive and mulberry, or the wheat fields on
the terraced sides of Mount Lebanon.
The tobacco plant is cultivated in various parts of Syria and
particularly by the Druses on "The Lebanon," as it is usually called.
[Illustration: Tobacco field in Syria.]
The cultivation of tobacco in Syria, has been a considerable industry,
and the product has acquired a reputation in European markets that has
demonstrated its real value, and a constant demand for this variety of
the plant. Latakia tobacco resembles in flavor the yellow tobacco of
Eastern Thibet and Western China, both of them grown from the same
seed. Latakia tobacco is not sweated like most tobacco, but is first
cured in the sun and then hung up in the peasants' huts to cure until
ready for market. The plants ripen very fast and emit an aromatic
odor, increasing in strength as the plants ripen. For smoking it has
but few superiors. After curing, it is baled and sent to Europe, where
it is manufactured into smoking tobacco. The plants are well
cultivated and watched against the ravages of birds, which seem to
like the young and tender plants especially before they are
transplanted. From the nature of the soil the plants are watered
frequently, and when the leaves are about the size of a large cabbage
leaf are ready to harvest. As the plants ripen the leaves gradually
thicken and take on a lighter shade; the leaf when green is very
thick, but after curing is quite thin and of a bright yellow or brown,
according to the process employed in curing. The peasants take equal
pains in its fumigation, using various kinds of wood according to the
color of leaf they wish to obtain. They usually make two kinds of
leaf, the finest being colored brown and known by the name of
_abowri_. The tobacco is fumigated with two kinds of wood, _gozen_
(pine wood) and _sindian_ (oak), the tobacco fumigated with gozen
having the best smell. The fumigation, however, is said not to be
resorted to expressly for the tobacco, but the mountaineers of
necessity burn much wood in their huts in the winter, and the smoke
improves the tobacco in color, smell, and flavor. All the tobacco
grown about Latakia derives its origin from the same seed, but the
difference between the _abowri_ and the other kinds is owing to the
cultivation of the former about high mountains and with the use of
pine wood in fumigating it. A field of Latakia tobacco presents a
novel appearance, the short straight plants with their ovate leaves
bearing yellow blossoms form a striking contrast to towering seed leaf
rising fully two or three feet higher than the Syrian plant.
Fairholt says that "Latakia tobacco is a native of America but grows
wild in other countries, and is a hardy annual in English gardens,
flowering from midsummer to Michaelmas, so that by some botanists it
has been termed 'common, or 'English tobacco.'" Burton's work on
unexplored Syria is full of passages relating to tobacco and the
custom of smoking.
"The tobacco which is grown on the slopes of the Libanus and
the Anti-Libanus mountains appears to be one of the finest
quality and most delicate flavor. The monks of the convents
are famous for the production of a snuff, which for
pungency, at least, is far superior to the snuffs of Europe.
Personal experience of it convinces us that a great deal of
the pungency of this snuff is due to the addition of some
aromatic herb in addition to the natural acridity produced
by the highly dried tobacco. The cultivation of tobacco in
Syria, will probably increase in proportion to the improved
condition of affairs in Syria, we have little doubt; and we
trust that when agricultural science is better studied
there, Englishmen will have the opportunity of testing the
value and importance of Syrian tobacco products."
Connor says of the tobacco fields of India:--
"In the Bombay Presidency tobacco is largely produced, and
its quality in such districts as Kaira and Khandesh is
superior. In 1871 there were nearly 43,000 acres of land
under tobacco in the presidency, the largest quantities
being grown in Kaira, Khandesh, Belgaum Sattara, Shalopoor,
and Poona. The trade is extensive. The exports of tobacco to
foreign countries amount to several million pounds annually.
Among foreign countries, Mauritius, Bourbon, and
neighboring places, not reckoned as part of British India,
take a large share of the exports. Bombay exports tobacco to
other Indian presidencies. Small quantities of the fine
Guzerat tobaccos find their way by rail into the
North-western Provinces. Numerous endeavors have for many
years past been made to improve the quality of Bombay
tobacco. In 1831 the Resident in the Persian Gulf sent to
the local Government a maund of seed of the 'very finest
tobacco grown in Persia,' and with it he sent some
observations on the mode of cultivating tobacco in the
neighborhood of Shiraz. In 1867 fifteen small packets of
genuine Shiraz tobacco were forwarded for trial in the
Bombay Presidency. Of the seed sown in Kolhopoor, about
eight or nine germinated, and the plants grew to a height of
five feet two inches; of these only four survived. There
were two varieties, one with oblong the other with circular
leaves.
[Illustration: Tobacco field in India.]
"Of the seeds sent to Kandesh, only a few germinated. All
the seed put down in the Victoria Gardens failed. That sent
to Sind, though said to have been carefully sown, also
failed to germinate. The Conservator of Forests had the
seeds sent him sown in beds, and the plants, when a few
inches in height, were transplanted into pots. They grew
with the greatest luxuriance, and produced abundance of
flowers and seed. Some of the seed was sent to the collector
of Kaira, who forwarded a sample of the tobacco grown from
it. The Conservator considered the produce very good, and
the secretary of the Agri-Horticultural Society pronounced
it 'of a superior kind.' The flavor was exceedingly fine,
but it had not been allowed to come to maturity, hence it
was thin and shriveled. It had also been spoilt by rain,
and consequently its market value could not be fairly
tested. The experiment, it is clear, was not conducted with
proper care by most of those to whom the seed was confided,
but the Local Government considered that on the whole the
result was satisfactory, as showing that there was every
probability that Shiraz tobacco, with care and proper
gardening, might be introduced into the Bombay Presidency.
"In August, 1869, the Bombay Government again distributed a
small supply of seed of the Shiraz, Havana, and other
varieties to the superintendents of cotton experiments, and
to the collectors of Kaira, Khandesh, Dharwar, and
Kurrachee, for experimental cultivation. The seeds did well
in the hands of all the superintendents, who reported very
favorably on the plants raised from them. In Sind only the
soil in which the seed was sown proved unsuitable. In
Dharwar all the five varieties germinated, though the
Maryland failed to some extent, and a considerable quantity
of seed of each variety was secured. Of Latakia, only twenty
grains were sent to the superintendent; and the quantity in
each case increased to one pound from the produce of the
plants. These two varieties of tobacco, however, were not so
much admired by the cultivators as Shiraz, Havana, and
Maryland, to which they gave a decided preference. The only
varieties of seed which were available for experiments at
Broach and Veermgaum were Havana and Shiraz. In both places
the plants came up well, and a large quantity of seed was
obtained from them. That sent to Broach arrived a little too
late in the season to admit of an extensive experiment being
made; this indeed appears to have been the case at all the
other places. The seed, however, was of good quality,
germinated freely, and produced excellent plants in a very
short time.
"The first transplanting was made out into a field in an
open piece of land, where they commenced growing vigorously,
but the rains being then over, swarms of small locusts made
their appearance, and ate up the young plants before they
had thoroughly established themselves in the ground. The
second lot was transplanted into a more sheltered patch,
where the progress was all that could be desired, both the
varieties growing rapidly, the Havana especially producing
some leaves of enormous size. The first cutting was
entrusted to a potel, who managed it according to the native
process of curing. The tobacco was so strong, however, that
only old confirmed smokers could manage it. The most
formidable difficulty which presented itself was the
management of the midrib, which in the large leaves was
extremely coarse and juicy. When the leaves were made up
into hands for the purpose of fermentation before the midrib
was thoroughly dry, the result was invariably mould and
discoloration. On the other hand, when dried sufficiently to
insure freedom from mould, the lamina of the leaf became so
brittle that it was crushed to powder at the slightest
touch, and so wrinkled and dry that the heaps did not
ferment at all. Of the varieties supplied, the Shiraz,
Havana, and Maryland attracted most attention and promised
the best results. The great drawback was the curing part of
the process. So far as the cultivation was concerned, there
was every prospect of success; but not so with regard to the
curing."
Robertson says of the curing of the leaf:--
"In my opinion, all efforts to produce good tobacco will be
useless until the services of a competent curer are
obtained."
He considers the fault of all Indian tobacco to lie in the curing. The
leaf itself is good, and it is simply the art of curing that should be
studied.
"I have cured tobacco of different varieties, some of which
would hold a good place in the English market, but the fault
generally found with the tobacco is that it is too full
flavored. Further experiments were carried on in the same
districts with varying results. In Sind the experiments and
their results were insignificant. In Broach they were
somewhat more successful, the superintendent thus
summarising his experience:--'Havana, Shiraz, and other
varieties of exotic tobacco will, with ordinary care and
attention, yield fair and certain crops on ordinary black
land, and presumably on every other kind to be met with in
Guzerat. By the skillful application of manure, leaf of any
desired quality or peculiarity of flavor and texture may be
obtained. The quantity of produce is so great that, should
it be found practicable to cure the leaf well enough to make
it a salable article in the European market, a source of
profit by no means insignificant would be opened up to the
Guzerat ryot. For the native market the country plant is
more suitable, and its cultivation consequently the more
profitable.' In Dharwar the superintendent was enabled to
distribute seed in sufficient quantities to those applying
for it, but found the ryots would not cultivate it on a
large scale, being apprehensive of loss. Native tobacco he
considers less liable to injury than the exotic varieties
during the squally weather prevalent about the time the leaf
is approaching maturity."
Robertson, in replying to the assertion that the tobacco of India
contains little if any nicotine, says:
"It appears to me that there must be some mistake as to the
tobacco containing little or no nicotine. Very many have
tried the tobacco, and pronounce it to be good, with,
however, the fault of being exceedingly strong. Now, the
strength of tobacco comes from its nicotine, and if the
specimens I sent contain no nicotine, whence the strength? I
believe that nothing destroys tobacco so much as moistening
it. How, then, are acetic acid and chloride of soda to be
used in the curing? If the process of desiccation had been
carried on too quickly, the tobacco would have been of
either a green or greenish-yellow color. If too slowly, it
would have been black, like much of the country tobacco. I
perceive that the amount of nicotine in a great measure
depends on the extent to which the leaf is allowed to ripen.
The riper the leaf the more the nicotine. The amount of
nicotine does not appear to depend on the amount of curing.
The soil the tobacco was grown in is a hardish red moorum
soil, containing much iron; probably that may account for
the red coloring matter being so much developed. I intend to
have some of each description of the tobacco leaf analyzed,
and also intend to submit the soil in which it was grown to
the same process. I have had some of the cigars packed up
for some months to test how far they are proof against
insects. None have been attacked by insects. Some Manilla
cigars, some Trichinopoly cheroots, all packed up at the
same time, have, however, been entirely destroyed by
insects.
"It is clear from the reports that both in Guzerat and
Khandesh, Havana and Shiraz tobacco will flourish, and that
they may be introduced without difficulty. The ryots, it is
said, preferred the new kinds to their own, and desire their
introduction, the foreign varieties commanding a higher
price in the market. The chief drawback is the want of
knowledge and appliances for the proper curing of the leaf.
This, indeed, is the great drawback throughout India. In the
district of Kaira the seed is always sown in nursery beds in
the month of July, and transplanting commences about the end
of August, the operation continuing for about two months.
The tobacco planted on the dry soil called 'koormit' ripens
and is fit for cutting in January and February; that which
is grown on irrigated land during March and April. In
Canara, tobacco is generally grown in elevated situations.
The seed is sown in August, and the seedlings are
transplanted in November, the crop arriving at maturity in
three or four months. North Canara derives its supply
chiefly from Mysore, the leaf produced in that province
being said to be less liable to affect the head than that of
the Canara plant."
The Turk and his family love to cultivate tobacco as well as to smoke
it; and give it their attention from seed-sowing until it is sold to
the merchant. The Turk is very particular in cultivating it, as on its
color depends in a great measure its value. He commences work on his
plant-bed in March, sowing the seed about the same time as the
Virginia planters. After the leaves are gathered the same scrupulous
care is taken with them; especially in drying and baling, that the
leaf may be in just the right condition to ferment properly, and be
ready to be assorted by the "tobacco pickers." The Turk presses his
whole family into the cultivation of the plants. The children are
engaged in weeding while he waters the beds or prepares the tobacco
field for the planting of the tobacco. In pruning and picking the
leaves he removes only those that are small--the removal of which will
still further advance the growth of the plants, and is careful to
gather only those leaves that are turning yellow, giving evidence of
their maturity. Says one in regard to the cultivation of tobacco in
Turkey:
[Illustration: Turkish tobacco going to market.]
"The Turk and his family, it will seem, have now been
occupied upon their tobacco crop for nearly a whole year.
The leaf is just becoming a bright light yellow when it
falls into the hands of the merchant, and it is during this
period that the process of fermentation or heating generally
occurs, before which the tobacco can not be shipped. The
bales having been placed in the merchant's store, are left
end up until a fermentation or baking has taken place, the
ends being reversed every three or four days. In the course
of a few weeks a bale is reduced to about two-thirds of its
original size. It is then placed upon its sides to cool.
When it is discovered to be cold it is broken open by the
native tobacco-pickers, and every leaf sorted and
classified. The patience with which this operation is
carried out is truly astonishing. There is a good deal of
difference in their rate of work. One man may pick only
fifty pounds weight a day, while another does twice that
quantity. It is necessary to watch them closely, or they
will put a dirty brown leaf with a pale yellow. They neither
know nor care about the losses that may be incurred by the
merchant, whose samples may be thus spoiled. A bale of leaf
purchased at five piastres per _oque_, when dissected by the
Greek for various markets will be found to contain varieties
ranging in price from 5 to 60 piastres; of these some are
dispatched to Odessa, some to Smyrna, others to
Constantinople, Alexandria, and England--the mixed and
common qualities generally to the latter country, the price
there obtained being the least remunerative to the Greek
shippers. The bales are brought from the interior to the
shipping ports upon mules, each animal carrying two bales;
and it is a pretty sight to witness, say 150 mules at a
time, crossing mountains and rugged paths with their
burdens, followed by perhaps fifty camels laden with cotton,
marching to the merry tinkle of the bells on their necks.
When the tobacco reaches the shipping port the troubles of
the exporter are intensified. The bales are first taken to
the Custom House, and there weighed. The weights thus
arrived at are compared with the quantity received from the
interior, and if there be any material difference the
shipper has to account for it. If any has been sold for
consumption in Turkey, duty has to be paid upon the amount;
and in order that no part of his shipment may be used in the
country, he has to sign a bond that the tobacco shall not be
landed in any other port of Turkey. On the arrival of the
tobacco in England, the landing certificates are forwarded
to Turkey. It is in this way that the trade is retained in
the hands of a few Greeks, who naturally put every obstacle
in the way of the foreigner, whose sole remedy is at last
found to be the payment of the universal 'backshish,' to the
comptroller of customs."
The merchant who buys the tobacco of the planter at a low price, and
thereby takes the profit from him of cultivating it, is preyed upon in
the same manner by the Greek buyers who have the sole monopoly of the
trade. Like Shiraz tobacco, that of Turkey has to be handled
frequently and pass through several stages of curing before it is
ready to be manufactured. In this respect it is unlike most of the
tobaccos of America, but its treatment is not unlike that of the
varieties of the East.
[Illustration: Japan tobacco field.]
The tobacco plant is cultivated with great success in many of the
provinces of Japan, and is exported in large quantities to Europe. The
leaf is excellent, and is in request by many buyers of Eastern
tobaccos. Robertson gives the following interesting account of the
Japan tobacco fields:--
"According to a native account, tobacco was introduced into
Japan in the year 1605, and was first planted at Nagasaki in
Hizen. It is now very generally grown throughout the
country. In the province of Awa, where a great deal of
tobacco is grown, the seed is sown in early spring in fields
well exposed to the sun and duly prepared for its reception.
Well sifted stable manure is strewn over the field, and the
seedlings appear after the lapse of about twenty days. The
old manure is then swept away, and liquid manure applied
from time to time. If the plants are too dense they are
thinned out. The larger plants are now planted out into
fields well prepared for the purpose in rows, with about
eight inches space between each plant, the furrows between
each row being about two feet wide. They are again well
sprinkled with liquid manure, also with the lees of oil at
intervals of about seven days. A covering of wheat or millet
bran is now laid over the furrows. The bitter taste of the
leaf is in a measure an effectual safeguard against the
ravages of insects, but the leaves are nevertheless
carefully tended to prevent damage from such cause. If the
reproduction from seed is not desired the flowers should be
cut off and the stem pruned down, otherwise the leaves will
lose in scent and flavor. In Osumi exceptional attention is
paid to the cultivation of the tobacco plant. The lees of
oil, if liberally used, and stable manure sparsely applied,
have great effect on the plant, producing a small leaf with
an excellent flavor; while, if the opposite course is
followed, the leaves grow to an immense size, but are
inferior in taste.
[Illustration: Transplanting.]
"When the flowers are in full bloom the 'sand' leaves are
picked. After the lapse of twelve or fourteen days the
leaves are gathered by twos. Any leaves that may remain are
afterwards broken off along with the stalk. Any sand
adhering to the leaves is removed with a brush; the stems
having been cut off, the leaves are rolled round, firmly
pressed down with a thin board, and cut exactly in the
centre. The two halves are then placed one on the top of the
other in such manner that the edges exactly correspond, and
being in this position firmly compressed between two boards,
they are cut into fine strips, the degree of fineness
depending on the skill of the cutter. A machine made of
hard wood, but with the vital parts of iron, is used by some
persons for this purpose. The machine was devised about
sixty years ago by a skillful Yeddo mechanic, the idea being
taken from those used in Osaka and Kiyoto for cutting thread
used for weaving into silk embroidery. Since then numerous
improvements have been made in it, and it is now extremely
well adapted for the economization of labor. Another machine
was invented about eight years since, also by a Yeddo
mechanic. It is smaller than the first mentioned, but being
very easily worked is much in use. Tobacco is sometimes cut
in the following crude manner:--The leaves are piled one on
top of the other, tightly compressed into the consistency of
a board, and then cut into shavings by a carpenter's plane.
This is, however, about the worst method, and even the best
tobacco, if treated in such fashion, loses its flavor and
valuable qualities."
[Illustration: Chinese tobacco field.]
In China[67] tobacco is cultivated in the western part of the empire,
and grows almost as large as most American varieties. Chinese tobacco
is usually light in color, of a thin, silky texture, and mixed with
Turkey tobacco, is a considerable feature in the export trade of that
country. The Chinese cultivate the plant like the Japanese, and give
it as much care and attention as they do the tea plant. The leaves are
gathered when ripe, and are dried and well-assorted before baling. The
Chinese planter often raises large fields of the plants, and employs
many hands to tend and cultivate them. We give a cut of a tobacco
field and the planter looking at the field and noting the progress of
the laborers.
[Footnote 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.]
[Illustration: Tobacco field in Persia.]
In Persia tobacco is cultivated near Shiraz, which gives name to the
variety. The soil is very fertile and richly cultivated. Not only does
the tobacco plant flourish finely, but all kinds of vegetables grow to
perfection. The Persians cultivate the plant principally for their own
use. It is a fine smoking tobacco, and when cured properly is said to
be equal to Latakia. Their mode of curing is unlike that adopted by
any other cultivators of the weed but is very successful, and is no
doubt the proper method of preparing the leaves for use. Their mode of
pressing in large cakes is unlike that of any other growers--but
doubtless adds to the aromatic quality of the leaf which makes it so
popular in the East.
The tobacco field is trenched so as to retain water, while the
plants are set on the ridges where they flourish and mature until the
buds and flowers are broken off. The harvest occurs in the autumn,
when the singular process of curing begins.
Abbott says of the culture and commerce of tobacco in Persia:
"Jehrum, South Persia, is the principal mart for tobacco,
which is brought here from all the surrounding districts,
and disposed of to traders, who distribute it over the
country far and near. These traders are numerous, and many
established here are wealthy; they usually transact their
business in their private houses, without resorting to the
caravansaries of which there are six in the place. There are
many grades and qualities of Shiraz tobacco but that
produced at Tuffres (according to Forster), a town about one
hundred miles to the south-west of Turshish, is esteemed the
best in Persia.
"Of the many varieties of the tobacco plant grown in the
East, that known as Manilla is among the most famous and the
most extensively cultivated. It is grown in several of the
Philippine islands, particularly in Luzon and the southern
group, known as the Visayos. The Philippines are a large
group of islands in the North Pacific Ocean, discovered by
Magellan in 1521; they were afterwards taken posession of by
the Spaniards, in the reign of Philip II., from whom they
take their name.
"The islands are said to be eleven hundred in number, but
some hundreds of them are very small, and all are nominally
subject to the Spanish government at Manilla. The
Philippines produce a great variety of tropical products
such as rice, coffee, sugar, indigo, tobacco, cotton, cacao,
abaca, or vegetable silk, pepper, gums, cocoa-nuts,
dye-woods, timber of all descriptions for furniture and the
buildings, rattans of various kinds, and all the agreeable
fruits of the tropics. On the shores are found nacre, or
mother of pearl, magnificent pearls, bird's-nests, shells of
every description, an incredible quantity of excellent fish,
and the _trépang_, or _balatê_, a sea-worm, or animal
substance, found on the shores of the Philippine Islands,
resembling a large pudding. The Chinese esteem it as a great
delicacy and mix it with fowl and vegetables. The
inhabitants practise various kinds of industry; they weave
matting of extraordinary fineness and of the brightest
colors, straw hats, cigar cases and brackets; they
manufacture cloth and tissues of every sort from cotton,
silk, and abaca; they, from filaments taken from the leaves
of the _etuana_, make cambric of a texture much finer than
that of France; and they also manufacture coarse strong
cloth for sails, and ropes and cables of all dimensions;
they tan and dress leather and skins to perfection; they
manufacture coarse earthen ware, and forge and polish arms
of various kinds; they build ships of heavy tonnage, and
also light and neat boats; and at Manilla they frame and
finish-off beautiful carriages; they are also very clever
workers in gold, silver, and copper; and the Indian women
are specially expert in needlework, and in all kinds of
embroidery.
"The island of Luzon is the largest of the Philippines, and
extends from north to south for the length of about six
degrees. It is divided throughout its whole extent by a
chain of mountains, which in general owe their formation to
volcanic eruptions. In the provinces of Laguna and Batangas
there is the high mountain called Maijai, one of the
loftiest in Luzon, which is beyond doubt an ancient crater;
on the summit a little lake is found, the depth of which
cannot be measured. At some period the lava that then flowed
from the summit towards the base, in the neighborhood of the
town of Nacarlan, covered up immense cavities, which are now
recognizable by the sonorous noise of the ground for a great
extent; and sometimes it happens that, in consequence of an
inundation or an earthquake, this volcanic crust is in some
places broken, and exposes to the view enormous caverns,
which the Indians call 'the mouths of hell.' In the district
about the town of San Pablo, which is situated on the
mountain, are found great numbers of little circular lakes
and immense heaps of rotten stones, basalt, and different
descriptions of lava, which show that all these lakes are
nothing else than the craters of old volcanoes. Altogether
the soil to the southward, in the province of Albai, is
completely volcanic, and the frequent eruptions of the
volcano bearing that name may, as the natives say, be
attributed to the same cause as the earthquakes so often
felt in the island of Luzon. Over almost the whole of these
mountains, where fire has played so conspicuous a part,
there is a great depth of vegetable earth, and they are
covered with a most splendid vegetation. Their declivities
nourish immense forests and fine pastures in which grow
gigantic trees--palm trees, rattans, and lianas of a
thousand kinds, or gramineous plants of various sorts,
particularly the wild sugar cane, which rises to the height
of from nine to twelve feet from the ground; in their
interior are rich mines of copper, gold, iron, and coal.
[Illustration: Growing tobacco on the Philippine islands.]
"There are two distinct and strongly marked seasons in the
island of Luzon, namely, the rainy or the wintry season, and
the dry or summer season. For six months of the year--that
is from June to December--the wind blows from the south-west
to the north-east, and then the declivities of the mountains
and all the western side of the island are in the season of
the rains; in the six other months, the wind changes, and
blows from the north-east to the south-west, when all the
eastern parts of the island have the season of winter.
During the rainy season, the incessant fall of rain on the
mountains causes the rivers, both large and small, to
overflow and to become torrents, that rush down upon the
plains, covering them with water, and depositing the broken
earth and slime which they have gathered in their course. In
the dry season, water is supplied for irrigation from
reservoirs, which are carefully filled during the rains.
From these causes it follows that without any manuring, and
with scarcely any improvement from human industry, the soil
of the Philippines is as fertile as any in the world; so
that, without great labor, the cultivator has most abundant
harvests."
The above description of the Philippines by Gironiere gives a faithful
account of the vast resources of the islands. Of the products
cultivated rice and tobacco are the most important. The finest tobacco
plantations are situated in the northern parts of the island of Luzon,
and furnish the finest quality of Manilla tobacco. That grown in the
Visayos is of an inferior quality, and is sold to merchants holding a
permit to purchase at the shipping ports and transport to Manilla for
sale to the government. In the island of Luzon, the greatest quantity
of tobacco is cultivated in the provinces of Nueva Ecija and Cagavan.
[Illustration: Tobacco plow.]
Tomlinson in an account of the tobacco of the Philippines says:
"Manilla leaf comes from the three principal districts of the island
of Luzon--Visayos, Ygarotes and Cagayan." The mode of cultivation does
not differ in any great respect from that followed in other parts of
the world. Great seed beds are made on the plantations where the
plants are grown until ready to transplant in the tobacco ground.
Unlike most land adapted for tobacco, large crops are grown without
the aid of any fertilizer whatever. In cultivating the plants,
buffaloes are used, yoked one after the other, going between the rows
several times, and at the last ploughing leaving a trench in the
middle of the rows, for letting off the water. The Indian plow used in
cultivating is exceedingly simple: it is composed of four pieces of
wood which the most unhandy ploughman can put together, with the mould
board and share, which are of cast iron. The lightness and simplicity
of this plough render it easy to be used in every kind of cultivation,
where the plantations are divided into rows, such as those of tobacco,
maize and sugar cane. It is used with great advantage, not only for
cutting down weeds, but also for giving to each row a ploughing, which
is serviceable to the plantation, and which is less costly and
quicker than simple weeding with the mattock.
When the leaves are ripe they are stripped from the stalks and
separated into three classes, according to their size, and afterwards
made into bunches of fifty or a hundred, by passing through them, near
the foot, a little bamboo cane, as if it was a skewer, by which the
bunches are afterwards hung up to dry in vast sheds, into which the
sun's rays cannot enter, but in which the air circulates freely; they
are left to hang there until they become quite dry, and for this, a
greater or less time is required, according to the state of the
weather. When the drying is effected the leaves are placed according
to their quality, in bales of twenty-five pounds, and in that state
they are handed over to the administration of the monopoly. Gironiere
in describing the mode of culture on the tobacco plantations says:
"During the first two months after the transplanting it is
indispensably necessary to give four ploughings to the
ground between the rows of the plants, and every fifteen
days to handpick, or even better, to root out with the
mattock, all the weeds which cannot be touched by the
plough. These four ploughings ought to be done in such a
manner as to leave alternately a furrow in the middle of
each line, and on the sides, and consequently, at the last
ploughing, the earth covers the plants up to their first
leaves, leaving a trench for carrying off all water that may
accumulate during the heavy rains. As soon as each plant has
gained a proper height, its head is lopped off to force the
sap to turn into the leaves, and, in a few weeks afterwards,
it is fit for being gathered."
The tobacco fields or plantations are very large, and together with
the vast sheds for curing, the fields present a beautiful appearance;
the long straight rows with their dark green leaves adding not a
little to the beauty and variety of the landscape. The great growers
of the plant are very careful in cultivating the fields and give the
tobacco frequent hoeings, until ready to be gathered and taken to the
sheds. The planters are obliged to take the utmost pains, as the
product is obliged to be given up to the monopolizing government which
is the sole purchaser, and which, in its great establishment at
Binondoc, employs continually from 15,000 to 20,000 workmen and
workwomen in manufacturing cigars for the consumption of the country
and for exportation.
[Illustration: Spanish planters.]
Manilla tobacco is much esteemed in the islands both by the Spaniards
and the Chinese. The custom of smoking is universal among all classes
and at all times. In the house, on the road and street, the aroma of a
fragrant Manilla is ever borne on the breeze. The Spaniards are the
principal owners of the tobacco fields, and, like their brother
planters on the island of Cuba, are fond of the weed and its more
potent companion. After a luxurious breakfast the planter elevates his
feet for a quiet smoke, and lights either a cigar or cheroot, filling
the room with smoke and with the most fragrant perfume.
Of all the various products cultivated, but few vie with the tobacco
plant in beauty of form and general appearance. By its great variety
of colors in leaves and flowers, it offers a striking contrast with
the more sombre hues of most other plants. When left to grow until
the plants have reached full size, the tobacco field has the
appearance of a vast flower garden, the tiny blossoms exhaling their
fragrance and the entire plant emitting odors as rare and as delicate
as the most fragrant exotic. In the tropics the finest tobacco
plantations are found, as nature is more lavish, not only in the
richness of the soil, but in the variety of the vegetable products.
Here the tobacco plant attains its finest form and most delicately
flavored leaves. The hues of the flowers are brighter and their
fragrance sweeter. In the tropics the tobacco field may be scented
from afar, as its odors are wafted on the breeze. In its native home
it flourishes and matures as readily as the more common kinds of
vegetation, while it affords the planter a larger revenue than many of
the more useful of nature's products.
CHAPTER XI.
VARIETIES.
The tobacco plant almost vies with the palm in the number of
varieties; botanists having enumerated as many as forty, which by no
means includes the entire number now being cultivated. The plant shows
also a great variety of forms, leaves, color of flowers, and texture.
Each kind has some peculiar feature or quality not found in another;
thus, one variety will have large leaves, while another will have
small ones; one kind leaves flowers of a pink or yellow color, another
white; one variety will produce a leaf black or brown, another yellow
or dark red. The following list includes nearly all of the principal
varieties now cultivated:--Connecticut seed leaf (broad and narrow
leaf), New York seed leaf, Pennsylvania (Duck Island), Virginia and
Maryland (Pryor and Frederick, James River, etc.), North Carolina
(Yellow Orinoco, and Gooch or Pride of Granville, etc.), Ohio Seed
leaf (broad leaf), Ohio leaf (Thick Set, Pear Tree, Burley, and
White), Texas, Louisiana (Perique), Florida, Kentucky, Missouri,
Wisconsin, Havana, Yara, Mexican, St. Domingo, Columbia (Columbian,
Giron, Esmelraldia, Palmyra, Ambolima), Rio Grande, Brazil, Orinoco,
Paraguay, Porto Rico, Arracan, Greek, Java, Sumatra, Japan, Hungarian,
China, Manilla, Algerian, Turkey, Holland (Amersfoort), Syrian
(Latakia), French (St. Omer), Russian, and Circassian. Many of these
varieties are well known to commerce, and others are hardly known
outside the limit of their cultivation.
All of these varieties may be divided into three classes,[68] viz.:
cigar, snuff, and cut-leaf tobacco. The first class, cigar leaf,
includes all those varieties of tobacco that are used in the
manufacture of cigars, and embraces the finest quality of tobacco
grown, including Connecticut seed leaf, Havana, Yara, Manilla, Giron,
Paraguayan, Mexican, Brazilian, Sumatra, etc. The second class
embraces all of the varieties used in the manufacture of snuff, such
as Virginia, Holland (Amersfoort), Brazilian, French (St. Omer), etc.
The third class includes all of those tobaccos used for smoking and
chewing purposes, such as Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio,
Maryland, Latakia, Perique, Turkish, and others.
[Footnote 68: Probably most writers would divide tobacco
into but two classes, including tobacco used for the
manufacture of snuff with cut tobacco.]
South American tobaccos are almost exclusively used for the
manufacture of cigars. Although of various qualities, they possess the
distinctive flavor which characterizes all tobacco used for this
purpose. This is generally the case with most of the tobacco grown in
the tropics--it seems to be especially adapted for the manufacture of
cigars, rather than for cutting purposes. European tobaccos are milder
in flavor, and are used extensively in the manufacture of snuff; while
the tobacco of the East is well adapted for the pipe.
Tobacco to be used for cigars must not only be of good flavor, but
must burn freely, without which it has no real value for this purpose.
Non-burning tobaccos cannot be used, and are either employed in the
manufacture of snuff or for cutting.
Of the many kinds of tobacco of both the Old and New World, doubtless
the most curious of all is that kind known as
DWARF TOBACCO.
[Illustration: Mexican dwarf tobacco.]
This plant is a native of Mexico, and was discovered by Houston, who
found it growing near Vera Cruz. This is probably the smallest kind of
tobacco known. The plant grows to the height of about eighteen inches,
the leaves growing tufts at the base of the plant. Some have supposed
this tobacco to be what is known as Deer Tongue, which is used for
flavoring, but it is quite probable that it is entirely different. The
leaf is small and light green, and it is quite a showy plant when in
blossom. As a curiosity it can hardly fail to attract attention from
all those acquainted and interested in tobacco, but will hardly admit
of cultivation, on account of the absence of leaves, with the
exception of the few growing near the ground. Of all the tobaccos used
for the manufacture of cigars, none have obtained an equal reputation
(simply as a cigar wrapper) with the famous and much sought for
variety known as
CONNECTICUT SEED LEAF,
which in all respects towers far above the seed products of the other
states. The varieties cultivated in the United States and known as
"seed leaf" tobaccos, are grown in Connecticut, Massachusetts,
Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin.
All of the seed leaf of these states is used exclusively in the
manufacture of cigars. Connecticut seed leaf is justly celebrated as
the finest known for cigar wrappers, from the superiority of its color
and texture, and the good burning quality of the leaf. The plant grows
to the height of about five feet, with leaves from two and one half to
three feet in length and from fifteen to twenty inches broad, fitted
preëminently by their large size for wrappers, which are obtained at
such a distance from the stem of the leaf as to be free from large
veins.
Connecticut seed leaf tobacco in color, is either dark or light
cinnamon, two of the most fashionable colors to be found in American
tobaccos. The plant is strong and vigorous, ripening in a few weeks,
and when properly cultivated attaining a very large size. There are
two principal varieties of Connecticut seed leaf, viz.--broad and
narrow leaf: of these two, the broad leaf is considered the finest,
cutting up to better advantage and ripening and curing fully as well.
Connecticut seed leaf attains its finest form and perfection of leaf
in the rich meadows of the Connecticut Valley, where it has been
cultivated to a greater or less extent for nearly half a century.
[Illustration: Connecticut seed leaf.]
The plant is one of the most showy of all the varieties of tobacco.
The stalk is straight and large, while the leaf (especially the broad)
is admirably proportioned, and the top is broad and graceful,
rendering it far more symmetrical in appearance than many of the
smaller varieties.
Before Connecticut tobacco became known as a wrapper, Maryland and
Havana tobaccos were used for this purpose, and when Connecticut first
came into use, it was only as a filler. This variety differs very
materially from Havana in this respect--it has not that fine flavor of
Cuba tobacco, but in texture is much superior. The lighter shades of
it burn purely and freely, leaving a white or pearl colored ash, which
is one of the best evidences of a good wrapper. The leaf also is
very firm and strong, and sufficiently elastic to bear considerable
manipulating in manufacture. The various shades also of the two
colors, dark and light brown or cinnamon, are among the finest and
most delicate of any to be found among the numerous kinds of tobacco
used for cigars. The color of the wrapper, however, is merely a matter
of taste; when first used for a wrapper the color in demand was a dark
brown or cinnamon, now it is light cinnamon leaf that is the most
fashionable, and leaf of this color is considered the finest and of
the most delicate flavor. As a superior burning tobacco, seed leaf
especially commends itself, and while all of the seed products of the
various states producing this description of tobacco, are remarkable
for their good burning qualities, none are more so than Connecticut
seed leaf.
Thorough cultivation by the growers has made this quality of tobacco
the most profitable of any grown in the United States. Some
considerable controversy has arisen among tobacco-growers concerning
the origin of this famous variety. One opinion sets forth that it
sprung from plants or seeds brought from Virginia, while another is
that tobacco seed from Cuba gave it origin. Most probably the former
theory is correct, as the plant was cultivated in gardens in New
England, during the reign of Charles I.
However this may be, the system of cultivation pursued has been
successful in the production of a leaf tobacco that can hardly be
improved, so far as the texture of the leaf is concerned. Some of the
"selections" of seed leaf have that fine soft feeling peculiar to
satin or silks, and we have seen specimens of such selections, that
seemed almost destitute of veins, or anything that would naturally
suggest that it was a leaf. In this respect it is quite remarkable,
for while the leaf is very large the stem and veins are quite small,
no larger than in many varieties with a much smaller leaf. From its
first cultivation in the Connecticut valley, the quality has gradually
improved until now, and it seems at last to possess almost every
feature desirable in a good wrapper.
[Illustration: Havana tobacco.]
This famous variety of the tobacco plant is by common consent the
finest flavored tobacco for cigars now being cultivated. Some,
however, consider Paraguayian, Brazil, and Mexican coast tobacco its
equals, while, according to Tomlinson, Macuba tobacco, grown on the
island of Martinica, stands at the head of all varieties of the plant.
These statements may, however, be regarded as mere opinions rather
than acknowledged facts.
Havana tobacco, according to Hazard,
"grows to a height of from six to
nine feet, as allowed, with oblong, spear-shaped leaves; the
tobacco being stronger when few leaves are permitted to
grow. The leaves when young are of a dark-green color and
have rather a smooth appearance, changing at maturity into
yellowish-green. The plant grows quickly, and by careful
pruning a fine colored leaf is obtained, varying from a
straw color to dark brown or black."
The plant bears a pink blossom,
which is succeeded by capsules not quite as large as those of
seed-leaf tobacco. The finest is grown in the Vuelta de Abajo, which,
for nearly a century, has been celebrated as a fine tobacco-producing
district. When growing, a _vega_ of Havana tobacco forms a most
pleasing feature of the landscape. As the plants ripen, the dark,
glossy green of the leaves is succeeded by a lighter shade and a
thickening of the leaf. The plant ripens in from eight to ten weeks
after being transplanted. The stalk and leaves are not as large as its
great rival, Connecticut seed-leaf, but it far surpasses it in flavor.
The plant emits a pleasant odor while growing, like most varieties of
the plant grown in the tropics.
YARA TOBACCO.
This variety of tobacco, like Havana, is grown upon the island of
Cuba, but is unlike it in flavor, as well as in the appearance of the
plant. It is well known as an admirable tobacco for cigars, but is not
sought after or grown to such an extent as Havana. The leaf when
growing, is in color a fine green, and when cured is of considerable
body and fine texture. A writer in alluding to Yara tobacco says:
"The most noted _vega_ or tobacco plantation is situated
near Santiago de Cuba and is called Yara. The choicest
tobacco is that grown on the banks of rivers which are
periodically overflowed. They are called Lo Rio, Rio Hondo,
and Pinar del Rio, and the tobacco is distinguished from all
other grown upon the island by a fine sand which is found in
the creases of the leaves."
The flavor of Yara tobacco is so essentially different from Havana,
that it is not cultivated as extensively, if indeed it could be. It is
grown more particularly for home use and for exporting to Europe,
where it is considered one of the finest of tobaccos. Of the other
varieties grown in the West Indies such as St. Domingo, Jamaica, and
Trinidad, much may be said both in praise and dispraise. St. Domingo
and Trinidad have been cultivated for more than two hundred years. St.
Domingo tobacco has a large leaf, but is of inferior flavor to most
varieties of West India tobacco.
[Illustration: Virginia tobacco.]
Virginia tobacco has acquired a reputation which has gradually
strengthened for more than two hundred and fifty years. It was one of
the first products to be cultivated by the English colony, and in less
than a quarter of a century after the settlement of Virginia, had
acquired a reputation hardly surpassed by its well known rivals,
Trinidad, Brazil, St. Domingo, and Various tobaccos. The plant grows
to the height of from five to seven feet; the leaves are long and
broad, and when cured are of various colors, from a rich brown to a
fine yellow. The finest of Virginia tobacco comes from the mountainous
counties, but the amount is small in proportion to the vast quantities
raised on the lowlands of the Dan and James rivers and their
tributaries. The leaf grown in the higher counties of South-western
Virginia is much lighter in color and much softer than the ordinary
Virginia tobacco. Shades of color in Virginia tobacco (as well as in
most others) serve to determine its use, while texture and length of
leaf affect as well its market value. There are various grades of
Virginia tobacco, especially in that grown in Southside, Virginia.
"Long bright leaf" is considered the finest, while that known as
"Luga" is the poorest and lowest grade of leaf.
The staple known as James River tobacco has acquired a world-wide
reputation, and the same ground is cultivated and planted with tobacco
now as in 1620. Virginia tobacco is known chiefly as a cut tobacco;
"good, stout snuff leaf" is also obtained from it, which brings as
much in European markets as "fine spinners." Missouri, Kentucky, and
some parts of Ohio also produce large quantities for manufacturing
into chewing and smoking tobacco.
OHIO TOBACCO.
[Illustration: Ohio white tobacco.]
The tobacco plant has been cultivated in this State for nearly fifty
years. Sullivan, in describing the kinds used for cutting, says:--
"Two kinds of seed are used, viz., the 'Thick Set' and the
'Pear Tree,' and of late years the 'Burley' has come into
favor. Nearly all tobacco grown in Ohio is 'fired,' that is,
cured by fires or flues; it is packed in hogsheads of about
eight hundred pounds net."
Another writer says:--
"In some parts her soil produces a fine yellow article
called 'Northern Ohio;' it is manufactured into the finest
quality of smoking tobacco, and is extensively used by all
epicures of the meerschaum, both in this country and in
Europe. Ohio also produces another variety called Ohio seed
leaf, or more familiarly, 'Seed.'"
While in another section she produces an excellent article of leaf for
chewing. Ohio tobacco of all kinds is a large plant, and cures "down"
to fine colors. One variety for cutting, known as "cinnamon blotch,"
is a leaf of good body and is considered an excellent tobacco for
chewing. A few years since a variety originated in a very curious
manner. We give the account as published by Prof. E. W. Smith:--
"This tobacco is known by the name of White tobacco. The
seed was procured about three years ago, in a very singular
way. There were a few hills of tobacco that looked very
singular, situated near a thicket of bushes and trees. The
rising morning sun sent its rays through this thicket,
striking diagonally upon a few hills, and producing by some
chemical law or daguerreotyping process the (white) tobacco.
The tobacco was allowed to go to seed. This seed was sown
the next year, and produced the same kind of tobacco. The
tobacco, before the white tobacco was daguerreotyped, was a
cinnamon blotch, so it may be seen by this freak of nature
how it was changed from red to white."
PERIQUE TOBACCO.
There are many varieties of tobacco well adapted for smoking, of all
colors and strengths. Of American tobaccos suitable for this purpose,
none have acquired a wider reputation at home than Perique. It is
cultivated only in small quantities in one or two parishes in
Louisiana. Perique tobacco may be used not only for smoking, but for
chewing and for snuff. The leaf when cured measures some eighteen
inches in length by fourteen in width, is thick and substantial, has
the appearance of a rich Kentucky tobacco, and when placed under press
immediately after being cured becomes black without the aid of any
artificial means. It is put up in rolls, or, as they are called,
"carrots." This tobacco is raised mostly in the parish of St. James,
La., and derives its name from an old Spanish navigator who settled in
St. James parish in the year 1820. His first attempt at raising
tobacco, for his own use, succeeded so well and gave him such a fine
result, (the plant developing itself to a great extent and being very
rich,) that he concluded to devote all his time to the culture of
tobacco, in order to make a living out of it.
The seed first used by him was the Kentucky, but this was subsequently
changed for the Virginia, which has been in use up to this time, being
renewed every four or five years. The tobacco originally put up by
Perique was twisted by hand and placed under press for three or four
days, then taken out, untwisted, retwisted and replaced in the press
for five or six days. After undergoing the same process three or four
different times, it was finally left to remain under press for six
months, and then taken out for use. Mr. Perique, however, soon made a
capital improvement in the mode of putting up his tobacco; for, as
early as the year 1824, we find the tobacco in beautiful rolls of four
pounds, and as hard as a "Saucisson de Boulogne."
This tobacco, which has retained the name of its producer, is still
manufactured in the same manner as it was fifty-four years ago, the
work still being done entirely by hand. The plant is cultivated as the
Virginia tobacco by about a dozen small planters in that part of the
Parish called "Grande-Pointe," seven miles from the Mississippi river.
A small quantity is also raised on the banks of the river in the same
parish by a few planters. The growers of Perique tobacco have tried
Virginia, Kentucky, and Havana seed, but prefer the former--Havana
producing too small a plant without a much better flavor.
Tobacco is grown in other parishes of the State; it is however of
inferior quality, and is used only for smoking or snuff. Perique
tobacco, when cut for smoking, is very black in appearance,
exceedingly smooth, and of peculiar odor. It is probably the thinnest
tobacco cultivated; and is strong, but of agreeable flavor.
PERUVIAN TOBACCO.
John Gerard gives the following description of the tobacco of Peru:
"Tobacco, or henbane of Peru, hath very great stalks of the
bigness of a child's arme, growing in fertile and
well-dunged ground of seven or eight feet high, dividing
itself in sundry branches of great length; whereon are
placed in most comely order very faire, long leaves, broad,
smooth and sharp-pointed, soft and of a light green color;
so fastened about the stalk that they seem to embrace and
compass it about. The flowers grow at the top of the stalks
in shape like a bell-flower, somewhat long and cornered;
hollow within, of a light carnation color, tending to
whiteness towards the rims. The seed is contained in long,
sharp-pointed cods, or seed-vessels, like unto the seed of
yellow henbane, but somewhat smaller, and browner of color.
The root is great, thicke and of a wooddy substance, with
some threddy strings annexed thereunto."
MEXICAN TOBACCO.
The tobacco plant seems to have been cultivated in Mexico from time
immemorial. Francisco Lopez de Gomara, who was chaplain to Cortez,
when he made conquest of Mexico, in 1519, alludes to the plant and the
custom of smoking; and Diaz relates that the king Montezuma had his
pipe brought with much ceremony by the chief ladies of his court,
after he had dined and washed his mouth with scented water. The
Spaniards encouraged its cultivation, and to this day it is grown in
several of the coast states. Various kinds are cultivated, but chiefly
a variety bearing yellow flowers, with a large leaf of fine flavor
resembling the Havana. The plant is a favorite with the Mexicans, who
prefer it to any other product grown. It is cultivated like most
varieties of the tropics, and is hardly inferior to any grown in the
West Indies, and is especially adapted for cigars and cigaritos. After
the first harvest another, and sometimes a third crop is gathered by
allowing one shoot to grow from the parent root, which oftentimes
develops to a considerable size. The quality of leaf, however, is
inferior; as is the case with all second and third crops grown in this
manner.
ST. DOMINGO TOBACCO.
This well-known West India variety is inferior to most kinds grown on
the neighboring islands. The plant attains a large size, cures dark,
is coarse, and of inferior flavor. It is a favorite tobacco in
Germany, and thousands of Ceroons are annually shipped to Hamburg. The
West India islands produce many varieties of tobacco, which is owing
more to the composition of the soil and climate than to the method of
cultivation and curing.
The demand for St. Domingo tobacco is limited. It has no established
reputation in this country, and on account of the high duties can not
compete with our domestic tobaccos.
LATAKIA TOBACCO.
[Illustration: Latakia tobacco, (Syria).]
This variety of the tobacco plant is one of the most celebrated known
to commerce. It attains its finest form and flavor in Syria, where it
is cultivated to a considerable extent. For smoking it is among the
best of the varieties of the East, and is used for the more delicate
cut tobaccos and cigars. It grows to the height of three feet--each
offshoot bearing flowers, the leaves of which are ovate in form, and
are attached to the stalk by a long stem. The flowers are yellow, and
number only a few in comparison with most varieties. When growing, the
leaves are thick, but after curing are thin and elastic. The stalk is
small, as are also the leaves. While growing, the plants emit a strong
aromatic odor not like that of Havana tobacco, but stronger and less
agreeable.
The plant was introduced into this country by Bayard Taylor, and
attains its full size in the Connecticut valley, where it has been
tested by many growers. After curing, the leaf is a bright yellow of
agreeable flavor, having the odor of ashes of roses. The flavor is
similar to Turkish tobacco, but is said to be less delicate.
After harvesting, the plants cure rapidly and on account of their
small size rarely sweat. Latakia tobacco, however, is not adapted to
the taste of American smokers, most of whom prefer tobacco of home
growth to even the finest of Turkish leaf. Latakia tobacco can be
raised with less labor than most varieties. Its diminutive size and
its unpopularity, however, prevent its general culture in this
country.
RUSSIAN TOBACCO.
In no other country in Europe is the tobacco plant attracting as much
as attention as in the empire of Russia. The varieties grown in
America, Cuba, Turkey, and Persia, have been tried, renewing the seed
once in two or three years. The tobacco of Russia is mild, and of
inferior flavor, and brings from 40 to 80 kopecks per pood. A very
good quality of tobacco is grown in the trans-Caucasian provinces; it
also flourishes well in the Southern provinces.
The plants attain good size, but lack that fine flavor when cured that
other tobaccos possess. A recent traveler through Russia, describing
the tobacco, says:
"Russian tobacco is very mild and rather sweet flavored,
though not equal in aroma to the Havana, or posessing that
rich ripe taste so much prized in that well known tobacco."
COLOMBIA TOBACCO.
Colombia has long been celebrated for the quality and varieties of its
tobacco. Its cultivation has been carried on for more than two hundred
and fifty years, and Varinian tobacco had obtained a well established
reputation in Europe long before Raleigh's "would-be-colonists"
sailed for Virginia. The principal varieties grown are Colombian,
Carmen, Ambalema, Palmyra, and Giron. Most of these tobaccos are used
for cigar purposes, especially the latter. The leaf is fine, of good
size, and marked with light yellow spots. Tanning says of the tobacco
of Colombia:
"The Cumanacoa, Tobacco de la Cueva, de los Misones, de la
Laguna de Valencia cura seca and Caraco, de la Lagunade
Valencia cura negro, de Oriluca, de Varinos cura seca, de
Casovare, de Baylodores, de Rio Negro en Andull, are equal
to the tobacco of the Brazils. The tobacco of the Cueva, in
the department of Cumana, is said to be grown from the
excrements of certain birds deposited by them in a cavity,
from which the natives extract it: it is considered the
finest tobacco in Colombia. The birds are a species of the
owl.
"The natives of Varinos, and in fact of the whole kingdom,
chew a substance called chimo, which is made of a jelly, by
boiling the Varinos tobacco, and afterwards mixed with an
alkali called _hurado_, which is found in a lake near
Merida. Both are an _estanco_ of government, and produce a
large annual income. The mode of cultivating the above
tobacco by the natives is as follows:--They prepare a small
bed, sifting the earth very fine, on which they sow the
seed, and then cover it with plantain leaves for some days.
As soon as the plants make their appearance, they raise the
leaves about two feet, so as to give the plants free air,
and to allow them sooner to grow strong. When they become
large enough to transplant, they have the land prepared; and
as soon as the rainy season sets in, they plant out their
young plants, taking great care to protect them from the
sun, and to keep them clean as they grow up, as well as to
prevent the worms from destroying or eating the leaves. When
the leaf is ripe, it gets yellow spots on it; and on bending
the leaf it cracks. Then it is fit for pulling off, which is
done, and the leaves are neatly packed in handsful, placed
in a dry situation, and occasionally shifted from one place
to another. When the leaves are well dried they are all
packed closely, and well covered, to keep the flavor in.
"The leaf is left in this state for one or two months, and
then made up for use. They never top their tobacco, and the
leaves never ripen together. The mode adopted by the North
American planters is somewhat different; they top their
plants when they have eight full leaves, or they keep it
suckered; and, by this means, the leaves are large and
sappy.
"They cut off the stem at the ground, when ripe, and hang it
on laths for one day and a night, with the leaves all
hanging down; they then place it in their barns; and, when
these are quite full, they smoke it for some days, and let
it remain in that way until the stem, as well as the leaf,
is quite dry; they then put it in a heap, and cover it up
for market. They strip off the leaves, and pack them in
hogsheads, and it is received in London."
SUMATRA TOBACCO.
Sumatra tobacco is one of the finest varieties cultivated, and
commands in European markets the very highest prices. The plant is a
vigorous grower, and produces large, fine leaves of most delicate
odor. The leaf is of beautiful appearance, of almost a silky texture,
and in color a rich brown. It is extensively used in the manufacture
of cigars, and on the continent it frequently realizes as much as 5s.
per pound for this purpose. It sells in London for from 3s. 6d. to 4s.
per pound.
BRAZILIAN TOBACCO.
Brazil tobacco is grown chiefly in the valley of San Diego and San
Francisco. The former being on the west side of the Brazilian
mountains, and the latter on the east. The San Diego is the finest,
and the following analysis of the San Diego of Brazil, and Vuelta de
Abajo, will give one an idea of the soil of these famous tobacco
lands:--
VUELTA DE ABAJO, CUBA. SAN DIEGO, BRAZIL.
PARTS. PARTS.
Organic matter, 9.60 4.60
Silica, 86.40 90.60
Lime, .40
Alumina, .68 3.00
Oxide of Iron, 1.92 1.20
Loss by Evaporation, 1.40 .20
------ ------
100.00 100.00
The tobacco of Brazil is grown in the same manner as in other parts of
South America. The planter raises two crops a year; curing for
exportation as in Cuba or Venezuela. The plant grows to the height of
about six feet, bearing leaves lanceolate in form, about thirty inches
long, and from eight to twelve inches wide. The tobacco fields are
very irregular. After it is cut it is placed on poles in the field,
and afterwards carried to the drying sheds. It is gathered in the dry
season in September. After curing, it is removed to the packing house
and baled in packages, and then transported on mules to the coast for
shipping. A large portion of the crop is shipped to Portugal. It is a
dark maroon-colored leaf, and contains a large proportion of the
nicotine oil. It is a high-flavored tobacco, and on this account is
used for cigars and cutting.
Burton says of the tobacco of Brazil:
"The tobacco of the Rio de Pomba, especially the 'Fumo
crespo,' is a dark strong leaf, well fitted for making
'Cavendish' or 'Honey-dew;' the weed flourishes throughout
Minos Gerals. The soil will be much improved by compost; and
the produce by being treated in Virginia style delicately
dried in closed barns with fires."
VENEZUELAN TOBACCO.
[Illustration: Orinoco tobacco, (Venezuela)]
The Orinoco tobacco grows from four to five feet high, bearing large
ovate leaves, and is in all respects a fine quality of tobacco. The
plant is grown during all seasons of the year. It is used chiefly for
cigars, and is shipped to Northern Europe. It is packed in
_carrottes_, and then baled. In color it is dark mahogany, and of good
body and texture. The leaf is about eighteen inches long, and about
ten inches wide. The planters cure by air-drying in sheds, and
afterwards it is tied up in hands and baled for export. For their own
use, they have adopted the method of the Brazilians, sprinkling the
leaf with water containing the juice of the poppy.
The flavor is rich and mellow; a little more oily than Havana leaf. It
is used for the manufacture of cigars. Orinoco tobacco makes very fine
flavored cigars, burning freely, and leaving a pearl-colored ash; it
is considered by the Venezuelans to be much better than any variety
grown in South America. In cultivating it the planters use no
fertilizers whatever, taking up new land as the old wears out. The
crop is gathered first in May, and then in September.
PERSIAN TOBACCO.
[Illustration: Shiraz tobacco, Persia.]
Shiraz tobacco is a native of Persia, and is one of the finest
varieties for the pipe to be found in the East. The plant differs from
most varieties in the color of the flowers and the form of the leaves.
It is not adapted for cigars as it does not readily ignite, and this
variety together with Manilla, are known as non-burning tobaccos.
After curing, the color is a light yellow, the flavor mild and not
unlike Latakia and Turkish tobacco. The color of the flowers like
those of Guatemala tobacco, is white, but in other respects nearly
similar to other kinds.
AMERSFOORT TOBACCO.
This variety of tobacco is cultivated quite extensively in Holland, in
the Veluwe (valley of Guelderland). The plant is of good size and
averages 1.580 kilos to the hectare. The cultivation is very carefully
conducted on the richest soil. The leaf is very fine and is free from
large fibres, fitting it for cigars. Large quantities are also used in
the manufacture of snuff. The tobacco plant has been cultivated in
Holland since its first introduction, with complete success,
producing a variety for snuff unrivaled by any other tobacco grown in
Europe.
In color Dutch tobacco is both dark and light; the former being used
for snuff and the latter for cigars and cheroots.
ST. OMER TOBACCO.
Tobacco is an important product in France, and affords the government
an immense revenue. In the north of France two varieties are
cultivated, the Brazilian and the Mexican, but the tobacco is unlike
that grown in those countries. Most of the tobacco of France is small
and inferior to Havana and Manilla. In the South of France tobacco is
cultivated to a considerable extent, but is of inferior quality,
lacking the rich flavor of the tobacco of Cuba. The cultivation is
permitted only in certain departments, and the cultivators must use
only the seed supplied to them by the officers of the _regie_. This is
selected with the greatest care, the kind and quantity depending upon
the nature of the land, the soil being carefully analyzed, and
cultivation prohibited in soils which do not possess the constituents
necessary for the growth of good tobacco. These analyses also
determine the quantities and sorts of manure required to bring the
land into fit condition. Most of the seed used is the produce of seed
imported at various times from North America and Cuba.
The cultivation is most carefully watched, and the statistics
available concerning it are of the minutest kind. Not only is the area
of each field of tobacco accurately measured, but each plant is noted
down, and even each leaf on each plant is accounted for. St. Omer is
used chiefly for snuff, sometimes used with other kinds and is much
esteemed by the French who consider it among the best of tobaccos.
HUNGARIAN TOBACCO.
This variety is attracting considerable attention, from the fact that
it is well adapted for the manufacture of cigars. Like Connecticut
seed leaf, the leaves are large and well suited for cigar wrappers. A
considerable portion is adapted for other uses, and it is in some
respects a good cutting tobacco. When in fine condition, Hungarian
leaf burns freely and leaves a clean, light-colored ash. No variety of
tobacco grown in Europe is attracting more notice than this, and if
good leaf tobacco suitable for cigars can be grown, American tobacco
will diminish in proportion. Hungarian tobacco is a favorite with the
Italians, and large quantities are sold to the Italian monopoly to be
used both for cigars and cutting.
SPANISH TOBACCO.
[Illustration: Spanish tobacco.]
For several years the growers of tobacco in the Connecticut valley
have directed their attention towards the production of a tobacco
possessing all of the excellencies of both wrapper and filler; in
other words, if possible securing a leaf of light color and fine
texture and good flavor, so as to combine all of the desirable
features and qualities of tobacco in one variety. Some few years since
the Department of Agriculture at Washington distributed a variety of
tobacco seed among the Connecticut tobacco growers known by the name
of Spanish tobacco.
It has been tested by many of the largest tobacco growers in
Connecticut, and found to be one of the best varieties of the plant
ever cultivated in the valley. The plant grows to the height of eight
feet, bearing leaves about two feet in length by one foot in width, is
an erect, strong, growing tobacco with a small, hard stalk and stout,
long roots. The plant, when growing, imparts a strong aromatic odor
not unlike Havana tobacco, but is larger everyway, and of inferior
flavor for cigars. By repeated trials its superiority has been
demonstrated to a certainty, while the profit arising from its culture
proves it worthy of attention from all cultivators of tobacco.
When cured the leaf is very fine and light of color, the stem and
veins of the leaf are small, thus fitting it for a good wrapper as
well as filler. If the tobacco growers in the Connecticut valley can
succeed in raising this variety, they will produce a leaf tobacco much
superior to the common variety known as seed leaf. Beyond all question
a much finer flavored tobacco than Connecticut seed leaf can be grown,
and still retain all of the excellencies of the latter, such as color,
texture, and size of leaf.
TURKISH TOBACCO.
The tobacco of Turkey has been called by some enthusiastic smoker "the
king of tobaccos," but whether it possesses this royal preëminence
over all other varieties must be decided by other than ourselves. That
it is a fine smoking tobacco, no one can doubt that ever "put breath"
to the favored pipe that contains the yellow shreds, but we should
prefer by far to part with it rather than with its great rival, Havana
tobacco.
The plant is not as large as many varieties, but grows up strong and
flourishes well on account of the care and attention given it by the
Turk and his family, as it is in all respects a family plant, and the
flower garden is generally the tobacco field. Turkey tobacco ranges in
color from brown to light yellow, the latter being the most in demand.
This variety is similar in flavor to Latakia and Shiraz, and these
three tobaccos, Persian, Syrian, and Turkish, are considered the
finest and best adapted of all tobaccos for the pipe. The work of
cultivating a field of Turkish tobacco is very tedious, as large
quantities of water have to be carried to sprinkle upon the plants.
The finest colored, a pale yellow leaf, brings "inflated" prices, but
more often by others than the poor Turk who grows it.
JAPAN TOBACCO.
[Illustration: Japan tobacco.]
Of the tobacco of Asia, the best known in Europe is the yellow leaf
grown in Japan. In those provinces where a high degree of temperature
prevails, the plant lives throughout the winter, but it is
nevertheless customary to sow fresh seed in the early spring of each
successive year. When fully grown, Japan tobacco attains an altitude
of about six feet, bearing leaves long and pointed, completely
enveloping the stalk. The leaves, however, differ in form in different
provinces, some being round and wide, others narrow and pointed, and
others thick and long.
The mode of cultivating also varies in the different provinces. The
sowing and transplanting are dependent on the temperature of the
locality, and each place follows its own customs. In autumn a great
number of flowers spring from the tip of the stalk. These are about an
inch in length, and of a pale purple tint. To these succeed small
round capsules, inside of which are three small chambers containing a
great number of light red seeds. The method of cultivation is novel,
the manuring of tobacco differing from that of other plants in that it
is plentifully applied both to the roots and leaves.
GUATEMALA TOBACCO.
The tobacco of Central America, though possessing considerable
excellence, has never become an important product, nor to any great
extent an article of commerce. There are several varieties grown in
Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and the other Central American states;
some of which by proper cultivation might be valuable to both the user
and the manufacturer. One variety bears white flowers like the tobacco
of Persia, but in other respects it differs but little from South
American varieties. Numerous other sorts occur, many of which are
local, and differ principally, if not solely, in the size or form of
the leaves.
The soil of Guatemala is well adapted for tobacco, and with careful
cultivation it could hardly fail of becoming an important agricultural
product. It is also probable that the soil of nearly all of Central
America is adapted to the plant, and with the favorable climate, the
varieties now grown would doubtless with proper care, become noted as
tobacco well adapted for cigars.
MANILLA TOBACCO.
This variety is one of the most celebrated grown in the East.[69] It
is used exclusively for the manufacture of cigars and cheroots, and
supplies India and Spain with a vast quantity of the manufactured
article. The plant is a strong, vigorous grower, bearing dark green
leaves; coming forward rapidly under the careful culture bestowed upon
the plants.[70] After curing, the leaves show a variety of colors
ranging from dark brown to light yellow or straw color. The leaf when
cured, has a peculiar appearance unlike that of any other tobacco. It
is of good body but smooth, and has the appearance of tobacco that has
been 'frost-bitten.' The leaf is not as porous as most other tobaccos,
and therefore does not as readily ignite, and frequently 'chars' in
burning--thus giving it the name of a non-burning tobacco.
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 70: The seedlings are planted in January, and
the greater part of the crop comes forward in May and
June.]
The plants are 'set' wide apart, and during the first two months are
carefully cultivated, when the top is broken off and the leaves
allowed to ripen. In some respects, Manilla tobacco is one of the best
varieties of the plant cultivated, and were it not for its non-burning
quality, it would have but few rivals among cigar tobaccos.[71] We
have thus, at some length, described nearly half of the varieties of
tobacco now being cultivated. There are, however, others as well known
and of equal value and favor. Some of these are of superior quality
and of world-wide repute. Of those described, the varieties grown in
the tropics are the most celebrated and of the finest flavor. As when
first discovered, the tobaccos of the tropics command the highest
prices, and possess qualities not easily transmitted when grown in a
temperate clime.
[Footnote 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."]
CHAPTER XII.
TOBACCO HOUSES.
The drying houses or sheds for the curing and storing of tobacco are
among the most interesting objects to be seen on the tobacco
plantation. These sheds vary in size from a small structure capable of
holding only a few thousand plants to the immense sheds with
sufficient capacity for hanging the products of several acres. In the
Connecticut valley, the Southern States, at the West, and in the
Philippine Islands these tobacco sheds are often several hundred feet
in length, built in the most substantial manner and provided with
suitable side doors and ventilators for the free passage of air, and
the most perfect system of ventilation. The most substantial and
finest tobacco sheds are to be found in the Connecticut valley, which
are provided with every convenience for hanging and taking down or
"striking" the crop. Many of them are painted and adorned with a
cupola, which serves the double purpose of an ornament and a
ventilator for the hot air to pass off from the curing and heated
plants. Formerly, the tobacco being harvested was hung in barns and
sheds, used for storing grain and hay, and better adapted to other
purposes than to that of a tobacco shed, where thorough ventilation is
necessary to avoid sweat and pole-rot, attending upon the curing of
the plants. Of late, tobacco growers, throughout the world, have paid
considerable attention to the method of curing, and to erecting more
suitable buildings for the purpose. At the South and West, the log
tobacco barns are giving way to the more substantial frame buildings,
and better facilities are employed for "firing" the tobacco in the
sheds. Formerly, the tobacco sheds at the South looked more like the
rude huts of the herders on the pampas of South America, than
buildings devoted to the curing of tobacco. Tobacco barns and sheds
are built of a great variety of material, and in various ways,
according to the manner of building where the tobacco is grown. Thus
in the Connecticut valley, such sheds or barns are large and
commodious frame buildings; at the South and West, many of them are
built of logs; in Cuba, of slabs covered with palm leaves or thatched.
In Turkey, of stones covered with rough boards, and daubed with mud.
[Illustration: Old Connecticut tobacco shed.]
In selecting a site for the tobacco shed, not only should its
proximity to the tobacco field be considered, but also the ground on
which it is to be built. It should always be erected on dry ground,
rather than upon moist, so that no dampness may arise and injure the
leaves in curing. The tobacco shed should also be built on an elevated
spot, so that a free circulation of air may be had, which is hardly
possible if built on low ground or among trees or in the woods as at
the South. This applies more particularly to sheds where the method
of curing is by air-drying instead of by "firing" or by "flues." In
New England the strongest timber, as oak, is used for building, as the
weight of the plants before fully cured is immense. The shed is braced
at every point and generally rests upon stone posts so as to allow a
good circulation underneath the building. Poles are used for hanging,
either round or sawed, when the plants are hung with twine; when hung
on tobacco hooks, laths are used, the hooks attached to the lath; more
frequently the plants are strung upon the laths without the aid of
hooks, the lath passing through the center of the stalk an inch or two
from the end. The doors lengthwise of the building are simply the
outside boards hung on hinges, every second or third being chosen
according to the ideas of curing entertained by the grower. Some
planters are of the opinion that the plants need all the air that can
be obtained, and keep the sheds open during both day and night, while
others open the doors only now and then--closing during warm days, and
during a storm. Sometimes the doors are hung on hinges at the
top--opening but partially and not allowing as free circulation as
when hung on the sides.
[Illustration: Modern Connecticut tobacco shed.]
Another building of late has been built by the growers in the
Connecticut valley, called a stripping house. This building is
frequently attached to the shed or near by so that stripping may be
performed during all kinds of weather, without danger of injuring the
tobacco, or the health of the stripper. Such buildings however are
needed only in tobacco sections where the cold is extreme during the
winter, when most of the tobacco is to be stripped. The stripping room
or house is provided with a stove, a long table, or elevated platform,
in front of the windows, of which there should be several to admit
plenty of light, and a number of chairs to accommodate the strippers.
On the stove a kettle of water is kept constantly boiling or heated,
the ascending steam of which keeps the leaves of tobacco from drying
and consequently from cracking or breaking. When in condition for
"striking" or taking down, the plants are carried to the
stripping-room, and covered with boards and blankets, when the
operation called stripping commences. Many of the stripping-rooms are
built large enough to contain the cases after the tobacco is packed,
thus answering a double purpose.
[Illustration: Stripping room.]
In Virginia and the other tobacco-growing states of the South, the
tobacco barn is built altogether different, as the method of curing is
by fires or flues instead of air curing. The height of the building is
usually twice its width and length. In the center of the smooth
earthen floor, is the trench for "firing," while around the sides of
the building runs an elevated platform for placing the tobacco leaves
in bulk; and, commencing at a safe distance from the trench, up to the
top of the building, reach beams stretching across for the reception
of the pine laths, from which are suspended the tobacco plants. Many
of the tobacco sheds at the South, are built like those of New
England, but many log structures are still to be seen and many
planters prefer them to those made like other frame buildings. The old
Virginia planters of a hundred years ago, built rough log sheds for
housing the plants, which afforded little protection from wind and
rain, which, in consequence, injured much of the tobacco hanging
around the sides of the building. Tatham gives the following
description of the "Tobacco house and its variety" in his work on
tobacco.
[Illustration: Modern Virginia shed.]
"The barn which is appropriated to the use of receiving and
curing this crop, is not, in the manner of other barns,
connected with the farm yard, so that the whole occupation
may be rendered snug and compact, and occasion little waste
of time by inconsiderate and useless locomotion; but it is
constructed to suit the particular occasion in point of
size, and is generally erected in, or by the side of, each
respective piece of tobacco ground; or sometimes in the
woods, upon some hill or particular site which may be
convenient to more than one field of tobacco. The sizes
which are most generally built where this kind of culture
prevails, are what are called forty-feet, and sixty-feet
tobacco houses; that is, of these lengths respectively, and
of a proportionate width; and the plate of the wall, or part
which supports the eaves of the roof, is generally elevated
from the groundsel about the pitch of twelve feet. About
twelve feet pitch is indeed a good height for the larger
crops; because this will allow four pitch each to three
successive tiers of tobacco, besides those which are hung in
the roof; and this distance admits a free circulation of
air, and is a good space apart for the process of curing the
plant. There are various methods in use in respect to the
construction of tobacco houses, and various materials of
which they are constructed; but such are generally found
upon the premises as suffice for the occasion. And although
these sizes are most prevalent, yet tobacco houses are in
many instances built larger or smaller according to the
circumstances of the proprietor, or the size of the spot of
ground under cultivation.
[Illustration: Virginia shed 150 years ago.]
"The most ordinary kinds consist of two square pens built
out of logs of six or eight inches thick, and from sixteen
to twenty feet long. Out of this material the two pens are
formed by notching the logs near their extremities with an
axe; so that they are alternately fitted one upon another,
until they rise to a competent height; taking care to fit
joists in at the respective tiers of four feet space, so
that scaffolds may be formed by them similar to those
heretofore described to have been erected in the open field,
for the purpose of hanging the sticks of tobacco upon, that
they may be open to a free circulation of air during this
stage of the process. These pens are placed on a line with
each other, at the opposite extremes of an oblong square,
formed of such a length as to admit of a space between the
two pens wide enough for the reception of a cart or wagon.
This space, together with the two pens, is covered over with
one and the same roof, the frame of which is formed in the
same way as the walls by notching the logs aforesaid, and
narrowing up the gable ends to a point at the upper
extremity of the house, termed the ridge pole. The remaining
part of the fabric consists of a rough cover of thin slabs
of wood, split first with a mall and wedges, and afterwards
riven with an instrument or tool termed a froe. The only
thing which then remains to be done, is to cut a door into
each of the pens, which is done by putting blocks or wedges
in betwixt the logs which are to be cut out, and securing
the jambs with side pieces pinned on with an anger and
wooden pins. The roof is secured by weighing it down with
logs; so that neither hammer, nails, brick, or stone, is
concerned in the structure; and locks and keys are very
rarely deemed necessary.
"The second kind of tobacco houses differ somewhat from
these, with a view to longer duration. The logs are to this
end more choicely selected. The foundation consists of four
well hewn groundsels, of about eight by ten inches, leveled
and laid upon cross sawed blocks of a larger tree, or upon
large stones. The corners are truly measured, and squared
diamond-wise, by which means they are more nicely notched in
upon each other; the roof is fitted with rafters, footed
upon wall plates, and covered with clap-boards nailed upon
the rafters in the manner of slating. In all other respects
this is the same with the last mentioned method; and both
are left open for the passage of the air between the logs.
"The third kind is laid upon a foundation similar to the
second; but instead of logs, the walls are composed of posts
and studs, tenoned into the sells, and braced; the top of
these are mounted with a wall-plate and joists; upon these
come the rafters; and the whole is covered with clap-boards
and nails, so as to form one uninterrupted oblong square,
with doors, etc., termed, as heretofore, a forty, sixty, or
one hundred feet tobacco house, etc.
"The fourth species of these differs from the third only in
the covering, which is generally of good sawed feather-edged
plank; in the roof, which is now composed of shingles; and
in the doors and finishing, which consist of good sawed
plank, hinged, &c. Sometimes this kind are underpinned with
a brick or stone wall beneath the groundsels; but they have
no floors or windows, except a plank or two along the sides
to raise upon hinges for sake of air, and occasional light:
indeed, if these were constructed with sides similar to the
brewery tops in London, I think it would be found
advantageous. In respect to the inside framing of a tobacco
house, one description may serve for every kind: they are so
contrived as to admit poles in the nature of a scaffold
through every part of them, ranging four feet from centre to
centre, which is the length of the tobacco stick, as
heretofore described; and the lower ties should be so
contrived as to remove away occasionally, in order to pursue
other employments at different stages in the process of
curing the crop."
In Ohio, the tobacco barns are built in a manner similar to those in
Virginia; constructed of logs and provided with trenches for fires in
curing the tobacco. The tobacco sheds for hanging the tobacco cured by
air-drying, are built of the same material without trenches, as smoke
is not employed in curing "seed-leaf" tobacco. The sheds for both
kinds of curing tobacco are large structures, varying in size
according to the area of tobacco planted. Sometimes the sheds are
built near the woods where fuel can be procured, and in the immediate
vicinity of the tobacco field. The tobacco houses are built in the
strongest manner and of the most durable material, and are well fitted
for the purpose designed. In the counties bordering the Ohio River,
where a large quantity of tobacco is raised, the tobacco sheds are to
be seen on every hand, the smoke issuing from the sides of the
building, giving a stranger the idea of a burning building rather than
the curing of a great staple.
[Illustration: Ohio tobacco shed.]
The following account of constructing tobacco barns in Missouri, is
from a St. Louis paper:
"We believe in small barns for any kind of curing. A house
built 16 feet inside and divided into four rooms and six
tier high in the body is the preferable size for flue or
coal curing. For flues they should be built on a very
slightly sloping place; just enough to make the flues draw
well. Flues four inches lower at the eye than the chimney
will be slope enough. The door should always be between the
flues and in the end of the house, to prevent the drip from
falling before the door and the eye of the flues. The tiers
should begin eight feet above the ground and be placed two
feet above each other to the top. They should be placed
across the house so that the roof tier can conveniently be
placed above them. The door, three feet wide and six feet
high, furnished with a good, close shutter. A barn of this
size will cure 800 sticks of common size tobacco, which
will weigh about 1200 lbs. The proper construction of flues
is of great importance; they should be built of any stone
that will stand fire without bursting. White sand-stone,
bastard soap-stone, or any other that does not contain
flint. The size of a flue for a sixteen foot barn, is
generally about 12 inches wide by 14 inches high inside. Not
much care need be taken to have them smooth on the outside.
If stone can be had to make the inside smooth so as not to
obstruct the putting on of wood, it is all that is
necessary. They should be run just far enough from the
house-side not to set the house on fire, and there is not as
much danger of this as may be supposed. Run the walls of the
house-side all around, running the stem out at the middle of
the upper side. The stem should be run far enough above the
wall of the house to avoid danger of sparks from the
chimney. The height of the inside of the flue should be
preserved its whole length. The width may be slightly
decreased from the elbow to the chimney. The inner wall is
carried all around. But too much explanation bewilders; we
think we have said enough. As before said, we like small
barns; where too much tobacco is together, it all can not
receive the heat alike, which is our main objection to large
barns. As to the number of barns necessary, we would say
that there ought to be enough to receive all the crop
without moving any. Say one sixteen-foot barn to every 8,000
hills of tobacco planted. As a general rule, plant one
thousand hills for every hundred sticks house-room. That is,
if you have three barns plant 24,000 hills, and if it is
common tobacco, they will receive it. A much larger quantity
may be saved in this number of barns by curing and moving
out, but it is very troublesome."
[Illustration: Persian tobacco shed.]
In Kentucky and Tennessee the tobacco barns resemble those of Ohio and
the other Western states, and are large, commodious structures,
provided with every facility for curing the plants. In other
tobacco-growing countries the tobacco barns and sheds differ but
little from those in America, the only difference being in form and
building material. In countries where tobacco is a government
monopoly, large and comfortable buildings are provided for the crop
with all the necessary accessories for the curing, packing, and
storing of the tobacco. In South America many of the sheds are large
and low, built on the plantation, and close to the tobacco field. In
Cuba, the curing houses are located on the _vegas_, and as soon as the
tobacco is cut it is placed on the poles to dry or cure. In Asia, a
large quantity of the tobacco is cured in the peasants' huts, where
the smoke is said to impart additional flavor to the already fragrant
leaves. In the Philippines the largest tobacco sheds are found,
described by Gironiere as "vast sheds," and of sufficient capacity to
hold acres of the leaves. In Persia, where the celebrated Shiraz
tobacco is grown, the sheds are simply covered buildings without any
boards on the sides, the only protection afforded from the weather
being supplied by light, thorny bushes, so that the plants may be
exposed to the wind. After fully curing, the tobacco is removed to
another drying-house and turned every day. The drying-houses in other
tobacco-growing countries differ but little from those described,
while the manner of curing is similar, the plants being "fired,"
sun-cured, or air-dried--the three modes now employed in drying the
leaves. If the tobacco of the tropics is fragrant while growing, it is
doubly so after being harvested and carried to the sheds. The odor
from the well-filled barns is borne on the breeze alike to friend and
foe of the plant. As the process of drying goes on, the plants
gradually lose the strong perfume emitted during the earlier stages of
curing, and by the time the leaves are "cured down" and the sheds
closed, but little odor issues from the plants, and this continues to
be the case until the leaves are entirely dried.
CHAPTER XIII.
TOBACCO CULTURE.
Tobacco at the present time is one of the great products of the world.
As an article of agriculture and of commerce, it holds an important
place among the great staples, while as a luxury, its use has become
as extensive as its culture. The tobacco plant is now cultivated in
nearly all parts of the world with varying success, according to the
system of cultivation adopted by its growers. Primarily cultivated by
the aborigines of America in the rude manner common to uncivilized
races, the plant has, by numerous experiments and careful culture,
become one of the greatest of agricultural products. When first
discovered by the Spanish and Portuguese, the plant was small, and in
flavor "poor and weak and of a byting taste." As soon, however, as the
Spaniards began its cultivation in the islands of St. Domingo and
Trinidad, attention was paid to developing it, and in a few years the
description we find of the latter variety is that it is "large, sharp,
and growing two or three yards from the ground."
At the close of the sixteenth century the Portuguese began its
cultivation in Portugal, the soil of which seemed well adapted to the
plant, and still further increased the size and quality of the leaf.
Tobacco is now cultivated through a wider range of temperature than
any other tropical plant, and whether grown amid the sands of Arabia,
the plains of South America, or in the rich valley of the Connecticut,
develops its finest form and perfection of leaf. During the last
half-century the plant has been developed to a greater extent than
during the three hundred years succeeding its discovery. Now its
cultivation has been reduced to almost an exact science, and the
quality of the leaf is in a great measure within the control of the
growers of the plant.
Formerly it was supposed that the varieties that grew in the tropics
could not be successfully cultivated in the temperate regions, but
recent and repeated experiments have demonstrated the fact that the
tobacco of Cuba can be grown with success in the Connecticut valley.
While the tobacco of the tropics is the finest in flavor, the more
temperate regions produce the finest and best colored leaf. The
tobacco of the tropics, as to the uses to which it is put, is limited,
while the tobacco of the more temperate regions can be used for all
the purposes for which the plant is designed.
The cultivation of the plant varies with the variety, the soil, and
the use to be made of the leaf. Thus a tobacco designed for cutting
purposes is cultivated somewhat differently from that designed for the
manufacture of snuff or cigars. In the one case the plant is allowed
to remain growing longer in the field, while in the other the work of
topping the plants is performed at an earlier stage of their growth.
Primarily but little attention was paid to the color and texture of
the leaf, the principal object being the production of a leaf of large
size, rather than one of good color, and of a silky texture. Now,
however, these are most important considerations, and give value to
the tobacco in proportion to the perfection of these qualities.
The soil, too, is carefully chosen and fitted in the most thorough
manner, while the fertilizers used are selected with reference to the
color of leaf desired. When first cultivated in the United States it
was thought that tobacco designed for various uses could not be grown
in the same state or section; now, however, tobacco for cigars and for
cutting are grown nearly side by side. But in the fineness of the
leaf, tobacco culture has made its greatest stride. By a careful
selection of soil, and by the judicious application of proper
fertilizers, the leaf tobaccos of Connecticut, Cuba, and Virginia,
resemble in texture the finest satins and silks. This result has been
reached, not by the sacrifice of the strength of the leaf, but by the
most careful culture and improved methods of curing.
The first labor to be performed in connection with the growth of a
crop of tobacco, is the selection of a site for, and the making of,
the "plant bed" or "plant patch." These beds for the early growth of
the plants until large enough to transplant, are made in various ways
and at different times, according to the method of tilling adopted and
the climate. In California the tobacco bed is made in January, in the
Southern States, Syria, Turkey, and Holland, in March. In New England
in April. In Mexico and Java in June, and in Persia in December. In
the Connecticut valley the manner of making the
PLANT BED,
as given by a Massachusetts tobacco-grower, is as follows:--
"No rigid rules can be given for any process in tobacco
culture, which depends much upon weather and season, but
certain advantages may be obtained by skillful adaptation of
general principles to circumstances. This is especially true
of raising tobacco plants, which occupy an extremely slight
depth of ground for weeks after sowing, making it necessary
to prepare the whole soil with reference to the state of
this thin surface. Any slight mistake of treatment may make
in the end a difference of several days; consequently each
item is of importance. While every tobacco-raiser wants
early plants, and appreciates the value of a good location
for growing them, many naturally sheltered spots of ground,
protected from northerly winds by buildings, trees, or
hills, remain unappreciated. Tight board fences are no
protection worth mentioning.
"A heavily manured crop of tobacco would fit such places for
tobacco beds, and leave them freer from weeds than any other
cultivation; and a subsequent use of some commercial
fertilizer would avoid the introduction of weed seed. With
these precautions, and a careful destruction of all
neighboring weeds, a tolerably clean bed may be expected. To
prepare the ground, plow or loosen deeply with a large
cultivator; harrow in two-thirds of the fertilizer to be
used; rake the bed perfectly level, then rake in the other
third; roll once, and another slight raking will fit the bed
for sowing, after which it should be rolled down hard. If
the soil is handled in drying weather, it should be done
quickly, because damp ground, if prepared and rolled down
before drying, will 'set' like mortar, and remain damp on
the surface. Moisture and darkness are essential to the
germination of the seed, and these conditions can be secured
only by making the surface compact while damp. The
disintegration of the deeper lumps, and the decomposition of
fertilizers, will cause the surface to grow gradually
softer. The effect of plowing is to break the ground into
lumps, which lie upon each other, giving free admission to
the air between them. Harrowing makes finer the lumps near
the surface, and mixes the fertilizer deeper than a rake can
be used. The first raking is to pulverize and level, so that
rains will neither collect in ponds, nor run off, but
penetrate the soil evenly. The second raking is to mix the
fertilizer equally through the soil, to the depth of an inch
or less, and reduce the lumps to the size of peas, which is
as fine as a medium loam can be made without danger of a
tough crust. Too much working destroys the healthy grain of
the soil, and reduces it to a paste, which the roots of the
tobacco plants can penetrate but slowly.
[Illustration: Making the plant bed in Connecticut.]
"The bed should not be watered before nor after the plants
come up. The ground will be cold enough without any extra
evaporation, and if the place is suitable for tobacco
plants, and rightly fitted, the surface will be damp in the
morning, even in very dry weather. If the plants need
stimulating, sow on them a coat of Peruvian guano or
super-phosphate at the commencement of a rain, regulating
the quantity used by the amount of the water likely to fall.
Superphosphate makes dark-colored, thick-leaved, stocky
plants. Fish guano has about the same effect, but gives a
lighter color and thinner leaf. Peruvian guano is more
stimulating than either, and makes a light-colored, thin
leaf. Great caution is necessary in the use of these
powerful medicines to avoid an over-dose. A quantity that
would be safe in a heavy rain, would in a light rain kill
many or nearly all the plants.
"Old seed will sprout sooner than new. The seed should be
measured while dry, and the same spoon used every year, so
the effect of a given amount may be noted and the quantity
regulated by experience. Level the seed in the spoon with a
knife-blade, like measuring grain in a half-bushel. After
sprouting again, allowing for the seed, increase in bulk for
each rod separately. The amount of seed needed to the square
rod varies with different seasons, soils, and seeds, but can
be loosely a tablespoonful. There are many breeds of
tablespoons. Too thick sowing will nearly spoil a bed by
causing it to produce weak, yellow, spindling plants, while
thin sowing will give good square ones. A bed should appear
about half stocked till the plants are nearly ready to set,
when they will suddenly spread and seem to multiply.
"Some growers sprout and some prefer dry seed. In favorable
circumstances sprouting will give a gain of four to six
days, but in many cases dry seed will be fully as early. A
long sprout is liable to be broken off in sowing, or killed
by cold, after it is in the ground. A sprout just showing
will endure several nights' freezing if there is some warm
sun in the day-time. One way to sprout is to spread the seed
thinly on cotton cloth, and roll it up inside of woolen
cloth, keep it in a warm place, and dip in warm water every
day. In about four days the white spots will show. Sprouted
no more than this, it will stand unfavorable weather as well
as dry seed. A pint of meal and a pint of plaster to each
rod, is a good mixture to sow in. Pouring from one dish to
another many times will mix the plaster, meal, and seed
perfectly if dry. If sprouted, it should be rubbed through
the hands a few times with the mixture, to dry it and
prevent any bunches of plants coming from seed stuck
together. The plaster will show on the ground whether the
sowing is being done evenly.
"Weeding should of course be done early and thoroughly.
Weeds are stronger than the plants, and a little neglect
will check them, making practically, perhaps, a difference
of several days. A good way to prepare for weeding and
taking up plants, is to make the bed about fifteen feet
wide, and place round, straight poles across it about eleven
feet apart. The poles should be three inches in diameter at
the smallest end. They cost nothing and save moving blocks
around with the weeding planks."
If the plants are tardy of growth, or the season is backward, wooden
frames covered with cloth soaked in linseed oil may be placed over the
beds, which is far better than to cover with pine boughs or glass
even. The cloth soaked in oil draws the rays of the sun and keeps the
earth dry and warm, causing a rapid growth of the plants, which at
this stage need forcing in order to be forward enough for early
transplanting. A Virginia planter gives the following description of
making the
PLANT PATCH.
"Cut wood in September or October, so that it may season, to
burn patches (beds) in winter or spring. For ten acres, or
fifty thousand hills, burn and sow three patches each of
seventy-five square yards. Say one (if the land be in good
condition) the latter part of December, and if it be not in
condition then, burn one hundred and fifty square yards the
first good weather in January or February, and the other the
first of March. Select a place on some small constant
running stream, not liable to overflow, with a moist, sandy
soil; cut down all trees close to the ground; get off all
shrubbery, leaves, etc. The patch will then be ready for
wooding. Commence by laying on skids ten or twelve feet
long, four in diameter, three and a half feet apart; cover
thickly with brush, then put on wood regular all over, and
thick enough to burn dry an inch in depth. Commence your
fires on the side, and continue to move after it has burnt
hard enough. After it has burned, sweep off all coals, but
not the ashes: then it will be ready for hoeing up, which
can be done with good grub hoes; hoe deep, but do not turn
over the soil; get off all large and small roots; chop over
with hill hoes, and rake until the earth is thoroughly
pulverized; then put on twenty-five bushels of good, fine,
stable manure, without weed and grass seed, and twenty-five
pounds of Peruvian guano, which should be put on regularly,
hoed and raked in.
"For sowing, lay off beds four feet wide, so that the water
from rains may run or drain off. For every bed four feet
wide and twelve yards long, sow one chalk pipe bowl full of
seed, after being mixed with ashes; tread with the feet or
pat it over with weeding hoes, that it may be close and
smooth; cover it with dog-wood, maple, or any fine brush, to
the depth of twenty or twenty-four inches, to protect the
young plants from cold or a drouth. After the plants have
commenced coming up, re-sow the patches with half the
quantity of seed first sown, which will not interfere with
the plants first up, but make good re-planting plants. When
the plants, or some of them, have grown to the size of a
Spanish mill dollar, take off the brush, pick off all
sticks, weeds, and grass, and keep them well picked until
you have finished setting out.
"Should the plants not grow fast enough to suit, manure with
Peruvian guano; have it fine, and sow over in the middle of
the day when they are dry, or if it be raining briskly, it
may then be sown over. Should the patches be suffering for
rain, put five pounds of Peruvian guano in twenty gallons of
water, and sprinkle it over with a watering-pot. To destroy
the flea, bug, or fly, put dry leaves around the patch, and
set fire to them at night, which will attract and destroy
them if they are disturbed with a broom or leafy brush."
The old Virginia planters selected and made the plant patch as
follows:--
"The quality of earth, and places which are universally
chosen for this purpose, are newly cleared lands of the best
possible light black soil, situated as near to a small
stream of water as they can be conveniently found, due
attention being paid to the dryness of the place.
"The beds, or patches, as they are called, differ in size,
from the bigness of a small salad bed to a quarter of an
acre, according to the magnitude of the crop proposed; and
they are prepared for receiving the seed in March and the
early part of April, as the season suits, first by burning
upon them large heaps of brush wood, the stalks of the maize
or Indian corn, straw, or other rubbish; and afterwards, by
digging and raking them in the same manner of preparing
ground for lettuce seed; which is generally sown mixed with
the tobacco seed (the same process being suitable to both
plants); and which answers the double purpose of feeding the
laborer, and of protecting the young tobacco plant from the
fly; for which intent a border of mustard seed round the
plant patch is found to be an effectual remedy, as the fly
prefers mustard, especially white mustard, to any other
young plant; and will continue to feed upon that until the
tobacco plant waxes strong, and becomes mature enough for
transplantation."
A Tennessee planter gives the following description of making the
plant bed as practised in his State. In some respects, especially in
preventing the growth of weeds, it is the best process of making the
"plant patch" that we have ever seen described. He says:--
"To make a good plant bed it requires good management and
pretty hard work. It will hardly be done well without the
presence of the farmer to attend to it. The time to make a
bed is from the 15th of October to the first of April. The
best beds are made in the Fall, for the reason that the
ground is then very dry and therefore more easily burned,
and besides there is more time for the ashes to rot before
the hot weather. A bed turned in the Fall will hold moisture
better than burned later. It takes less wood to burn well.
The plants are more vigorous and tougher. The soil should be
rich and light and never tilled before. The location should
be as much exposed to the sun as possible. It is best for a
bed to be surrounded by timber. The bugs are not so apt to
find it. Low rich valleys will generally do better than
ridges, though any good rich new ground will make good
plants if well burned and prepared. The ground should be
raked very clean of leaves before packing on the brush and
wood. The fire must have a fair chance at the ground. The
brush should be packed on straight and close, at least
enough wood mixed with it to make it lie close. If the brush
is green, endeavor to mix what dry stuff there is thorough,
so the fire will burn through without trouble. It is very
important that the fire should be as hot as possible while
it is burning. The bed should not be rained upon after it is
set before it is burned, as it will be doubtful whether the
ground beneath the brush will get dry well.
"The ground should always be as dry as possible when it is
burned. The bed should be set on fire in several places at
once so as to have a very great heat on it at once. If the
ground is well burned it will be a little crusty and
whitish, and will pulverize beautifully. As soon as the
ground is cool enough it may be loosened up and pulverized.
This should be done well, and may be done with a good sharp
harrow and then followed with hoes and grubbing hoes. Aim to
keep the ashes and rich soil on the surface, and for this
reason a bed is sometimes damaged by a too deep working.
Rake carefully, getting off all the roots and trash. The bed
should be drained by a little ditch around it on the upper
side. If it is very early in the Fall, the seed should not
be sown until the danger of very warm days has passed. After
the last of November the sowing should be as soon as the bed
is prepared. A little less than a heaping tablespoonful to
ten steps square is about the quantity of seed. Cover the
seed very lightly with the rake or tramping the ground with
the feet. Cover the bed with a good layer of straight brush,
not enough to keep the light rains from the bed, but at the
same time enough to keep the ground in a moist condition
even in hot weather. Make a low close brush fence around the
bed to keep the leaves from being blown upon it. Re-sow
whenever the plants are well up, so as to have two chances.
Take off the brush cover when the plants are big enough to
shade the ground themselves. If the plants are rather thin
on the bed, do not uncover until you go there to draw the
plants. If there is any danger of a scarcity of plants,
always put the trash back after drawing."
In Cuba the
"SEMILLEROS"
or planting beds as a rule, lie higher than the rest of the farm. On
the large _vegas_ or tobacco plantations, numbers of planting beds are
made under the supervision of the mayoral. Siecke gives the following
account of making the beds or _semilleros_:
"On the island of Cuba any field selected for the
cultivation of tobacco is divided into long beds
(_Canteras_) twenty-five to twenty-eight feet long, and
nineteen to twenty inches wide. The soil is then manured
with a mixture of two parts of well rotten dung and one part
of either sand or fine sandy earth. During the months of
August, September, and even October, the beds are watered,
and the seeds mingled with the nine-fold quantity of fine
sand, are sown broad cast or through a fine sieve, and
immediately after covered with a mixture of dung and
triturated or molaxated earth, in such a manner that this
mixture forms a covering layer of about 1-32 inches.
"The utmost care is taken to protect the seeds against the
stifling heat of sunrays as well as heavy showers. To this
end forked sticks about three inches high, are placed
around the tobacco beds, opposite one another, and into
these forks thin twigs are laid, which are covered with
palm-leaves in such a way as to form a slight roof."
[Illustration: Covering plant bed.]
In Syria the tobacco seed is sown in ground free from stones, well
manured with goats dung, and strewn over with prickly bushes to
protect the young plants from birds. The plants are watered daily till
they reach the height of eight or ten inches, when they are
transplanted. In Persia where the celebrated Shiraz tobacco is
cultivated, the seed is planted in a dark soil slightly manured; the
ground is covered with light thorny bushes to keep it warm, and these
are removed when the plants are a few inches high. The ground is
regularly watered if required, and when the plants are six to eight
inches high are transplanted. In Turkey
"the tobacco seed is sown
early in the spring, in small beds carefully prepared for
the early growth of the young plants. In a few weeks the
plants appear thick; then begins the occupation of the
farmer's wife, and their numerous children, whose little
fingers are engaged day by day in thinning the beds, care
being taken to leave the most healthy looking plants. The
husband is engaged either in carrying water from the nearest
well by the aid of his mule, or in preparing the land for
the reception of the plants. The beds are well watered
before sunrise and after sundown."
"The Hungarian peasantry always make their tobacco beds
against the south ends of their houses. These beds are
enclosed by hurdles two feet high, at the bottom of which
stones are laid, and on the outside of these, thorns are
thickly placed, to exclude the moles. They fill this
enclosure to the height of eighteen inches with fresh,
coarse manure, which they press closely by beating as they
throw it on; covering with finely pulverized earth mixed
with dung of the preceding year that had become soil. They
do not regulate their time of sowing either by the moon,
month, the season, but by the holy week of the passing year;
it is on Good Friday that all of their beds are sown, and
although this day may vary nearly one month in different
years, they are faithful to their thermometer--their piety
not permitting them to know any other. To the mysterious
influence of the day, without regard to the season, they
ascribe their success and they generally succeed." Bickinson
gives an account of the manner of making the plant bed in the East
Indian Archipelago. He says:
"Not far from us is a hut inhabited by
two natives, who are engaged in cultivating tobacco. Their
_ladangs_, or gardens, are merely places of an acre or less,
where the thick forest has been partially destroyed by fire,
and the seed is sown in the regular spaces between the
stumps."
After making the plant bed and tending through the weeding season, the
next step to be taken is the
CHOICE OF GROUND
for the tobacco fields. Tobacco, unlike any other plant, readily
adapts itself to soil and climate. The effect produced upon the plant
may be seen in comparing the tobacco of Holland and France, the one
raised upon low, damp ground, the other on a sandy loam. The early
growers of the plant in Virginia, were very particular in the
selection of soil for the plant. The lands which they found best
adapted were the light red, or chocolate-colored mountain lands, the
light black mountain soil in the coves of the mountains, and the
richest low grounds.
Tatham says: "The condition of soil of which the planters
make choice, is that in which nature presents it when it is
first disrobed of the woods with which it is naturally
clothed throughout every part of the country; hence in the
parts where this culture prevails, this is termed new
ground, which may be there considered as synonymous with
tobacco ground. Thus the planter is continually cutting down
new ground, and every successive spring presents an
additional field, or opening of tobacco (for it is not
necessary to put much fence round that kind of crop); and to
procure this new ground you will observe him clearing the
woods from the sides of the steepest hills, which afford a
suitable soil; for a Virginian never thinks of reinstating
or manuring his land with economy until he can find no more
new land to exhaust, or wear out as he calls it; and,
besides, the tobacco which is produced from manured or
cow-penned land, is only considered, in ordinary, to be a
crop of second quality. It will hence be perceived, (and
more particularly when it is known that the earth must be
continually worked to make a good crop of tobacco, without
even regarding the heat of the sun, or the torrent of sudden
showers,) that, however lucrative this kind of culture may
be in respect to the intermediate profits, there is a
considerable drawback in the waste of soil."[72]
[Footnote 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."]
In the Connecticut valley where tobacco is grown for wrapping
purposes, the selection of soil will depend upon the color of leaf in
demand (as the soil as well as the fertilizers determine in a measure
the color and texture of the tobacco). If the grower wishes to obtain
dark colored tobacco then the soil selected should be a dark loam; on
the other hand, if a light colored wrapper is desired he selects a
light loam, and with the application of proper fertilizers the proper
color will be obtained.
The tobacco plant flourishes well either on high or low ground,
providing the soil be dry and free from stones, which are a source of
annoyance during the cultivation of the plants and especially in
harvesting. When grown on very low ground the plants should be "set"
early, so as to harvest before early frosts. The plant may be
cultivated on such soil in almost any part of the valley excepting
only near the sound, or other body of salt water, the effect produced
by planting tobacco too near the sea, more especially in Connecticut,
being injurious to the leaf, which is apt to be thick and unfit for a
cigar wrapper. In some countries, however, the leaf grown near salt
water is equal in color and texture to any grown in the interior. But
generally the plant obtains its finest form and quality of
leaf--whether in the islands of the ocean, on the great prairies of
the west, amid the sands of Arabia, on the mountains of Syria, or
along the dykes of Holland--on lands bordering the largest rivers.
This is true of the tobacco lands of Connecticut, Kentucky, Virginia,
Florida, Brazil, Venezuela, and Paraguay, as well as of those in the
islands of Cuba and St. Domingo, where the rivers flow to the southern
coast from the mountains which lie to the north. It must not be
imagined from this that tobacco can not be successfully cultivated at
a distance from valleys enriched by large and overflowing rivers. Some
of the finest tobacco grown in Connecticut is grown in counties some
distance from the river that gives name to our state.
When possible, select that kind of soil for the tobacco field that
will produce the color and texture of leaf desired. For Connecticut
seed leaf a light moist loam is the proper soil. The same field can be
used a number of seasons in succession; the result will be a much
finer leaf than will come from selecting a new field each year. The
early planters of tobacco in Virginia soon ruined their fields by
failing to manure them. In Maryland the soil best adapted for the
growth of tobacco is a light, friable soil, or what is commonly called
a sandy loam, not too flat, but of a rolling, undulating surface, and
not liable to overflow in excessive rains. New land is far better than
old.
A Missouri tobacco grower gives the following account of the selection
of soil for tobacco in that State:--
"Select upland, or black oak ridges and slopes, which
comprise a large area of the tobacco lands of our county,
and carefully clear off all the timber, and take out all the
roots we can conveniently, and break up the ground as
thoroughly as can be done by ploughing and harrowing until
all the tufts and dirt are perfectly pulverized."
In Cuba the planters select the red soil as the best for fine tobacco.
Some planters, however, prefer a soil mixed of 1/4 sand and 1/2 to
3/4 of decayed vegetable matter. In St. Domingo the soil is not
uniform. The planters select a deep black loam or tenacious clay, or
even loams mixed with sand. The most fertile places are on the banks
of the Yuna, from Laxay to Jaigua, in the vicinity of Mocha, on the
banks of the Camoo, and around La Vega. Around Santiago, clay and sand
predominate, and the soil can not be highly praised. Most of the
tobacco grown in the island is raised in the valley of the Vega.
Cussree, in treating of this subject, says:--
"The quality of tobacco depends as much upon the nature of
the soil as of the climate. The plant requires peculiarities
of soil to develop certain of its qualities. And these
peculiarities are such that art cannot furnish the
conditions to produce them where they are naturally wanting.
The sugar-cane grows chiefly on soils derived from
calcareous formations; but few or none of these are fitted
for tobacco, which is cultivated only on sandy loams. Both
the Cuban and American planters concur in asserting that a
large quantity of silicious matters in soils is essential
for the growth of good tobacco.
"As already noticed, the rich clay loams on the banks of the
James River, in Virginia, do not grow good tobacco; while
the less fertile silicious soils in the county of Louisa
produce it much superior in quality. Small patches of
tobacco are everywhere seen growing over the sugar producing
districts of Cuba; but I saw no tobacco plantations in the
calcareous regions over which I traveled. The soils rest
upon the primary formation. Even in the tobacco districts
the planters know the spots in the different fields that
produce the various qualities of leaf."
In
PREPARING THE SOIL
for the reception and growth of the plants, the fertilizing as well as
the plowing of the fields should be performed in the most thorough
manner. The first is essential for a large and vigorous growth, while
the latter renders the cultivation of the plants much easier. The
careful preparation of soil is so intimately connected with all that
pertains to the plant, that it should be done well in order that the
best results may follow. Tobacco of good body, color, and texture,
cannot be grown on land devoid of fertility. The field selected for
tobacco, if heavy sward, should be plowed early in the spring or the
fall before, and later in the season if the turf is well rotted. After
spreading on the manure, the field may be plowed again and harrowed
frequently until all the lumps are made fine, and the surface mellow.
In the use of fertilizers select, if a light colored leaf is desired,
either horse manure or tobacco stems. In the Connecticut valley nearly
all kinds of Domestic, Commercial, and Special fertilizers are used.
Of domestic fertilizers, horse manure is considered the best, as it
produces the finest and lightest colored leaf of any known fertilizer.
Of commercial fertilizers, Peruvian guano is doubtless one of the
best--imparting both color and fineness to the leaf. Of special
manures, tobacco stems are perhaps the best, at least the most
frequently used. Of the other special fertilizers, such as cotton seed
meal, castor pomace, ground bone, damaged grain, tobacco waste and
saltpetre waste, much may be said both in praise and dispraise. Cotton
seed meal, when used with domestic manure is an excellent and powerful
manure.
If domestic manures are applied, use about twelve cords to the acre,
composting before plowing under. As soon as spread, plow the field and
see that all of the manure is covered. If tobacco stems are used, plow
in from three to five tons to the acre, all of them at once, or a part
in the fall and the remainder in the spring. If Peruvian guano is
applied, sow on about three hundred pounds to the acre in connection
with the domestic manure. Fish guano should be composted before
sowing, either with loam or manure, and when used on light soil is a
very good fertilizer, producing a light, thin leaf. After the tobacco
field is harrowed it is ready for the ridger, which makes the hills
and gathers together all of the loose manure on the surface, and
collects it in the ridges. Where a ridger is not used, work off the
rows from three and one half to four feet apart, or even wider than
this. In the Connecticut valley the field is marked and hilled so as
to give about 6000 hills to the acre. This will be a sufficient number
if the growth is likely to be large. Where a ridger is used, manure
can not be dropped in the hill and in many respects it is well not to
do so, as the plants are liable to be blown over during a storm--not
standing as firmly in the hills as plants when no manure is used in
the hills. If the hills are to be made with the hoe, avoid all stones,
bits of turf and grass in making them, and select only the fresh
earth--gently patting the top of the hill with the hoe. New made hills
are better than old, but it will make but little difference unless the
soil is very dry at the time of transplanting.
[Illustration: A tobacco ridger.]
The following description of the manner of preparing the tobacco field
in Virginia by the old planters is quite interesting, and gives some
idea of the amount of labor to be performed on the tobacco
plantation:--
"There are two distinct and separate methods of preparing
the tobacco ground: the one is applicable to the preparation
of new and uncultivated lands, such as are in a state of
nature, and require to be cleared of the heavy timber and
other productions with which Providence has stocked them;
and the other method is designed to meliorate and revive
lands of good foundation, which have been heretofore
cultivated, and, in some measure, exhausted by the calls of
agriculture and evaporation.
"The process of preparing new lands begins as early in the
winter as the housing and managing the antecedent crop will
permit, by grabbing the undergrowth with a mattock; felling
the timber with a poll-axe;[73] lopping off the tops, and
cutting the bodies into lengths of about eleven feet, which
is about the customary length of an American fence rail, in
what is called a worm or panel fence.[74] During this part
of the process the negro women, boys, and weaker laborers,
are employed in piling or throwing the brush-wood, roots,
and small wood, into heaps to be burned; and after such logs
or stocks are selected as are suitable to be malled into
rails, make clapboards, or answer for other more particular
occasions of the planter, the remaining logs are rolled into
heaps by means of hand-spikes and skids; but the
Pennsylvania and German farmers, who are more conversant
with animal powers than the Virginians, save much of this
labor by the use of a pair of horses with a half sledge, or
a pair of truck wheels.
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
"The burning of this brush-wood, and the log piles, is a
business for all hands after working hours; and as nightly
revels are peculiar to the African constitution, this part
of the labor proves often a very late employment, which
affords many scenes of rustic mirth. When this process has
cleared the land of its various natural incumbrances (to
attain which end is very expensive and laborious), the next
part of the process is that of the hoe; for the plough is an
implement which is rarely used in new lands when they are
either designed for tobacco or meadow. There are three kinds
of the hoe which are applied to this tillage: the first is
what is termed the sprouting hoe, which is a smaller species
of mattock that serves to break up any particular hard part
of the ground, to grub up any smaller sized grubs which the
mattock or grubbing hoe may have omitted, to remove small
stones and other partial impediments to the next process.
The narrow or hilling hoe follows the operation of the
sprouting hoe. It is generally from six to eight inches
wide, and ten or twelve in the length of the blade,
according to the strength of the person who is to use it;
the blade is thin, and by means of a movable wedge which is
driven into the eye of the hoe, it can be set more or less
digging (as it is termed), that is, on a greater or less
angle with the helve, at pleasure. In this respect there
are few instances where the American blacksmith is not
employed to alter the eye of an English-made hoe before it
is fit for use; the industrious and truly useful merchants
of Glasgow have paid more minute attention to this
circumstance.
[Illustration: Drawing the dirt around the foot.]
"The use of this hoe is to break up the ground and throw it
into shape; which is done by chopping the clods until they
are sufficiently fine, and then drawing the earth round the
foot until it forms a heap round the projected leg of the
laborer like a mole hill, and nearly as high as the knee; he
then draws out his foot, flattens the top of the hill by a
dab with the flat part of the hoe, and advances forward to
the next hill in the same manner, until the whole piece of
ground is prepared. The center of these hills are in this
manner guessed by the eye; and in most instances they
approach near to lines of four feet one way, and three feet
the other. The planter always endeavors to time this
operation so as to tally with the growth of his plants, so
that he may be certain by this means to pitch his crop
within season.
"The third kind of hoe is the broad or weeding hoe. This is
made use of during the cultivation of the crop, to keep it
clean from the weeds. It is wide upon the edge, say from ten
inches to a foot, or more; of thinner substance than the
hilling hoe, not near so deep in the blade, and the eye is
formed more bent and shelving than the latter, so that it
can be set upon a more acute angle upon the helve at
pleasure, by removing the wedge."
The manner of preparing the soil in Virginia at the present time is
thus described by a Virginia planter:--
"The crop usually, grown in Virginia is divided into three
classes, viz.:--Shipping, Sun-cured Fillers, and Bright
Coal-cured Wrappers and Smokers. The first may be grown on
any good soil, upland or alluvial: the latter two on dry,
well-drained upland only. All require thorough preparation
of the soil to insure good crops. The work first necessary
for this crop is to burn a sufficiency of plant land. To
prepare the land for transplanting, put the land in full
tilth, then mark off with a shovel, plow furrows three feet
to three feet four inches apart, and into these furrows sow
the fertilizers; then with turning plows, bed the land on
these furrows, and to facilitate the hilling, cross these
beds three feet apart with furrows by a shovel plow, and the
hills are made, except to pat them with hoes. Hilly lands
will seldom admit of this cross-plowing, and the beds must
be chopped into hills. On new ground apply the fertilizers
broadcast. It acts well, and for fine yellow pays better on
new grounds than any other lands. The culture is essentially
the same for all classes of tobacco. Stir the land up as
often as necessary to promote a rapid growth of the plants,
and to keep down grass and weeds. 'Shipping' tobacco may be
plowed later and worked longer than 'fine yellow.' For
'coal-curing' sacrifice pounds for color."
The next operation to be performed on the tobacco farm or plantation
is
TRANSPLANTING.
[Illustration: Transplanting.]
As soon as four or five leaves on a plant about the size of a dollar
have appeared, they are large enough to transplant. Take the plants up
with care, sprinkling with water and keeping covered. In taking them
up, the earth may be allowed to remain on the roots, or shaken off,
at the option of the grower. As a general rule, however, the earth
should remain rather than be shaken off. Remove to the field and drop
one at each hill, and where the plants are small, two. A common custom
is to "set" every tenth or twelfth hill with two plants. This is a
good plan, as they are frequently needed during hoeing time to "fill
in." If holes have not been made, insert the first two fingers, making
a hole large enough for the roots to remain in an easy and natural
position. Press the earth gently around the plant if the soil is
moist, but if dry, more firmly. See that the plant stands in an
upright position. If dry after "setting" the plants, water them, and
if a protracted drought follows, cover them up with grass or hay
dipped in water; remove, however, in a day or two.[75] Plaster may
also be used to advantage, as it keeps the hill moist, besides
fertilizing the plant; put a little just around the plants. In taking
up from the bed select large ones, leaving the smaller ones to grow.
Transplanting should commence as early as possible that this result
may follow.
[Footnote 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."]
[Illustration: Transplanting.]
Plants with large broad leaves are considered the best, those that
grow tall and "spindling" or "long shank" plants, as they are called
at the South, are rejected and should not be set out when others that
are more "stocky" can be obtained. Avoid, however, setting too large
plants, as they are not as apt to live as smaller ones. Transplanting
should be done as fast as possible, that the tobacco field may present
an even appearance and be ready to harvest at one time. If the plants
are to grow and ripen evenly, the transplanting should be finished in
a week or two from the time of the first setting. This can generally
be done unless plants are very scarce, when circumstances, beyond the
growers' control, often make the field give apparent evidence of want
of care, although the real trouble is a want of plants.
"It may be necessary to water the plants once or twice after
transplanting; this in a measure will depend upon the
season."
Tatham in his Essay on the Culture and Commerce of Tobacco, (London
1800,) gives an account of the manner of transplanting in Virginia at
that period. Under the head of
"THE SEASON FOR PLANTING,"
he says:
"The term, 'season for planting,' signifies a shower of
rain, of sufficient quantity to wet the earth to a degree of
moisture which may render it safe to draw the young plants
from the plant bed, and transplant them into the hills which
are prepared for them in the field, as described under the
last head; and these seasons generally commence in April,
and terminate with what is termed the long season in May;
which (to make use of an Irishism), very frequently happens
in June; and is the opportunity which the planter finds
himself necessitated to seize with eagerness for the
pitching of his crop: a term which comprehends the ultimate
opportunity which the spring will afford him, for planting a
quantity equal to the capacity of the collective power of
his laborers when applied in cultivation. By the time which
these seasons approach, nature has so ordered vegetation,
that the weather has generally enabled the plants, (if duly
sheltered from the spring frosts, a circumstance to which a
planter should always be attentive in selecting his plant
patch,) to shoot forward in sufficient strength to bear the
vicissitude of transplantation.
"They are supposed to be equal to meet the imposition of
this task, when the leaves are about the size of a dollar;
but this is more generally the minor magnitude of the
leaves; and some will be of course about three or four times
that medium dimension. Thus, when a good shower or season
happens at this period of the year, and the field and plants
are equally ready for the intended union, the planter
hurries to the plant bed, disregarding the teeming element,
which is doomed to wet his skin, from the view of a
bountiful harvest, and having carefully drawn the largest
sizable plants, he proceeds to the next operation, (that) of
planting.
"The office of planting the tobacco, is performed by two or
more persons, in the following manner: The first person
bears, suspended upon one arm, a large basket full of the
plants, which have just been drawn and brought from the
plant bed to the field, without waiting for an intermission
of the shower, although it should rain ever so heavily; such
an opportunity indeed, instead of being shunned, is eagerly
sought after, and is considered to be the sure and certain
means of laying a good foundation, which cherishes the hope
of a bounteous return. The person who bears the basket,
proceeds thus by rows from hill to hill; and upon each hill
he takes care to drop one of his plants. Those who follow
make a hole in the center of each hill with their fingers,
and having adjusted the tobacco plant in its natural
position, they knead the earth round the root with their
hands, until it is of a sufficient consistency to sustain
the plant against wind and weather. In this condition they
leave the field for a few days, until the plants shall have
formed their radifications; and where any of them shall have
casually perished, the ground is followed over again by
successive replantings, until the crop is rendered
complete."
In tropical regions, the plants are transplanted as well in summer and
fall as in the spring, but more frequently in the early autumn. In
Mexico, transplanting is performed from August till November. In
Persia, the tobacco plants are "transplanted on the tops of ridges in
a ground trenched so as to retain water. When the plants are thirty to
forty inches high, the leaves vary from three to fifteen inches in
length, when the buds are ready to be pinched off; the leaves
increase in size until August and September, when they have attained
their growth." In Turkey "when the young plants are about six inches
in height they are removed from the small beds and planted in fields
like cabbages in this country, and are then left to nature to develop
them to a height of from three to four feet; three leaves, however,
are removed from each plant to assist its growth."
[Illustration: American transplanter.]
A year or two since, a machine was invented and offered to the growers
of the Connecticut valley, called a transplanter, of which we here
give an engraving. The inventor claimed that the "American
Transplanter" could do the work of several men and do it equally well.
It rolls along the ridge something like a wheelbarrow, marking the
hills with a sharp joint in the wheel and setting the plants as they
are dropped into the receptacles at the top.
The tobacco plant, like most of the vegetable products, has many and
varied foes. Not only is it most easily affected and damaged by wind
and hail, but it seems to be the especial favorite of the insect
world, who, like man, love the taste of the plant. The first of them
"puts in an appearance" immediately after transplanting, which
necessitates the performance of what is known to all growers of the
plant as
WORMING.
[Illustration: The worm.]
There are two kinds of worms that prey upon the plants; viz: the "cut
worm"[76] and the green or "horn worm." The first commences its work
of destruction in a few hours after transplanting in the field. During
the night it begins by eating off the small or central leaves called
by the grower the "chit," and often so effectually as to destroy the
plant. The time chosen by the planter to find these pests of the
tobacco field is early in the morning, when they can be found nearer
the surface than later in the day. Remove the earth around the roots
of the plants, where the worm will generally be found. Occasionally
they are found farther from the hill. If they are numerous, the field
should be "wormed" every morning, or at least every other day, which
labor will be rewarded with a choice collection of primitive tobacco
chewers. Sometimes the worms are very small and difficult to find,
while at other times more are found than are required for the growth
and development of the plants. As soon as they disappear they make way
for the "horn worm" who now takes his turn at a "chaw." By some the
cut worm is considered the most dangerous foe; as it often destroys
the plant, while the other injures the leaf without endangering the
plant. A little plaster sprinkled around the hill sometimes checks
their progress, yet we have never found any remedy that would hinder
their depredations very much. The plants should be kept growing as
soon as transplanted, which will be found the better method, as they
will soon be too large for the cut worm to injure them much, if at
all.
[Footnote 76: Hughes, in his History of Barbadoes, says
that the common people call the worm kitifonia.]
[Illustration: Worming tobacco.]
The "horn worm" feeds upon the finest and largest leaves. They are not
found as often on the top leaves--especially those growing on the very
highest part of the stalk, as they prefer the ripe leaves and those
lower on the plant. The horn worm, if large, eats the leaves in the
finest part of them, frequently destroying half of a leaf. They leave
large holes which renders the leaf worthless for a cigar wrapper,
leaving it fit only for fillers or seconds. In Cuba the tobacco plant
is assailed by three different kinds of insects--one attacks the foot
of the leaves; a second the under side; a third devours the heart of
the plant. In Colombia the following are the great enemies of the
tobacco plant: A grub, named _canne_, which devours the young buds;
the _rosca-worm_, which commits its depredations in the night only,
burrowing in the ground during the day; the grub of a butterfly,
called by the Creoles _palometa_; a species of scarabæus called
_arader_, which feeds on the root of the plant; and a species of
caterpillar[77] which is called in the country the _horned-worm_, so
voracious as to require one night only to devour an entire leaf of
tobacco. At the South, and especially in Virginia, the housewife's
flock of turkeys are allowed to range in the tobacco fields and devour
many of these pests.
[Footnote 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."]
Almost as soon as the plants have been transplanted, the work of
CULTIVATING
should commence. As the tobacco plant grows and ripens in a few weeks
from the time it is transplanted in the field, it is of the utmost
importance that the plants get "a good start" as soon as possible. In
a favorable season, and with ordinary culture, the plants will do to
harvest or "cut" in from eight to ten weeks after transplanting. From
the rapidity of its growth it will readily be seen that the plant
should come forward at once, if large, fine leaves are desired. In a
week from the time of transplanting a light cultivator should be run
between the rows, stirring the soil lightly, after which the plants
should be hoed carefully, drawing away from the hill and plant the old
and "baked" earth and replacing it with fresh. If the hill is hard
around the plant it should be loosened by striking the hoe carefully
into the hill and gently lifting the earth, thus making the hill
mellow. This is apt to be the case with stiff, clayey soil, which, if
possible, should be avoided in selecting the tobacco field.
It is doubtless as true a saying as it is a common one with
Connecticut tobacco-growers, that the plants will not "start much
until they have been hoed." Where the first hoeing is delayed two or
three weeks, the plants will to a certain extent become stunted and
dwarfed, and will hardly make up for the delay in growing. In from two
to three weeks, the field should be hoed again, and this time the
cultivator should mellow the soil a little deeper than the first time,
while the hoeing should be done in the most thorough manner. Draw the
earth around the plant and cut up with the hoe all grass and weeds,
and remove all stone and lumps of manure and any rubbish that will
hinder easy cultivation, or retard the growth of the plants. At this
period the most careful attention must be given to the plants, as they
are (or ought to be) growing rapidly, and upon their early maturity
will depend the color and texture of the leaf.
In a short time the plants may be hoed for the third and last time (as
a fourth hoeing is but rarely necessary). At this time they have
attained considerable size, (say two or three feet high) and are
rapidly maturing, and ere long will be ready to harvest. At the last
hoeing the plants should be "hilled up," that is, the earth should be
drawn around the plant under the leaves, causing it to stand firmly in
the hill, and keeping the roots well protected and covered. The
tobacco plant requires constant cultivation, and the cultivator may be
run through the rows after loosening the earth and turning up the
manure towards the plants.
Some growers of tobacco in the early stages of its growth apply some
kind of fertilizers to the backward plants; this will be found to be
of advantage, and should be done just before a rain, when the plants
will start in a manner almost surprising. A little phosphate or
Peruvian guano may be used, but should be applied with care or the
plants may be retarded instead of quickened in their growth.
There is much to be done in the tobacco field besides cultivating and
hoeing the plants. In many hills there will be found two plants, which
should be re-set at the second hoeing if needed, and if not, pulled up
and destroyed, as it is better to have one large plant in the hill
than two small ones. Again, after the last hoeing, the tobacco should
be kept free from worms. If any have been overlooked they will have
attained to a good size by this time, and will devour in a short time
enough tobacco to make a "short six."
From this account of the cultivation of tobacco as practiced in the
Connecticut valley, one will readily see that the labor performed
during the growing of the plants should not be superficial. On their
rapid growth depends the color and texture of the leaf. Plants that
are slow in maturing never make fine wrapping leaves or show a good
color. Where the growth is rapid the plants will be more brittle than
if of slower growth, and must therefore be handled with care in
passing through the rows to worm, top, and sucker the plants.
[Illustration: Topping.]
A century ago the Virginia planters cultivated their tobacco fields in
the following manner:--
"Hoeing commences with the first growth of the tobacco after
transplantation, and never ceases until the plant is nearly
ripe, and ready to be laid by, as they term the last weeding
with the hoe; for he who would have a good crop of tobacco,
or of maize, must not be sparing of his labor, but must keep
the ground constantly stirring during the whole growth of
the crop. And it is a rare instance to see the plough
introduced as an assistant, unless it be the slook plough,
for the purpose of introducing a sowing of wheat for the
following year, even while the present crop is growing; and
this is frequently practiced in fields of maize, and
sometimes in fields of tobacco, which may be ranked amongst
the best fallow crops, as it leaves the ground perfectly
clean and naked, permitting neither grass, weed, nor
vegetable to remain standing in the space which it has
occupied."
The next operation to be performed in the tobacco field is known by
the name of
TOPPING,
and is simply breaking or cutting off the top of the stalk, preventing
the plant from running up to flower and seed. By so doing the growth
of the leaves is secured, and they at once develop to the largest
possible size. The leaves ripen sooner if the plant is topped, while
the quality is much better. There are various methods of topping as
well as different periods. Some growers top the plant as soon as the
capsules appear, while others wait until the plants are in full
blossom. If topped before the plants have come into blossom, the
operation should be performed as soon as possible, as a longer time
will be required for the leaves to grow and ripen than when topping is
delayed until the plants are in blossom. In the Connecticut valley
most growers wait until the blossoms appear before breaking off the
top. Topping must not be delayed after the blossoming, in order that
all danger from an untimely frost may be avoided. The top may be
broken off with the hand or cut with a knife, the latter being the
better as well as the safer way. Sometimes the rain soaks into the
stalk, rotting it so that the leaves fall off, injuring them for
wrappers. Top the plants at a regular height, leaving from nine to
twelve leaves, so that the field will look even, and also make the
number of leaves to a plant uniform. Late plants may be topped with
the rest or not, at the option of the grower. This mode of topping
refers more particularly to cigar rather than cutting leaf. Those
varieties of tobacco adapted for cutting leaf should be topped as soon
as the button appears; top low, thereby throwing the strength of the
stalk into a few leaves, making them large and heavy. The number of
leaves should not exceed fourteen. Let it stand from five to six weeks
after it is topped. The object in letting it stand so long after
topping is to have it thoroughly ripe. This gives it the bright, rich,
golden color, entirely different from cigar leaf, but very desirable
for chewing leaf. On account of the length of time it must stand after
topping, it is desirable to take that which has been topped early, in
order to have it ripen, and get it in before a freeze, although ripe
tobacco is not injured by cold nights, and will sometimes stand even
an ordinary frost.
The manner of topping in Virginia by the first planters in the colony,
is thus described:--
"This operation, simply, is that of pinching off with the
thumb nail[78] the leading stem or sprout of the plant,
which would, if left alone, run up to flower and seed; but
which, from the more substantial formation of the leaf by
the help of the nutritive juices, which are thereby afforded
to the lower parts of the plant, and thus absorbed through
the ducts and fibres of the leaf, is rendered more weighty,
thick, and fit for market."
[Footnote 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.]
Now the custom is to top for shipping from eight to ten leaves, for
coal-curing from ten to twelve, according in both cases to strength of
soil and time of doing the work.
In Mexico "as soon as the buds begin to show themselves the top is
broken off. Not more than from eight to ten leaves are left on the
plant, without counting the sand-leaf, which is thrown away," and
destroyed in the same manner as the Dutch are said to do of spies. In
some countries the plants are not topped at all, and the leaves are
left upon the stalk until fully ripe, when they are picked.
The next labor following the topping of the plants is called
SUCKERING.
Immediately after topping the plants, shoots or sprouts make their
appearance at the base of the leaves where they join the parent stalk.
They are known by the name of suckers and the removal of them by
breaking them off is called suckering. At first the suckers make their
appearance at the top of the plants at the base of the upper leaves,
and then gradually appear farther down on the stalk until they are
found at the very root of the plant. The plants should be suckered
before the shoots are tough, when they will be removed with
difficulty, frequently clinging to both stalk and leaf, thereby
injuring the latter, as the leaf very often comes off with the sucker
if the latter is left growing too long. The plants should be kept
clean of them and especially at the time of harvesting.
An old writer on tobacco says of Suckers and Suckering:--
"The sucker is a superfluous sprout which is wont to make
its appearance and shoot forth from the stem or stalk, near
to the junction of the leaves with the stem, and about the
root of the plant and if these suckers are permitted to
grow, they injure the marketable quality of the tobacco by
compelling a division of its nutriment during the act of
maturation. The planter is therefore careful to destroy
these intruders with the thumb-nail as in the act of
topping, and this process is termed suckering."
[Illustration: Suckering.]
After this operation is performed the planter ascertains in regard to
the
RIPENING OF THE PLANTS.
As soon as the plants are fully ripe they not only take on a different
hue but give evidence of decay. The leaves as they ripen become
rougher and thicker, assume a tint of yellowish green and are
frequently mottled with yellow spots. The tobacco grower has two signs
which he regards as "infallible" in this matter. One is that on
pinching the under part of the leaf together, if ripe it will crack or
break; the other is the growth of suckers to be found (if ripe) around
the base of the stalk.
Tatham says:--
"Much practice is requisite to form a judicious discernment
concerning the state and progress of the ripening leaf; yet
care must be used to cut up the plant as soon as it is
sufficiently ripe to promise a good curable condition, lest
the approach of frost should tread upon the heels of the
crop-master; for in this case, tobacco will be among the
first plants that feel its influence, and the loss to be
apprehended in this instance, is not a mere partial damage
by nipping, but a total consumption by the destruction of
every plant. I find it difficult to give to strangers a full
idea of the ripening of the leaf: it is a point on which I
would not trust my own experience without consulting some
able crop-master in the neighborhood; and I believe this is
not an uncustomary precaution among those who plant it. So
far as I am able to convey an idea, which I find it easier
to understand than to express, I should judge of the
ripening of the leaf by its thickening sufficiently; by the
change of its color to a more yellowish green; by a certain
mellow appearance, and protrusion of the web of the leaf,
which I suppose to be occasioned by a contraction of the
fibres; and other appearances as I might conceive to
indicate an ultimate suspension of the vegetative
functions."
[Illustration: Cutting the plants.]
After the plants have ripened the operation of cutting or
HARVESTING
begins. The cutter passes from plant to plant cutting only those
plants that are ripe. In harvesting a light hatchet or saw may be
used or a tobacco cutter which is the better and not as liable to
injure the leaves. The plants may be cut either in the morning (after
the dew is off) or just at night, providing there are no indications
of frost. Lay the plants carefully on the sides to avoid breaking the
leaves. If the plants are cut during a very warm day they should be
examined from time to time as they are liable to "sun-burn," an injury
much dreaded by the planter, as sun-burnt leaves are useless for cigar
wrappers.
[Illustration: Putting on lath.]
After the plants are wilted on one side they are turned so that the
entire plant will be in good condition to handle without breaking.
Harvesting should be performed in the most careful manner. At this
time the leaves are very brittle and unless the cutter is an
experienced hand much injury may be done to the leaves. The stem of
each plant is severed as near as possible to the ground and afterwards
if hung on lath they are divided longitudinally to admit the air and
dry them sooner. When the plants are to be hung on lath they may be
wilted before "stringing" or not, at the option of the grower. Most
growers are of the opinion now that the plants should be harvested
without wilting at all, stringing on the lath as soon as cut and
carrying them immediately to the shed.
When wilted in the field there is often much damage done to the leaves
whether they are sun-burnt or not. Oftentimes the ground is hot and
the plants in a few hours both on the under and upper sides become
very warm and almost burnt by the rays of the sun. For this reason the
manner of hanging on lath is the better way and in New England is fast
displacing the old method of hanging with twine. When hung in this
manner five or six plants to the lath are the usual number unless they
are very large. When placed or strung on the lath the plants are not
as liable to sweat or pole rot, owing in part to the splitting of the
stalk, which causes the rapid curing of the leaves as well as the
stalk itself. A new method of hanging tobacco has been introduced of
late in the Connecticut valley by means of tobacco hooks attached to
the lath. This mode is considered by many growers the safest way, and
by others as no better than the more common way of hanging simply on
the lath.
[Illustration: Carrying to the shed.]
In Virginia in "ye olden time," the following method of harvesting was
adopted:--
"When the plant has remained long enough exposed to the sun,
or open air, after cutting, to become sufficiently pliant to
bear handling and removal with conveniency, it must be
removed to the tobacco house, which is generally done by
manual labor, unless the distance and quantity requires the
assistance of a cart. If this part of the process were
managed with horses carrying frames upon their backs for
the conveniency of stowage, in a way similar to that in
which grain is conveyed in Spain, it would be found a
considerable saving of labor. It becomes necessary, in the
next place, to see that suitable ladders and stages are
provided, and that there be a sufficient quantity of tobacco
sticks, such as have been described to answer the full
demand of the tobacco house, whatsoever may be its size;
time will be otherwise lost in make-shifts, or sending for a
second supply.
"When everything is thus brought to a point at the tobacco
house, the next stage of the process is that termed hanging
the tobacco. This is done by hanging the plants in rows upon
the tobacco sticks with the points down, letting them rest
upon the stick by the stem of the lowest leaf, or by the
split which is made in the stem when that happens to be
divided. In this operation care must be taken to allow a
sufficient space between each of the successive plants for
the due circulation of air between: perhaps four or five
inches apart, in proportion to the bulk of the plant. When
they are thus threaded upon the sticks (either in the
tobacco houses, or, sometimes, suspended upon a temporary
scaffold near the door), they must be carefully handed up by
means of ladders and planks to answer as stages or
platforms, first to the upper tier or collar beams of the
house, where the sticks are to be placed with their points
renting upon the beams transversely, and the plants hanging
down between them. This process must be repeated tier after
tier of the beams, downwards, until the house is filled;
taking care to hang the sticks as close to each other as the
consideration of admitting air will allow, and without
crowding. In this position the plants remain until they are
in condition to be taken down for the next process."
In Cuba about the beginning of January the tobacco is ready for
cutting. If the harvest is good, all the leaves are taken from the
plants at once. Tobacco consisting of those leaves is called Temprano,
or "Early Pipe." If, on the contrary, the harvest is not good, the
immature leaves are left to grow. Tobacco formed of these leaves has
the name of Tardio, or "Late Pipe." In every respect, appearance
included, the Temprano is much superior to the Tardio. In the purchase
of tobacco, it is a principal thing to ascertain how much or how
little Temprano a parcel contains. Moreover, there are what may be
called bastard leaves, which grow after the leaves proper have been
gathered.[79] Tobacco made from these bastard leaves is easily
recognizable, the leaves being long and narrow, of a reddish color,
and a bitter taste.
[Footnote 79: Second crop, or Volunteer tobacco.]
The mode of harvesting tobacco in Virginia at present is thus
described by a Virginia planter:--
"In bringing to the barn place the tobacco on scaffolds near
the barn-door, so that it can be readily housed in case of
rain. As Bright Wrappers and Smokers pay so much better than
dark tobaccos, it is advisable, whenever practicable, to
coal-cure all that ripens of a uniform yellow color. The
quality of the leaf will determine the hanging: 'Shipping'
should be hung seven to nine plants to the stick four and a
half feet long. To cure the plants properly requires some
experience, great care, and much attention. The plants
should not be 'cut' until fully ripe. Be careful in cutting
to select plants of a uniform size, color, and quality,
putting six or seven to the stick. Let the plants go from
the cutter's hands on to sticks held in the hands of women
or boys; and as soon as the sticks are full, place them
carefully on wagons and carry them to the barn. Place the
sticks on tiers about ten inches apart, and regulate the
plants on the sticks.
"It is impossible to lay down any uniform system or give
specific instructions. General principles will be suggested
to guide the planter amid the changeableness of seasons and
variableness of material to be operated upon."
In Turkey--
"The planters calculate always fifty-five days from May
12th, for their crops to be ready for gathering. When the
leaves show the necessary yellow tips, they are carried to
the house, and there threaded into long bunches by a large,
flat needle, about a foot long, passed through the stalk of
each."
In Ohio the process of harvesting tobacco for cutting is thus
described by a grower:--
"When thoroughly ripe, having stood two or three weeks
longer than is necessary for cigar leaf, it is ready to cut.
This is done with a knife made for the purpose. It resembles
a wide chisel, except that the handle and chisel are at
right angles. Before cutting, the stalk is split down
through the center. Being ripe, it splits before the knife,
and following the grain the leaves escape unharmed. This
splitting is done in as little time as is necessary to cut
the stalk off in the ordinary way. Split it to within about
three or four inches of the ground, and cut it off in the
ordinary way with the same knife. Cut it off and hang it
over one of your sticks that you have driven slanting into
the ground near you. Cut and put six stalks on the stick,
and then lay it down on the ground to wilt, taking the usual
care to prevent sun-burn. When it is sufficiently wilted,
haul to the shed and hang it up."
In the East Indian Archipelago,
"as soon as the leaves are fully grown
they are plucked off, and the petiole and a midrib are cut
away. Each leaf is then cut transversely into strips about a
sixteenth of an inch wide, and these are dried in the sun
until a mass of them looks like a bunch of oakum."
In Persia, when the plants are ripe they are cut off close to the
root, and again stuck firmly in the ground. By exposure to the night
dews the leaves change from green to yellow. When of the proper tint,
they are gathered in the early morning while wet with dew, and heaped
up in a shed, the sides of which are closed in with light thorny
bushes, so as to be freely exposed to the wind.
In Japan, the leaves are gathered in the height of summer. When the
flowers are of a light tint, two or three of the leaves nearest the
root are gathered. These are called first leaves, but produce tobacco
of second quality. After the lapse of a fortnight, the leaves are
gathered by twos, and from these the best tobaccos are produced. Any
remaining leaves are afterwards broken off along with the stem and
dried. These form the lowest quality of tobacco. After gathering, the
leaves are arranged in regular layers and covered with straw matting,
which is removed in a couple of days. The leaves are now of a light
yellow color. They are then fastened by the stem in twos and threes to
a rope slung in a smoke room, and after being so left for fourteen or
fifteen days, they are dried for two or three days in the sun, after
which they are exposed for a couple of nights in order that they may
be moistened with dew. They are then smoothed out and arranged in
layers, the stems being fastened together, pressed down with boards,
and packed away in a dark room. D'Almirda says that in Java, the
leaves are gathered and tied up in bundles of fifteen, twenty or
thirty, and suspended from bamboo poles running across the interior of
the shed, where they are left to dry for twenty days or more,
according to the state of the atmosphere.
As soon as the plants have been hung in the shed the process of
CURING
begins. If fully ripe at the time of harvesting, the plants will "cure
down" very fast and take on a better hue than when they cure less
rapidly. During cool weather the doors and ventilators should be left
open that the plants may have a free circulation of air and cure the
faster. When, however, the weather is damp, they should be closed, to
avoid sweating and pole rot. When a light leaf is desired, the tobacco
shed should be provided with windows to let in plenty of sunlight,
which has much to do with the color of the leaf. When a dark leaf is
desired, all light should be excluded.
The time necessary for the curing of the plants will depend upon the
ripeness of the plants as well as the weather during curing. There are
three kinds or methods of curing, viz: air curing, sun curing and
firing, or curing by flues. Air curing is the curing of the plants in
sheds or barns. Sun curing is the process of curing in the open air,
while "firing" is the process of curing by "smoke," the common method
employed at the South and to some extent at the West. This is the
common way of curing cutting leaf, while air curing is the manner of
curing cigar leaf. Tatham, already quoted, gives the following account
of the process as performed in Virginia of
"SMOKING THE CROP."
"From what has been said under the head of hanging the
plant, it will be perceived that the air is the principal
agent in curing it, but it must be also considered that a
want of uniform temperature in the atmosphere calls for the
constant care of the crop-master, who generally indeed
becomes habitually weather-wise, from the sowing of his
plants, until the delivery of his crop to the inspector. To
regulate this effect upon the plants he must take care to be
often among them, and when too much moisture is discovered,
it is tempered by the help of smoke, which is generated by
means of small smothered fires made of old bark, and of
rotten wood, kindled about upon various parts of the floor
where they may seem to be most needed.
"In this operation it is necessary that a careful hand
should be always near: for the fires must not be permitted
to blaze, and burn furiously; which might not only endanger
the house, but which, by occasioning a sudden over-heat
while the leaf is in a moist condition, might add to the
malady of 'firing' which often occurs in the field."
In Virginia the manner of curing tobacco at the present time, is thus
described by a planter.
"For curing tobacco the simplest method is
sun-curing or air curing and the one most likely to prove
successful. The tobacco barn should be so constructed as to
contain four, five or six rooms four feet wide, so that four
and a half feet sticks may fit, all alike. Log barns are
best for coal curing. All should be built high enough to
contain four firing tiers under joists covered with shingles
or boards and daubed close. Fire with hickory all rich,
heavy, shipping tobacco.
"As soon as the barn is filled kindle small fires of coals
or hickory wood, about twenty fires to a barn twenty feet
square, four under each room. Coal is best, but hickory
saplings, chopped about two feet long, make a good steaming
heat. The successful coal-curer is an artist, and all
engaged in the business are experimenters in nature's great
laboratory." A North Carolina planter gives an interesting
account of curing tobacco yellow. "Curing tobacco yellow,
for which this section is so famous, is a very nice process
and requires some experience, observation, and a thorough
knowledge of the character and quality of the tobacco with
which you have to deal, in order to insure uniform success.
Much depends upon the character of the crop when taken from
the hill. If it is of good size, well matured and of good
yellowish color, there is necessarily but little difficulty
in the operation. As soon as the tobacco is taken from the
hill and housed, we commence with a low degree of heat, say
95° to 100° Fahr., 'the yellowing' or 'steaming' process.
This is the first and simplest part of the whole process,
and requires from fifteen to thirty-six hours, according to
the size and quality of the tobacco, and this degree of
heat should be continued until the leaf opens a lemon color,
and is nearly free from any green hue. When this point is
reached, the heat should be gradually raised to 105° in
order to commence drying the leaf, and here lies the whole
difficulty in curing (I mean in drying the leaf). The last
degree of heat indicated, should be continued five or six
hours, when it should again be gradually raised to 110°,
when it should be maintained at this point, until the tail
or points of the leaves begin to curl and dry. Indeed it
will probably be safest for beginners to continue this
degree of heat until one-third of the leaf is dried.
"The temperature may then be gradually increased to 115°,
and kept for several hours at that point, until the leaf
begins to rattle when shaken, then again raise the heat to
120°, at which point it should be continued until the leaf
is dried, after which the temperature may be increased to
150° or 160° to dry the stem and stalks; the latter should
be blackened by the heat before the curing is complete.
Ordinarily it requires from two and a half to five days to
cure a barn of tobacco, dependent entirely upon the size and
quality. Put seven or eight plants on each stick and place
them eight inches apart on tier poles. In the yellowing
process the door of the barn should be kept closed to
exclude the air. When this point is reached for drying the
leaf, the door may be opened occasionally, and kept open for
twenty or thirty minutes at a time, especially if the
tobacco gets into a "sweat," as it is called, or becomes
damp and clammy.
"The temperature is raised in the barn by cautiously adding
coal from time to time to the fires, which should be placed
in small piles on the floor, in rows, allowing about five
feet between each pile, which should at first contain a
double handful of coal. In adding coal, you will soon learn
the quantity necessary to be applied by the effect produced.
Avoid raising the heat hastily after the drying is
commenced, lest the leaf should be scalded and reddened; on
the other hand, it should not be raised too slowly for fear
of 'raising the grain,' or the leaf becoming spongy and
dingy. Both extremes are to be avoided, and the skill
required is attained only by experience and observation. We
usually cut tobacco the latter part of the week, house it
and suffer it to remain until the first of next week, that
we may not violate the fourth commandment."
In California tobacco is cured by the method known as the "Culp
process" from the name of its patentee. When the plant lies in the
field, Mr. Culp's peculiar process begins which is described as
follows:
"Tobacco had long been grown in California, even before
Americans came. He had raised it as a crop for fifteen
years; and before he perfected his new process, he was able
usually to select the best of his crop for smoking tobacco,
and sold the remainder for sheep wash. One year, two
millions of pounds were raised in the State, and as it was
mostly sold for sheep wash, it lasted several years, and
discouraged the growers. Tobacco always grew readily, but it
was too rank and strong. They used Eastern methods, topping
and suckering, and as the plant had here a very long season
to grow and mature, the leaf was thick and very strong. The
main features of the Culp process are, he said, to let the
tobacco, when cut, wilt on the field; then take it at once
to the tobacco house and pile it down, letting it heat on
the piles to 100° for Havana. It must, he thinks, come to
100°, but if it rises to 102° it is ruined. Piling,
therefore, requires great judgment. The tobacco houses are
kept at a temperature of about 70°; and late in the fall, to
cure a late second or third crop they sometimes use a stove
to maintain a proper heat in the house, for the tobacco must
not lie in the pile without heating. When it has had its
first sweat, it is hung up on racks; and here Mr. Culp's
process is peculiar.
"He places the stalk between two battens, so that it sticks
out horizontally from the frame; thus each leaf hangs
independently from the stalk; and the racks or frames are so
arranged that all the leaves on all the stalks have a
separate access to the air. The tobacco houses are frame
buildings, 100x60 feet, with usually four rows of racks, and
two gangways for working. On the rack the surface moisture
dries from the leaf; and at the proper time it is again
piled, racked, and so on for three or even four times. The
racks are of rough boards, and the floor of the houses is of
earth. After piling and racking for three weeks, the leaves
are stripped from the stalk and put into 'hands,' and they
are then 'bulked' and lie thus about three months, when the
tobacco is boxed. From the time of cutting, from four to six
months are required to make the leaf ready for the
manufacturer. "Piling" appears to be the most delicate part
of the cure, and they have often to work all night to save
tobacco that threatens to overheat."
In Mexico the leaves are hung up on bast[80] strings, dried in the
shade and then sent to the chief depots, where, when they have
undergone fermentation, they are sorted, and tied up in bundles. In
Persia, the plants are carried to the shed and heaped, and in four or
five days the desired pale yellow color is further developed. The
stalks and center stem of each leaf are now removed and thrown away,
while the leaves are heaped together in the drying house for another
three or four days, when they are fit for packing.
[Footnote 80: The inner bark of the lime-tree.]
[Illustration: Stripping.]
In Turkey the bunches of leaves are exposed to the sun to dry, and
some months' exposure is necessary before they are sufficiently
matured for baling. Rain sets in at a later period, and the tobacco
becoming moist and fit for handling, is then removed from the
threads, and made into bundles or "hands" of about sixty leaves each
and tied around the stems.
After the leaves are thoroughly cured they are in condition for
STRIPPING.
The leaves of the tobacco are easily affected by the humidity of the
atmosphere and during damp weather every opportunity is improved by
the grower for taking down the tobacco preparatory to stripping. After
taking down from the poles the plants should be packed in order to
keep moist until stripped. The tobacco should not be removed from the
poles when it drips or the juice exudes from either the stalk or the
leaves. If stripped in this condition the leaves are apt to stain and
thus become unfit for wrappers. The operation of stripping consists in
taking the leaves from the stalk and tying them in bundles or hands
with a leaf around the base of the hand. Each "hand" or bunch should
contain at least eight leaves and from that number to twelve. If the
plants are large the leaves of one stalk will form a hand; a poor leaf
is used for binding as it can not be used for the same purpose as the
leaves around which it is bound.
[Illustration: Hands.]
The old planters of tobacco in Virginia called this operation of
taking off the leaves and tying them up "stripping and bundling" which
is here described.
"When the plants of tobacco which are thus hanging upon the
sticks in the house have gone through the several stages of
process before the time of stripping, and are deemed to be
in case for the next operation, a rainy day (which is the
most suitable) is an opportunity which is generally taken
advantage of when the hands cannot be so well employed out
of doors. The sticks containing the tobacco which may be
sufficiently cured, are then taken down and drawn out of the
plants. They are then taken one by one respectively, and the
leaves being stripped from the stalk of the plant are rolled
round the butts or thick ends of the leaves with one of the
smallest leaves as a bandage, and thus made up into little
bundles fit for laying into the cask for final packing."
Hazard gives the following method of assorting and stripping tobacco
in Cuba:--
"Among the Cubans, the leaves are divided into four classes:
first, _desecho_, _desecho limpio_, which are those
immediately at the top of the plant, and which constitute
the best quality, from the fact that they get more equally
the benefit of the sun's rays by day and the dew by night;
second, _desechito_, which are the next to the above; third,
the _libra_, the inferior or small leaves about the top of
the plant; and fourth, the _injuriado_, or those nearest the
root. Of the _injuriado_ there are three qualities; the best
is called _injuriado de reposo_, or 'the picked over,' and
the other two, firsts and seconds (_primeros_, _sequndos_).
"Tobacco of the classes _desechito_ and _libra_, of which
the leaves are not perfect, is called _injuriado bueno_,
while all the rest, of whatever quality, that is broken in
such a manner as to be unfit for wrappers are called
_injuriado malo_. Amongst the trade in place of the above
names, the different qualities are simply designated by
numbers."
Meyer, a German writer who resided several years in Cuba, gives
another classification, making ten classes altogether, while Hazard
mentions only four general classes.
After the leaves are stripped from the stalk the process known as
ASSORTING
commences. Assorting tobacco is doing up in hands the various
qualities and keeping them separate. In the Connecticut valley the
growers make usually but two kinds or qualities excepting only when
the crop is poor when three qualities are made, viz: Wrappers,
Seconds, and Fillers. The Wrappers are the largest and finest leaves
on the plant and should be free from holes and sweat as well as green
and white veins. The leaves selected for this quality come from the
middle and even the top leaves of the plant. The Seconds are made up
of leaves not good enough for Wrappers and too good for Fillers. Such
leaves sometimes are worm-eaten and of various colors on the same
leaf--one part dark and another light. The fillers are the poorest
quality of leaves to be found on the plants, and consist of the "sand"
or ground leaves, one or two to each plant. Some of our largest
growers in assorting the leaves keep each color by itself, an
operation known as
SHADING.
This is a very delicate operation and requires a good eye for colors
as well as a correct judgment in regard to the quality of the leaf.
This mode of assorting colors in stripping is similar to that of
shading cigars, in which the utmost care is taken to keep the various
colors and shades by themselves. In shading the wrappers only are so
assorted, and may be "run into" two or three shades depending on the
number of shades or colors of the leaf. The better way is to make only
two qualities of the wrappers in shading--viz., light and dark
cinnamon "selections." Shading tobacco does not imply that it is
carried to its fullest extent in point of color as in shading cigars,
but simply keeping those general colors by themselves like light and
dark brown leaves. Cutting tobaccos before being used are subjected to
a process known as
STEMMING.
Tatham gives the following account of the process of stemming in
Virginia a century ago:--
"Stemming tobacco is the act of separating the largest stems
or fibres from the web of the leaf with adroitness and
facility, so that the plant may be nevertheless capable of
package, and fit for a foreign market. It is practised in
cases where the malady termed the fire, or other casual
misfortune during the growth of the plant, may have rendered
it doubtful in the opinion of the planter whether something
or other which he may have observed during the growth of his
crop, or in the unfavorable temperature of the seasons by
which it hath been matured does not hazard too much in
packing the web with a stem which threatens to decay. To
avoid the same species of risk, stemming is also practised
in cases where the season when it becomes necessary to
finish packing for a market is too unfavorable to put up the
plant in leaf in the usual method; or when the crop may be
partially out of case. Besides the operation of stemming in
the hands of the crop-master, there are instances where this
partial process is repeated in the public warehouses; of
which I shall treat under a subsequent head.
[Illustration: Stemming.]
"The operation of stemming is performed by taking the leaf
in one hand, and the end of the stem in the other, in such a
way as to cleave it with the grain; and there is an
expertness to be acquired by practice, which renders it as
easy as to separate the bark of a willow, although those
unaccustomed to it find it difficult to stem a single plant.
When the web is thus separated from the stem, it is made up
into bundles in the same way as in the leaf, and is laid in
bulk for farther process. The stems have been generally
thrown away, or burnt with refuse tobacco for the purpose of
soap-ashes; but the introduction of snuff-mills has, within
a few years back, found a more economical use for them."
As soon as the tobacco has been stripped it is ready for
PACKING.
[Illustration: Packing.]
It is necessary to pack the "hands" after stripping in order to keep
it moist, or in nearly the same condition as when stripped. Select a
cool place, not too dry or too damp, but one where if properly
protected, the tobacco will remain moist. It should be packed loosely
or compact, according as the hands are moist or dry. It may be packed
in the center of the floor so that it may be examined from either
side, or against the sides of the packing house, as may be thought
best. Hand the tobacco to the packer, who presses the hands firmly
with his knees and hands, laying the tobacco in two tiers and keeping
the pile at about the same height until all is packed. If possible
pack all together, that is, each kind by itself, as it is better to
have the wrappers or fillers all together rather than in several
places, as the moisture is retained better than when it is packed in
small piles or heaps. Use in packing a plank or board, placing it
against the front of the tier and bring the ends of the hands up
against it. This will make the tobacco look much better and also
render the process of packing firmer.
The tobacco may be packed any height or length desired, according to
the quantity, but usually from three to four feet high will be found
to be convenient while the length may be proportioned to the height or
not. Tobacco may be packed by the cord or half cord so as to be able
to judge of the quantity--good large wrappers averaging a ton to the
cord. Seconds and Fillers will not contain as many pounds to the cord
as wrappers. After the tobacco is packed, cover first with
boards--planed ones are preferable,--or even shingles--and press
firmly, especially if the tobacco is dry, then cover with blankets or
any kind of covering, adding plank or pieces of timber if additional
pressure is needed. It can now remain packed until sold or cased, and
will hardly need to be examined unless packed while very damp or kept
packed until warm weather.
Wailes says of planting by the early planters of tobacco in
Mississippi:--
"The larger planters packed it in the usual way in
hogsheads. Much of it, however, was put up in carrets, as
they were called, resembling in size and form two small
sugar-loafs united at the larger ends. The stemmed tobacco
was laid smoothly together in that form coated with wrappers
of the extended leaf, enveloped in a cloth, and then firmly
compressed by a cord wrapped around the parcel, and which
was suffered to remain until the carret acquired the
necessary dryness and solidity, when together with the
surrounding cloth, it was removed, and strips of lime-bark
were bound around it at proper distances, in such a manner
as to secure it from unwrapping and losing its proportions."
In Turkey, after the tobacco is made into bundles or hands, it is
piled against the walls inside the dwelling rooms and a carefully
graduated pressure put upon it until ready for baling. In Java, when
the tobacco is ready to pack the leaf is examined, and if found quite
brown, it is tightly pressed and packed up either in boxes or matting
for exportation, or in the bark of the tree plantain, for immediate
sale.
The next process on the tobacco plantation is that of
PRIZING, CASING, AND BALING.
The term prizing originated in Virginia, and as performed by the early
planters, is thus described by an old writer on tobacco culture:--
"Prizing, in the sense in which it is to be taken here is,
perhaps, a local word, which the Virginians may claim the
credit of creating, or at least of adopting; it is at best
technical, and must be defined to be the act of pressing or
squeezing the article which is to be packed into any
package, by means of certain levers, screws, or other
mechanical powers; so that the size of the article may be
reduced in stowage, and the air expressed so as to render it
less pregnable by outward accident, or exterior injury, than
it would be in its natural condition.
"The operation of prizing, however, requires the combination
of judgment and experience; for the commodity may otherwise
become bruised by the mechanic action, and this will have an
effect similar to that of prizing in too high case, which
signifies that degree of moisture which produces all the
risks of fermentation, and subjects the plant to be
shattered into rags. The ordinary apparatus for prizing
consists of the prize beam, the platform, the blocks, and
the cover. The prize beam is a lever formed of a young tree
or sapling, of about ten inches diameter at the butt or
thicker end, and about twenty or twenty-five feet in length;
but in crops where many hands are employed, and a sufficient
force always near for the occasional assistance of managing
a more weighty leverage, this beam is often made of a larger
tree, hewn on two of its sides to about six inches thick,
and of the natural width, averaging twelve or fourteen
inches. The thick end of this beam is so squared as to form
a tenon, which is fitted into a mortise that is dug through
some growing tree, or other, of those which generally abound
convenient to the tobacco house, something more than five
feet above the platform. Close to the root of this tree, and
immediately under the most powerful point of the lever, a
platform or floor of plank is constructed for the hogshead
to stand upon during the operation of prizing. This must be
laid upon a solid foundation, levelled, upon hewn pieces of
wood as sleepers; and so grooved and perforated that any wet
or rain which may happen to fall upon the platform may run
off without injuring the tobacco. Blocks of wood are
prepared about two feet in length, and about three or four
inches in diameter, with a few blocks of greater dimensions,
for the purpose of raising the beam to a suitable purchase;
and a movable roof constructed of clap-boards nailed upon
pairs of light rafters, of sufficient size to shelter the
platform and hogshead, is made ready to place astride of the
beam, as a saddle is put upon a horse's back, in order to
secure the tobacco from the weather while it is subjected to
this tedious part of the process.
[Illustration: Prizing in olden times.]
"That part of the apparatus which is designed to manage and
give power to the lever is variously constructed: in some
instances two beams of timber about six feet long, and
squared to four by six inches, are prepared; through these,
by means of an auger hole, a sapling of hickory or other
tough wood, is respectively passed; and the root thereof
being formed like the head of a pin to prevent its slipping
through the hole, the sapling is bent like a bow, and the
other end is passed through the same piece of wood in a
reversed direction, in which position it is wedged. These
two bows are in this manner hung by the sapling loops upon
the end of the prize beam or lever; and loose planks or
slabs of about five or six feet long being laid upon these
suspended pieces of timber, a kind of hanging floor or
platform is constructed, upon which weights are designed to
act as in a scale. A pile of large stones are then carted to
the place, and a sufficient number of these are occasionally
placed upon this hanging platform, until the lever has
obtained precisely the power which the crop master wishes to
give it by this regulating medium.
"The prizing or packing by the old planters must have been a
tedious affair, and far different from the quick work made
by the screw-press now owned by all well to-do planters. The
size of the hogsheads containing the tobacco was regulated
by law to the standard of four feet six inches in length,
but the shape of the cask varied according to the fancy of
the cooper, or roughness of his work. At this period (a
century ago), the tobacco hogshead was made most generally
of white oak; but Spanish oak, and red oak, were sometimes
used, when the usual kind could not be so readily commanded.
Now the hogsheads are made of pine, but are nearly as rough
as those made by the colonial growers.
"Tobacco, if well packed, and prized duly, will resist the
water for a surprising length of time. An instance is
recorded in strong proof of this, which occurred at
Kingsland upon James river in Virginia, where tobacco, which
had been carried off by the great land floods in 1771, was
found in a large raft of drift wood in which it had lodged
when the warehouses at Richmond were swept away by the
overflowing of the freshets; an inundation which had
happened about twenty years before this cask was found."
Tatham gives the following account of a similar instance:--
"On the sixth of October, 1782, I myself was one of a party
who were shipwrecked upon the coast of New Jersey, in
America, on board the brigantine Maria, Captain McAulay,
from Richmond in Virginia, and laden with tobacco. Several
hogsheads, which were saved from the wreck were brought
round to Stillwill's landing upon Great Egg harbor; and
amongst them some which had lost the headings of the cask,
and the hoops and staves, were so much shattered by the
beating of the surf, that it was not thought worth while to
land them, and they were just tumbled out of the lighter
upon the beach, and left to remain where the tide constantly
flowed over them for several weeks, so that the outside was
completely rotten, and they had the appearance of heaps of
manure. In this very bad condition, I still persisted in
trying to save what I supposed might remain entire in the
interior of the lump, and at last prevailed so far over the
ignorance and prejudice by which I had been ridiculed, as to
effect an overhauling and repacking of this damaged
commodity and to save a proportion thereof very far beyond
what I myself had expected. Some of the heart of this was so
highly improved, that I have seldom seen tobacco equal to it
for chewing, or for immediate manufacture; and what was
repacked was sold to a tobacconist in Water Street,
Philadelphia, at a price so little reduced below the
ordinary market, that the man very frankly told me, that if
he could have had the whole drowned tobacco in a short time
after it was saved from the wreck, he would have made no
difference in the price but would rather have preferred it
for immediate manufacture, as it would have spared him, some
little labor in a part of the process."
Prizing tobacco applies to the packing of tobacco in hogsheads all
such leaf being used for cutting purposes, cigar leaf being either
cased or baled. In some sections about 800 pounds net is packed in one
parcel, while in others 1000 pounds and sometimes even 1500 and 1800
pounds. "Seed leaf" tobacco in this country is all packed in cases
instead of hogsheads, each case containing from 375 to 400 pounds net.
It is necessary that all kinds of tobacco should be pressed in some
kind of package before it is ready to be manufactured. There are
exceptions, however, as in the case of Latakia tobacco, which is
simply hung in the peasant's huts through the winter to be fumigated
and to acquire the peculiar flavor this tobacco has. Tobacco in good
condition to case must be damp enough to bear the pressure in casing
without breaking and crumbling, while it must not be too moist or it
will rot in the case. The number of pounds to the case will vary
according to the size of the leaf, as well as the condition of the
tobacco.
When ready to case the "hands" are packed in the case, laying them in
two tiers. The case being nearly full the contents are then subjected
to a strong pressure until it is reduced to one half its bulk, then
another layer is placed in the case and again pressed, and succeeded
by as many as are required to fill the case. The tobacco should be
packed evenly in layers with the ends of the leaves touching one
another or even crossing, and the whole mass presenting a smooth and
even appearance. The "wrappers" should be cased by themselves and "the
seconds" and "fillers" together or separate at the option of the
packer. The tobacco should be cased hard so that the mass will rise
but little when the pressure is removed. As the fillers are usually
dry they must be moistened before casing or subjected to a very strong
pressure. After packing the cases should be turned on their sides, and
the grower's name marked on each case, also the kind of tobacco,
whether wrappers or fillers, together with the number of pounds and
the weight of the case. This is necessary to ascertain the quality of
leaf produced by each grower, as well as to protect the buyer against
all fraud in packing and casing.
[Illustration: Tobacco press.]
The cases may be piled one upon another, but should be kept from the
rays of the sun and in a dry room, so that the sweating of the leaf
may be sufficient to fit it for use. It is necessary that the season
during sweating should be warm, in order to secure a good sweat. It
will commence to "warm up" sometime in April or May, and will be ready
to sample or uncase about the first of September. After "going through
a sweat," the leaf takes on a darker color, and loses the rank flavor
which it had before. It is better to let the tobacco dry off before
being used or taken from the case. "Baling" is packing tobacco in
small bundles or packages containing from one hundred to two hundred
pounds, and is the manner of putting up tobacco for export in Cuba,
Paraguay, Algiers, Hungary, Mexico, Syria, the Philippines, China,
Sumatra, Japan, Java, Turkey, and in some other tobacco-growing
countries. In Cuba after being formed into hands or "_gavillos_" and
four of these tied together with strips of palm-leaf so as to
constitute a "_manoja_," fifty or eighty of them are packed together,
making what is called a "_tercio_" or bale, the average weight of
which is two hundred pounds. Hazard says of the number of pounds
produced on the _vegas_:
"A _caballeria_ of thirty-three acres of ground produces
about nine thousand pounds of tobacco, made up in about the
following proportions: four hundred and fifty of _desecho_,
or best; one thousand eight hundred pounds _desechito_, or
seconds; two thousand two hundred and fifty pounds of
_libra_, or thirds; and four thousand five hundred pounds of
_injuriado_. From these figures, taking the bale at one
hundred pounds, and the average price of the tobacco at
twenty dollars per bale, (though this is a low estimate, for
the crops of some of the vegas are sold as high, sometimes,
as four hundred dollars per bale,) an approximate idea may
be formed of the profit of a large plantation in a good
year, when the crops are satisfactory."
In Mexico, after being baled, the tobacco is sent to the government
factories, where it is not weighed until two months afterwards. The
price is high, varying from twelve to twenty-eight dollars per crate;
and is paid in ten monthly installments. In Persia, when the tobacco
is fit for packing, the leaves are carefully spread on each other, and
formed into cakes four or five feet round, and three to four inches
thick, care being taken not to break or injure the leaves. Bags of
strong cloth, thin and open at the sides, are provided, into which the
cakes are pressed strongly down on each other. When the bags are
filled they are placed in a separate drying house, and are turned
every day. Water is then sprinkled on the cakes, if required, to
prevent them from breaking. The leaf is valued for being thick, tough,
of a uniform light yellow color, and of an agreeable aromatic smell.
In Turkey, the tobacco after remaining in the dwelling-room of the
house a sufficient time, is ready for baling. The bales average in
weight about forty _oques_ (110 English pounds). The covering of the
bales is a sort of netting made by the peasants from goat's hair; it
is elastic and of great strength. Vamberry says of packing tobacco in
European Turkey:
"The tobacco is packed in small packets (_bog tche_), and
only after it has lain for years in the warehouses of the
tobacco merchants, is it honored by the connoisseurs of
Stamboul with the title of 'Aala Gobeck.' This sort of
finely-cut tobacco resembling the finest silk, is held in
equally high estimation in the palaces of the Grand
Seignior, in the seraglio, and in the divan of the sublime
Porte, where the privy council debate the most important
affairs of the empire, under the soothing influence of its
aromatic vapors."
In St. Domingo and the United States of Colombia, South America, the
bales are called _Serous_, and in Holland and Germany, Packages.
Tobacco is sent to market in bales of various sizes and made of
various materials. In Cuba, the tobacco is bound with palm leaves. In
South America it is packed in ox hides. From the East it comes in
camel's hair sacks or "netting made from goat's hair," while from
Persia, tobacco is exported in sacks of strong cloth. Manilla tobacco
is shipped in bales containing four hundred pounds net. It is covered
first with bass and then with sacking, made of Indian grass tied
around with ratan. Each bale contains a printed statement, of which
the following is a copy:
PROVINCIA DE CAGAYAN,
PARTIDO DE CITÁ. _Cosecha de 186._
Clas de conteine 40 manos de tabaco
aforado por la junta de aforo y enfardelado
por el que subscribe. Tuguegarao de
de 186.
_El Gobernadorcillo caudillo._ V.{o} B.{o}
_Vicente Lasan_. El Interventor de aforo.
The tobacco plant while growing is easily affected by a wet season,
while it is also liable to injury by the opposite extreme of heat or
drought. If a drought occurs soon after the plants are transplanted,
their growth and development is greatly hindered. When, however, the
plants are nearly grown, a severe drought affects the plants but
little, the large palm-like leaves forming a kind of canopy and
keeping the earth moist and cool. During a wet season, and sometimes
when the plants have been set in damp soil, they are affected by
"brown rust," or, as it is called at the South.
FIRING.
[Illustration: Firing.]
It is supposed to be caused by very damp weather, and is much dreaded
by all growers of the weed, as it is sometimes quite common, and on
low soil affects the crop to a considerable extent. It spots the leaf
with hard brown spots that often fall out, producing holes fatal to
the value of the crop. The lower leaves on the plant are more likely
to be injured than those higher on the stalk. The spots vary in size;
sometimes they are as large as a three cent piece, but more frequently
about the size of a small pearl button. At the South, rust or "firing"
is much more common than in the Connecticut valley, and often whole
fields are badly affected by the malady. Some seasons hardly any rust
can be discovered on the leaves, and if any spots are found they are
fixed and do not spread.
Small plants are more liable to be injured than large ones, and not
unfrequently nearly every leaf is covered with the spots. Many
theories have been advanced in regard to the cause of rust and how to
prevent it. It usually occurs just before, or after, topping, and if
the plants are ripe enough to harvest, they should be cut before the
rust spreads to any great extent. It makes its appearance very
suddenly, and if the weather be favorable (damp), spreads rapidly,
often in a few days injuring the plants to a great extent. There are
two varieties of rust or "firing," brown and white; and while the
former is dreaded by the grower, as it injures the quality of the
plant, the other is regarded with special favor, as it gives value to
the leaf.
The white rust,[81] as it is termed, is a small white speck (often
noticed on cigars), making its appearance on the leaves of the plant
towards the latter part of its growth, and usually found on the top
and middle leaves. It is usually found on the best, and more
frequently on light than dark tobacco. Unlike the brown rust, the
white does not fall out, but is as firm in its place as any part of
the leaf; sometimes the spots are as white as chalk, and again they
will be of a yellowish shade, though lighter in color than brown rust.
The lighter the color the better their effect on the leaf upon which
they are found. Leaves thus "spotted" make the finest of wrappers, and
light-colored leaf thus affected brings the very highest price. It is
well known to manufacturers of cigars that such leaves burn well, and
almost invariably make a light ash. Good judges of cigars always pick
for those thus affected, and watch with interest the ash of the cigar,
noting the color as well as the flavor.
[Footnote 81: Florida tobacco is noted for the white
rust found on the leaves.]
Some seasons this kind of rust is quite common, and it is supposed to
be caused in the same way as the brown, although there are some
growers who think that it is produced by altogether different causes.
There is, however, a marked difference in the appearance of the leaves
thus spotted; the white rust is not usually as thick upon the leaf,
and is more generally found along the sides of the leaf, while the
brown rust is found more in the center than along the sides. Tobacco
of a light cinnamon color thus "marked" is considered the most
valuable, and could the planter obtain such a crop at option, he could
realize the very highest price for it. Large growers who find much of
their tobacco "spotted" in this manner, would do well to keep such
leaves by themselves, and sell direct to the manufacturer. Both kinds
of rust are more commonly seen on the plants during a wet than a dry
season, and particularly if the plants have grown rapidly during the
latter part of the time.
Formerly buyers of leaf tobacco were more interested in leaf of this
description than now; and some of them, more anxious than others, made
liberal offers to any grower of tobacco who could ascertain how such
tobacco could be obtained. It is hardly probable that any method of
culture could be devised so as to obtain such leaf; it seems to be a
freak of nature, depending somewhat on the soil as well as the
humidity of the atmosphere, and without doubt is beyond the control of
the grower. Various theories propounded and experiments tried have not
met with any success that we are aware of. Some growers are of the
opinion that light manure spread on moist soil will tend to produce
leaf affected with white rust, while others affirm that such leaf is
common on high ground when manured with light fertilizers. It is a
matter of doubt whether such leaf can be obtained by any preparation
of soil, or any system of cultivation whatever.
SEED PLANTS.
The selection of large, well-formed plants for the maturing of the
seeds, is of more importance than most growers are aware of.[82] Not
only should the altitude of the plant be taken into account, but also
the size and texture of the leaf.
[Footnote 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."]
If a variety foreign to the soil (on which it is cultivated) is grown,
then particular pains should be taken to select seed plants resembling
those cultivated in its native home.
In cultivating foreign varieties, even the first season plants may be
seen that do not resemble the majority, but are seemingly trying to
accommodate themselves to the soil and climate, and in consequence
resemble in a measure the variety commonly cultivated. Growers of
Havana tobacco in the Connecticut valley can testify to this, and
especially to the increased size of the plants. There are, however,
growers of Havana tobacco, who claim that it will never deteriorate in
quality, and that seed from Havana is not required in order to secure
the delightful flavor of the _Vuelta de Abajo_ leaf. Our experience is
the reverse of this, and applies more directly to the flavor of the
leaf than the size, color, or texture. In the Connecticut valley
Havana leaf retains in a remarkable degree the texture and color of
leaf, but not the flavor. Fresh or new seed is required from time to
time. Sieckle says on the choice of seed:--
[Illustration: Spanish seed tobacco.]
"The selection of seed is one of the principal conditions
for raising good tobacco, especially when intended for the
manufacture of cigars. In the United States now and then
Havana seeds are planted. The tobacco raised therefrom
generally resembles the real Havana in shape and color of
leaves. But in order to reproduce approximately also the
fine taste and flavor of genuine Havana tobacco, it would be
required to impart to the soil exactly the components which
constitute the famous tobacco-ground, viz.: the soil of the
above-mentioned _Vuelta de Abajo_ in Cuba. We say
approximately, because the climate is a thing that can be
neither transplanted nor fully equaled by artificial means.
Havana seed propagated in the United States usually
degenerates very soon, even in the course of two or three
years. In other countries the experiment has been made to
acclimate foreign seeds, for instance, Havana, by crossing,
respectively changing the sexes and giving the male
influence now to the foreign, then to the home plant."
In the Connecticut valley the cultivation of Havana tobacco is
increasing year by year, and it promises to become the principal
variety cultivated. All of the leading qualities of Connecticut seed
leaf, such as color, strength, and texture, are preserved, while the
flavor is as fine as that of much that is imported. The plants
selected for seed should be allowed to fully ripen, when the leaves
may be stripped from the stalks, that the capsules may receive all the
strength of the growing and maturing plants. The seed plants should be
left standing some six or eight weeks after the other plants have been
harvested. If the nights are very cold and frosty, the top of the
plants may be covered with a light cloth or paper to protect the seed
buds.
When the capsules are of full size and brown in color, the top may be
broken off and hung up in a dry, cool place to cure, after which the
seeds should be taken from the capsules. To do this, the end of the
seed buds may be cut, when most of the seeds will fall out if the buds
are fully ripe and dry. A southern planter gives the following account
of the curing and management of seed plants:--
"There are four classes of tobacco grown in Virginia and
North Carolina, viz.: Shipping, filling, smoking, and
wrapping; and it is important that planters desiring to
raise either one of these should choose the kind of seed
best adapted to each particular class. The Pryor makes the
heaviest, richest shipping, and can only be grown to
perfection on alluvial or heavily manured lands. The
Frederick or Maryland grows larger, but is not so rich and
waxy. The Oronoko is far preferable for fillers, smokers or
wrappers, being sweeter in flavor, finer in fibre and
texture, and more easily cured yellow. This is the kind best
adapted to our gray soils, giving best returns. The product
is not so large as on black or brown lands, yet with skill
in curing and management, the difference in product is more
than made up in quality.
"The Oronoko, therefore, is the only kind suited to our gray
lands, and of this there are several varieties, the two
most in favor being the yellow Oronoko, and the Gooch or
Pride of Granville. The first is the kind that gave
character to the Caswell (North Carolina) yellow tobacco
more than twenty years ago, and is still preferred by a very
large number of planters who grow the finest yellow smokers
and wrappers. The latter is preferred in Granville county,
North Carolina, that produces the finest yellow tobacco
grown on this continent, or, perhaps, in the world. This
latter is clearly an Oronoko tobacco, very much resembling
the former, except that the leaf grows rather broader, and
by some is considered sweeter. These two kinds have been
grown with special reference to their adaptation to
producing the finest quality of wrappers, smokers, and
fillers. I am satisfied that the art of curing and
management have not only been very far advanced toward
scientific perfection, but that in perfecting the kinds of
seed grown much improvement has been made. For instance, in
the saving of seed, by adopting the plan of turning out the
forwardest plants growing in the best soil, and afterwards
observing to cut off all the heads of plants that ripen up
coarse, narrow or ill-shaped, or of a green color on the
hill, and saving only those heads that ripen yellow in color
and of a smooth and fine texture, much has been done to
improve the kind. Besides, the most important point in the
saving of tobacco seed is to cut off all the lateral shoots,
leaving only three crown shoots to perfect seed, thereby
securing larger pods and more perfect seed that always ripen
in good time, and are more reliable for seed beds and the
production of early, vigorous plants.
"By following this mode of saving seed with special
reference to the growth of a particular class of tobacco, in
a few years the seed is not only greatly improved, but as
like begets like in the vegetable as in the animal kingdom,
becomes _sui generis_--the first of its species. The writer
can bear testimony to the above facts and desires that
others may profit thereby. Where any plant attains its
highest perfection, there is the place to secure the best
seed. The home of the tobacco plant is in Virginia and North
Carolina, and the growth and perfection of the kinds here
cultivated have reached a point unattained any where else.
The West and South would do well to procure their seed from
us, and then save and propagate after the instructions above
given."
SECOND GROWTH.
The first account we find of raising a second crop of tobacco on the
original field, is found in the early history of the Virginia colony;
who, not satisfied with the vast amount cultivated in the usual
manner, allowed a second growth to spring up from the parent stalk and
thus obtained two crops from the same field in one year. The inferior
quality of this growth at length caused its prohibition by law, as
described elsewhere in this work. Of late, however, this "new
departure" in tobacco culture seems to have attracted some attention,
particularly in the Southern States, where numerous experiments have
been made, and in some instances with complete success. In Mexico and
also in Louisiana and California, two and even three crops are
gathered, thus adding to the profit of the grower, but hardly to the
fertility of the tobacco fields. Whatever the fertility of the tobacco
field may be, or the care and attention given to the second crop by
the planter, it can not equal the first crop, and must from the nature
of the case be quite inferior in size, texture, and flavor of leaf.
Doubtless the varieties grown in the tropics will be much finer than
the varieties grown in a more temperate region. There are many reasons
why a second and third crop can not be equal to the first in the
qualities necessary for fine leafy tobacco. In the first place, the
soil will hardly produce a second crop of the size and texture of leaf
that will compare with the first growth: the leaves will be small and
resemble the top leaves of the original plant rather than the large,
well-formed leaves of the center. Again, the season will hardly be
favorable (unless in the tropics), for a second growth, which has much
to do with the quality of the leaf and which alone ensures large,
well-matured plants.
In the Connecticut valley but one crop can be grown of seed leaf, and
even this when planted late is frequently overtaken by the "frost
king" whose cold breath strikes a chill to the heart of the tobacco
grower who has been so unfortunate as to have but a few plants;
especially if his fields were "set" late in the season, or with
"spindling" or "long shank plants" which come forward slowly and
forbid all thought of a second growth, and sometimes give small hopes
of even the first.
In Virginia and North Carolina the experiment has been tried of
covering the stumps or trunk of the plants with straw, followed by
plowing on both sides of the rows, thereby covering them to a depth of
several inches, in which condition they are left until spring, when
the covering is removed and the suckers or sprouts shoot forth and
grow with great rapidity. This novel experiment may succeed so far as
the growth and maturing of the plants is concerned, but will hardly
add to the reputation of "Virginia's kingly plant" or to the profit of
the growers, as the product must necessarily be small if the labor of
transplanting is avoided.
Beyond all question, experiments with the growth and culture of the
tobacco plant are among the most interesting and valuable, and afford
the planter the most pleasure and instruction of all similar trials
with the products of the vegetable kingdom. These experiments at once
develop not only the rare qualities of the plant, but its various
forms and habit of growth. They show as well as its adaptation to all
countries and climes, and the preservation of its qualities when grown
in regions far remote from its native home. The florist finds no more
pleasure in the cultivation of the rarest exotic than the tobacco
planter in testing some new variety of tobacco, and noting its varied
qualities and adaptation to his fields. By trying new varieties, some
of the finest qualities of the plant have been developed, and many
other of its excellences still further advanced. In the United States
numerous trials and experiments are constantly being made to still
further perfect the various kinds already cultivated, as well as to
test other varieties and note their qualities and adaptation to the
soil. Already far advanced, the culture of the plant has not yet
reached its highest point. The adaptation, soil, and fertilizers, are
now attracting much attention, and further study of these elements
promises to "bring out" qualities of leaf hitherto overlooked, or at
least but partially developed.
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 restrictions[83] 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.
[Footnote 83: Tobacco is not allowed to pass from one
state into another without paying a certain duty.]
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.
[Footnote 84: The amount in 1872, was 172,000.]
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 duties[85] 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.
[Footnote 85: Thirty-five cents a pound, gold.]
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.
[Illustration: End.]
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