NARCOTIC PLANTS 293 



from varieties of the single species, which was 

 carried from America to Europe, and thence spread 

 to the other parts of the world where the plant is 

 a commercial crop. Some of the best of foreign 

 tobaccos are from seed of varieties developed in 

 sections of the United States. 



Tobacco is a tall, broad-leaved plant, with a 

 central stalk that bears, at maturity, a branching, 

 loose cluster of pink or rose-colored flowers, with 

 funnel-shaped corollas, each drawn out into five 

 points. The seeds are so small that a great number 

 are packed ifito the pod that matures in the clasp- 

 ing, green calyx at the base of the funnel. An 

 ounce contains over 300,000 seeds! But a small 

 proportion of them are able to sprout, and those 

 which are "viable" have such hard shells that the 

 little plants have the hardest work to get out. 

 It is a common practice to rub the seeds gently in 

 the hands with powdered emery to bruise the coat 

 and thus ease the sprouting process. 



The seedlings are raised in a specially prepared 

 seed bed, and transplanted to the field when about 

 four to six inches high. They are set, by good 

 growers, three or four feet apart, so that the culti- 

 vator can run through between the rows in both 

 directions. Clean culture, but shallow, kills the 

 weeds and saves the soil moisture for the feeding 



