136 Tobacco* 



ern readers, the following description of the method of cultu 

 may prove new. The plants are raised on beds, early T 

 the spring, and when they have acquired four leaves, a^ 

 planted in the fields, in well prepared earth, at about 'th^ 

 feet distance from each other. Twice a day they are examin^ 

 in order to destroy a worm which often attacks them. I 

 soon as they have eight or nine leaves, and are ready to pu ! 

 forth a stalk, the top is nipped off, in order to make the leaves 

 longer and thicker, by directing all the energies of the pl ant 

 to them. After this the buds, which spring from the axils of 

 the leaves, are all picked off, and great care is taken to keep 

 the leaves free from the caterpillar. When they are fit for 

 cutting, which is known by the brittleness of the leaves, they 

 are cut with a knife close to the ground, and after lying'some 

 time, are carried to the drying shed, where the plants are hung 

 up by pairs on lines. When perfectly dry, the leaves are 

 stripped from the stalks, and made into small bundles. These 

 are laid in heaps, and covered with blankets. Care is taken 

 not to over heat them, for which reason the heaps are spread 

 out and laid open to the air from time to time, until no more 

 heat is generated, when the whole is packed in casks for ex- 

 portation. 



In the manufacture of tobacco, the leaves are first made 

 very clean, then moistened with water in which salt and some 

 other ingredients are dissolved ; the midrib of the leaf is re- 

 moved, the leaves mixed together, cut to pieces with a fixed 

 knife, crisped before a fire, then twisted into rolls. The tobac- 

 conist then cuts it into shreds by a machine like a straw cutter, 

 for smoking and chewing, or twists it into rolls, or presses it 

 into a mass for the latter purpose ; and dries and grinds it 

 for making snuffl 



Some of the species, besides N. tabacum, are used in those 

 places where they grow. The best Havana segars are made 

 of N. repanda ; and the Indians of the Rocky Mountains, and 

 on the banks of the Columbia River, prefer for their tobacco 

 the species N. quadrivalvis, figured in our plate. This is a 

 strong, robust species, with leaves of peculiarly rank and pow- 

 erful odor, sometimes almost foetid. The flowers are very 

 large and showy, the calyx is ribbed and inflated, and when 



