28 TOBACCO: ITS HISTORY. 



four summer moons — rising from the soil with a 

 pyramidal stem, the base of which nearly equalled 

 the wrist of man in thickness. Stout tendons 

 fix it to the soil; but it is constantly observed 

 that the plant tends, as it were, to emerge entirely 

 from the ground, which must be repeatedly 

 heaped up round about the salient root. Its 

 cylindrical stem is divided by numerous branches, 

 adorned with magnificent leaves, oval, lanceolate, 

 alternate, and 24 inches in length by 18 in 

 diameter. The tips of the leaves are acute, their 

 borders wavy, the surface velvety and strongly 

 marked with a mimic nervous system, dividing 

 the leaf in spaces at right angles nearly from the 

 central spine, and of a yellowish-green colour, 

 glutinous to the touch, and bitter to the taste. 

 The flower is purplish ; the fruit-pod is oblong, 

 membranous, with two lobes containing an im- 

 mense number of exceedingly fine seeds: Lin- 

 naeus counted 40,320. So vigorous is the repro- 

 ductive energy of the plant, that I have seen it 

 blooming a beautiful flower after having been cut 

 down and hung up to dry for three weeks — 

 the flower-bud having been developed from the 

 juices of the hanging stem. The seeds have 



