JAPANESE TOBACCO. 



371 



the tobaceo 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 culti- 

 vating 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. 



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. Eobertson 

 gives the following 

 interesting account 

 of the Japan tobacco 

 fields : 



"According to & 

 native account, to- 

 bacco was introduced 

 into Japan in the 

 year 1605, and was 

 first planted at Nag- 

 asaki 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. 



JAPAN TOBACCO FIELD. 



