COMMERCIAL r|.\n.'iCATION 



Var. scabra, 

 ever used ci 



I.e. ft. 



ii., \i\. A nuti\r .,f s..nth 

 of its (Unagreeable odour. 



NICOTIANA 

 PLUMBAOINIFOLIA 



Species and Varieties 

 America. Hardly 



N. alata, Lk. et 0.; N. persica, Lindl., Bot. Reg., 1833, xix., t. If. 



Sfieeraz Tobacco, Trans. Hort. Soc., 1836, i., 205-7. A native of 

 Brazil and cultivated in gardens in Europe, Persia, etc. At one time it was 

 thought that this plant was the source of the twnbeki of Persia. In the 

 Kew Bulletin (1891, 77-84) full particulars will he found, the final con- 

 clusion of which appears to be that the merits of the tumbeki leaf, like that 

 of most other special tobaccoes, proceed from the climate and soil, 

 together with the methods of cultivation and curing, more than from 

 specific differences. Comes seems, however, to think that N. nfm<i 

 tlic source of the Persian leaf, while the numerous writers quoted in the 

 Kew Bulletin regard it as derived from the ordinary A'. 'r<tinn-mn. 



N. plumbag-inifolia, Viv. ; Fl. Br. Ind., iv., 246; Comes, I.e. 45. 

 This is believed to be a native of Mexico and the West Indies. In India it 

 has become completely naturalised, especially on sandy islands within tin- 

 rivers and in damp situations by the roadsides. It does not appear to be 

 put to any economic purpose. It is not mentioned in Roxburgh's Flora 

 Indica, consequently its introduction may date subsequent to 1832. 



To conclude this brief statement of the species, varieties and races of 

 tobacco, it may be pointed out that Shamel and Cobey (Varities of Tob., 

 1905-6, U.S. Dept. Agri., Bureau PI. Indust., No. 91) give the following 

 classification according to uses : 



1. Cigar-wrapper Tobaccoes Sumatra, Connecticut, Havana and 

 Connecticut Broad-leaf, etc. 



2. Cigar-filler Tobaccoes Cuban, Zimmer's Spanish, Little Dutch, etc. 



3. Pipe Tobaccoes North Carolina, Bright Yellow, Maryland Smoking, 

 etc. 



4. Plug Tobaccoes White Burley, Orinoco, Yellow Mammoth, Virginia 

 Blue Pryor, White Stem, etc. 



Tobacco breeding, Shamel and Cobey have shown (U.S. Dept. Agri., 

 Bureau PL Indust., 1907, No. 96) is of necessity a subject of the greatest 

 possible interest and value. 



History. The practice of tobacco-smoking was unknown in Europe and 

 prior to the discovery of America in 1492. It has since been ascertained that the 

 knowledge of the properties of tobacco was very ancient and widespread in tho 

 American Continent and Islands. Some difference of opinion prevails as to tho 

 locality where tobacco-smoking was first witnessed by Columbus and his asso- 

 ciates. By some authorities Cuba is mentioned, by others San Salvador. The 

 plant and the habit of smoking were found by Cortes in the very heart of Mexico. 

 The Spaniards witnessed tobacco-chewing in 1502 on the coast of South America. 

 Monardes published, in 1517, an account of tobacco in which he says that it was 

 known to the Indians (American) by the name picietl. In 1518 Fernando Cortez 

 occupied the island of Tobago, and found the plant being there cultivated. 

 About the same time the prepared leaves were brought by Oviedo from San 

 Domingo to Spain. In 1531 the Spaniards commenced the cultivation of tobacco 

 in San Domingo, employing for the purpose African slave labour. Oviedo de- 

 scribed a smoking-pipe (Hist. Gen. de las India*, 1535). In 1539 Hernandez 

 brought seed to Europe. Jean Nicot, French Ambassador, saw the plant culti- 

 vated in Portugal, and in 1560 sent seed of it to Catherine of Medicis, from which 

 circumstance the genus obtained its botanical name. In the same year tobacco 

 was conveyed to England by -Thomas Hariot ; Sir Francis Drake and, subsequently 

 (1570-84), Sir Walter Raleigh and others made tobacco-smoking popular in 

 England, and about the same time cultivation was started in Virginia. In 1596 

 Ben Jonson, in his Every Man in his Humour, represented the argument 

 and against tobacco. 



795 



btafctt 

 Onto 



Antiquity of 



American 



Knowledge. 



Tul . -o- 



Cultivation by 

 Spaniards. 



Smoking-pipe. 

 Cultivated in 

 Europe. 



Conveyed to. 



