TOBACCO: 



GKOWING, CURING, AND MANUFACTURING. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE PLANT. 



Next to the most common grains and pulses, probably no 

 plant is so widely and generally cultivated as tobacco. In 

 wliat country or at what date its use originated lias little 

 to do with us from a practical point of view, though 

 interesting enough as a subject for the student of ethno- 

 graphy and natural history. Suffice it to say that it has 

 been grown and smoked since pre-historic times in many 

 tropical and sub-tropical countries, and has assumed an 

 importance in modern daily life only surpassed by a few 

 prominent food plants and cotton. 



This long-continued and widespread cultivation has 

 helped to produce local varieties or races of the plant 

 which have sometimes been mistaken for distinct species, 

 and caused a multiplication of scientific names almost 

 bewildering. The following epitome comprehends the 

 species and varieties of Nicotiana possessing interest for 

 the cultivator : — 



I. iV. Tahacum macropliylla [lalifoUa, lattissima, gigantea\ 

 — Maryland tobacco. Of this, there are two sub-species 



)3^ 





