TOBACCO LEAVES 



Our " briar " is but a corruption of the 

 French bruyere broom, or heath. The 

 briar-root industry has had a somewhat 

 curious history. First begun in the Pyr- 

 enees some fifty years ago, it travelled 

 along the French Riviera and the Ligu- 

 rian coast, taking Corsica by the way, to 

 the Tuscan Maremma, and it has now 

 reached Calabria in the south, which is at 

 present its most flourishing centre. Nat- 

 urally, when a district has been exhausted 

 of all its roots, the industry must come 

 to an end there, and the opinion has been 

 expressed that the Italian branch of it can- 

 not last much more than another ten years. 



Leghorn has always been the centre of 

 the export of Tuscan briar-root since the 

 Maremma industry came into existence, 

 but, as the South Italian briar is of su- 

 perior quality, a large quantity of the 

 Calabrian root is also imported into Leg- 

 horn for selection and subsequent export. 



166 



