10 



FARMERS' REGISTERr-USE OF TOBACCO. 



of any kind, with leaves from the wood, mixed 

 with wheat straw, which I think answers well, if 

 fallowed afterwards lor wheat. The most ahun- 

 daut manure we have is that from the iLirni pen, 

 the top-dressing with which should be done in a 

 careful manner; great regidarity should be main- 

 tained in spreading it to prevent the tender plants 

 from being stifled: other advantages also v.'ill re- 

 sult from this care: the manure will cover a greater 

 surface, and tlie land will be regularly benefited, 

 whereas, if it is carelessly spi'ead, the crop ^viil be 

 uneven, unseemly to the eye, and much less pro- 

 ductive. 



I am now trjnng an experiment in the cultiva- 

 tion of new-ground corn, which I had heard of 

 some time ago, as well as more recently. The 

 land is not cleared of the leaves, trash, sticks, &c., 

 which arc not too much in the way" of the plough 

 or coulter; and after the operation of the coulter, 

 the ground is liilled up five and a half feet apart 

 one way, and two and a half tlie other, chopping 

 down the hiUs low, opening holes at the same 

 time, into which tour or five grains of corn in a 

 hill are dropped. The crop is cultivated with 

 coulters first, and then with bar-share jiloughs, and 

 should be laid bj^ just before harvest. Once hill- 

 ing Avill be sufficient, and that when the corn is 

 about t^velvc inches high; taking care to chop out 

 the bushes after harvest. A preparation of this 

 kind is exactly calculated to add to the natural fer- 

 tility of the land, and must, I think, be the best 

 plan to preserve tlie productiveness of the maiden 

 soil: it saves, besides, the labor of hauling off the 

 litter, unless it is intended, by collecting and burn- 

 ing it, that the first blow in the destruction of the 

 soil should be struck by the hand of the ov/ner, in- 

 stead of his adding to his land whatever may re- 

 pay him for his labor in its cultivation. 



It is insisted that the next crop after the com 

 should be tobacco, by which the planter may avoid 

 tlie labor of hauling off or burning the leaves, and 

 may, at tlie same time, imjirove his new land. 

 Cut upon estimating the profit and loss uj)on the 

 cultivation of tobacco for a centiuy past, (not half 

 the time from its commencement,) I am disposed 

 to think the planter a loser to no little amount. It 

 is owing, in my opinion, to that crop principally, 

 that the face of our country presents so melancholy 

 an aspect. Take a glance at the states to the 

 north of us, and see if it requires a Solomon to 

 judge the difference of the two countries. Theirs 

 is a grain and grass growing counfiy, and quad- 

 ruples ours in the product of small grain to the 

 acre: here, to the unsuccessful culture of grain and 

 grass, we add a toljacco crop, the worst of all 

 others to impart any benefit to the soil on which it 

 groAvs. The labor in cultivating tobacco, can 

 scarcely, at any time, be intermitted longer than 

 three daj-s; and aU other crops Avhatever, except 

 in time of harvest, (and I have seen thousands of 

 plants topped in harvest,) must wait for the to- 

 bacco; and after it is made, it frequently remains 

 upon hand for twelve months or longer, because 

 the price it can command, will not more than half 

 repay the cost of the labor bestowed upon it; and 

 when at length it is sold, not one hogshead in a 

 thousand, perhaps, commands ten dollars. The 

 remainder is sold at from three to five dollars per 

 cwt. and during the numerous operations retjuisite 

 in its cultivation and preparation for market, gal- 

 leys are forming and uicreasing; and the fences 



are neglected and abandoned to destmction: 

 whereas, if our lands Avere cultivated in grain and 

 clover, with other valuable grasses, they would 

 present a vciy different aspect, with much more 

 valuable returns. 



In some instances, however, a farmer might 

 make a small crop of tobacco with advantage. If 

 lie owned only a small tract of land, and too many 

 hands to find employment in the cultivation of a 

 crop of small grain, and was unwilling to hire out 

 any part ol' his negi-oes, he might, by resorting to 

 a tobacco crop, keep them profitably employed for 

 a few years. s. B. 



ORIGIN AND USE OF TOBACCO. 



From the London Penny Magazine. 



Tobacco was introduced into Europe from the 

 province of Tabaca in St. Domingo, in 1559, by u 

 Spanish gentleman, named Hernandez de Toledo, 

 who broil gilt a small quantity uito Sjiain and Por- 

 tugal. From thence, by the means ol'the French 

 ambassador at Lislion, Jean Nicot, from whom it 

 derived its name of Nicolia, it found its way to 

 Paris, where it was used in the form of a powder 

 by Catherine de Mechci. Tobacco then came un- 

 der the patronage of the Cardinal Santa Croce, the 

 pope's nuncio, who, returning frorh his embassy 

 at the Spanish and Portuguese courts, caiTied the , 

 plant to his own country, and thus acqiured a 

 fame little inferior to that which, at another period, 

 he had Avon by piously bringing a porticjn of the 

 real cross from the Holy Land. Both in France 

 and in the Papal States it was at once received 

 Avith general enthusiasm, in the shape of snuff; 

 but it Avas some time after the use of tobacco as 

 snuff, that the practice of smoking it commenced. 

 This practice is generally supposetl to have been 

 introduced into England by Sir Walter Raleigh; 

 but Camden says, in his ' Elizabeth,' that Sir 

 Francis Drake and his companions, on their return 

 Irom Virginia 1585, Avere " the first, as far as he 

 knew, who introduced the Indian plant, called 

 Tabacca or Nicotia, into England, having been 

 taught by the Indians to use it as a remedy against 

 indigestion. And from the time of their return," 

 says he, " it immediately began to grow into very 

 general use, and to bear a high price; a great many 

 persons, some from luxurj^, and others for their 

 health, being wont to draw in the strong-smelling 

 smoke with insatiable greediness through an 

 eartheuAvare tube, and then to puff it Ibilh again 

 through their nostrils; so that tabacca-taverns, 

 (taberna? tabaccante) are noAv as generally kept 

 in all our toAvns, as Avine-houses or beer-houses." 

 No doubt the tobacco-taverns of Queen Eliza- 

 beth's times were not unworthy predecessors of 

 the splendid cigar divans of the present day. It 

 appears from a note in the ' Criminal Trials,' vol. i. 

 p. 361, that in 1600, the French ambassador, in 

 his despatches, represented the Peers, on the trial 

 of the Earls of Essex and Southampton, as smok- 

 ing tobacco copiously Avhile they deliberated on 

 their verdict. Sir Walter Raleigh, too, Avas ac- 

 cused of having sat Avith his pipe at the Avindow 

 of the armoury, Avliile he looked on at the execu- 

 tion of Essex in the Tower. Both these stories 

 are probably untrue, but the mere relation of 

 them by contemporaneous writers shows that they 

 were not then monstrously mcredible, and they 

 therefore prove the generality of the practice of 



