SECRETARY'S REPORT. 63 



is all done, and the best use- is afterward made of these sub- 

 stances, to wliich end the foregoing tabulated experiments may 

 furnish some guide, there will be but little need of purchasing 

 manures from abroad, but our farms will constantly increase in 

 their capacity until the extreme limit of productiveness is 

 reached — a condition of things for which we should not cease 

 striving, although we may* never be able to attain it. 



Jabez Fisher, 

 John Brooks, 

 Henry Chapin, 



Committee. 



CULTURE OF TOBACCO AS AN AGRICULTURAL 

 PRODUCT. 



The committee appointed to consider the Culture of Tobacco 

 as an agricultural product, submitted the following Report : — 



The committee appointed by the Board of Agriculture to 

 report on the history and cultivation of tobacco, do not propose 

 to treat on the morality of its uses, or the good or ill effects of 

 its cultivation, but will attempt to give some account of its 

 origin and introduction into different parts of the world, and also 

 more particularly to describe the mode of cultivation, and 

 process of curing and packing in the Connecticut Valley. 



Whatever may be thought of its offensive qualities, or its per- 

 nicious tendencies, it must be acknowledged that it is one of 

 the most remarkable productions of nature, as within about 

 three hundred years it has gained an uncontrollable influence 

 in every part of the world, enlightened and unenlightened, 

 Christian and pagan. Kings have forbidden it ; popes have 

 excommunicated it with curses, and physicians have warned 

 against it. Even ministers of the gospel have lifted up their 

 voices and thundered their denunciations from the pulpit ; but 

 all has been in vain ; its growth and use have increased, and 

 still continue to increase, and will hereafter increase as long as 

 the earth continues to yield this most remarkable plant, the use 

 of which has perverted the appetite of man. 



A writer who has exhibited great research in preparing an 

 article on tobacco, its first introduction, and its early history, 



