4 TOBACCO LEAF. 



back with him the tobacco plant. The next year Her- 

 nando de Toledo carried some tobacco from San Domingo 

 to Europe. 



During the same year Jean Nicot, the French em- 

 bassador to Portugal, sent some seeds to his sovereign- 

 mistress, Queen Catherine de Medici, and from this cir- 

 cumstance it was called herba regina. To commemorate 

 the services rendered by Nicot, in spread- 

 ing a knowledge of the plant, the gen- 

 eric name Nicotiana was given to it. 



Sir John Hawkins carried it from 

 Florida to England. Harriot, who was 

 in the expedition under the command 

 of Sir Richard Grenville, sent out by 

 Sir Walter Raleigh, which discovered 

 Virginia and North Carolina, mentions 

 the fact that the Spaniards called the 

 plant tobacco. In 1586, tobacco was 

 first carried into England from Vir- 

 ginia by the agents of Sir Walter 

 Raleigh, and its use soon became fash- 

 ionable among the courtiers and the 

 persons of quality. 



John Rolfe, in 1612, became the 

 first civilized tobacco grower. He was 



FIG. 1. TOBACCO J .. , - , , _. , 



SMOKED THROUGH A the husband of Pocahontas, and grew 

 TUBE, AS FIRST SEEN tobacco for export to the mother coun- 



BY COLUMBUS. O1 ,, ., , o . ~ 



From Lobei-s- History tr J- Shortly afterwards Sir George 

 or Plants," 1576. Yeardley, the deputy governor, en- 

 couraged the colonists to grow it for profit. In 1617, 

 the streets, market places and all the open lots of James- 

 town were planted in tobacco. But for tobacco, the set- 

 tlement of Virginia at that period would have proved a 

 failure, for it became the currency of the country, the 

 measure of all values and the sole product of Virginia 

 that would command articles of value in exchange. 



