ANTIQUITY OF TOBACCO-SMOKING 137 



As everybody smokes in Japan the rate of consumption 

 per head of the population is considerably greater than with 

 us. And shops for the sale of tobacco and all its 

 accessories are to be seen in every street in the big towns, 

 and in every village which has shops at all ; even along the 

 country roads there are stands where all these things can be 

 had for the merest trifle. On the sign the tobacconist 

 exhibits to denote his vocation is painted a leaf of the 

 plant, and by the side there are two hieroglyphics which 

 are understood to intimate that he keeps only the best 

 tobacco, procured from the famous kokubu in the Osumi 

 district. The name bears a significance similar to that of 

 Virginia with us. But the taste of the weed grown in this 

 favoured district is not such as commends itself to Enghsh 

 smokers ; it is too sweet, and on this account is but little 

 exported to Europe. It is used here for mixing with other 

 kinds of a more pungent character : French tobacco would 

 be all the better for the admixture. But to do this in 

 France, where the cultivation, manufacture and sale of 

 tobacco is a Government monopoly, would perhaps 

 interfere with the public revenue. 



The Japanese method of raising crops of tobacco, of 

 curing and manufacture, is in all essentials similar to that 

 of other countries where tobacco-culture is a staple industry. 

 The seed-beds of the young plants are protected against too 

 great cooling from radiation on spring nights by straw roofs 

 about a metre high. Towards the end of April, in the 

 warmer districts, the shoots are strong enough to be 

 transplanted into the open fields, where they are placed in 

 rows usually along the sides of crops of barley which 

 by this time has passed its bloom. In cooler districts 

 this operation is delayed until June. But, as tobacco- 

 culture is widely spread throughout the islands, the seasons 



