CHAPTER VI 



THE TOBACCO PLANT : ITS CULTIVATION 



Genus and varieties — Where grown — Cultivation of Nicoiiana 

 Tabacum — Soil — Manure — Sowing — Growth — Transplant- 

 ing — Insects — Pruning — Grades of leaves — Gathering crop 

 — Drying — Curing, or 'sweating' — Nature of leaf — 'Sweat- 

 ing,' or fermenting — Various methods — Fermentation due to 

 microbes — Drying and packing for export — Growth of 

 tobacco in England — Prohibition — Experiments in Kent in 

 1886 — Mr. Gladstone on prohibition of tobacco culture — 

 Varieties of American leaf — Light and dark tobaccos — 

 Other imports of tobacco — Japanese, Chinese, Turkish, 

 Dutch, African and Australian — Price of tobacco. 



The tobacco plant is classed by botanists in the 

 genus Nicotiana of the order Solanacece. Among 

 other members of this order are belladonna, or deadly 

 nightshade, and the potato. Tobacco is a big plant 

 with large, broad leaves, covered with clammy hairs. 

 It is found in nearly every country, and grows in all 

 climates with more or less variation in form and 

 properties. Numerous as are the varieties of tobacco, 

 they are all variations of the original American plant. 

 Tobacco is very susceptible to its environment. The 

 Cuban plant transported to Syria assumes the 

 characteristics of the native tobacco of that region, 



