CHAPTER II 



THE HISTOBY OF TOBACCO 



BEFOEE taking the form of the powder which 

 the user of snuff pushes up into his nose to 

 tickle his nostrils and promote sneezing, before being 

 rolled into the cigar or reduced to that crisp, moss- 

 like substance which the smoker stuffs into his pipe, 

 tobacco has had a previous existence as a plant bear- 

 ing this same name. A stalk about 

 one meter in height, large, clammy 

 leaves of a strong odor, bright red 

 flowers each shaped like a narrow 

 funnel and expanding into the five 

 points of a star at the orifice, dry- 

 capsules filled with innumerable 

 little seeds — there you have the to- 

 bacco plant. 



"Only the leaves are used, and 

 these only after undergoing certain 

 processes that intensify their natural properties and 

 cause them to lose their green color. Rolled into 

 compact little cylinders, they become cigars; cut 

 very fine, they take the form of smoking tobacco. 

 Reduced to powder, they furnish what is known as 

 snuff. 



"America, the same land to which we owe the 



11 



Tobacco Plant 



