Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/810

 780 TOBACCO from tdbago or tabaco, the native term in Santo Domingo for the tube or pipe through which the smoke of the burning leaves was inhaled. The native Brazilian name for the plant was petum (now used as a generic name for the related petunia), which the Portuguese intro- duced into Europe, and it is occasionally met with in old works. The genus Nicotiana is mostly American, containing about 50 species, mainly herbs, with leaves, stems, &c., covered with, viscid hairs; calyx tubular-bell-shaped and five-lobed; corolla funnel-shaped, with a five-lobed limb ; stamens five, inserted on and included by the corolla ; ovary two-celled, ripening into a two-celled capsule, surrounded by the persistent calyx, and opening by two or several valves for the escape of the numerous, very small, kidney-shaped, roughened seeds. The species most generally cultivated is N. tabacum, a stately plant, 3 to 6 ft. high, with ample, oblong-lance-shaped leaves, which are Tobacco Plant in Flower (Nicotiana tabacum). mostly decurrent upon the stem, and decrease in size toward the summit of the plant; the flowers are in a large terminal panicle, the rose-purple corolla about 2 in. long., with a somewhat inflated throat and short lobes. This species was extensively cultivated by the na- tives before America was visited by Europeans, and has not been detected in a truly wild state. N. rmtica, according to Humboldt, was largely cultivated by the ancient Mexicans, as it was by the more northern aborigines ; it is occa- sionally found as a weed as far north as New York state, and occurs in various other parts of the country as a relic of its cultivation by the Indians ; thou'gh a native of tropical Amer- ica, it is more hardy than the common species ; it was early introduced into cultivation in Eu- rope, and has become naturalized in the south- ern parts of that continent. It has ovate, petioled leaves, and dull greenish yellow flow- ers, which are much smaller than those of N. tabacum. As its leaves in drying retain much of their color, it is sometimes called green tobacco, and being earlier and more hardy, it is better suited to northern localities than the common species ; it comes to maturity in Canada, and is cultivated in northern Ger- many, Sweden, and Russia, and various east- ern countries ; the Turkish, Hungarian, and Latakia tobaccos are of this species. Chinese tobacco is accredited to N. Chinensis, and that of Shiraz to N. Persica, species of doubt- ful origin and identity. N. repanda is said to be raised in Cuba for the manufacture of a particular brand of cigars. The tobacco formerly cultivated by the Indians of Mis- souri and further west was, according to Nut- tall, N. quadrivalvis, a low, much branched plant, with short, lanceolate, sessile leaves, and nearly white flowers, opening only at sunset; its native country is unknown. Tobacco is largely produced in China, Japan, Persia, and other parts of the East, in some of which the plant has become so thoroughly naturalized that an eastern origin has been sometimes claimed for it ; but Alphonse de Candolle, after a thorough study of the subject, finds no satis- factory evidence that its uses and culture were anywhere known before the discovery of Amer- ica. In speaking of the cultivation and uses of tobacco, the common species, N'. tabacum, is intended, unless otherwise mentioned. Like some other plants of the family, as the potato and tomato, tobacco readily adapts itself to new conditions, and it becomes to a certain extent acclimated. The influences of climate and soil upon the development of plants are strikingly illustrated in tobacco as cultivated in the United States; it is grown from near the borders of Canada to the gulf of Mexico, and almost from ocean to ocean, and several states produce a leaf of such well marked characteristics that a good judge can at once tell the locality of its growth. The valley of the Connecticut produces a leaf which is large, thin, and remarkably fine and silky, and which, though deficient in flavor, is so superior for wrappers, or the outer covering of cigars, that it is even sent to Cuba for that use. In the attempts to improve the flavor of the tobacco of the Connecticut valley, seeds from Cuba and other localities have been tried there ; but it is found that in a very few sea- sons the tobacco, from whatever source the seeds are obtained, becomes similar to that which has long been raised there ; it has also been found that when Connecticut valley seeds are sown in other localities the plants in two or three generations give a product almost precisely like that peculiar to the locality. The first European cultivation of tobacco took place in Portugal, in the early part of the 16th century; it was raised in France in 1572, a box full of powdered leaves having been sent to Catharine de' Medici, who acquired a taste for it, and the plant was for a time called Tierbe de la reine. The culture rapidly ex- tended to other parts of Europe and to Asia,