114 The Soverane Herbe 



Louisiana. Much spurious P^rique is made in 

 England. 



During the last half-century many new brands 

 have been placed on the market, chiefly of the light- 

 coloured, mild type. Though these are now so 

 common, they are of comparatively recent origin. 

 Old smokers of the dark, full-flavoured tobaccos 

 despise the modern taste for mild, light tobacco. 

 Indeed, for purity and the true flavour of tobacco the 

 older brands are the best. Much of the light-coloured 

 weed now sold is weak, immature stuff. The dis- 

 covery of how to produce it was in nearly every case 

 an accident, and the result of, strictly speaking, 

 improper methods of culture. 



Take the case of the yellow tobaccos of Carolina, 

 Georgia and Tennessee. About 1850 some planters 

 sowed their tobacco in poor soil, and as a result of 

 the poverty of the ground it grew up a light-coloured, 

 sapless plant. Cured with charcoal-fires, the leaves 

 became a lemon colour and very sweet. Consider- 

 able difificulty was found in disposing of this poor, 

 weak crop, but as no better soil was obtainable it 

 continued to be grown. To the surprise of planters, 

 manufacturers and retailers, the light weed caught 

 the taste of the public, who preferred it to the rich, 

 full-flavoured, dark, matured tobacco. Between 1870 

 and 1880 the demand for light tobacco increased 

 largely, and now the dark, full-flavoured tobacco has 

 proportionately a very small sale. 



A mild, light tobacco very popular nowadays is 

 White Burley. This brand arose in 1864, from some 

 Red Burley plants coming up white and sickly. They 



