TOBACCO. 
stantly shifted, those on the top of the heap 
being put into the middle, and those in the mid- 
dle on the top. During the fermenting, the 
leaves and stalks will assume a darker colour, 
and, if allowed to lie too long, will become 
mouldy, which must by no means be permitted. 
The process of fermenting may usually be al- 
lowed to continue three or four days, after which, 
the plants must be taken in pairs, and tied toge- 
ther at the roots, or have a peg run through 
their stalks, close to the bottom, and be sus- 
pended, in this way, with their leaves hanging 
down, with plenty of room between each pair, 
upon a cross-beam in the same shed. After the 
leaves are thoroughly dried, which they will in 
general be, after hanging about a month, the 
plants may be taken down. A damp day ought 
to be selected for this purpose, otherwise the 
leaves are apt, from their extreme dryness, to 
crumble into dust. But if the atmosphere be 
damp, their great affinity to moisture will pre- 
| vent such a casualty. When down, they are 
| again laid in heaps, and pressed together by 
large logs of wood. Fermentation will again 
commence, and may be allowed to continue about 
a week. Great care must be taken, however, to 
prevent the heat from becoming too great; and, 
in order to this, the person in attendance must 
constantly keep inserting his hand into the heap. 
When the heat exceeds a glowing warmth, it 
may be considered too powerful, and must be 
reduced by the removal of some of the wood. 
This second fermenting process, which in tech- 
nical language is termed ‘the second sweating,’ 
is sometimes omitted; but both Bose and Car- 
ver agree in recommending it, as it tends much 
to mellow the taste of the tobacco. It is gene- 
rally allowed to continue for about a week, after 
which the plants are separated, and the leaves, 
being stripped off, are tied together in bunches, 
technically called ‘hands.’ This is the last ope- 
ration performed by the planter, who sells the 
tobacco ‘in hands’ to the manufacturer.” , 
The farmer who understands how to make 
good meadow-hay, will be at little loss how to 
make good tobacco. With regard to growing the 
plant, it requires very little more care than 
growing a crop of cabbages: the extra care is in 
raising the seedlings, pinching owt the hearts, 
and of the side shoots, and gathering any cater- 
pillars that may appear on the leaves, Any 
| British farmer who contemplates a trial of the 
tobacco culture, and does not feel himself fully 
master of the subject, will find his difficulties 
easiest solved by applying to the nearest intelli- 
gent gardener, provided he be a reading gar- 
dener. But whoever understands the general 
principles of culture,—that is, whatever farmer 
is capable of reasoning on what passes under his 
notice in the culture of turnips and cabbages, 
and the making of hay,—is perfectly competent 
to cultivate tobacco. 
The Properties, Uses, and Abuses of Tobacco.— 
into the stomach, acts as a narcotic, a sedative, 
an emetic, a diuretic, and a cathartic; and when 
snuffed into the nostrils, it acts as a powerful 
errhine,—or when applied hot and in leaf to the 
skin, it is sufficiently irritating to raise blisters. 
Its narcotic and sedative actions operate on the 
heart through the medium of the nerves; and, 
whenever they are strong or excessive, they pro- 
duce dreadful sickness, headache, extreme debi- 
lity, cold sweats, and sometimes even convul- 
sions, delirium, syncope, and death. The leaf is 
a remedial application for verminal sores; the 
smoke and the juice, through means of respec- 
tively the pipe and the quid, afford some relief 
from the paroxysms of spasmodic asthma; the 
powder, in the form of snuff, has the reputation of 
alleviating the evils of watchfulness and dim vi- | 
enna 
sion ; the infusion and thesmoke—the latter intro- 
duced by means of a peculiarly constructed pair 
of bellows—are sometimes efficacious in cases of 
ileus, suppression of urine, obstinate constipa- 
tion, and incarcerated hernia, when other reme- 
dies fail; and the infusion, in minute and cau- 
tious doses, has occasionally been found service- 
able, in cases of dropsy, dysury, and similar 
diseases, as an emetic and a diuretic,—but, in 
these capacities, is always a doubtful remedy and 
sometimes a very dangerous one. In veterinary 
medicine, enemas of tobacco are eminently ser- 
viceable in obstinate constipation, in tetanus, 
and in some bad spasmodic affections; and infu- 
sions of tobacco are common but very improper 
ingredients in external applications for mange 
and for destroying parasites.—In all its proper 
medicinal uses, tobacco ranks at best with such 
terrifically violent drugs as digitalis, belladonna, 
and prussic acid; and ought never to be em- 
ployed by any inexperienced person in any case 
whatever, nor even by the most skilful practi- 
tioner except when feebler remedies are likely 
to be, or have actually been, inefficient.—Tobac- 
co, in the several forms of smoke, infusion, and 
powder, is currently and extensively used in hor- 
ticulture for destroying insects on plants ; and, of 
course, it owes all its value in this way to its 
deadly power against animal life. 
The proximate principle in which the narcotic 
energy of tobacco resides is an alkalotd called 
nicotina or nicotia. At thirteen degrees below 
the freezing-point, it appears as a slightly-tinged 
pulverulent matter ; and above that temperature, 
it remains in the form of an almost colourless and 
transparent liquid, with a pricking and burning 
taste, which is so difficult to get rid of, that it is 
felt on the tongue for hours. The nicotina gives 
out, besides, a nauseous and pungent odour. It 
combines with the acids, with each of which it 
forms.a salt. With a wick, it will burn like oil, 
diffusing a vivid light. It mixes readily with 
water in all proportions, and is soluble in alco- 
hol, ether, and oil of almonds, but not in oil of 
turpentine. This principle of tobacco is so poi- 
471 
Tobacco, whether applied externally or taken 
