CHAPTER XVI 



TOBACCO 



History. Tobacco is the plant known botanically as 

 Nicotiana Tabacum. It belongs, with the tomato and 

 eggplant, in the potato family. It is a native of Amer- 

 ica, and probably of the warmer parts of that conti- 

 nent, but was found in cultivation as far north as Vir- 

 ginia by the European discoverers. There are about 

 fifty other species of Nicotiana. Of these, only one, 

 that which produces the Syrian tobacco, has any agri- 

 cultural importance. 



The Tobacco Plant. The common tobacco has a glan- 

 dular stem i to 2 meters in height, which becomes 

 woody as the plant matures. The stem branches freely 

 from the axils ; and as it matures it sends up fresh 

 branches from the base. The prompt removal of all 

 branches, as they start to grow, not only strengthens the 

 leaves and hastens their maturity, but is said to make 

 them lighter in color. 



The stem bears from eight to twenty leaves on very 

 short petioles. The larger leaves are 35 to 50 cm long, 

 and 7 to 15 cm broad. On the leaves are two kinds of 

 glandular hairs long ones, made of several cells, and 

 others only one cell long. Many kinds of leaves are 



