CHAPTER XII 

 TOBACCO 



(Contributed chiefly by H. W . Taylor, B.Sc.A.) 



As tobacco is a highly speciahsed crop, and to be dealt 

 with fully would require more space than can be afforded in a 

 book of these dimensions, those wanting more detail than is 

 given herein are advised to procure copies of the references 

 given at the end of this chapter. 



Historical. — In this connection de Candolle says : " At 

 the time of the discovery of America, the custom of smoking, 

 snuff-taking, or of chewing tobacco, was diffused over the 

 greater part of this continent. The accounts of the earliest 

 travellers show that the inhabitants of South America did not 

 smoke, but chewed tobacco or took snuff, except in the district 

 of La Plata, Uruguay, and Paraguay, where no form of tobacco 

 was used. In North America, from the Isthmus of Panama 

 and the West Indies as far as Canada and California, the 

 custom of smoking was universal, and circumstances show that 

 it was also very ancient. Pipes, in great numbers and of won- 

 derful workmanship, have been discovered in the tombs of the 

 Aztecs in Mexico, and in the mounds of the United States.'" 



" In 1539, Hernandez brought seed to Europe. Jean 

 Nicot, French Ambassador, saw the plant cultivated in Por- 

 tugal, and in 1560 sent seed of it to Catherine de Medicis, from 

 which circumstance the genus obtained its botanical name. In 

 the same year tobacco was conveyed to England by Thos. 

 Haricot; Sir Francis Drake and, subsequently (1570-84), Sir 

 Walter Baleigh and others, made tobacco-smoking popular in 

 England, and about the same time cultivation was started in 

 Virginia. In 1610, tobacco was grown in Ceylon, and in the 

 same year was introduced into Turkey."^ 



The early history of tobacco cultivation in South Africa 

 is not clear. It has been grown in the Kat River area for a 

 great many years, and probably later in the Rustenburg and 

 Piet Retief districts. 



The tobacco formerly grown in the Union was grown 

 chiefly for pipe-smoking and for snuff. " The tobacco and 

 tobacco manufacturing industries have experienced consider- 

 able change in the class of leaf and manufactured article re- 

 quired by the public during the past 10 to 15 years, i.e., from 



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