TOAD-FLAX. 



TOBACCO. 



the nabits of the Bufo Americanus, or common 

 toad, are becoming better understood, and the 

 horticulturist, instead of destroying, carefully 

 preserves it on his grounds, for the benefit it 

 affords him, by feeding upon noxious insects. 

 In the same way are our springs and wells 

 rendered the purer by the presence of the car- 

 nivorous salamander. 



TOAD-FLAX. A name applied to two pe- 

 rennial species of Antirrhinum. 1. The creep- 

 ing, pale blue toad-flax (A. repens} is a rare 

 species, growing on chalky banks or rocks 

 near the sea. The herbage is smooth and 

 glaucous, stem panicled, leaves linear, scat- 

 tered, partly whorled ; flowers sweet-scented. 



2. Common yellow toad-flax (A. linaria'), 

 which is common about hedges and the bor- 

 ders of fields. The leaves are linear-lanceo- 

 late, crowded; stems erect; spikes terminal; 

 flowers terminal, inodorous. (PI. lO.ovr.) See 

 FZ.UELLIIT and SNAP-DRAGOW. 



Common linaria is found in the Middle States, 

 where it bears the names of toad-flax, butter-and- 

 eggs, and Ramstead-weed. It is a foreigner, fre- 

 quenting fence-rows and pastures, where it is a 

 showy but very obnoxious weed. (Flora Ces- 

 trica.') 



TOAD-FLAX, BASTARD. See BASTARD 

 TOAD-FLAT. 



TOBACCO. Botanists have given this well- 

 known American plant the generic name of 

 Nicotiana, from John Nicot, ofNismes, in Lan- 

 guedoc, ambassador from the King of France 

 to Portugal, where he procured the seeds from 

 a Dutchman who had derived them from Flo- 

 rida. The first plant was said to have been 

 presented by Nicot to Catharine de Medicis, 

 whence the former French name, Herbe a la 

 Reine, or the queen's plant. The name tobacco, 

 which has superseded all others, is an appella- 

 tion acquired from the place from whence it 

 was originally most generally derived, namely, 

 the island of Tobago, in the West Indies. Ac- 

 cording to Linnaeus, tobacco was known in 

 Europe as early as 1560. It was taken to 

 England from the West Indies or Mexico by 

 Ralph Lane in 1586, but only the herb for 

 smoking, a practice introduced into England 

 by Sir Walter Raleigh, who acquired it from 

 Captain Lane. In the house in which he lived 

 at Islington are his arms on a shield, with a 

 tobacco plant on the top. Smoking has conse- 

 quently been common in Europe for upwards 

 of two centuries. It is a powerful narcotic, 

 and also a strong stimulant with respect to the 

 whole system, but especially to the stomach 

 and intestines, to which, in small doses, it 

 proves emetic and purgative. The smoke 

 thrown up the anus acts as a glyster : an infu- 

 sion of the leaves forms a powerful lotion for 

 obstinate ulcers. The decoction, powder, and 

 smoke of tobacco are used in gardening to de- 

 stroy insects, and in agriculture for the same 

 purpose, and to cure cutaneous eruptions in 

 domestic animals. 



Botanists have identified many different spe- 

 cies of tobacco, and London, in his Encyclope- 

 dia of Plants, makes the following list of those 

 enumerated under the generic head of Nico- 

 tiana, with the places from which they were 

 derived : 



Species. 



Nicotiana tabacum 

 macrophylla 

 fruticosa 

 undulata 

 rustica 

 paniculata 

 glulinosa 

 plumbaginifolia 

 pusilla 

 quadrivalvis 

 nana 



Langsdorffii 

 cerinthoides 

 repanda 



Common Name. 

 Virginian 

 Large-leaved 

 Shrubby 

 Sweet-scented 

 Common-green 

 Panicled 

 Clammy 

 Curled-leaved 

 Primrose-leaved 

 Four-valved 

 Dwarf. 

 Langsdorff's 

 Moneywort 

 Havannah 



Origin and Date. 



America 



America 



China 



N. S. W. 



America 



Peru 



Peru 



America 



Vera Cruz 



157 



1699 

 1800 

 1570 

 1752 

 1759 

 1816 

 1733 



N. America 1811 

 N. America 1823 

 Chili 1819 



1821 

 Havana 1823 



In the 4th plate there are representations of 

 the species known as Virginia tobacco (2VYco- 

 tiana tabacum, /), common green tobacco (N. 

 rustica, g), Havana repanda (/i), of which the 

 fine and fragrant cigars are made; the Qua- 

 (Irivuh'is, or four-leaved tobacco (i), and the 

 Nana, or dwarf species (fc), both of which last 

 are used by the Indians of the Rocky Mountains. 



Tobacco is cultivated in Europe as far north 

 as Sweden, and is also grown in China, Japan, 

 and other eastern and hot countries. The sort 

 most generally preferred is the Virginia spe- 

 cies, a very beautiful plant. The common, 

 green kind (N. rm/ica), is also frequently cul- 

 tivated, espgcially in Europe, it being consi- 

 dered hardier than the Virginian sort. Parkin- 

 son says he has known Sir Walter Raleigh, 

 when prisoner in the Tower, prefer it to make 

 good tobacco, "which he knew so rightly to 

 cure.'* Tobacco has been successfully culti- 

 vated and cured in England, but its growth is 

 prohibited as a crop, and it is now only grown 

 for curiosity as a border flower, or by garden- 

 ers for the destruction of insects. In Germany 

 and other northern countries, most families 

 who have gardens grow enough of N. rustica 

 for their own use ; but as they do not know 

 how to cure it properly, it is not much valued, 

 and is never made into chewing tobacco or 

 snuff, but used for smoking. 



Although tobacco, an annual plant, may be 

 brought to maturity in almost every country, 

 even in Russia and Sweden, with their tran- 

 sient summers, still will the plants, under such 

 unfavourable circumstances, be small, and their 

 flavour weak. In long, moist, and not very 

 warm summers, such as those of Ireland, the 

 plants may attain a very large size, but they 

 will not have that superior flavour which can 

 only be derived from abundance of clear sun- 

 shine, and free, dry air. The fragrant tobacco 

 of Havana and Luconia may retain pre-emi- 

 nence for smoking, but for all other purposes 

 the peculiarly high and rich flavour of the to- 

 bacco of Maryland, Virginia, and neighbouring 

 states must always give it preference, both at 

 home and abroad. 



It will be seen from an estimate furnished 

 Congress by Mr. Ellsworth, Commissioner of 

 Patents, of the agricultural products of the 

 United States in 1842, that tobacco, though cul- 

 tivated in every State of the Union, constitutes 

 a staple crop in comparatively few, namely, 

 Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, Kentucky, 

 Tennessee and Missouri. The crop of the 

 year mentioned, was below the average, and 

 in Virginia not over two-thirds of the regular 

 crop, being both light and of bad quality. It 

 was distributed as follows : 



1043 



