CHEMISTRY OF A CIGAR. 39 



other tobacco producing countries are transported 

 to distant lands, and scattered to the wind and the 

 storm. The impoverishment thus produced must 

 be met, on the part of the cultivator, by heavy ex- 

 penditures for fertilizers ; else, a few years only suf- 

 fice to reduce lands, through its agency, to barren 

 wastes. The plant is hungry for potash, and of this 

 it consumes large quantities. In every one hun- 

 dred pounds of the dried leaves, there is contained 

 nearly five of this alkali. A bushel of ashes, such 

 as form upon the end of the smoker's cigar, would, 

 if leached, and the ley formed into soap, make 

 enough to serve the purposes of a small family for a 

 year. 



It is a common belief that cigar ashes constitute 

 an excellent and safe detergent or dentifrice for the 

 teeth ; and many smokers are in the habit of saving 

 and applying them to this purpose. The strong al- 

 kaline nature of the ash, acting in conjunction with 

 the silica in its finely subdivided condition, would 

 certainly afford cleansing properties of a high order ; 

 and unless the alkali is too caustic for frequent use, 

 its employment in this direction can hardly be 

 condemned. 



The comparative exhaustive effects of tobacco 

 upon soils may be judged of from the fact that four- 

 teen tons of wheat, fifteen tons of corn, twelve tons 

 of oats, remove no more of the principles of fertility 



