590 



DRUGS, TsAUCOTlCS, ETC. 



Lane, in 1586. Seeds were shortly after ijj trod need from the 

 same quarter. 



"Tobacco, as used by man," says Du Tour, "gives pleasure 

 to the savage and the philosopher, to the inhabitant of the 

 burning desert and the frozen zone ; in short, its use, either in 

 powder, to chew, or to smoke, is universal ; and for no other 

 reason than a sort of convulsive motion (sneezing) produced by 

 the first, and a degree of intoxication by the two last modes of use." 



Tobacco is an annual plant, attaining a height of six feet, 

 having dingy red, funnel-shaped flowers, and viscid leaves. 

 The leaves are the officinal part, and their active properties 

 depend on a peculiar, oily-like alkaloid, called JN'icotin. The 

 flavor and strength of tobacco depend on climate, cultivation, 

 and the mode of manufacture. That most esteemed by the 

 smoker is Havanna tobacco, but the Virginian is the strongest. 

 The small Havanna cigars are prepared from the leaves of Nico- 

 tium repanda, Syrian and Turkish tobacco from N. rustica, and 

 fine Shiraz tobacco from N. persica. With the exception of 

 the Macuba tobacco, which is cultivated in Martinique in a 

 peculiar soil, the tobacco of Cuba is considered the finest 

 in the world. That grown in the island of Trinidad is, how- 

 ever, fully equal to it in quality, but all raised in the colony is 

 generally consumed there, and is little known in the English 

 market. This ought not to be the case, for no article would pay 

 b etter. 



The Maryland is a very light tobacco, in thin yellow leaves ; 

 that of Virginia is in large brown leaves, unctuous or somewhat 

 gluey on the surface, having a smell very like the figs of Malaga; 

 that of Havanna is in brownish light leaves, of an agreeable 

 and rather spicy smell, — it forms, as I have already stated, the 

 best cigars. The Carolina tobacco is less unctuous than the 

 Virginian, but in the United States it ranks next to the Mary- 

 land. The shag tobacco is dried to the proper point upon sheets 

 of copper, and is cut up by knife-edged chopping stamps. 

 There are said to be four kinds of tobacco reared in Virginia, 

 viz., the sweet-scented, which is considered the best ; the hig 

 and little, which follows next ; then the Frederick ; and, lastly, 

 the one and all, the largest kind, and producing most in point 

 of quantity. 



According to Loudon (" Encyclo. of Plants "), there are 

 fourteen species of this genus, besides a few varieties. Lindley, 

 however, enumerates 31, but many of these are mere showy 

 species, adapted to flower gardens. I shall therefore follow 

 chiefly Loudon's classification — 



1. N. Tabacum^ a native of several parts of America, but principally known 

 aa Virginian tobacco, having a stem rising from four to six feet or more in 

 height, bearing pink flowers. Of this there are three chief varieties known 

 in America by the popular names of Orinoco, Broad -leaved and Narrow-leaved. 

 Lindley enumerates eight varieties of iV. Tabacum. 



2. N. macrophylla^ or large-leaved tobacco, an ornamental annual, also with 

 pink flowers, native of America, which rises to the height of six feet. 



