166 TEA. 



The cultivation of tobacco has appeared to nie more especially ad- 

 vantageous in localities where the mean temperature does not fall 

 below 75" Falir. 



Tobacco is decidedly a plant of a hot climate ; there only does it 

 yield a produce of the best quality. In Venezuela, where its cultiva- 

 tion is followed with great skill, and in situations where the tempe- 

 rature of the climate keeps from IT to 80' Fahr., about five plants 

 are held necessary to produce 1 lb. of tobacco ; and as a mean, 11 

 cwt. 1 qr. 23 lbs. of the prepared article are produced from an acre 

 of unmanured land. 



In Alsace, tobacco is sown about the middle of March ; the trans- 

 planting takes place in the beginning of June, and the harvest fol- 

 lows in autumn. The husbandry is very similar to that which has 

 been already described, each plant being left with eight or ten leaves. 

 Schwertz reckons the produce at about 15 quintals per hectare of 

 two and a half acres, which is equal to about 12 cut. 1 qr. per Eng- 

 lish acre. Thaer estimates the produce in Prussia at 11 cwt. 1 qr. 

 23 lbs. per acre. 



The consumption of tobacco has lately increased considerably 

 throughout the whole of Europe. In France, government sold to- 

 bacco in one form or another to the extent of 31,1 16,310 lbs. in the 

 course of the year 1837. Public documents show that in 1811 there 

 were in France 8.158 hectares, or 20,175 acres under tobacco, 

 which yielded 21,261,064 lbs. of the article ; the difference between 

 the quantity produced and the quantity consumed is of course sup- 

 plied by importation. 



The virtues of tobacco very probably reside in the volatile vege- 

 table alkali, nicotine, which it contains. The analyses of M. Pos- 

 selt and Kiemann show the leaf of tobacco to be composed as follows : 

 Nicotine 0.07, extractive matter 2.87, gum 1.74, a green resin 0.27. 

 albumen 0.26, gluten 1.05, malic acid 0.5l,malate of ammonia 0.12, 

 sulphate of i)utash 0.05, chloride of potassitim 0.06, nitrate and ma- 

 late of potash 0.21, phosphate of lime 0.17, malatc of lime 72, 

 silica 0.09, woody matter 4.97, and water 86.84, — 100.00. During 

 the lermentation of the leaves, there is always a formation of am- 

 moniacal salts. 



Tea, the use of which is and has so long been universal in the 

 Chinese empire, began to be known in Europe in the seventeenth 

 centurv, when it was imported by the Dutch Ea-st India Company. 

 In 1669, the importation of lea into England did not exceed 1 cwt. ; 

 in 1833, the East India Company set asiile for the consumption of 

 Great Britain alone nearly 24.200,000 of pounds! 



The tea plant commonly attains a height of from three to about 

 five feet. In China it blossoms in the early part of the spring, and 

 ripens its seeds in December and January. Its branches arc cover- 

 ed with short thick leaves of a deep-green color and elliptical form. 

 It is one of the most hardy plants, and thrives from the equator to 

 the forty-fifth parallel of north latitude ; but the districts best adapt- 

 ed to its growth appear to be comprised between the twenty -fifth 



