THE USE OF BACTERIA IN THE ARTS. 59 



tobacco, after being ground and mixed with cer- 

 tain ingredients, is allowed to undergo a fermen- 

 tation which lasts for weeks, and indeed for 

 months. In the different methods of preparing 

 snuff the fermentations take place in different 

 ways, and sometimes the tobacco is subjected to 

 two or three different fermentative actions. The 

 result of the whole is the slow preparation of the 

 commercial product. It is during the final fer- 

 mentative processes that the peculiar colour and 

 flavour of the snuff are developed, and it is during 

 the fermentation of the leaves of the smoking to- 

 bacco either the original fermentation or the 

 subsequent ones that the special flavours and 

 aromas of tobacco are produced. 



It can not be claimed for a moment that these 

 changes by which the tobacco is cured and finally 

 brought to a marketable condition are due wholly 

 to bacteria. There is no question that chemical 

 and physical phenomena play an important part 

 in them. Nevertheless, from the moment when 

 the tobacco is cut in the fields until the time it is 

 ready for market the curing is very intimately 

 associated with bacteria and fermentative organ- 

 isms in general. Some of these processes are 

 wholly brought about by bacterial life ; in others 

 the micro-organisms aid the process, though they 

 perhaps can not be regarded as the sole agents. 



At the outset the tobacco producer has to 

 contend with a number of micro-organisms which 

 may produce diseases in his tobacco. During the 

 drying process, if the temperature or the amount 

 of moisture or the access of air is not kept in a 

 proper condition, various troubles arise and va- 

 rious diseases make their appearance, which either 

 injure or ruin the value of the product. These 



