©I|r i. 1. BtU IGtbrarg JJortlj (Earoltna ^taU Mmtreraitg SB275 B6 ^■^\r- [;,', STATE UNIVERSITY D,H HILL LIBRAR lllllliilMII'lllilililllilllilliillllllllJIIIIIIIllllll S00303467 N /g> 7^-9^ IfAR T ^ t995 THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE DATE INDICATED BELOW AND IS SUB- JECT TO AN OVERDUE FINE AS POSTED AT THE CIRCULATION DESK. NOV 2 81998 TOBACCO: ITS HISTORY, VARIETIES, CULTURE, MANUFACTURE . AND COMMERCE, AN ACCOUNT OF ITS VARIOUS MODES OF USE, FROM ITS FIRST DISCOVERY UNTIL NOW. BY E. R. BILLINGS. WITH ILLUSTKATIONS BY POPULAR AETISTS. • My Lord, this sacred herbe which never offendlt, Is forced to crave your favor to defend it." Barclay. 'But oh, what witchcraft of a stronger kind. Or cause too deep for human search to find, Malies earth-born weeds imperial man enslave,— Not little 3ouls, but e'en the wise and brave ! " Abbuckle. HARTFORD, CONN.: AMEKICAN PUBLISHING COMPANY, 1875. ^ Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1875, by the AMERICAN PUBLISHING CO., In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. Is it not wondrous strange that there should be Such different tempers twixt my friend and me? • I burn with heat when I tobacco take. But he on th' other side with cold doth shake : To both 'tis physick, and like physick works, The cause o' th' various operation lurks Not in tobacco, which is still the same. But in the difference of our bodies frame : What's meat to this man, poison is to that, And what makes this man lean, makes that man fat ; What quenches one's thirst, makes another dry; And what makes this man wel, makes that man dye. Thomas Washbotonb, D. D. Thy quiet spirit lulls the lab'ring brain. Lures back to thought the flights of vacant mirth. Consoles the mourner, soothes the couch of pain. And wreathes contentment round the humble hearth ; While savage warriors, sof ten'd by thy breath, Unbind the captive, hate had doomed to death. Rev. Walter Coltok. Whate'er I do, where'er I be, My social box attends on me ; It warms my nose in winter's snow, Refreshes midst midsummer's glow ; Of hunger sharp it blunts the edge. And softens grief as some alledge. Thus, eased of care or any stir, I broach my freshest canister; And freed from trouble, grief, or panic, I pinch away in snuff balsamic. For rich or poor, in peace or strife. It smooths the rugged path of life. Rev. William Kino. Hail I Indian plant, to ancient times unknown— A modern truly thou, and all our own ! Thou dear concomitant of nappy ale. Thou sweet prolonger of an old man's tale. Or, if thou'rt pulverized in smart rappee. And reach Sir Fopling's brain (if brain there be), He shines in dedications, poems, plays, Soars in Pindarics, and asserts the bays ; Thus dost thou every taste and genius hit- In smoke thou'rt wisdom, and in snuff thou'rt wit. Rev. Mb. Pbior, ^ 'hi /"> TO CH/RLE3 DUDX.EY WAI^NEF^, Whose ra're, good gifts have endeared him to all lovers of the English tongue, this volume, histori- cally and praetieally treating of one of the greatest of j)lants, as well as the rarest of luxuries, is re- spectfully dedicated ty The Author. PEEFACE. Ever since the discovery of tobacco it has been the favorite theme of many writers, who have endeavored to shed new light on the origin and early history of this singular plant. Upwards of three hundred volumes have been written, embracing works in nearly all of the languages of Europe, concerning the herb and the various methods of using it. Most writers have confined them- selves to the commercial history of the plant ; while others have written upon its medicinal properties and the various modes of preparing it for use. For this volume the Author onlj'- claims that it is at least a more comprehensive treatise on the varieties and cultivation of the plant than any work now extant. A full account of its cultivation is given, not only in America, but also in nearl}' all of the great tobacco-producing countries of the world. The history of the plant has been carefully and faithfully compiled from the earliest authorities, that portion which relates to its early culture in Virginia being drawn from hitherto unpub- lished sources. Materials for such a work have not been found lacking. European authors abound with allusions to tobacco ; more especially is it true of English writers, who have celebrated its virtues in poetry and song. All along the highways and by- paths of our literature we encounter much that pertains to this " queen of plants." Considered in what light it may, tobacco must be regarded as the most astonishing of the productions of nature, since it has, in the short period of nearly four centuries, fill PREFACE. dominated not one particular nation, but the whole world, both Christian and Pagan. Ushered into the Old "World from the New bj the great colonizers — Spain, England, and France — it attracted at once the attention of the authors of the period as a fit subject for their marvel-loving pens. It has been the aim of the writer to give as much as possible of the existing material to be had concerning the early persecution waged against it, whether by Chiu-ch or State. These accounts, while they invest with additional interest its early use and introduction, serve as well to show its triumph over all its foes and its vast importance to the commerce of the world. This work has been prepared and arranged, not only for the instruction and entertainment of the users of tobacco, but for the benefit of the cultivators and manufacturers as well. As such it is now presented to the public for whatever meed of praise or censure it is found to deserve. Hartford, Conn., 1875. ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE ... 22 ... 24 ... 25 ... 27 ... 28 ... 83 ... 35 ... 40 ... 44 ... 48 ...51 ... 57 ... 64 ... 66 ... 69 1 . Feoktispiece ' • • 2. Tobacco Stalks 3. Tobacco Leaves 4. Bud and Flowers 5. Capsules. (Fkuit Bud.) 6. Suckers 7. Pkimitivb Pipe 8. Kativk S.moking 9. Old Engkaving 10. The Contrast 11 . .John Rolfe 12. Virginia Tobacco Field. 1620 13. Buying Wives 14. Growing Tobacco in the Streets 15. Natives Growing Tobacco 16. Destroying Suckep.s 17. Carrying Tobacco to Market 'f 18. Enriching Plant-Bed ^ 19. Shipping Tobacco ' 20. OhD Engraving of Tobacco ^ 21. Sir Walter Raleigh 22. ENGLien Gallants 23. Smoking in the ITth Century 24. Exhaling through the Nose ^ 23. Old London Ale-house 26. Punishment fob Snuff Taking 27. Silver Spittoons 28. The Negro Image ■^ 29. Tobacco and Theology 30. Weighing Smoke 31. Indian Pipe „o 82. Sculptured Pipe S3. Pipe of Peace .. ^34. A Model Cigab 35. South Amekicans smoking 86. A War Pipe ^^ 87. Peace Pipe X ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE 38. A TCHiTKTCHi Pipe 113 ' 39. Turk Smoking 145 40. Old Ekglish Pipes 148 41. Fkekcu Pipes 149 42. Pipe Colober 152 43. Gebman Porcelain Pipes 153 44. A Persian Water Pipe 156 45. Searcuing for Amber 160 46. Fancy Pipes 162 47. Clay and Reed Pipes 164 48. Faiey Pipes 166 49. Female Smoking in Algiers 168 50. African Pipe 170 51. Egyptian Pipes 173 52. Japanese Pipes 173 53. Engraved Boxes 177 54. Tobacco Jars 179 55. Tobacco Stoppers 181 56. Lord and Lackey 185 57. Thb Strange Youth 190 58. Smokers Readi; g Epigrams 193 59. The Explosion 195 60. Theoky against Experience 199 61. A Faithful Attendant , 203 62. Newton and his Pipe 207 63. Tennyson. Smoking 209 64. Modern Smokers 212 65. The Artist , 215 66. The Yankee Smoker 216 67. A Tobacco Grater 220 68. Demi-jourxees 222 69. James Gillespie 224 70. Fops Taking Snuff. (From an old print.) 226 71. Horn S nuff-boxes 227 72. Scotch Snuff-mills 232 73. Sweeping from the Pulpit 235 74. Snuff-mill, a Century ago 240 75. Perfuming Snuff 242 76. Fuegian Snuff-Takers 24t 77. Snuff-Dipping 247 78. Snuffers 248 79. Fancy Snuff-boxes 251 80. Curing a Headache 255 81. Hi ghlanders 257 ■^82. Cigars 260 83. Cigar-holders 262 84. Life in Mexico 266 85. Cuban Cigar Shop 268 ^86. Tobacco Leaf 271 87. Wenches Smoking 274 88. A Moonlight Reverie in Havana 275 89. By the Sea 277 90. An American Smoker 279 91. "Light, Sir?" 282 92. Bringing a Light 285 \93. Making Cigars 288 94. Havasas 301 95. Yara Cigars 303 96. Manilla Cigar and Cheroot 304 97. Swiss Cigars 306 98. Paraguay Cigars 306 99. Connecticut Tobacco Field 312 ILLUSTRATIONS. XI PAGE. 100. Home of the Connecticut Planter S15 101. Negro Quarters 317 102. The Planter's Home 318 103. "Burning the Patch." 322 104. Stringing the Primings 323 105. Worming 325 106. Ohio Tobacco Field 329 107. Tobacco Warkuouse 331 108. Kentucky Tobacco Plantation 332 109. The Kentucky Planter 334 110. Florida Tobacco Plantation 336 111. Louisiana Tobacco Plantation 338 112. Mexican Tobacco Plantation 342 113. St. Domingo Tobacco Field, 1535 315 114. A Cuban vega 316 115. Killing Bugs by Kigut 348 116. Going to Market 349 117. German Tobacco Field 851 \ 118. Dutch Planters 355 119. Success to Von Tromp 358 120. Tobacco Field in Algiers 360 121. Tobacco Field in Africa , 861 122. Tobacco Field in Syria 363 123. Tobacco Field in India 365 "^124. Turkish Tobacco going to Market 370 125. Japan Tobacco Field 371 126. Transplanting 372 127. Chinese Tobacco Field 373 128. Tobacco Field in Persia 374 129. Growing Tobacco on the Philippine Islands 377 130. Tobacco Plow 378 M31. Spanish Planters 380 132. Mexican Dwarf Tobacco 384 133. Connecticut Seed Leaf 385 • 134. Havana Tobacco 387 135. Virginia Tobacco 388 136. Ohio White Tobacco 389 137. Latakia Tobacco (Syria) 393 138. Orinoco Tobacco (Venezuela), 397 139. Shiraz Tobacco (Persia) 398 "^140. Spanish Tobacco 400 141. Japan Tobacco , 402 142. Old Connecticut Tobacco Sued 406 143. Modern Connecticut Tobacco Shed *07 144. Stripping Koom 408 145 Modern Virginia Shed 409 146. Virginia Shed, 150 years ago 410 147. Ohio Tobacco Shed 412 148. Persian Tob.'^.cco Shed 414 149. Making the Plant Bed in Connecticut ■ 418 150. Covering Plant Bed 424 151. A Tobacco Ridger 430 152. Drawing the Dirt Around the Foot 432 153. Transplanting 433 154. Transplanting 434 155. American Transplanter 437 156. The Worms 438 157. Worming Tobacco 439 158. Topping 442 159. suckering 445 160. Cutting the Plants 446 161. Putting on Lath , 447 Xll ILLDSTKATIONS. PAGE 162. C ATtKTING TO THE SHED 448 163. Stkipping 456 164. Hands 457 165. Stemming 460 166. Packing 461 167. Prizing in Olden Times 464 168. Tobacco Press 467 169. Firing 470 170. Spanish Seed Tobacco 473 CHAPTER I. THE TOBACCO PLANT. Botanical Description— Ancient Plant-Bed— Description of the Leaves- Color of Leaves— Blossoms— The Capsules and Seed— Selection for Seed— Suckers— Kkoiiii£L-iiuaUtie&==M©diciiuil.__,Proj[)erU provement in Plants 17 CHAPTER II. TOBACCO. ITS DISCOVEKV. Early Use— Origmj)f its Xame— Early Snuff-Taking-Tobacco in Mex- ico—Comparative Qualities of Tobacco— Origin of the Plant- Early Mammoth Cigars— Sacredness of the Pipe— Early Culti- vation—Proportions of the Tobacco Trade— Variety of Ivinds— Tobacco and Commerce— Original Culture 3 J CHAPTER III. TOBACCO IN AMERICA. First General Planter— State of the Colony— Conditions pf Raising Tobacco— Tobacco Fields, 1620— Increase of Tobacco-Growing— Restriction of Tobacco-Growing— Tobacco used as Money-King James opposes Tobacco-Growing-Buying Wives with lobacco- Forei'^n Tobacco Prohibited-King Charles on Tobacco-King Charles as a Tobacco Merchant-Tobacco Taxed-Planting in Maryland— Negro Labor— Competition— Growing Suckers— Virgin- ia Lands-Picture of Early Planters-Large Plantations-Getting to Market-Virginia Plant-Bed-Maryland Plant-Bed-Tobacco Growing in New York and Louisiana-New England Tobacco- Commercial Value of Tobacco— Tobacco a Blessing ^t CHAPTER IV. TOBACCO IN EUROPE. Introduction-The Original Importer-Wonderful Cures-How the Herb grew in Reputation-Difference of Opinion-A Smoker s Rhapsody CONTENTS. rl Smokers— The Queen Herb— Drinking Tobacco— Tobacco the Stage — Shakespeare on Tobacco— Smoking Taught— Ben Jonson on the Weed — Curative Qualities — Modes of Use — Held lip to Ridicule — Tirades against Tobacco — Tobacco Selling — Royal Haters of Tobacco — Old Customs — A Racy Poem — A Smoking L>i vine 80 CHAPTER V. TOBACCO IX EUROPE. — Continued. Popular use of Tobacco— Tobacco Glorified— Weight of Smoke— Anec- dotes— Triumph of Tobacco— A Government Monopoly — Tobacco a Blessing .TTrrr.-^-TA. HI CHAPTER VI. TOBACCO PIPES, SMOKING AND SMOKERS. Indian Pipes— Material for Pipes — Legend of the Red Pipe — Chippewa Pipes — Making the Peace Pipes — South American Pipes — Cigar- ettes— Tobacco on the Amazon River — Brazilian Tobacco — Patago- nians as Smokers — Form and Material — Pipe of the Bobeen Indians — The War Pipe — Pipe Sculpture — Smoking in Alaska — Smoking in Russia — Smoking in Peru — Smoking in Turkey — Moderate Smok- ing—Female Smoking— Early Manufacture of Pipes — French Pipes. 124 CHAPTER VII. PIPES AND SMOKERS. — contiuued. Meerschaum Pipes — Coloring Meerschaums — The City of Smokers — . Hudson as as moker — Persian Water Pipes— Turkish Pipes — Amber Mouth Pieces— Obtaining Amber— Its Value— Variety of Pipes- History of Pipes— Ancient Habit of Smoking— Buried Pipes — Jasmine Pipes— Smoking in Algiers— Smoking in Africa— Defence of Smoking— Tea and Tobacco— Chinese Pipes— Smoking in Japan — Tobacco Boxes — Tobacco Jars— Musings over a Pipe— Sad Fate of a Chewer— Triumph of the Anti's— The Smoker's Calendar— Doc- tor Parr as a Smoker — Smoking on the Battle-Field — Literary Smok- ers-Doctor Clarke on Tobacco— Noted Smokers— Pleasant Pipe — A Tobacco World— Cruelty of Smokers— Men like Pipes— Univer- sal Use 150 CHAPTER VIII. SNUFF, SNUFF-BOXES AND SNUFF-TAKERS. Its Introduction — Boxes and Graters — Mode of Preparation— Snuff- Boxes— A Celebrated Manufacturer— The Snuffing Period— The Monk and his Snuff-Box— A Pinch of Snuff— Pleasures of Smelling — Frederick the Great— Eminent Snuff-Takers— The Story in Yerse— " Come to my Nose " — Snuff Manufacture — Preparation of Tobacco— Grinding the Leaves— Flavoring the Snuff— Profits Made — Love of Tobacco— Chewing and Dipping — Aavantages of Dipping — The First Snuffers— Famous Snuff-Takers— Snuff as a Pacificator — A National Stimulant— Different Tastes— Rise and Progress of Snuff-Taking 218 CONTENTS. 'SV CHAPTER IX. New York Cigars— Havana Cigars— Quality of Havana Cigars— Relative Value and Size— Cigar-Makers-CubanCigars— Cigar Manufactories —Preparation of the Tobacco— Sorting the Leaves— Sales, etc.— Large Factories— Universal Smoking- Cigar Etiquette— Reveries Summer-Day Thoughts — American Smokers — At Home — Senti- ment—Ode to a Cigar— Cigar-Lighters— Smoking an Art— Science of Lighting— Age of Fusees— " Home-Made Cigars "—Female Cigar-Slakers— A Spicy Article— How to Smoke— Smoking Chris- tians—Lamb's Poem— Tobacco Compliment— Cigarette Smoking— Thomas Hood's Cigar— Lord Byron's Opinion— Kinds of Cigars- Selecting Cigars— Yara Cigars— Manilla Cigars— Swiss Cigars- Paraguay Cigars— Brazilian Cigars— American Cigars— Connecticut Seed°Leaf and Havana Cigars— The Exile's Comfort 259 CHAPTER X. TOBACCO PLANTERS AND PLANTATIONS. The Connecticut Planter— Intelligence of Tobacco Growers— Best Connecticut Seed Leaf— Love for the Plant— Virginia Planters— A Virginia Plantation— The Plant-Patch— Planting, Toppmg and Priming— Suckering— Crop-Gathering— Curing and Sorting— To- bacco Markets— Ohio Tobacco— Mode of Cure— Kentucky Tobacco- Growing— The Kentucky Planter— FloridaTobacco— Florida Planta- tation— Tobacco in Lousiana— California Tobacco Lands— Mexican Tobacco— Plants around Vera Cruz— Tobacco in St Domingo- Cuba Plantations— Mode of Working— Soil and Climate— Tobacco- Growing in Germany— Method of Culture— Extent of Culture— Tobacco-Raising in Prussia— Tobacco in Holland— Dutch Planters— A Plea for Tobacco— Tobacco Culture in Australia— Arabian Plan- tations—Tobacco in Africa— Syrian Tobacco— Latakia Tobacco- Growing Tobacco in India— Curing Tobacco in India— Turks Culti- vating Tobacco— Japanese Tobacco— Persian Tobacco— Tobacco Culture, Philippine Islands—Climate of the Islands— Fragrant ^ Manillas— Tropical Tobacco ^^^ CHAPTER XL VARIETIES. Kinds used for Cigars— Dwarf Tobacco— Havana Tobacco— Yara and Virginia Tobacco— James River Tobacco— Ohio Tobacco— South American Tobacco — Celebrated Brands of Tobacco —llussian Tobacco— Columbian Tobacco— Tobacco of Brazil— The Orinoco Tobacco— Persian Tobacco— French Tobacco— Spanisli Tobacco— ^ Japanese Tobacco— Manilla Tobacco 382 CHAPTER XII. TOBACCO HOUSES. Tobacco Sheds— Stripping Houses— Virginia Tobacco Sheds— Ordinary Slieds— Superior Sheds— Oluo Sheds— Kentucky and Tennessee Sheds— Foreign Tobacco Sheds *05 XVI CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIII. TOBACCO CULTURE. Hot Beds — Virginia Plant Patch — Tennessee Plant Bed— Cuban Plant Bed — Covering Plant Bed — Selection of Soil — The Soil Affecting Color — Preparing the Soil — Virginia Methods — Burning Brush — Implements —Transplanting Plants — Setting — Seasons in Mexico and Persia — The American Transplanter — Pests — Worming — Back- ward Plants — Topping — Suckers — Maturation — The Harvest — Cut- ting— Hanging — Cutting time in Cuba — Harvesting in Virginia — The Sea^t>n in otiier^JiUices— Curing— Curing by Smoke — Yellow- Tobacco — Stripping — Assorting — Shading— Stemming — Packing — Casing — Old Style — Kesistance to Dampness — Prizing — Marking — Baling— Certificates— Firing — White Ru^t — Seed Plants — Maturing of Seed — Second Growth 415 CHAPTER XIV. THE PRODUCTION, COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURE OF TOBACCO. Early History of Tobacco — Cultivation by Spaniards at St. Domingo-— Annual Product of Cuba — Amount of Land under Cultivation in U. S. — Cultivation in the South — Annual Product of Europe, Asia and Africa — Government Monopoly — Source of Revenue — Manu- facture of Cigarettes — Increase of Tobacco Culture 478 CHAPTER I. THE TOBACCO PLANT. OBACCO is a hardy flowering annual* plant, growing freely in a moist fertile soil and requiring the most thorough culture in order to secure the finest form and quality of leaf. It is a native of the tropics and under the intense rays of a vertical sun develops its flnest and most remarkable flavor which far surpasses the varieties grown in a temperate region. It however readily adapts itself to soil and climate growing through a wide range of temperature from the Equator to Moscow in Rus- sia in latitude 56°, and through all the intervening range of climate f. The plant varies in height according to species and locality ; the largest varieties reaching an altitude of ten or twelve feet, in others not growing more than two or three feet from the ground. Botanists have enumerated between forty and fifty varieties of the tobacco plant who class them all among the narcotic poisons. When properly cultivated the plant ripens in a few weeks growing with a rapidity hardly equaled by any . product either temperate or tropical. Of the large number o"^ varieties cultivated scarcely more than one-half are grown to any great extent while many of them are hardly known outside of the limit of cultivation. Tobacco is a strong gr'^wing plant resisting heat and drought to a far •The g; fi ■ 'i.-nber of the species are annnal plants; hut two at least are perennial; the JficoUa' ;r !, which Is a shrub, a native of the Cape of Good Hope, and of China; and Jf- tire. .f South America. "t Tat t .'.he tobacco plant is peculiarly adapted for an agricultural comparison of ClllTi *'^."5«' ¥/ «c.ii,^;:r. 18 BOTANICAL DESCF.IPTION. greater extent than most plants. It is a native of America, the discovery of the continent and the plant occurring almost simiiltaneonslj. It succeeds best in a deep rich loam in a climate ranging from forty to fifty degrees of latitude. After having been introduced and cultivated in nearly all parts of the world, America enjoys the reputation of growing the finest varieties known to commerce. European tobacco is lacking in flavor and is less powerful than the tobacco of America. The botanical account of tobacco is as follows : — " Nicotiana, the tobacco plant is a genus of plants of the order of Monogynia, belonging to the pentandria class, order 1, of class V. It bears a tubular 5-cleft calyx ; a funnel- formed corolla, with a plaited 5-cleft border ; the stamina inclined; the stigma capitate ; the capsule 2-celled, and 2 to 4 valved." A more general description of the plant is given by an American writer: — " The tobacco plant is an annual growing from eighteen inches (dwarf tobacco) to seven or eight feet in height*. It bears numerous leaves of a pale green color sessile, ovate lanceolate and pointed in form, which come out alternately from two to three inches apart. The flowers grow in loose panicles at the extremity of the stalks, and the calyx is bell- shaped, and divided at its summit into five pointed segments. The tube of the corolla expands at the top into an oblong cup terminating in a 5-lobed plaited rose-colored border. The pistil consists of an oval germ, a slender style longer than the stamen, and a cleft stigma. The flowers are suc- ceeded by capsules of 2 cells opening at the summit and containing numerous kidney-shaped seeds." Two of the finest varieties of Nicotiana Tobacum that arc cultivated are the Oronoco and the Sweet Scented , they differ only in the form of the leaves, those of the latter variety being shorter and broader than the other. They are annual herba- ceous plants, rising with strong erect stems to the height of from six to nine feet, with fine handsome foliage. The stalk near the root is often an inch or more in diameter, and •An oM English writer In describing tobacco Bays :— " When at Its Just height, It is as tall 08 an ordinary sized man." ANCIENT DESCRIPTION. 19 surrounded by aliairj clammy substance, of a greenlsb yellow color. The leaves arc of a light green ; they grow alternately, at intervals of two or three inches on the stalk ; they are oblong and spear-shaped ; those lowest on the stalk are about twenty inches in length, and they decrease as they ascend. The young leaves when aloout six inches, are of a deep green color and rather smooth, and as they approach maturity they become yellowish and rougher on the surface. The flowers grow in clusters from the extremities of the stalk ; they are yellow externally and of a delicate red within. They are succeeded by kidney shaped caj^sules of a brown color. Thompson in his " Notices relative to Tobacco " desc^-ibes the tobacco plant as follows: — " The species of Nicotiana which was first known, and which still furnishes the greatest supply of Tobacco, is the N. tobacum, an annual plant, a native of South America, but naturalized to our climate. It is a tall, not inelegant plant, rising to the height of about six feet, with a strong, round, villous, slightly viscid stem, furnished with alternate leaves, ■which are sessile, or clasp the stems ; and are decurrent, lan- ceolate, entire ; of a full green- on the upper surface, and pale on the under. " In a vigorous plant, the lower leaves are about twenty inches in length, and from three to five in breadth, decreasing as they ascend. The inflorescence, or flowering part of the stem, is terminal, loosely branching in that form which botanists term a panicle, with long, linear floral leaves or bractes at the origin of each division. " The flowers, which bloom in July and August, are of a pale pink or rose color : the calyx, or flower-cup, is bell-shaped, obscurely pentangular, villous, slightly viscid, and presenting at the margin five acute, erect segments. The corolla is twice the length of the calyx, viscid, tubular below, swelling above into an oblong cup, and expanding at the lip into five somewhat plaited, pointed segments ; the seed vessel is an oblong or ovate capsule, containing numerous reniform seeds, which are ripe in September and October ; and if not collected, are shed by the capsule opening at the apex." In Stevens and Liebault's Maison Rustique, or the Country Farm, (London, 1606), is found the following curious account of the tobacco plant : — 20 ANCIENT PLANT-BED. "This herbe resembleth in figure fashion, and qualities, the great eomfrey in such sort as that a man woulde deeme it to be a kinde of great coinfrey, rather than a yellow hen- bane, as some have thought. " It hath an upright stalke, not bending any way, thicke, bearded or hairy, and slimy : the leaves are broad and long, greene, drawing somewhat towards a yellow, bearded or hoarrie, but smootli and slimie, having as it were talons, but not either notched or cut in the edges, a great deale bigger downward toward the root than above : while it is young it is leaved, as it were lying upon the ground, but rising to a stalke and growing further, it ceaseth to have such a number of leaves below, and putteth forth branches from half foot to half, and storeth itselfe, by that meanes with leaves, and still risetli higher from the height of four or five foote, unto three or four or five cubits according as is sown in a hot and fat ground, and carefully tilled. The boughs and branches thereof put out at joints, and divide the stalk by distance of half e a foote : the highest of which branches are bigger than an arnie. "At the tops and ends of his branches and boughs, it put- teth foorth flowers almost like those of Nigella, of a whitish and incarnate color, having the fashion of a little bell com- ming out of a swad or husk, being of the fashion of a small goblet, which hu&k becometh round, having the fashion of a little apple, or sword's pummell : as soon as the flower is gone and vanished away, it is filled with very small seedes like unto those of yellow henbane, and they are black when they be ripe, or greene, while they are not yet ripe. " In a hot countree it beareth leaves, flowers, and seeds at the same time, in the ninth or tenth month of the year it putteth foorth young cions at the roote, and reneweth itself by this store and number of cions, and great quantity of sprouts, and yet notwithstanding the roots are little, small, fine thready strings, or if otherwise they grow a little thick, yet remaine they still very short, in respect of the height of the plant. The roots and leaves do yield a glewish and rosinith kind of juice, somewhat yellow, of a rosinlike smell, not unpleasant, and of a sharpe, eager and biting taste, which sheweth that it is by nature hot, whereupon we must gather that it is no kind of yellow henbane as some have thought. Nicotiana craveth a fat ground well stird, and well manured also in this cold countrie (England) that is to say an earth, wherein the manure is so well mingled and incorporated, as THE PLANT. 21 that it becometh eartliie, that is to say, all turned into earth, and not making any shew any more of dung : which is like- wise moist and shadowie, wide and roomy, for in a narrow and straight place it would not grow high, straight, great and well-braifched. " It desireth the South sun before it, and a wall behind it, which may stand iu stead of a broad pair of shoulders to keep away the northern wind and to beate backe againe the heat of the sun. It groweth the better if it be oft watered, and maketh itself sport and jolly good cheer with water when the time becometh a little dry. It hatetli cold, and therefore to keepe it from dying in winter, it must be either kept in cel- lars where it may have free benefit of air, or else in some cave made on purpose within the same garden, or else to cover it as with a cloak very well with a double mat, making a penthouse of wicker work from the wall to cover the head thereof with straw laid thereupon : and when the southern sun shineth, to open the door of the covert made for the said herb right upon the said South sun." The most ludicrous part of " The discourse on Nicotian " will be found in that portion which relates to the making of the plant-bed and transplanting : — " For to sow it, you must make a hole in the earth with your finger and that as deep as your finger is long, then you must cast into the same hole ten or twelve seeds of the said Nicotiana together, and till up the hole again : for it is so small, as that if you should put in but four or five seeds the earth would choake it : and if the time be dry, you must water the place easily some five days after : And when the herb is grown out of the earth, inasinucli as every seed will have put up his sprout and stalk, and that the small thready roots are intangled the one within the other, you must with a great knife make a composs within the earth in the places about this plot where they grow and take up the earth and all together, and cast them into a bucket full of water, to the end that the earth may be seperated, and the small and ten- der impes swim about the water ; and so you shall sunder them one after another without breaking of them." '^ * THE STALK. The Tobacco stalk varies with tlie varieties of the plant. All of the species .jultivated in the United States have stalks of a large size — much larger than many varieties grown in 22 TOBACCO PLANT. TOBACCO STALKS. the tropics. Those of some species of tobacco are little and easily broken, which to a certain extent is the case with most varieties of the plant when maturing very fast. The stalks of some plants are rough and uneven, while those of others are smooth. Nearly all, including most of those grown in Europe and America, have erect, round, hairy, viscid stalks, and large, fibrous roots; while that of Spanish as well as dwarf tobacco is harder and much smaller. The stalk is composed of a wood-like substance containing a glutinous pith, and is of about the same shade of color as the leaves. As the plant develops in size the stalk hardens, and when fully grown is not easily broken. The size of the stalk corresponds with that of the leaves, and with such varieties of the plant as Connecticut seed leaf, Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, St. Domingo, and some others ; both will be found to be larger than Spanish, Latakia, and Syrian tobacco, which have a much smaller but harder stalk. It will readily be seen that the stalk must be strong and lirm in order to support the large palm-like leaves which on some varieties grow to a length of nearly four feet with a corre- sponding breadth. The stalk does not "cure down" as fast as the leaves, which is thought now to be net3essary in order to prevent sweating, as well as to hasten the curing. Most of the varieties of the plant have an erect, straight stalk, excepting Syrian tobacco, which near the top describes more of a semi-circle, but not to that extent of giving an idea of an entirely crooked plant. The stalk gradually tapers from the base to the summit, and when deprived of its leaves presents a smooth appearance not unlike that of a small tree or shrub deprived of its twigs and leaves. THE LEAVES. The Plant bears from eight to twenty leaves according to DESCRIPTION OF THE LEAVES. " 23 the species of the plant. They have various forms, ovate, lanceolate, and pointed. Leaves of a lanceolate form are the largest, and the shape of those found on most varieties of the American plant. The color of the leaves when growing, as well as after curing and sweating, varies, and is frequently caused by the condition of the soil. The color while grow- ing may be either a light or dark green, which changes to a yellowish cast as the plant matures and ripens. The ground leaves are of a lighter color and ripen earlier than the rest — sometimes turning yellow, and during damp weather rotting and dropping from the stalk. Some varieties of the plant, like Latakia, bear small but thick leaves, which after cutting are very thin and fine in texture ; while others, like Connecti- cut seed leaf and Havana, bear leaves of a medium thickness, which are also fine and silky after curing. But while the color of the plant when growing is either a light or dark green, it rapidly changes daring curing, and especially after passing through the sweat, changing to a light or dark cinna- mon like Connecticut seed leaf, black like Holland and Perique tobacco, bright yellow of the finest shade of Virginia and Carolina leaf, brown like Sumatra, or dark red like that knowm by the name of " Boshibaghli," grown in Asia Minor. The leaves are covered with glandular hairs containing a glutinous substance of an unpleasant odor, which characterizes all varieties as well as nearly all parts of the plant. The leaves of all varieties of tobacco grow the entire length of the fetem and clasp the stalk, excepting those of Syrian, ^lich are attached by a long stem. The size of the leaves, a« well as the entire plant, is now much larger than when first discovered. One of the early voyagers describes the plant as short and ^bearing leaves of about the size and shape of the walnut. In many varieties the leaves grow in a eemi-circular form while in others they grow almost straight and still others growing erect presenting a singular appear- ance. The stem or mid-rib running through the leaf is large and fibrous and its numerous smaller veins proportionally larger which on curing become smaller and particularly in 24 COLOR OF LEAVES. those kinds best adapted for cigar wrappers. The leaves from the base to the center of the plant are of about equal size but are smaller as they reach the summit, but after TOBACCO LEAVES. topping attain about the same size as the others. The color of the leaf after curing may be determined by the color of the leaf while growing — if dark green while maturing in the field, the color will be dark after curing and sweating and the reverse if of a lighter shade of green. If the soil be dark the color of the leaf will be darker than if grown upon a light loam. Some varieties of the plant have leaves of a smooth glossy appearance while others are rough and the surface uneven — more like a cabbage leaf, a peculiar feature of the tobacco of Syria. The kind of fertil- izers applied to the soil also in a measure as well as the soil itself has much to do with the texture or body of the leaf and should be duly considered by all growers of the plant. A light moist loam should be chosen for the tobacco field if a leaf of light color and texture is desired while if a dark leaf is preferred the soil chosen should be a moist heavy loam. THE FLOWER. The flowers of the tobacco plant grow in a bunch or cluster on the summit of the plant and are of a pink, yellow, or purple white color according to the variety of the plant. On most varieties the color of the flowers is pink excepting Syrian or Latakia which bears yellow flowers while those of BLOSSOMS. 25 Shiraz or Persian and Guatemala are white while those of the Japan tobacco, are purple. The segments of the corolla are pointed but on some varieties unequal, particularly that of Shiraz tobacco. The flowers impart a pleasant odor doubt- less to all lovers of the weed but to all others a compound of villainous smells among which and above all the rest may be recognized an odor suggestive of the leaves of the plant. "When in full blossom a tobacco field forms a pleasant BUD Airo FLOWERS. feature of a landscape which is greatly heightened if the plants are large and of equal size. The pink flowers are the largest while those of a yellow color are the smallest. The plant comes into blossom a few weeks before fully ripe when with a portion of the stalk they are broken off* to hasten the ripening and maturing of the leaves. After the buds appear they blossom in a few days and remain in full bloom two or three weeks, when they perish like the blossoms of other plants and flowers. The flowers of Havana tobacco are of a lighter pink than those of Connecticut tobacco but are rot as large — a trifle larger however than those of Latakia tobacco. Those varieties of the tobacco plant bearing pink flowers are the finest flavored and are used chiefly for the manufacture of cigars while those bearing yellow flowers are better adapted for cutting purposes and the pipe. The American varieties of tobacco bear a larger number of 26 THE CAPSULE AND SEED. flowers than European tobaccos or those of Africa or Asia. The color of the flowers remain the same whether cultivated in one country or another while the leaves may grow larger or smaller according to the system of cultivation adopted. Those varieties of the plant with heart-shaped leaves have paniculated flowers with nnequal cups. The flower stems on the American varieties are much longer than those of Euro- pean tol)accos and also larger. The season has much to do with the size of the flowers ; as if very dry they are usually smaller and not as numerous as if grown under more favorable circumstances. THE CAPSULE. As soon as the flowers drop from the fruit bud the capsules grow very rapidly until they have attained full size — which occurs only in those plants which have been left for seed and remain untopped: When topped they are not usually full grown — as some growers top the plants when just coming into blossom, while others prefer to top the plants when in full bloom and others still when the blossoms begin to fall. The fruit is described by Wheeler " as a capsule of a nearly oval flgure. There is a line on each side of it, and it contains two cells, and opens at the top. The recepta- cles one of a half-oval flgure, punctuated and affixed to the sep- arating body. The seeds are numerous, kidney-shaped, and rugose." Most growlers of the plant would describe the fruit bud as follows : In form resembling an acorn though, more pointed at ihe top ; in some species, of a dark brown in others of a light brown color, containing two cells filled with seeds similar in shape to the fruit bud, but not rugose as described by some botanists. Some writers state that each cell contains about one thousand seeds. The fruit buds of Connecticut. Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio Tobacco as well as of most of the varieties grown within the limits of the United States are much larger than those of Havana, Yara, Syrian, and numerous other species of the plant, while the color of these last named varieties is a liirhter shade of brown. The color SELECTION FOR SEED. 27 of the seed also varies according to the varieties of the plant. The seeds of some species are of a dark brown while others are of a lighter shade. The seeds, however, are so small that the variety to which they belong cannot be determined except by planting or sowing them. The plants selected for seed are usually left growing until late in the season, and at night should be protected from the cold and frost by a light covering of some kind — this may not be absolutely necessary, as most growers of tobacco have often noticed young plants growing around the base or roots of the seed stalk — the seeds of which germinated although CAPSULES, (fruit bud.) remaining in the ground during the winter. Strong, healthy plants generally produce large, well filled capsules the only ones to be selected by the grower if large, fine plants are desired. Many growers of tobacco have doubtless examined the capsules of some species of the plant and frequently observed that the capsules or fruit buds are often scarcely more than half-filled while others contain but a few seeds. The largest and finest capsules' on the plant mature first, while the smaller ones grow much slower and are frequently several weeks changing from green to brown. Many of the capsules do not contain any seed at all. THE SUCKER. The offshoots or suckers as they are termed, make their appearance at the junction of the leaves and stalk, about the roots of the plant, the result of that vigorous growth caused by topping. The suckers can hardly be seen until after the 28 SUCKERS. plant has been topped, when they come forward rapidly and in a short time develop into strong, vigorous shoots. Tatham describing the sucker says : " The sucker is a superfluous sprout which is wont to make its appearance and shoot forth from the stem or stalk, near to the junction of the leaves with the stems, and about the root of the plant, and if allowed to grow, injuring the market- able quality of the tobacco by compelling a division of its nutriment during the act of maturation. The planter is therefore careful to destroy these intruders with the thumb nail, as in the act of topping. This superfluity of vegetation, like that of the top, has been often the subject of legislative care ; and the policy of supporting the good name of the Virginia produce has dictated the wisdom of penal laws to maintain her good faith against imposition upon strangers who trade with her." The ripening of the suckers not only proves injurious to the quality of the leaf but retards their size and maturity and if allowed to continue, prevents them from attaining their largest possible growth. On large, strong, growing plants the growth of suckers is very rank after attaining a length of from six to ten inches, and when fully grown bearing flowers like the parent stalk. After growing for a length of time they become tough and attached so firmly to the stem of the leaf and stalk that thej NICOTINE QUALITIES. 29 are broken off with difficulty, frequently detaching the leaf with them. The growth of the suckers, however, determines the quality as well as the maturity of the plants. Weak, spindling plants rarely produce large, vigorous shoots, the leaves of such suckers are generally small and of a yellowish color. When the plants are fully ripe and ready to harvest the suckers will be found to be growing vigorously around the root of the plant. This is doubtless the best evidence of its maturity, more reliable by far than any other as it denotes the ripening of the entire plant. Suckering the plants hastens the ripening of the leaves, and gives a lighter shade of color, no matter on what soil the plants are grown. Having treated at some length of the various parts of the tobacco plant — stalk, leaves, flowers, capsules and suckers we come now to its nicotine properties. The tobacco plant, as is well known, produces a virulent poison known as Nicotine. This property, however, as well as others as violent is found in many articles of food, includ- ing the potato together with its stalk and leaves ; the effects of which may be experienced by chewing a small quantity of the latter. The New Edinburgh Encyclopedia says : " The peculiar effect produced by using tobacco bears some resemblance to intoxication and is excited by an essential oil which in its pure state is so powerful as to destroy life even in very minute quantity." Chemistry has taught us tliat nicotine is only one among many principles which are contained in the plant. It is supposed by many but not substantiated by chemical research that nicotine is not the flavoring agent which gives tobacco its essential and peculiar varieties of odor. Such are most probably given by the essential oils, which vary in amount in different species of the plant. An English writer says : " Nicotine is disagreeable to the habitual smoker, as is proved by the increased demand for clean pipes or which by some mechanical contrivance get rid of the nicotine." The late Dr. Blotin tested by numerous experiments the effects of nicotine on the various parts of the organization of 30 MEDICINAL PROPERTIES. man. While the physiological effects of nicotine may bo interesting to the medical practitioner, they will hardly inter- est the general reader unless it can be shown that the effects of nicotine and tobacco shovdd be proved to be indentical. We are loth to leave this subject, however, as it is so intimately connected with the history of the plant, without treating somewhat of its medicinal properties which to many are of more interest than its social qualities. The Indians not only used the plant socially, religiously, but medicinally. Their Medicine men prescribed its use in various ways for most diseases common among them. The use thus made of the plant attracted the attention of the Spanish and English, far more than its use either as a means of enjoyment or as a religious act. When introduced to the Old World, its claims as a remedy for most diseases gave it its popularity and served to increase its use. It was styled ^^Sana sancta Indorum — " '-'- Herbe jpropre d tous maux^'' and physicians claimed that it was " the most sovereign and precious weed that ever the earth tendered to the use of man." As early as 1610, three years after the London and Plymouth Compa- nies settled in Virginia, and some years before it began to be cultivated by them as an article of export, it had attracted the attention of English physicians, who seemed to take as much delight in writing of the sanitary uses of the herb as they did in smoking the balmy leaves of the j^lant. Dr. Edmund Gardiner, " Practitioner of Physicke," issued in 1610 a volume entitled, " The Triall of Tobacco," setting forth its curative powers. Speaking of its use he says: " Tobacco is not violent, and therefore may in my judge- ment l)ee safely put in practise. Thus then you plainly see that all medicines, and especially tobacco, being rightly aijd rationally used, is a noble medicine and contrariwise not in his due time with other circumstances considered, it doth no more than a nobleman's shooe doth in healing the gout in the foot." Dr. Verner of Bath, in his Treatise concerning the taking the fume of tobacco (1637) says that when " taken moderately and at fixed times with its proper adjunct, which (as they doe IMPROVEMENT IN PLANTS. 81 suppose) is a cup of sack, they think it be no bad physick." Dr. William Barclay in his work on Tobacco, (1614) declares " that it worketh wonderous cures." He not only defends the herb but the " land where it groweth." At this time the tobacco plant like Indian Corn was very small, possessing but few of the qualities now required to make it merchantable. When first exported to Spain and Portugal from the West Indies and South America, and even by the English from Virginia, the leaf was dark in color and strong and rank in flavor. This, however, seems to have been the standard in regard to some varieties while others are spoken of by some of the early writers npon tobacco as " sweet." The tobacco (uppowoc) grown by the Indians in America, at the time of its discovery, and more particularly in North America, would compare better with the suckers of the largest varieties of the plant rather than with even the small- est species of the plant now cultivated. At the present time tobacco culture is considered a science in order to secure the colors in demand, and that are fashionable, and also the right texture of leaf now so desirable in all tobaccos designed for wrappers. Could the Indians, who cultivated the plant on the banks of the James, the Amazon and other rivers of America, now look upon the plant growing in rare luxuriance upon the same fields where they first raised it, they could hardly realize them to be the same varieties that they had previously planted. CHAPTER II. TOBACCO. ITS DISCOVEEY. •EAELY four hundred years have passed away since the tobacco plant and its nse was introduced to the civilized world. It was in the month of ISTovember, 1492, that the sailors of Columbus in exploring the island of Cuba first noted the mode of using tobacco. They found the Indians carrying lighted firebrands (as they at first supposed) and puffed the smoke inhaled from their mouths and nostrils. The Spaniards concluded that this was a method common with them of perfuming themselves; but its frequent use soon taught them that it was the dried leaves of a plant which they burned inhaling and exhaling the smoke. It attracted the attention of the Spaniards no less from its novelty than from the effect produced by the indulgence. The use of tobacco by the Indians was entirely new to the Spanish discoverers and when in 1503 they landed in various parts of South America they found that both chewing and smoking the herb was a common custom w,ith the natives. But while the Indians and their habits attracted the attention of the Spanish sailors Columbus was more deeply interested in the great continent and the luxuriant tropical growth to be seen on every hand. Columbus himself says of it : — "Everything invited me to settle here. The beauty of the streams, the clearness of the water, through which I could see the sandy bottom ; the multitude of palm-trees of different kinds, the tallest and finest I had ever seen ; and an infinite number of other large and flourishing trees ; the EARLY USE. 33 birds, and the verdure of the plains, are so amazingly beauti- ful, tliat this country exeelles all others as far as the day sur- passes the night in splendor." Lowe, gives the following account of the discovery of tobacco and its uses : — - " The discovery of this plant is supposed to have been made by Fernando Cortez in Yucatan in the Gulf of Mexico, where he found it used universally, and held in a species of veneration by the simple natives. He made himself ac- quainted with the uses and supposed virtues of the plant and the manner of cultivating it, and sent plants to Spain, as part of the spoils and treasures of his new-found World." Oviedo * is the first author who gives a clear account of smoking among the Indians of Hispaniolaf. He alludes to it as one of their evil customs and used by them to produce insensibility. Their mode of using it was by inhalation and expelling! the smoke through, the nostrils by means of a hollow forked cane or hollow reed. Oviedo describes them as " about a span long ; and when used the forked ends are inserted in the nostrils, the other end being ap- plied to the burning leaves of the herb, using the herb in this manner stupefied them producing a kind of intoxication." Of the early accounts of the plant and its use, Beckman a German writer says : — "In 1496, Romanus Pane, a Spanish monk, whom Colum- bus, on his second departure from America, had left in that country, published the first account of tobacco with which he became acquainted in St. Domingo. He gave it the name of Colioba Cohobba, Gioia. In 1535, the negroes had already habituated themselves to the use of tobacco, and cultivated it in the plantations of their masters. Europeans likewise al- ready smoked it." ' An early writer thus alludes to the use of tobacco among the East Indians : — PRIMITIVB PIPB, * HlBtorla General de los InclIoB 1526. t St. Domingo. 3 34 ORIGIN OF ITS NAME. " The East Indians do use to make little balls of the juice of the hearbe tobaco and the ashes of cockle-shells wrought up together, and drjed in the shadow, and in their travaile they place one of the balls between their neather lip and their teeth, sucking the same continually, and letting down the moysture, and it keepeth them both from hunger and thirst for the space of three or four days." Oviedo says of the implements used by the Indians in smoking : — " The hollow cane used by them is called tobaco and that that name is not given to the plant or to the stupor caused by its use." A writer alluding to the same subject says : — " The name tobacco is supposed to be derived from the In- dian tobaccos, given by the Caribs to the pipe in which they smoked the plant." Others derive it from Tabasco, a province of Mexico; others from the island of Tobago one of the Caribbees ; and others from Tobasco in the gulf of Florida. Tomilson says: — " The word tobacco appears to have been applied by the caribbees to the pipe in which they smoked the herb while the Spaniards distinguished the herb itself by that name. The more probable derivation of the word is from a place called Tobaco in Yucatan from which the herb was first sent to the New World." Humboldt says concerning the name : — " The word Tobacco like maize, savannah, cacique, maguey (agave) and manato, belong to the ancient language of Hayti, or St. Domingo. It did not properly denote the herb, but the tube through which the smoke was inhaled. It seems surprising that a vegetable production so universally spread should have different names among neighboring people. The pete-ma of the Omaguas is, no doubt, the pety of the Gua- ranos ; but the analogy between the Cabre and Algonkin (or Lenni-Lennope) words which denote tobacco may be merely accidental. The following are the synonymes in five lan- guages : Aztec or Mexican, yetl; Huron, oyngona; Peruvian, sayri; Brazil, piecelt; Moxo, sahare^ Roman Pane who accompanied Columbus on his second voyage alludes to another method of using the herb. They EAELY SNUFF.TAKING. 85 make a powder of the leaves, which " they take through a cane half a cubit long; one end of this they place in the nose, and the other upon the powder, and so draw it up, which purges them very much." This is doubtless the first account that we have of snuff- taking ; Fairholt says concerning its use : — "Its effects upon the Indians in both instances seem to have been more violent and peculiar than upon Europeans since." This may be accounted for from the fact of the imperfect method of curing tobacco adopted by them and all of the natives up to the period of the settlement of Virginia by the English. As nearly all of the early voyagers allude to the plant and especially to its use it would seem probable that it had been cultivated from time immemorial by all the native people of the Orinoco ; and at the period of the conquest the habit of smoking was found to be alike spread over both !North and South America. The Tamanacs and the May- pures of Guiana wrap maize leaves round their cigars as the Mexicans did at the time of the arrival of Cortez. The Spaniards since have substituted paper for the leaves of maize, in imitation of them. " The poor Indians of the forests of the Orinoco know as well as did the great nobles at ^ — > the court of Montezuma, that ^"P^? — ^/-- - the smoke of tobacco is an ex- r^-^^^^jy/ A cellent narcotic ; and they use ^^^^^^j it not only to procure their afternoon nap, but also to put^ themselves in that state of qui- X escence which they call dream- ing with the eyes open or day i dreaming." X" ■ Tobacco at this period was also rolled up in the leaves of the Palm and smoked. Colum- bus found the natives of San j^^^^g smoking. Salvador smoking after this manner, Lobel in his History of Plants* gives an engraving • flUtory ot Plants, 1576. 36 TOBACCO IN MEXICO. of a native smoking one of these rolls or primitive cigars and speaks of their general use by Captains of ships trading to the West Indies, But not only was snuff taking and the use of tobacco rolls or cigars noted by European voyagers, but the use of the pipe also in some parts of America, seemed to be a common cus- tom especially among the chiefs. Be Bry in his History of Brazil (1590) describes its use and also some interesting particulars concerning the plant. Their method of curing the leaves was to air-diy them and then packing them until wanted for use. In smoking he says : — " "When the leaves are well dried they place in the open part of a pipe of which on burning, the smoke is inhaled into the mouth by the more narrow part of the pipe, and so strongly that it flows out of the mouth and nostrils, and by that means effectually drives out humours." Fairholt in alluding to the various uses of the herb among the Indians says : — " We can thus trace to South America, at the period when the New World was first discovered, every mode of using the tobacco plant which the Old World has indulged in ever Bince." This statement is not entirely correct — the mode of using tobacco in Norway by plugging the nostrils with small pieces of tobacco seems to have been unknown among the Indians of America as it is now with all other nationalities, excepting the Norwegians. /'When Cortez made conquest of Mexico in 1519 smoking seemed to be a common as well as an ancient custom among the natives. Benzoni in his History of the New World - describing his travels in America gives a detailed account of the plant and their method of curing and using it. In both North and South America the use of tobacco seemed to be universal among all the tribes and beyond all question the custom of using the herb had its origin among them. The traditions of the Indians all confirm its ancient source ; they considered the plant as a gift from the Great Spirit for their * From 1541 to 1556. COMPARATIVE QUALITIES OP TOBACCO. 37 comfort and enjoyment and one which the Great Spirit also indulged in, consequently with them smoking partook of the character of a moral if not a religious act. The use of tobacco in sufficient quantities to produce intoxication seemed to be a favorite remedy for most diseases among them and was administered by their doctors or medicine-men in large quan- tities. Benzoni gives an engraving of their mode of inhaling the smoke and says of its use : — "In La Espanola, when their doctors wanted to cure a eick man, they went to the place where they were to ad- minister the smoke, and when he was thoroughly intoxicated by it, the cure was mostly effected. On returning to his eenses he told a thousand stories of his having been at the council of the gods, and other high visions." It can hardly be supposed that while the custom of using tobacco among the Indians in both North and South America was very general and the mode of use the same, that the plant grown was of the same quality in one part as in another. While the rude culture of the natives would hardly tend to an improvement in quality ; the climate being varied would no doubt have much to do with the size and quality of the plant. This would seem the more probable for as soon as its cultivation began in Virginia by the English colonists it had Buccessful rivals in the tobacco of the West Indies and South America. Robertson says: — f " Virginia tobacco was greatly inferior to that raised by the Spaniards in the West Indies and which sold for six times as much as Virginia tobacco." * But not only has the name tobacco and the implements employed in its use caused much discussion but also the origin of the plant. \ Some writers affirm that it came from Asia and that it was first grown in China having been used by the Cliinese long /before the narcotic properties of opium were known. , Tatham j in his work on Tobacco says of its origin in substantial \ agreement with La Bott: — ^ "It is generally understood that the tobacco |!)lant of • West India tobacco sold for IS shillings per pound and Virginia for 3 s. 38 ORIGIN OP THE PLANT. Virginia is a native production of the country ; but whether it was found in a state of natural growth there, or a plant cultivated by the Indian natives, is a point of which we are not informed, nor which ever can be farther elucidated than by the corroboration of historical facts and conjectures. I have been thirty years ago, and the greatest part of my time during that period, intimately acquainted with the interior parts of America ; and have been much in the unsettled parts of the country, among those kinds of soil which are favora- ble to the cultivation of tobacco ; but I do not recollect one single instance where I have met with tobacco growing wild in the woods, although I have often found a few spontaneous plants about the arable and trodden grounds of deserted habitations. This circumstance, as well as that of its being now, and having been, cultivated by the natives at the period of European discoveries, inclines towards a supposition that this plant is not a native of North America, but may possibly have found its way thither with the earliest migrations from some distant land. This might, indeed, have easily been the case from South America, by way of the Isthmus of Panama ; and the foundation of the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations (who we have reasons to consider as descendants from the Tloseolians, and to have migrated to the eastward of the river Mississippi, about the time of the Spanish conquest of Mexico by Cortez), seems to have afforded one fair oppor- tunity for its dissemination." /"^he first knowledge which the English discoverers had of ' the plant was in 1565 when they foimd it growing in Florida, one hundred and seventy-three years after it was first dis- covered by Columbus on the island of Cuba. Sir John Hawkins says of its use in Florida : — '' The Floridians, when they travel, have a kind of herb dried, which with a cane and an earthen cup in the end, with fire and the dried herbs put together, do suke through the cane the smoke thereof, which smoke satisfieth their hunger, and therewith they live four or five dayes without meat or drinke, and this all the Frenchmen used for this purpose : yet do they holde opinion withall, that it causeth water and steame to void from their stomachs." This preparation might not have been tobacco as the Indians smoke a kind of bark which they scrape from the killiconick, an aromatic shrub, in form resembling the willow; EARLY MAMMOTH CIGARS. 39 they use also a preparation made with this and sumach leaves, or sometimes with the latter mixed with tobacco. Lionel Wafer in his travels npon the Isthmus of Darien in 1699 saw the plant growing and cultivated by the natives. He says : — " These Indians have tobacco amongst them. It grows as the tobacco in Virginia, but is not so strong, perhaps for want of transplanting and manuring, which the Indians do not well understand, for they only raise it from the seed in their plantations. AVhen it is dried and cured they strip it from the stalks, and laying two or three leaves upon one another, they roll up all together sideways into a long roll, yet leaving a little hollow. Round this they roll other leaves one after another, in the same manner, but close and hard, till the roll be as big as one's wrist, and two or three feet in length. Their way of smoking when they are in company is thus: a boy lights one end of a roll and burns it to a coal, wetting the part next it to keep it from wasting too fast. The end so lighted he puts into his mouth, and blows the smoke through the whole length of the roll into the face of every one of the company or council, though there be two or three hundred of them. Then they, sitting in their usual posture upon forms, make with their hands held together a kind of funnel round their mouths and noses. Into this they receive the smoke as it is blown upon them, snuifing it up greedily and strongly as long as ever they are able to hold their breath, and seeming to bless themselves, as it were, Mitli the refreshment it gives them." In the year 1534 James Cartier a Frenchman was com- missioned to explore the coast of I^orth America, with a view / to find a place for a colony. He observed that the natives of Canada used the leaves of an herb which they preserved \ in pouches made of skins and smoked in stone pipes. It being offensive to the French, they took none of it with them on their return. But writing more particularly con- \ cerning the plant he says : — f "In Hochelaga, up the river in Canada there groweth a certain kind of herb whereof in Summer they make a great provision for all the 3'ear, making great account of it, and only men use of it, and first they cause it to be dried in the Sune, then wear it about their necks wrapped in a little beast's skine made like a bagge, with a hollow piece of stone h I T 40 SACREDNESS OF THE PIPE. s-V? OLD ENGRAVING. or wood like a pipe, then when they please they make powder of it, and then put it in one of the ends of the said Cornet or pipe, and laying a cole of lire upon it, at the other end and suck so long, that they fill their bodides full of smoke, till that it commeth out of their mouth and nostrils, even as out of the Tonnel of a chimney. They say that this doth keepe them warme and in health, they never goe with- out some of this about them." Be Bry in his History of Brazil 1590 gives an engraving of a native smoking a pipe and a female offering him a handful of tobacco leaves. The pipe has a modern look and is altogether un- like those found by the English in use among the Indians in Yirginia. An English writer says of the Tobacco using races : — " From the evidence collected by travellers and archaeologists, as to the native arts and relics connected with the use of Tobacco by the Red Indians, it would appear that not one tribe has been found which was unacquainted with the custom,* its use being as well known to the tribes of the North-west and the denizens of the snowy wilds of Canada, as to the races inhabiting Central America and the "West India Islands." Eather Erancisco Creuxio states that the Jesuit mission- aries found the weed extensively used by the Indians of the Seventeenth Century. In 1629 he found the Hurons smoking the dried leaves and stalks of the Tobacco plg-nt or petune. Many tribes of Indians consider that Tobacco is a gift bestowed by the Great Spirit as a means of enjoyment. In consequence of this belief the pipe became sacred, and smoking became a moral if not a religious act, amongst the North American Indians. The Iroquois are of opinion that by burning Tobacco they could send up their prayers to the Great Spirit with the ascending incense, thus maintaining •Arnold In his History of Rhode Island refers to the plantlnp: of tohacco by the Indiana when the State was Hrst settled. Elliot also says iu his History of the same State :— " Tohacco was universal, every man carrying his pipe and bag; and in its ctiltivation only, did the men condescend to labor; but occasionally all would join, the whole neighborhood, men, women, and children, whea some one's field was to be broken up, and they made a loving, sociable, speedy time of it." EARLY CULTIVATION. 41 communication with the spirit world; and Dr. Daniel Wilson suggests that " the practice of smoking originated in the use of the intoxicating fumes for purposes of divination, and other superstitious rites." When an Indian goes on an expedition, whether of peace or war, his pipe is his constant companion ; it is to him what salt is among Arabs : the pledge of fidelity and the seal of treaties. In the words of a Heview : " Tobacco supplies one of the few comforts by which men who live by their hands, solace themselves under incessant hardship." While the presence, and use of tobacco by the natives of America are among the most interesting features connected with its history, it can hardly be more so than is its early cultivation by the Spaniards, English and Dutch, and after- ward by the French. The cultivation of the plant began in the West India Islands and South America early in the Six- teenth Century. In Cuba its c;ulture commenced in 1580, and from this and the other islands large quantities were shipped to Europe. It was also cultivated near Yarina in Columbia, while Amazonian tobacco had acquired an enviable reputation as well as Yarinian, long before its cultivation began in Yir- ginia by the English. At this period of its culture in America the entire product was sent to Sj)ain and Portugal, and from thence to France and Great Britain and other countries of Europe. The plant and its use attracted at once the attention as well as aroused the cupidity of the Spaniards, who prized it as one of their greatest discoveries. As soon as Tobacco was introduced into Europe by the Spaniards, and its use became a general custom, its sale increased as extensively as its cultivation. At this period it brought enormous prices, the finest selling at from fifteen to eighteen shillings per pound. Its cultivation by the Spaniards in various portions of the New World proved to them not only its real value as an article of commerce, but also that several varieties of the plant existed ; as on removal from one island or province to another it changed in size and quality of leaf. Yarinas tobacco at this time was 42 PROPORTIONS OF THE TOBACCO TRADE. one of the finest tobaccos known,* and large quantities were shipped to Spain and Portugal. The early voyagers little dreamed, however, of the vast proportions to be assumed by the trade in the plant which they had dis- covered, and which in time proved a source of the greatest profit not only to the European colonies, but to the dealers in the Old World. Helps, treating on this same subject, says : " It is interesting to observe the way in which a new pro- duct is introduced to the notice of the Old World — a product that was hereafter to become, not only an unfailing source of pleasure to a large section of the whole part of mankind, from the highest to the lowest, but was also to distinguish itself as one of those commodities for revenue, which are the delight of statesmen, the great financial resource of modern nations, and which afford a means of indirect taxation that has perhaps nourished many a war, and prevented many a revolution. The importance, financi- ally and commercially speaking, of this discovery of tobacco — a discovery which in the end proved more produc- tive to the Spanish crown than that of the gold mines of the Indies." /Spain and Portugal in all their colonies fostered and encouraged its cultivation and then at once ranked as the best producers and dealers in tobacco. The varieties / grown by them in the West Indies and South America were highly esteemed and commanded much higher prices than that grown by the English and Dutch colonies. In 1620, however, the Dutch merchants were the largest wholesale tobacconists in Europe, and the people of Holland, generally, the greatest consumers of the weed. The expedition of 1584, under the auspices of Sir Walter lialeigh, which resulted in the discovery of Virginia, also introduced the tobacco plant, among other novelties, to the attention of the English. Hariot,t who sailed with this expedition, says of the plant : " There is an herb which is sowed apart by itselfe, and is •Trinidad tobacco was then considered the finest. tA brief and true Report of the New Found Land of Virginia (London, 1588>. QUAINT DESCRIPTION. 43 called by the inhabitants uppowoc. In the West Indies it hath divers names, according- to the severall places and coun- tries where it groweth and is used ; the Spaniards generally call it Tobacco. The leaves thereof being dried and brought into powder, they use to take the fume or smoke thereof by sucking it through pipes made of clay into their stomacke and heade, from whence it purgeth superfluous fleame and other grosse humors ; openeth all the pores and passages of the body ; by which means the use thereof not only preserv- eth the body from obstructions, but also if any be so that they have not beene of too long continuance, in short time breaketh them ; whereby their bodies are notably preserved in health, and know not many grievous diseases wherewithall we in England are oftentimes affected. This uppowoc is of so precious estimation amongest them that they thinke their gods are marvellously delighted therewith ; whereupon some- time they make halowed fires, and cast some of the powder therein for a sacrifise. Being in a storme uppon the waters, to pacifie their gods, they cast some up into the aire and into the water : so a weave for fish being newly set up, they cast some therein and into the aire ; also after an escape of danger they cast some into the aire likewise ; but all done with strange gestures, stamping, sometimes dancing, clapping of hands, holding up of hands, and staring up into the heavens, uttering there withal and chattering strange wordes, and noises. "We ourselves during the time we were there used to suck it after their manner, as also since our returne, and have found many rare and wonderful experiments of the virtues thereof; of which the relation would require a volume of itselfe : the use of it by so manie of late, men and women, of great calling as else, and some learned phisitions also is Buflicient witnes." The natives also when Drake* landed in Virginia, "brought a little basket made of rushes, and filled with an berbe which they called Tobah ;" they " came also the second time to us bringing with therrt as before had been done, feathers and bags of Tobah for presents, or rather indeed for sacrifices, upon this persuasion that we were gods." William Stracheyf says of tobacco and its cultivation by the Indians: •The World Encompassed. London, 1623. t" The nistoiie of Travaile into Virginia Britannica.' 44 VARIETY OF KINDS. ""Here is great store of tobacco, which the salvages call apooke : howbeit it is not of the best kyud, it is but poor and weake, and of a byting taste ; it grows not fully a yard above ground, bearing a little yellow flower like to henbane ; the leaves are short and thick, somewhat round at the upper end ; whereas the best tobacco of Trynidado and the Oro- noque, is large, sharpe, and growing two or three yardes from the ground, bearing a flower of the breadth of our bell- flower, in England ; the salvages here dry the leaves of this apooke over the fier, and sometymes in the sun, and crumble yt into poudre, stalk, leaves, and all, taking the same in pipes of earth, which very ingeniously they can make." It would seem then, if the account given by Strachey be correct, that the tobacco cultivated by the Indians of North America was of inferior growth and quality to that grown in many por- tions of South America, and more particularly in the West India islands. As there are still many varie- ^ ties of the plant grown in America, so there doubtless was when cultivated by the Indians. While most probably the quality of leaf remained the same from generation to generation, still in some portions of America, owing more to the soil and climate than the mode of cultivating by them, they cured very good tobacco. We can readily see how this might have been, from numerous experiments made with both American and European varieties. Kearly all of the early Spanish, French and English voyagers who landed in America were attracted by the beauty of the country. Ponce De Leon, who sailed from Spain to the Floridas, was charmed by the plants and flowers, and doubtless the first sight of them strengthened his belief in the existence somewhere in this tropical region of the fountain of youth. The discovery of tobacco proved of the greatest advantage s>-=-^^ THE CONTRAST. TOBACCO AND COMMERCE. 45 to the nations who fostered its growth, — and increased the commerce of both England and Spain, doing much to make the latter what it once was, one of the most powerful nations of Europe and possessor of the largest and richest colonies, while it greatly helped the former, already unsur- passed in intelligence and civilization, to reach its present position at the commercial head of the nations of the world. As Spain, however, has fallen from the high place she once held, her colonial system has also gone down. And while England, thanks to her more liberal policy, still retains a large share of the territory which she possessed at first, Spain, which once held sway over a vast portion of America, has been deprived of nearly all of her colonies, and ere long may lose control of the island on which the discoverer of America first saw the plant.* It is an historical fact that wherever in the English and Spanish colonies civilization has taken the deepest root, so has also the plant which has become as famous as any of the great tropical products of the earth. The relation existing between the balmy plant and the commerce of the world i» of the strongest kind. Fairholt has well said, that "the revenue brought to our present Sovereign Lady from this source alone is greater than that Queen Elizabeth received from the entire customs of the country." The narrow view of commercial policy held by her successors, the Stuarts, induced them to hamper the colonists of America with restrictions; because they were alarmed lest the ground should be entirely devoted to tobacco. Had not this Indian plant been discovered, the whole history of some portions of America would have been far difierent. In the "West Indies three great products — Coffee, Sugar- Can e, and Tobacco, — have proved sources of the greatest wealth — and wherever introduced, have developed to a great extent the resources of the islands. Thus it may be seen that while the Spaniards by the discovery and colonization •"Spain has donlitless conqnered more of tho Earth's surface than any other modern nation; and her pecnliar national character has also caused her to make tiie worst use of them. It was alwaj-s easier for the Moor to conquer than to make a good use of his con- qaesta ; and so It has always been with Spain." 46 ORIGINAL CULTURE. of large portions of America strengthened the currency of the world, the English alike, by the cultivation of the plant, gave an impetus to commerce still felt and continued throughout all parts of the globe. An English writer has truthfully observed that " Tobacco is like Elias' cloud, which was no bigger than a man's hand, that hath suddenly covered the face of the earth ; the low countries, Germany, Poland, Arabia, Persia, Turkey, almost all countries, drive a trade of it ; and there is no commodity that hath advanced so many from small fortunes to gain great estates in the world. Sailors will be supplied with it for their long voyages. Soldiers cannot (but) want it when they keep guard all night, or upon other hard duties in cold and tempestuous weather. Farmers, ploughmen, and almost all labouring men, plead for it. If we reflect upon our forefathers, and that within the time of less than one hundred years, before the use of tobacco came to be known amongst us, we cannot but wonder how they did to subsist without it ; for were the planting or traffick of tobacco now hindered, millions of this nation in all probability must perish for the want of food, their whole livelihood almost depending upon it." When first discovered in America, and particularly by the English in Virginia, the plant was cultivated only by the females of the tribes, the chiefs and warriors engaging only in the chase or following the war- path. They cultivated a few plants around their wig- wams, and cured a few pounds for their own use. The smoke, as it ascended from their pipes and circled around their rude huts and out into the air, seemed typical of the race — the original cultivators and smokers of the plant. But, unlike the great herb which they cherished and gave to civilization, they have gradually grown weak in numbers and faded away, while the great plant has gone on its way, ever assuming more and more sway over the commercial and social world, until it now takes high rank among the leading elements of mercantile and agricultural greatness. CHAPTER III. TOBACCO IN AMEKICA. -E do not find in any accounts of the English voyagers made previous to 1584, any mention of the discovery of tobacco, or its use among the Indians. This may appear a little strange, as Captains Amidas and Barlow, who sailed from England under the auspices of Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584, on returning from Virginia, had brought home with them pearls and tobacco among other curiosities. But while we have no account of those who returned from the voyage made in 1602 taking any tobacco with them, it is altogether probable that those who remained took a lively interest in the plant and the Indian mode of use; for we find that in nine years aftt;r thev landed at Jamestown tobacco had become quite an article of culture and commercp. Huniu iu alluding to the early cultivation of tobacco by the colony, says, that John Rolfe was the pioneer tobacco planter. In his words: " I may not forget the gentleman worthie of much com- mendations, which first took the pains to make triall thereof, his name Mr. John Rolfe, Anno Domini 1612, partly for the love he hath a long time borne unto it, and partly to raise commodities to the adventurers, in whose behalfe I intercede and vouchsafe to hold my testimony in beleefe that during the tirne of his aboade there, which draweth neere sixe years 48 FIRST GENERAL PLANTING. no man hath labonred to his power there, and worthy inconr- agement unto England, by his letters than he hath done, JOHN ROLPE. witness his marriage with Powhatan's daughter one of rude education, manners barbarous, and cursed generation merely for the good and honor of the plantation." ' The first general planting of tobacco by the colony began according to this writer — ^"at West and Sherley Hundred (seated on the north side of the river, lower than the Ber- mudas three or four myles) where are twenty -five commanded by capten Maddeson — who are imployed onely in planting and curing tobacco." This was in 1616, when the colony numbered only three hundred and fifty-one persons. Rolfe, in his relation of the state of Yirginia, written and addressed to the King, gives the following description of the condition of the colony in 1616: STATE OF THE COLONY. 49 " Now that your highness may with the more ease Tinder- stnnd in what condition the colony standeth, I have briefly 6ctt downe the manner of all men's several imployments, the number of them, and the several places of their aboad, which places or seates are all our owne ground, not so much by places which are now possessed Henrico and the lymitts, Bermuda Nether hundred, West and Sherley hundred, James Towne, Kequoughtan, and Dales-Gift. The generall mayne body of the planters are divided into Officers, Laborers, Farmors. " The officers have the charge and care as well over the farmors as laborers generallie — that they watch and ward for their preservacions ; and that both the one and the other's busines may be daily followed to the performance of those imployments, which from the one are required, and the other by covenant are bound unto. These officers are bound to maintayne themselves and families with food and rayment by their owne and their servant's Industrie. The laborers are of two sorts. Some employed onely in the generall works, who are fedd and clothed out of the store — others, specially artificers as smiths, carpenters, shoemakers, taylors, tanners, &c., doe worke in their professions for the colony, and maintayne themselves with food ann apparrell, having time lymitted them to till and manure their ground. " The farmors live at most ease — yet by their good endeav- ors bring yearlie much plentie to the plantation. They are bound by covenant, both for themselves and servants, to maintaine your Ma'ties right and title in that kingdom, against all foreigne and domestique enemies. To watch and ward in the townes where they are resident. To do thirty- one dayes service for the colony, when they shalbe called thereunto — yet not at all tymes, but when their owne busines can best spare them. To maintayne themselves and families with food and rayment — and every farmer to pay yearlie into the magazine for himself and every man servant, two barrells and a halfe of English measure. " Thus briefly have I sett downe every man's particular imployment and manner of living ; albeit, lest the people — who generallie are bent to covett after gaine, especially hav- ing tasted of the sveete of their labors — should spend too much of their t\ ■ . j . nd labor in planting tobacco, known to them to be ver>e ve idible in England, and so neglect their tillage of com*', a"i fall into want thereof, it is provided for 4 50 CONDITIONS OF RAISING TOBACCO. — by the providence and care of Sir Thomas Dale — that no farraor or other, who must maintayne themselves — shall plant any tobacco, unless he shall yearely manure, set and main- tayne for himself and every man servant two acres of ground ■with corne, which doing they may plant as much tobacco as they will, els all their tobacco shalbe forfeite to the colony — by which meanes the magazine shall yearely be sure to receave their rent of corne ; to maintayne those who are fedd thereout, being but a few, and manie others, if need be ; they themselves will be well stored to keepe their families with overplus, and reape tobacco enough to buy clothes and such other necessaries as are needful for themselves and household. For an easie laborer will keepe and tend two acres of corne, and cure a good store of tobacco — being yet the principall commoditie the colony for the present yieldeth. "For which as for other commodities, the councell and company for Virginia have already sent a ship thither^ fur- nished with all manner of clothing, household stuff and such necessaries, to establish a magazine there, which the people shall buy at easie rates for their commodities — they selling them at such prices that the adventurers may be no loosers. This magazine shalbe yearelie supplied to furnish them, if they will endeavor, by their labor, to maintayne it — which wilbe much beneficiall to the planters and adventurers, by interchanging their commodities, and will add much encour- agement to them and others to preserve and follow the action with a constant resolution to uphold the same." The colony at this time was engaged in planting corn and tobacco, "making pitch and tarr, potashes, charcole, salt," and in fishing. Of Jamestown he says : " At James Tonne (seated on the north side of the river, from West and Sherley Hundred lower down about thirty- seven miles) are fifty, under the command of lieutenant Sharpe, in the absence of capten Francis West, Esq., brother to the right ho'ble the L. Lawarre, — whereof thirty -one are farmers; all theis maintayne themselves with food and ray- meut. Mr. Eichard Buck minister there — a verie good preacher." Rev. Hugh Jones " Chaplain to the Honourable Assembly, and lately Minister of James-Towne and in Yirginia," in a work entitled — " The Present State of Virginia," gives the following account of the cultivation of tobacco : " When a tract of land is seated, they clear it by felling TOBACCO FIELDS, 1620. 51 the trees about a yard from tlie^ ground, lest they should *"Lv>^^ •ii^aiji. What wood they have occasion for they carry off, and burn the rest, or let it lie and rot upon the ground. The land between the logs and stumps they hoe np, planting VIRGINIA TOBACCO FIELD, 1620. tobacco there in the spring, inclosing it with a slight fence of cleft rails. This will last for tobacco some years, if the land be good ; as it is where fine timber, or grape vines grow. Land when hired is forced to bear tobacco by penning their cattle upon it ; but cowpen tobacco tastes, strong, and that planted in wet marshy land is called nonburning tobacco, which smoahs in the pipe like leather, unless it be of a good age. When land is tired of tobacco, it Will bear Indian Corn or English Wheat, or any other European grain or seed with wonderful increase. " Tobacco and Indian Corne are planted in hills as hops, and secured by worm fences, which ,are made of rails sup- porting one another very firmly in a particular manner. Tobacco requires a great deal of skill and trouble in the right management of it. They raise the plants in beds, as we do Cabbage plants; M'hicli they transplant and replant upon occasion after a shower of rain, which they call a season. When it is grown up they top it, or nip off" the head, succour 52 INCREASE OP TOBACCO GROWma. it, or cut off the ground leaves, weed it, hill it ; and when ripe, tliey cut it down about six or eight leaves on a stalk, which they carry into airy tobacco houses, after it is withered a little in the sun, there it is hung to dry on sticks, as paper at the paper-mills ; when it is in proper case, (as they call it) and the air neither too moist, nor too dry, they strike it, or take it down, then cover it up in bulk, or a great heap, where it lies till they have leisure or occasion to strip it (that is pull the leaves from the stalk) or stem it (that is to take out the great fibres) and tie it up in hands, or streight lay it ; and so by degrees prize or press it with proper engines into great Hogsheads, containing from about six to eleven hundred pounds; four of which Hogsheads make a tun by dimention, not by weight ; then it is ready for sale or shipping. There are two sorts of tobacco, viz., Oroonoko the stronger, and sweet-scented the milder; the first with a sharper leaf like a Fox's ear, and the other rounder and with finer fibres : But each of these are varied into several sorts, much as Apples and Pears are; and I have been informed by the Indian traders, that the Inland Indians have sorts of tobacco much differing from any plaiited or used by the Europeans. The Indian Corn is planted in hills and weeded much as tobacco. This grain is of great increase and most general use ; for with this is made good bread, cakes, mush, and hommony for the negroes, which with good pork and potatoes (red and white, very nice and different from ours) with other roots and pulse, are their general food." The cultivation of tobacco increased with the growth of the colony and the increase of price which at this time was sufficient to induce most of the planters to neglect the cul- ture of Corn and Wheat, devoting their time to growing their "darling tobacco." The first thirty years after the colonization of Yirginia by the English, the colony made but little progress owing in part to private factions and Indian wars. The horrid massacres by the Indians threatened the extermination of the colony, and for a time the plantations were neglected and even tobacco became more of an article of import than of export, which is substantiated by an early writer of the colony who says: — "A vast quantity of tobacco is consumed in the country in smoking, chewing, and snuff"." Frequent complaints were made by the colony of want of strength and danger of imminent famine, owing vi RESTRICTIONS ON TOBACCO-RAISING. /^3^ part to the presence of a greater number of adventurers than of actual settlers, — such being the case the resources of the country were in a measure limited. . ^m. The demand for tobacco in England increasing each year, /together with the high price paid for that from Virginia (3 j s. per lb.), stimulated the planters to hazard all their time / and labor upon one crop, neglecting the cultivation of the / smaller grains, intent only upon ciiring " a good store of tobacco." The company of adventurers at length found it necessary to check the excessive planting of the weed, and by the consent of the " Generall Assemblie " restraining the plantations to " one hundred plants* ye headd, uppon each of wich plantes there are to bee left butt onely nyne leaves , wch portions as neare as could be guessed, was generally conceaved would be agreable with the hundred waight you have allowed." Xln 1639 the " Grand Assembly " (summoned the sixth of /January) passed a law restricting the growth of the colony I to 1,500,000 lbs., and to 1,200,000 in the two years next ^ ensuing. The exporting of the poorer qualities of tobacco by the colony caused much dissatisfaction as will be seen by a letter of the Company dated 11th September, 1621 : " We are assured from our Factor in Holland that except the tobacco that shall next come thence prove to be of more perfection and goodnesse than that was sent home last, there is no hope that it vend att all, for albeit itt passed once yett the wary buyer will not be againe taken, so that Ave heartily wish that youe would make some provision for the burninge of all base and rotten stuff, and hot suffer any but very good to be cured at least sent home, whereby these M'ould certainly be more advanced in the price upon lesse in the quantity ; howsoever we hope that no bad nor ill conditioned tobacco shall be by compelling authoritie (abusing its power given for public good to private benefit) putt uppon or Factor, and very earnestly desire that he may have the helpe of justice to constrainc men to pay their debts unto him both remain- ing of the last yeares accompt and what shall this ycarse growth deue, and tliat in Comodities of the same vallew and goodness as shalbe by him contracted for." •Another account 1« sixty ponnds per head. 54 TOBACCO USED AS MONEY. At this period it appears that tobacco was used as money, and as the measure of price and value. The taxes whether public, county, or parish, were payable in tobacco. Tathani says, "Even the tavern keepers were compelled to exchange a dinner for a few pounds of tobacco." The law for the regulation of payments in tobacco was passed in the year 1640. FroTn-these facts and incidents connected with the culture and commerce^&fut tlie mime of Nicot supersedtd thcbe, aud botanlsls bave perpetuatcu it lu ino genus Mcotiana."—Le Mauut and Decaisiie. A QUAINT DESCRIPTION. 83 Nicot could have had no presentiment of the agricultural, commercial, financial and social importance which tobacco was ultimately to assume. Nicot published two works. The first was an edition of the History of France or of the Franks, in Latin, written by a Monk called Aimonious, who lived in the tenth century. The second was a ' Treasury of the French Language, Ancient and Modern.' " Stevens and Liebault in the " Country Farm " * give the following account of its early introduction into France and the wonderful cures produced by its use : " Nicotiana though it have (lias) beene but a while knowne in France yet it holdeth the tii'st and principal! place amongst Physicke herbs, by reason of his singular and almost diuine (divine) vertues, such as you shall heare of hereafter, whereof (because none either of the old or new writers that have written of the nature of plants, have said anything), I am willing to lay open the whole history, as I have come by it through a deere friend of mine, the first autiior, inventor, and bringer of this herb into France : as also of many both Spaniards, Portugals, and others which have travelled into Florida, a country of the Indians, from whence this herbe came, to put the same in writing to relieve such griefe and travell, as have heard of this herbe, but neither know it nor the properties thereof . This herbe is called Nicotiana of the name of an ambassador which brought the first knowledge of it into this realme, in like manner as many plants do as yet retaine the names of certaine Greekes and Romans, who being strangers in div^ers countries, for their common-wealth's service, have from thence indowed their own countree with many plants, whereof there was no knowledge before. Some call it the herbe of Queen mother, because the said ambassa- dor Lord Nicot did first send the same unto the Queen mother, f (as you shall understand by and by) and for being afterwards by her given to divers others to plant and make to grow in this country. Others call it by the name of the herbe of the great Prior, because the said Lord a while after sailing into these western seas, and happening to lodge neere unto the said Lord ambassador of Lisbone, gathered divers plants thereof out of his garden, and set them to increase here in France, and there in greater quantitie, and with •London 1606. t George Ruchanan, the Scotcli Philof ophcr and port t-tor of Jamofl I., had a strong nvcr- Bioii to Catherine of Metlicis, and In one of hia Latin cplRrams, nllndca lo the licrh Ix'iiig called J/erfi'ci'c adviBing all who valued their health to slinn it, noi co ninch from its helug naturally hurtful, but that It needs must become poisonous if called by so hateful a name. 84 WONDERFUL CURES. more care than any other besides him, he did so highly esteeme thereof for the exceeding good qualities sake. " The Spaniards call it Tobaco, it were better to call it Nicotian a, after the name of the Lord who first sent it into France, to the end that we may give him the honor which he hath deserved of us, for having furnished our land with so rare and singular an herbe : and thus much for the name, now listen unto the whole historie : Master John Nicot, one of the king's counsell, being ambassador for his Maiestie (Majesty) in the realme of Portiugall, in the yeere of our Lord God, 1559. 60. and 61. went on a day to see the monuments and northie places of the said king of Portiugall : at which time a gentleman keeper of the said monuments presented him with this herbe as a strange plant brought from Florida. The nobleman Sir Nicot having procured it to growe in his garden, where it had put forth and multiplied very greatly, was aduertifed (notified) on a dale by one of his pages, that a yoong boie kinsman of the said page, had laide (for triall sake) the said herbe, pressed, the substance and juice and altogether, upon an ulcer which he had upon his cheeke, neere unto his nose, next neighbor to a Woli me tangere, (a cancer) as having already seazed upon the cartil- ages, and that by the use thereof it was become marvellous well : upon this occasion the nobleman Nicot called the boie to him, and making him to continue the applying of this herbe for eight or ten days, the Woli me tangere became thoroughly kild : nowe they had sent oftetimes unto one of the king's most famous phisitions, the said boie during the time of this worke and operation to make and see the pro- ceeding and working of the said Nicotiana, and having in charge to do the same until the end of ten days, the said phisition then beholding him, assured him that the Noli me tangere was dead, as indeed the boie never felt anything of it at any time afterward. " Some certain time after, one of the cooks of the said ambassador having almost all his thombe (thumb) cut off from his hand, with a great kitchin knife, the steward running unto the said Nicotiana, made to him use of it five or six dressings, by the ende of which the wounde was healed. From this time forward this herbe began to become famous in Lisbon, where the king of Portingal's court was at that time, and the vertues thereof much spoken of, and the common people began to call it the ambassador's herbe. Now upon this occasion there came certain days after, a THE " HERBE GREWE IN REPUTATION." 85 gentleman from the fields being father unto one of the pages of the said Lord ambassador, who was troubled with an ulcer in his legge of two years continuance, and craved of the said Lord some of his herbe, and using it in manner afore men- tioned, he was healed by the end of ten or twelve dales. After this yet the herbe grewe still in greater reputation, inasmuch as that many hasted out of all corners to get some of this herbe. And among the rest, there was one woman which had a great ring worme, covering all her face like a mask, and having taken deepe roote, to whom the said Lord caused this Petum to be given, and withall the manner of using it to be told her, and at the end of eight or ten dales, this woman being thoroughly cured, came to shewe herself unto the said Lord, and how that she was cured. There came likewise a captain bringing with him his son diseased with the king's evill, unto the said Lord Ambassador, for to send him into France, upon whom there was some triall made of the said herbe, whereupon within four dales he began to show great signs and tokens of healing, and in the end was thoroughly cured of his king's evil." Italy received the first plant from Santa Croce,* who, like Nicot, obtained the seed in Lisbon. In 1575 first appeared a figure of the plant in Andre Theret's " Cosmographie," which was but an imperfect representation of the plant. It was supposed by many on its discovery to grow like the engraving given — in form resembling a tree or shrub rather than an herb. Tobacco was first brought to England by Sir John Hawkins, who obtained the plant in Florida in 1565, and afterwards by Sir Francis Drake.f The first planters of it in England were said to be Captain Grenfield and Sir Francis Drake. One account of its introduction into Eng- land is as follows : "The plant was first used by Sir Walter Raleigh and others, who had acquired a taste for it in Virginia.:]: Among 'TliePted Bnll Inn, at Islington, was the first hotise inEnRlandwhere tobacco was smoked, while Moll Cut-Purse, a noted pickpocket who nourished In the time of Charles 11., Is said to have been the first Englishwoman who sniokeil tobacco. rit was introduced, about 1520. into Portugal and Spain by Doctor Hernandez of Toledo: into Italy by Thornabon ahd tlie Cardinal de SainleCroif, into Encland by Captain Drake' and Into France by Andre Theret, a gray friar."— Le Mao ut and Decaisne a General System cf Bolany f Paris isesi. tShortsaysof Its introduction into England: "Sir Walter Raleigh's Marriners, under Mr. Kal|)h Lane, his Agent in Virginia first hroughtthis Commodity into England Anno 1584 ; and that famous Proprietor of this Plantation foresaw good reasons to introduce tlie use of it, however King .James might afterwards, through his own personal Distaste both of it and, Dim, wrote hh Counterblast against it; a work surely consistent with the Pen of no Prince, but one of hU Politicks." 86 DIFFERENCE OF OPINIONS. the natives the usual mode employed in smoking the plant was by means of hollow canes, and pipes made of wood and decorated with copper and green stones. To deprive it of its acidity, some of the natives were wont to pass the smoke through bulbs containing water, in which aromatic and me- dicinal herbs had been infused." Neander ascribes this invention to the Per- sians; butMagnenus rather attributes it to the Dutch and English, to the latter of whom at- taches the credit of having invented the clay pipes of modern times. Some writers have con- cluded that the plant served as a narcotic in some parts of Asia. Liebaut thinks it was known in Europe* many years before the discovery of the New World, and asserts that the plant had been found in the Ardennes. Magnenus, however, claims its origin as transatlantic and affirms as his belief that the winds had doubtless carried the seeds from one continent to the other. Pallos says that among the Chinese, and among the Mongol tribes who had the most intercourse with them, the custom of smoking is so general, so frequent, and has become so indispensable a luxury ; the tobacco purse affixed to their belt so necessary an article of dress ; the form of the pipes, from which the Dutch seem to have taken the OLD ENGRAVING OF TOBACCO. ♦James the First also' Inclines to this belief, declaring tobacco to be "a common herb which (though under divers names) grows almost everywhere." A SMOKER'S RHAPSODT. 87 model of theirs, so original ; and, finally, the preparation of the leaves so peculiar, that they could not possibly derive all this from America hy way of Europe, especially as India, where the practice of smoking is not so general, intervenes between Persia and China. Meyen also states that the con- sumption of tobacco in the Chinese empire is of immense extent, and the practice seems to be of great antiquity, "for on very old sculptures I have observed the very same tobacco pipes which are still used." Besides, we now know that the plant which furnishes the Chinese tobacco is even said to grow wild in the East Indies. "Tobacco," says Loudon, "was introduced into the county of Cork, with the potatoe, by Sir Walter Raleigh." A quaint writer of this period says of the plant: "Tobacco, that excellent plant, the use whereof (as of fifth element) the world cannot want, is that little shop of Nature, wherein her whole workmanship is abridged ; w4iere you may see earth kindled into fire, the fire breathe out an exhalation, which enteriirg in at the mouth walks through the regions of a man's brain, drives out all ill vapors but itself, draws down all bad humors by the mouth, which in time might breed a scab over the whole body, if already they have not; a plant of singular use ; for, on the one side Nature being an enemy to vacuity and emptiness and on the other, there being so many empty brains in the world as there are, how shall Nature's course be continued ? How shall those empty brains be filled but with air, Nature's immediate instrument to that purpose ? If with air, what so proper as your fume ; what fume so healthful as your perfume, what perfume so sovereign as tobacco. Besides the excellent edge it gives a man's wit, as they but judge that have been present at a feast of tobacco, where commonly all good wits are consoled ; what variety of discourse it begets, what sparks of wit it yields?"* The name of Sir Walter is intimately connected with the history of tobacco, and is associated with many of the bril- liant exploits and explorations during the reign of the illustrious Elizabeth.f His name has come down to us as •A writer In the "New England Magazine" 8(iy8 In a different strain : "This Is the enemy that men put In their mouths, to bteal away llieir health. This hab Jllcd the camp, the court, tha grovi'. It l9 found In tlie pulpit, thi- senate, the bur and tlie boudoir." tTliorpe, In his "History and Mystery of Tobacco," relates the following anecdote: "Tra- Sltloii s;iyH, th:it In tlie time of Queen Elizabeth Sir Walter Ualelgh used to sit at his door With fair Hugh Mlddlelou and smoke." 88 OLD SMOKERS. being that of the first smoker of tobacco in England,* and many amusing anecdotes are told of him and the new cus- tom which he introduced and sanctioned. Dixon has given us the following vivid picture of the great Elizabethan navigator : " In a pleasant room of Durham House, in the Strand, — a room overhanging a lovely garden, with the river, the old bridge, the towers of Lambeth Palace, and the flags of Paris Garden and the Globe in view, — three men may have often met and smoked a pipe in the days of Good Queen Bess, who are dear to all readers of English blood ; because, in the first place, they were the highest types of our race in genius and in daring; in the second place because the work of their hands has shaped the whole after-life of their countrymen in every sphere of enterprise and thought. That splendid Dur- ham House, in which the nine-days queen had been married to Guilford Dudley, and which had afterwards been the town-house of Elizabeth, belonged to Sir "Walter Raleigh, by whom it was held on leave from the queen. Ealeigh, a friend of William Shakespeare and the players, was also a friend of Francis Bacon and the philosophers. Raleigh is said to have founded the Mermaid Club ; and it is certain that he numbered friends among the poets and players. The proofs of his having known Shakespeare, though indirect, are strong. Of his long intercourse with Bacon every one is aware. Thus it requires no effort of the fancy to picture these three men as lounging in a window of Durham House, pufiing the new Indian weed from silver bowls, discussing the highest themes in poetry and science, while gazing on the flower-beds and the river, the darting barges of dames and cavalier, and the distant pavilions of Paris Garden and the Globe." Its use by so distinguished a person as Raleigh was equiv- alent to its general introduction. f Aubrey says: " He was the first that brought tobacco into England, and into fashion. In our part — Malmsbury Hundred — it came •Dr. Thomas Short, in his work "Discourses on Tea, Tobacco, Punch, &c.,'' (London 1750.) says of the original smoker : " Sir Walter was the first that brought the Custom of smoking It into Britain, upon his return from America ; for he saw the natives of Florida, Brazil and other places of the Indies, smoak it thus, they hung about their Necks little Pipes or Horna made of the Leaves of the Date Tree, or of lieedsor Rushes ; and at the ends ol them tney putseveraldry Tobacco Leaves twisted and broken, and set the ends of them on lire, ana BUcked in as much of the smoak as they could." tSo common was the indulgence that in 1600, only seventeen years after Sir Francis Drake returned from America, and set the example of using tobacco, the French Kmbaesaaor writes in his dispatches to Paris, that the peers, while engaged in the trials Oi lissex anQ Southampton, deliberated upon their verdicts with pipes iu their mouths; THE " QUEENS HERB. 89 first into fashion by Sir Walter Long. They had first silver pipes. The ordinary sort made use of a walnut shell and a SIR WALTER RALEIGH. strawe. I have heard my grandfather Lyte say that one pipe was handed from man to man round the table. Sir Walter Ealeigh standing in a stand at Sir Ro. Poyntz parke at Acton tooke a pipe of tobacco, which made the ladies quitte it till he had donne." A writer has truthfully said in regard to associating the name and use of the plant with the primitive users of it. "The ambitious sought fame by associating themselves wiih the introduction of the plant and its cultivation ; hence we find it named after cardinals, legates, and embassadors, wliile in compliment to Catherine, wife of Henry the Second, it was called the Queen's herb." Kings now rushed into the tobacco trade. Those of Spain took the lead, and became the largest manufacturers of snuff •Savary says that tobacco has been known nmonff the Persians for upwards of 400 years, aad supposes that they received It from Egypt, aud not from the East Indies. 90 DRINKING TOBACCO. and cigars in Christendom, and the royal workshops of Seville are still the most extensive in Europe. Other mon- archs monopolized the business in their dominions, and all began to reap enormous profits ^i'rom it, as most do at this day. In the year 1615 tobacco was first planted in Holland ; and in Switzerland in 1686. As soon as its cultivation became general in Spain and Portugal the tobacco trade was " farmed out," bringing an enormous revenue to those king- doms. About the beginning of the Seventeenth Century the Portuguese introduced into Hindostan and Persia* two things, pine-apples and tobacco. To the pine-apples no objection seems to have been made ; but to the tobacco the most strenuous resistance was ofiered by the sovereigns of the two countries. Spite, however, of pimishments and pro- hibitions the use of tobacco spread with the rapidity of lightning. In England, tobacco taking soon became a favorite custom not only with the loiterers about taverns and other public places, but among the courtiers of Elizabeth. Smoking was called drinking tobacco, as the fashionable method was to " put it through the nose " or exhale it through the nostrils. At this period tobacco seemed to have nearly the same efiect as it did upon the Indian, producing a sort of intoxication ; thus in " The Perfuming of Tobacco " (1611) it is said : " The smoke of tobacco drunke or drawen by a pipe, filleth J the membranes of the braine, and astonisheth and filleth \ many persons with such joy and pleasure, and sweet losse of V senses, that they can by no means be without it." f\ The term "drinking tobacco" was not confined to Eng- ■ land, but was used in Holland, France, Spain and Portugal, as the same method of blowing the smoke through the nos- - trils, seemed to be everywhere in vogue. The use of tobacco increased very rapidly soon after its importation from Yirginia. The Spaniards and Portuguese had hitherto monopolized the trade, so that it brought enormous prices, some kinds selling for its weight in silver. As soon as its culture commenced in Yirginia the demand for West India tobacco lessened and Virginia leaf soon came ■ : i.'r;'''i!.'ii^'ll'l|^ KNGLISH GALLANTf THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 91 into favor, owing not more to the lowering of price than to the quality of the leaf.* This was about 1620, which some writers have called the golden age of tobacco. It had now become a prime favorite and was used by nearly all classes. Poets and dramatists sung its praises, while others wrote of its wonderful medicinal qualities.-]- Fops and knaves alike indulged in its use. "About the latter end of the sixteenth century, tobacco was in great vogue in London, with wits and ' gallants,' as the dandies of that age were called. To wear a pair of vel- vet breeches, with panes or slashes of silk, an enormous starched ruff, a gilt handled sword, and a Spanish dagger ; to play at cards or dice in the chambers of the groom-porter, and smoke tobacco in the tilt-yard or at the play-house, were then the grand characteristics of a man of fashion. Tobac- conists' shops were then common ; and as the article, which appears to have been sold at a high price, was indispensable to the gay ' man about town,' he generally endeavored to keep his credit good with his tobacco-merchant. Poets and pamphleteers laughed at the custom, though generally they seem to have no particular aversion to an occasional treat to a sober pipe and a poute of sack. Your men of war, who had served in the Low Countries, and who taught young gallants the noble art of fencing, were particularly fond of tobacco ; and your gentlemen adventurers, who had served in a buccaneering expedition against the Spaniards, were no less partial to it. Sailors — from the captain to the ship-boy — all affected to smoke, as if the practice was necessary to their character ; and to ' take tobacco ' and wear a silver whistle, like a modern boatswain's mate, was the pride of a man-of-war's man. " Ben Jonson, of all our early dramatic writers, most frequently alludes to the practice of smoking. In his play of ' Every Man in his Humour,' first acted in 1598, Captain Bobadil thus extols in his own peculiar vein the virtues of tobacco ; while Cob, the water carrier, with about equal truth, relates some startling instances of its pernicious effects. •Neander, In his work on "Tobacologia" (London, l(r42), mentions eighteen Tarletles of tobacco, or at least localities from where It was shipped lo London, among which arc the following: Variuus (coiiRidi red the bcBt). ISrazil. IMaracny. Orinoco, Margarita, Caracas, Cumana, Amazon, Virginia, Phillipines. St. Lucia, Trinidad, and St. Domingo. t " The flrst author (says an Englisli writer) who wrote of this Plant was Charles Stepha- nns, In 15<>4 This was a mean, eliort. inaccurate Drunglit, till Dr. John Liel)anlt wrote a Whole Dl«conr.'»e of it next year, and put it into liis second Book of Husbandry, which was every year reprinted with adilitlons and alterations, for twenty years after. He had a large Correspondence, a good IntelligcMce, and wrote tlie beat of the age, and gathered the great- est stock of experience about tliis new riant." 92 HUMOROUS QUOTATIONS. " ' Bobadil. Body o' me, here's the remainder of seven pound since yesterday was seven-night ! 'Tis your right Trinadado ! Did you never take any, Master Stephen ? " ' Stephen. No, truly, Sir ; but I'll learn to take it since you commend it so. " ' Bobadil. Sir, believe me upon my relation, — for what I tell you the world shall not reprove. I have been in the Indies where this herb grows, where neither myself, nor a dozen gentlemen more of my knowledge, have received the taste of any other nutriment in the world, for the space of one and twenty weeks, but the fume of this simple only. Therefore, it cannot be but 'tis most divine. Further, take it, in the true kind, so, it makes an antidote, that had you taken the most deadly poisonous plant in all Italy, it should expel it and clarify you with as much ease as I speak. And for your greenwound, your balsamum, and your St. John's- wort, are all mere gulleries and trash to it, especially your Trinidado : your Nicotian is good too. I could say what I know of it for the expulsion of rheums, raw humours, crudities, obstructions, with a thousand of this kind, but I profess myself no quack-salver : only thus much, by Hercules ; I do hold it, and will aflSrm it before any prince in Europe, to be the most sovereign and precious weed that ever the earth tendered to the use of man.' Coh. " ' By gad's me, I mar'l what pleasure or felicity they have in taking this roguish tobacco ! It's good for nothing but to choke a man and hll him full of smoke and embers. There were four died out of one house last week with taking of it, and two more the bell went for yesternight ; one of them, they say, will ne'er 'scape it : he voided a bushel of soot yesterday, upward and downward. By the stocks ! an' there were no wiser men than I, I'd have it present whipping, man or woman that should but deal with a tobacco-pipe ; why, it will stifle them all in the end, as many as use it; it's little better than rats-bane or rosaker.' " * From the first announcement that English navigators had discovered tobacco in Yirginia, until the London and Ply- mouth companies sailed for the New World, the deepest interest was taken in the voyagers. Drayton, the poet, wrote of "The Yirginian Yoyage," while Chapman and other dramatists wrote plays in which allusions were made to Yir- ginia. In the " Mask of Flowers," performed at White Hall * A preparation of arsenic. TOBACCO ON THE STAGE. 93 npon Twelfth Night, 1613-14, one of tlie characters chal- lenges another, and asserts that wine is more worthy tlian tobacco. The costumes were exceedingly grotesque and BUffirestive of the New rather than of the Old World. Kawosha one of the principal characters rode in, wearing on his head a cap of red-cloth of gold, from his ears were pendants, a glass chain was about his neck, his body and legs were covered with olive-colored stuff, in his hands were a bow and arrows, and the bases of tobacco - colored stuff cut like tobacco leaves. The play abounds with allusions to the " Indian weed." " Silenus.— Kawosha comes in majestie, "Was never such a God as he ; He's come from a far countrie To make our nose a chimney. Kawosha. — The wine takes the contrary way To get into the hood ; But good tobacco makes no stay But seizeth where it should. More incense hath burned at Great Kawoshae's foote Than to Silen and Bacchus, both, And take in Jove to boote. SQenus. — The worthies they were nine tis true, And lately Arthur's knights I knew ; But now are come up Worthies new, The roaring boys Kawoshae's crew. Kawosha. — Silenus toppes the barrel, but Tobacco toppes the braine And makes the vapors fire and soote, That mon revise againe. Nothing but fumigation Doth charm away ill sprites, Kawosha and his nation Found out these holy rites." The writers of this period abound in allusions to tobacco and its use. The poets and dramatists found in it a fertile field for the display of their satire, and from 1600 to 1650 Btage plays introduced many characters as either tobacco 94: SHAKESPEARE ON TOBACCO. drinkers or sellers. It had now become so great a custom and had increased so fast after the importation of Virginia tobacco that it afforded them no insignificant theme for the display of their genius.* The plays of Jonson, Decker, Kowland, Heywood, Middleton, Fields, Fletcher, Hutton, Lodge, Sharpham, Marston, Lilly (court poet to Elizabeth), the Duke of Newcastle and others are full of allusions to the plant and those who indulged in its use. Shakespeare,! however, does not once allude to its use, and his silence on this then curious custom has provoked much conjecture and inquiry. Some affirm that he wrote to please royalty, but if so why did he not condemn the custom to appease the wrath of a sapient king. Others say he kept silence because he was the friend of Kaleigh, and though he would have gladly held up the great smoker and his favorite indulgence, feared to add to the popularity of the custom by displeasing his royal master. Another class affirm that as the stories of his plays are all antecedent to his own time, therefore he never mentions either the drinking of tobacco, or the tumultuous scenes of the ordinary which belonged to it, and which are so constantly met with in his contemporary dramatists. Says one : " How is it that our great dramatist never once makes even the slightest allusion to smoking? Who can suggest a reason ? Our great poet knew the human heart too well, and kept too steadily in view, the universal nature of man to be afraid of painting the external trapping and ephemeral customs of his own time. Does he not delight to moralize on false hair, masks, rapiers, pomandens, perfumes, dice, bowls, fardingales, etc? Did he not sketch for us, with enjoyment and with satire, too, the fantastic fops, the pomp- ous stewards, the mischievous pages, the quarrelsome revellers, the testy gaolers, the rhapsodizing lovers, the siy cheats, and the ruffling courtiers that filled ^the streets of Elizabethan London, persons who could have been found nowhere else • ■'Never (li'l nntiireprodncc n Plnnt thnt In a short Time became so universallyuscrt, for It ■was but a short whilu known in Europe, till it wim lal);icc— in Cob the waterman's house, and in «he Apollo CluOrooin. on the stage, and at the onliiiHry. The world of London waa lUcu Oivlaea into two classes— the tobacco-lovers and the tobacco-haters. -x^ SxMOKINQ TAUGHT. 95 nor in any other age? No one can dispute that he drew the life that he saw moving around him. He sketched these creatures because they were before his eyes and were his enemies or his associates; they live still because their creator's genius was Promethean, and endowed them with immortality. Bardolph, Moth, Slender, Abhorson, Don Armado, Mercutio, etc., are portraits, as everyone knows and feels who is con- versant with the manners of the Elizabethan times as handed down in old plays. "If Shakespeare's contemporaries were silent about the then new fashion of smoking, we should not so much wonder at Shakespeare's taciturnity. But Decker s and Ben Jon- son's works abound in allusions to tobacco, its uses and abuses. The humorist and satirist lost no opportunity of deriding the new fashion and its followers. The tobacco merchant was an important person in London of James the First's time — wnth his "Winchester pipes, his maple cutting- blocks, his juniper-wood charcoal fires, and his silver tongs with which to hand the hot charcoal to his customers, although he was shrewdly suspected of adulterating the precious weed with sack lees and oil. It was his custom to wash the tobacco in muscadel and grains, and to keep it moist by wrapping it in greased leather and oiled rags, or by burying it in gravel. The Elizabethan pipes were so small that now when they are dug up in Ireland the poor call them ' fairy pipes ' from their tininess. These pipes became known by the nickname of ' the woodcock's heads.' The apotheca- ries, who sold the best tobacco, became masters of the art, and received pupils, whom they taught to exhale the smoke in little globes, rings, or the ' Euripus.' ' The slights' these tricks were called. Ben Jonson facetiously makes these professors boast of being able to take three whiffs, then to take horse, and evolve the smoke — one whiff on Hounslow, a second at Staines, and a third at Bagshot. "The ordinary gallant, like Mercutio, would smoke while the dinner was serving up. Those who were rich and foolish carried with them smoking apparatus of gold or silver — tobacco-box, snuff-ladle, tongs to take up charcoal, and priming irons. There seems, from Decker's ' Gull's Horn- Book," to have been smoking clubs, or tobacco ordinaries as they were called, where tlie entire talk Avas of the best shops for buying Trinidado, the Nicotine, the Cane, and the Pud- ding, whose pipe had the best bore, which would turn blackest, and which would break in the browning. At the theatres, the rakes and spendthrifts who, crowded the stage 96 BEN JOXSON ON THE "WEED." of Shakespeare's time sat on low stools smoking; they sat with their three sorts of tobacco beside them, and handed each other lio;hts on the points of their swords, sending out their pages for more Trinidado if they required it. Many gallants ' took ' their tobacco in the lords room over the stage, and went out to (Saint) Paul's to spit there privately. Shabby sponges and lying adventurers, like Bobadil, bragged of the number of packets of ' the most divine tobacco ' they had smoked in a week, and told enormous lies of living for weeks in the Indies on the fumes alone. They affirmed it was an antidote to all poison ; that it expelled rheums, sour humours, and obstructions of all kinds. Some doctors were of opinion that it would heal gout* and the ague, neutralise the effects of drunkenness, and remove weariness and hunger. The poor on the other hand, not disinclined to be envious and detracting when judging rich men's actions, laughed at men who made chimneys of their throats, or who sealed up their noses with snuff. " Ben Jonson makes that dry, shrewd, water carrier of his, Cob, rail at the ' roguish tobacco :' he would leave the stocks for worse men, and make it present whipping for either man or woman who dealt with a tobacco-pipe. But King James, in his inane ^Counterblast,' is more violent than even Cob. He argues that to use this unsavory smoke is to be guilty of a worse sin than that of drunkenness, and asks how men, wha cannot go a day's journey without sending for hot coals to kindle their tobacco, can be expected to endure the privations of war. Smoking, the angry and fuming king protests, had made our manners as rude as those of the fish-wives of Dieppe. Smokers, tossing pipes and puffing smoke over the dinner-table, forgot all cleanliness and modesty. Men now, he says, cannot welcome a friend but straight they must be in hand with tobacco. He that refused a pipe in company was accounted peevish and unsociable. ' Yea,' says the royal coxcomb and pedant, ' the mistress cannot in a more mannerly kind entertain her servant than by giving him out of her fair hand a pipe of tobacco.' The royal reformer (not the most virtuous or cleanly of men) closes his denunciation with this tremendous broadside of invective : 'Have you not reason, then' he says, 'to be shamed and to forbear this filthy novelty, so basely grounded, so foolishly received, and so grossly mistaken in the right use thereof? •"SomehoM it for a singular remedie against the gowte (gout), to chaw every morning the leaves of Petura (tohacco), because it voidetU great quantitie of flegme cut at the mouth, hindering the same from falling upon the joints, which Is the very cause of the gowte." Dr. mchard Swjiei (1606). CURATIVE QUALITIES. 97 To your abuse thereof sin ninj^ an^ainst God, harming yourself both in persons and goods, and taking also tliereb}'- the notes and marks of vanity npon 3'ou by the custom thereof, making yourselves to be wondered at by all, foreign civil nations and by all strangers that come among yon, and be scorned, and contemned ; a custom both fulsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black stinking fume thereof nearest resembling the horrible Stigian sujelle of the pit that is bottomless." The supposed curative virtues of the tobacco plant had much to do with its use in Europe while the singular mode of exhaling through the nostrils added to its charms, and EXHALING THROUGH THE NOSE. doubtless led to far greater indulgence. Spenser in his Fairy Queen makes one of the characters include it with other herbs celebrated for medicinal qualities. " Into the woods tlience-forth in haste she went, To seek for herbes that mote him remedy ; For she of herbes had great intendiment, Taught of the Nymph which from her infancy, Had nursed her in true nobility : There whether it divine Tobacco were, Or PanacliaD, or Polygony, She found and brought it to her patient deare, Who all this while lay bleeding out his heart-blood neare." 7 98 MODES OF USB. Lilly also a little later, in his play of The Woman in tho Moone (1597(, speaks of it (through one of the characters) as being a medicinal herb — " Gather me balme and cooling violets And of our holy herbe nicotian, And bring withall pure honey from the hive To heale the wound of my unhappy hand." Barclay, in his tract on " The Vertues of Tobacco," recom- mends its use as a medicine. The following is one of tho modes of use : " Take of leafe Tobacco as much as, being folded together, may make a round ball of such bignesse that it may fill the patient's mouth, and inclyne his face downwaids toward tho ground, keeping the mouth open, not muntliing any whit with his tongue, except now and then to waken the medica- ment, there shall flow such a flood of water from his brain and his stomacke, and from all the parts of his body that it shall be a wonder. This must ho do fasting in the morning, and if it be for preservation, and the bo(ly be very caco- chyme, or full of evil humors, he nuist take it once a week, otherwise once a month. He gives the plant the name of 'Nepenthes,' and says of it, that 'it is worthy of a more loftie name.' " He writes the following verse addressed to*. " The Abusers of Tobacco." *' Why do you thus abuse this heavenly plant, The hope of health, the fuel of our life? Why do you waste it without fear of want, Since fine and true tobacco is not ryfe ? Old Enclio won't foul water for to spair, And stop the bellows not to waste the air." He also alludes to the quality of tobacco and says: "The finest Tobacco is that which pearceth quickly the odorat with a sharp aromaticke smell, and tickleth the tongue with acri- monie, not unpleasant to the taste, from whence that which draweth most water is most veituous, whether the substance of it be chewed in the mouth, or the smoke of it received." He speaks of the countries in which the plant grows, and prefers the tobacco grown in the New World as being supe- rior to that grown in the Old. In his opinion, " only that HELD UP TO RIDICULE. 99 which is fostered in tlie Indies, and brought home 4)y Mariners and Traffiqners, is to be used." But not alone were Poets and Dramatists inspired to sing in praise or dis- praise of tobacco, Physicians and others helped to swell in broadsides, pamphlets and chap-books, the loudest praises or the most bitter denunciation of the weed. Taylor, the water poet, who lost his occupation as bargeman wlien the coach came into use, thought that the devil brought tobacco into England in a coach. One of the first tracts wholly devoted to tobacco is entitled Nash's " Lenten StufFe." The work is dedicated to Humphrey King, a tobacconist, and is full of curious sayings in regard to the plant. Another work, er.titled " Metamorphosis of Tobacco," and supposed to have been written by Beaumont, made its appearance about this time. Samuel Powlands, the dramatist, wrote two works on tobacco ; the first is entitled " Look to it, for Pll Stabbe Ye," written in 1604; the other volume is a small quarto, bearing this singular title: "A whole crew of Kind Gossips, all met to be Meri-y." This is a satire on the time and manners of the period, and is written in a coarse style worthy of the author. In 1G05 there appeared a little volume bearing for its title, "Laugh and Lie Down, or the World's Folly." This work describes the fops and men of fashion of its time, and shows how popular the custom of tobacco taking had become. In 1609, in "The Gull's Home Book," a gallant is described as follows : " Before the meate comes smoaking to the board our Gal- lant must draw out his tobacco box, the ladle for the cold snuff into his nostrils, the tongs and the priming iron. All this artillery may be of gold or silver, if he can reach to the price of it; it will be a reasonable, useful pawn at all times when tli^e current of his money falles out to rune low. And here you must observe to know in what state tobacco is in town, better than the merchants, and to discourse of the potecaries where it is to be sold as readily as the potecary himself." One of the severest tirades against tobacco appeared in 1612, " The Curtain Drawer of the World." In speaking of the users of the weed, and especially noblemen, he says: 100 TIRADES AGAINST TOBACCO. " Then noblemen's chimneys used to smoke, and not their noses ; Englishmen witliout were not Blackamoores within, for then Tobacco was an Indian, impickt and unpiped, — now made the common ivy-bush of hixury, the curtaine of dis- honesty, the proclaimer of vanity, the drunken colonrer of Drabby solacy." In the " Soule's Solace, or Thirty-and-One Spiritual Emblems," by Thomas Jenner, occurs the following verses : " The Indian weed, withered quite, Greene at noone, cut down at night, Shows thy decay ; all flesh is hay ; Thus thinke, then drinke Tobacco. The Pipe that is so lily-white, Show thee to be a mortal wight, And even such, gone with a touch. Thus thinke, then drinke Tobacco. And when the smoake ascends on high, Thinke thou beholdst the vanity Of worldly stuffe, gone with a puffe, Thus thinke, then drinke Tobacco. And when the Pipe grows foul within, Thinke on thy soul defiled with sin, And then the fire it doth require ; Thus tliinke, then drinke Tobacco. The ashes that are left behind. May serve to put thee still in mind, That unto dust return thou must ; Thus thinke, then drinke Tobacco." Buttes, in a little volume entitled " Dyets Dry Dinner," (1599) says that " Tobacco was translated out of India in the seede or roote ; native or sative in our own fruitfullest soils. It cureth any grief e, dolour, imposture, or obstruction pro- ceeding of colde or winde, especially in the head or breast. Tlie fume taken in a pipe is good against Rumes, ache in the head, stomacke, lungs, breast ; also in want of meate, drinke, Bleepe, or rest." The introduction of tobacco from the colony of Virginia was followed soon after by a reduction of price that led to more frequent use among the poorer classes, such as grooms ALE AND TOBACCO. 101 and hangers on at taverns and alc-bouses, who are alhided to in Eich's " Honestie of this Age : " There is not so base a groome that comes into an ale- house to call for his pott, but lie must have his pipe of tobacco ; for it is a commodity that is nowe as vendible in every tavern, wine and ale-house, as eyther wine, ale or beare ; OLD LONDON ALE-HOUSE. and for apothecaerie's shops, grocer's shops, chandler's shops, they are never without company, that from morning till night, are still taking of tobacco. What a number are there besides, that doe kcepe houses, set open shoppes, that have no other trade to live by, but by selling of tobacco. I have heard it told, that now very lately there hath been a cata- logue of all those new erected houses that have sett up that .trade of selling tobacco in London, and neare about London ; and if a man may believe what is confidently reported, there are found to be upwards of seven thousand of houses that doth live by that trade. "If it be true that there be seven thousand shops in and about London, that doth vend tobacco, as it is credibly reported that there be over and above that number, it may well be supposed to be but an ill customed shop, that taketh not five shillings a day, one day with another throughout the whole year ; or, if oii^c doth take lesse, two other may take more; 'but let us make our account, but after two shillings sixpence a day, for he that taketh lesse than that wonld be ill able to pay his rent, or to keepe open his shop windows ; neither would tobacco houses make such a muster as they do, and that almost in every lane, and in every by-corner round about London." "A Tobacco seller is described after this manner by 1Q2 TOBACCO SELLIISG. Blonnt in a volume "Micro-Cosmographie; Or A Piece of of the World discovered ; in Essays and Characters " (162S). " A tobacco seller is the only man that finds good in it ■which otiiers brag of, but doe not, for it is meate, drinke, and clothes to him. No man opens his ware with greater serious- ness, or challenges your judgment more in the operation. His Shop is the Randenvous of spitting, where men dialogue with their noses, and their conversation is smoke. It is the place only where Spain is commended, and preferred before Eng- land itself. " He should be well experienced in the World ; for he has daily tryall as men's nostrils, and none is better acquainted with humour. His is the piecing commonly of some other trade, which is bawd to his Tobacco, and that to his wife, which is the flame that follows the smoke." Early in the Seventeenth Century began the persecution by royal haters of the plant, others, however, had denounced the weed and its use and users, but venting nothing more than a tirade of words against it, had but little effect in breaking up the trade or the custom.* James I. sent forth his famous "Counterblast" and in the strongest manner con- demned its use. A portion of it reads thus : " Surely smoke becomes a kitchen fane better than a dining chamber : and yet it makes a kitchen oftentimes in the inward parts of men, soy ling and injecting with an unctuous oyly kind of roote as hath been found in some great tobacco takers, that after death wxre opened. A custom loathsome to the eye, harmful to the braine, dangerous to the lungs, and the black stinking fume thereof, nearest resembling the horrible Stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless." f Quaint old Burton in his "Anatomy of Melancholy," recognizes the virtues of the plant while he anathematizes its abuse. He says : — "Tobacco, divine, rare, superexcellent tobacco, which goes far beyond all their panacetas, potable gold, and philosophers' stones, a soveraign remedy to all diseases. A good vomit, I •Elfzab'-tTi during Tier rple-n, pxiWlsTied nn pdlct agninst its use, assipnirg as ft reason, that li' r Riil)jects, by eniployiug the same luxuries as barbarians, were likely to degenerate Into biirbarihin. , , ,, „ .i. "From tlie flrat introduction of the weed, the votar'es of the pipe have enjoyed all the Wessinjrs of ptTKCcution. Kings h;ive pnnisbed. priests have iiDathcmntiycd, saliriBts satirized and women seolded ; but still the weed, with its divers fhnpes and different names, reigns snpn me among narcotics in every region of the f^\o\3e.'—EmerfiOn'\ Uugazine. t Anolhi-r writer in tin- siimi? censoiious manner says of the use of tobacco. '• bmolclnff is the jovial repast of Ciinnihals or Maii-i-aters. and the grand entertainment of idolatrous Pagan Festivals. Masters will not permit the use of It to their eervantB or BlaveB and snca as ase It cau hurdly find luaeters or buyers." TOBACCO IN EUROPE. 103 confesse, a vertuous herb, if it be well qualified, opportunely taken, and medicinally used ; but, as it is commonly abused by most men, which take it as tinkers do ale, 'tis a plague, a miscliief, a violent piirgcr of goods, lands, health, hellish, divclish and damned tobacco, the mine and overthrow of body and soul." The duty on importation liad been only twopence per pound, a moderate sum in view of the prices realized by the ealc of it. The King now increased it to the enormous sum of two sliilling and ten pence. James termed the custom of using tobacco an "evil vanitic" impairing "the health of a great number of people their bodies weakened and made unfit for labor, and the estates of many mean persons so decayed and consumed, as they are thereby driven to unthriftie shifts only to maintain their gluttonous exercise thereof." * Brodi- gan says of the " Counterblast : " "However absurd his reasoning may appear, it unfortu- nately liappened that he possessed the power to reduce his aversion to practice, and he may be considered a.^ the author of that unwarrantable persecution of the tojacco plant, which under varying circumstances, has been injudiciously continued to the present time." Other royal haters of the plant issued the most strenous lawsf and afilxed penalties of the severest kind, of these may be mentioned the King of Persia, Ainuroth IV. of Turkey, the Emperor Jehan-Gee and Popes Urban VIII. and Innocent XII., the last of whom sho-\cd his dislike to many other customs beside that of tobacco taking. One of the edicts which he issued Avas against the taking of snuff in St. Peters, at Rome ; this was in 1G90; it was, however, revoked by Pope Benedict XIV., who himself had acquired the indulgence. Early in the Seventeenth Century tobacco found its way to ~| Constantinople. To punish the habit, a Turk was seized and a pipe transfixed through his nose. •"KInfT .larnos" vtolpntp7rjn(!i''r!ia~alvt i :i rs-? of tohnco.irose from IM.s aversion to Bir W.ilt(vUiI;i;?'i.l;a lUv.tlmiicrCcri.itoUiisIuinl wliui:! liuliiiiiudcil asacriCcu to tlic grat- iUcaf.lo:! of t!i FMiiff-hoxcs of tliosc who TUdo luuot'lbcm in cliurch bhould Oc coiiflscaifil lo llii; use of tlio beudlj. ^f ' f^^ : ':J KOY^L HATERS OF TOBACCO. 105 The death of King James, followed by its occupancy of ~\ the throne by his son Charles I., did not lessen the persecu- \ tion against tobacco.* In 1625, the year of his accession, he ' issued a proclamation against all tobaccos excepting only the growth of Virginia and Somerites. Charles II. also prohib- 1 ited the cultivation of tobacco in England and Ireland, attaching a penalty of 10£ per rood. Fairholt, in alhiding to the Stuarts and CromweJi as persecutors of tobacco, says: " Cromwell disliked the plant, and ordered his troops to trample down the crop wherever found." It is an historical fact that both James I. and the two Charleses as well as Cromwell had the strongest dislike against the Indian weed. With such powerful foes it seems hardly possible that the custom should have increased to such an extent that when William ascended the throne the custom was said to be almost universal. f "Pipes grew larger and ruled by Dutchman, all England smoked in peace." From this time forward the varieties used served o|ily to increase the demand for the tobacco of the colonies, and as its culture became better understood the leaf grew in favor, until the demand for it was greater than the production. During the reign of Anne, the custom of smoking appears to have attained its greatest height in England ; the consnmp — ^ tion of tobacco was then proportionably greater, considering the population, than it is at the present time. Spooner, in his " Looking-Glass for Smokers," 1703, says of the custom: " The sin of the kingdom in the intemperate use of tobacco, swellcth and increaseth so daily, that 1 can compare it to nothing but the waters of Noah, that swell'd fifteen cubits above tlie highest mountains. So that if this practice shall continue to increase as it doth, in an age or two it will be as hard to find a family free, as it was so long time since one that commonly took it." •Tobacco hns been able to eurvlve snob attacks ns tboFP— nny, bas raisptl up ahost of flefeiHlers !i8 well as oppoMonts. Tbe Polisli Jesuits publlsh'd a wcjrk entitled" Anti-Miso- capnus," in aiiswev to Kinfj James. In 1628. Raphael TboriiiH wriite a pi.ein "Hyninus Tol)!ici." A bos', of n.nnioH appear In ilie Hi 111 : LeauR, Brauni and Simon Puull, Poi tal, I'ia, Viinqiielin, GardHune, Pugvelt. lieiuiann, and De Morvciau. tsayg an enthusiastic writer on lol):ice<), "If juilpcd bv the vlci.spitndeB tbrongb wblcb It has traveled, it must indeed be aeknowlrdgt-d ii bero iinionn filanis; and If liuman pity, respect, orlove should be given it for ' the dangers it has passed," the inspiration of Desde- moiiia's love for Othello, then might its most eloquent oppoueut be dumb, or yield It no Inconsiderable meed of bomago." 106 OLD CUSTOMS. When tobacco was first introduced into England its sale was confined to apothecaries, but afterwards it was dealt in by tobacconists, who sold other goods besides tobacco. About the middle of the Seventeenth Century the culture of tobacco commenced in England ; it continued, however, only for a short time, for the rump parliament in 1652 prohibited the planting of it, and tM^o years later Crom- well and his council appointed commissioners for strictly putting this act in execution : and in 1660 it was legally enacted, that from the first of January, 1660-1, no person whatever should sow or plant any tobacco in England, under certain penalties. In England drinking or smoking tobacco seems to have met with more success (as a mode of use) rather than chewing (now so popular). It was principally confined to the lower classes, and was common among soldiers and sailors. SILVER SPITTOONS. When used by gentlemen it was common to carry a silver basin to spit in. The habit of smoking or using tobacco in any form was A RACY POEM. 107 then more constant than now, and its use was common in almost all places of public gathering. It was the custom to smoke in theatres ; stools being provided for those who paid for their use and the privilege of smoking on the stage. Tobacco was also sold at some of the play-houses, and proved a source of profit, doubtless, beyond even the representation of the plays. We should infer also from some of the early stage plays, that the " players " used the weed even when acting their parts. Rowlands gives the following poem on tobacco in his " Knave of Clubs," 1611 : — " Who durst dispraise tobacco whilst the smoke is in my nose, Or say, but fah ! my pipe doth smell, I would I knew but those Durst offer such indignity to that which I prefer. For all the brood of blackamoors will swear I do not err, In taking this same worthy whif with valiant cavalier, But that will make his nostrils smoke, at cupps of wine or beer. When as my purse can not afford my stomach flesh or fish, I sop with smoke, and feed as well and fat as one can wish. Come into any company, though not a cross you have, Yet offer them tobacco, and their Tquor you shall have. They say old hospitalitie kept chimnies smoking still ; Now what your chimnies want of that, our smoking noses will. Much vituals serves for gluttony, to fatten men like swine, But he's a frugal man indeed that with a leaf can dine. And needs no napkins for his hands, his fingers' ends to wipe, But keeps his kitchen in a box, and roast meat in a pipe. This is the waj' to help down years, a meal a day's enough : Take out tobacco for the rest, by pipe, or else by snuff. And you shall find it physical ; a corpulent, fat man, Within a year shall shrink so small that one his guts shall span. It's full of physic's rare effects, it worketh sundry ways. The leaf green, dried, steept, burnt to dust, have each their several praise, It makes some sober that are drunk, some drunk of sol'cr sense, And all the moisture hurts the brain, it fetches smoking thence. All the four elements unite when you tobacco take. For earth and water, air and fire, do a conjunction make. The pipe is earth, the fire's therein, the air the breathing smoke; Good liquor must be present too, for fear I chance to choke. Here, gentlemen, a health to all, 'Tis passing good and strong. I would speak more, but for the pipe I cannot stay so long. In 1602 appeared a sweeping tirade entitled, " Work for Chimney Sweepers, or a Warning against Tobacconists." It 108 GOOD RECOMMENDATIONS. abounds with threats against all who indulge in tobacco. The most singular work, how- ever, appeared in 1616, bearing the following singular title: "The Smoking Age, or the Man in the Mist ; with the Life and Death of Tobacco, Dedicated to Captain Whiffe, Captain Pipe, and Captain Snufle." A frontis- piece is given representing a tobacconist's shop with shelves, counters, pipes and tobacco ; a carved figure of a negro stands upon the counter, which shows how soon such figures were used by dealers in pipes and tobacco. The title-page contains the following epigram : " This some affirme, yet yield I not to that, 'Twill make a fat man lean, a lean man fat; But this I'm sure (howse'ere it be they meane) That many whiffes will make a fiat man lean." The following effusion resembles many of the verses of the day on the fruitful subject : " Tobacco's an outlandish weed, Doth in the land strange wonders breed, It taints the breatli, the blood it dries, It burns the head, it blinds the eyes ; It dries the lungs, scourgeth the lights, • It numbs the soul, it dulls the sprites; I brings a man into a maze. And makes him sit for other's gaze ; It makes a man, it mars a purse, A lean one fat, a fat one worse ; A sound man sick, a sick man sound, A bound man loose, a loose man bound; A white man black, a black man wliite, A night a day, a day a night; The wise a fool, the foolish wise, A sober man in drunkard's guise ; LESSONS TAUGHT US. 109 A drunkard with a drought or twain, A sober man it makes again ; A full man empty, and an empty full, A gentleman a foolish gull ; It turns the brain like cat in pan. And makes a Jack a gentleman." The well-known 60ii<^ of " Tobacco is an Indian "Weed," was written most probably the last half of the Seventeenth Century, Fairholt gives the best copy we have seen of it. It is taken from the first volume of " Pills to Purge Melan- choly," and reads thus : " Tobacco's but an Indian weed, Grows green at morn, cut down at eve, It shows our decay, we are but clay ; Think of this when you smoke tobacco. " The pipe, that is so lily white, Wherein so nsany take delight, Is broke with a touch — man's life is such; Think of this when you smoke tobacco. " The pipe, that is so foul within. Shews how man's soul is stained witli sin. And then the fire it doth require ; Think of this when you smoke tobacco. " The ashes that are left behind Do serve to put us all in mind That unto dust return we must; Think of this when you smoke tobacco. " The smoke, that does so high ascend. Shews us man's life must have an end. The Vapor's gone — man's life is done ; Think of this when you smoke tobacco." One of the strongest objections against the use of the " Indian novelty " was its ruinous cost at this period. During the reign of James The First and Charles The Second, Spanish tobacco sold at from ten to eighteen shillings per pound while Virginia tobacco sold for a time for three shillings. In no age and b}"^ no race excepting perhaps the Indians was the habit so universal or carried to such a length 110 A SMOKING DIVINE. as in the Seventeentli Century — its supposed virtues as a medicine induced many to inhale the smoke constantly. This was one reason why tobacco was condemned by so many of the writers and playwrights of the day yet many of them used the weed in some form from Ben Johnson to Gibber the one fond of his pipe the other of his snuff. In 1639 Yenner published a volume entitled " A Treatise " concerning the taking of the fume of tobacco. His advice is " to take it moderately and at fixed times." Many of the clergy were devoted adherents of the pipe. Lilly says of its use among them : " In this year Bredon vicar of Thornton a profound divine, but absolutely the most polite person for nativities in that age, strictly adhering to Ptolemy, which he well understood ; he had a hand in composing Sir Christopher Heydon's defence of judicial astrology, being that time his chaplain ; he was so given over to tobacco and drink, that when he had no tobacco, he would cut the bell-ropes and smoke them." CHAPTER y. TOBACCO IN EUEOPE. (CONTINUED.) ■EANDER in his work " Tobacologia," (1622) gives list of the various kinds of tobacco then used and •here they were cultivated, among them are the following well known now as standard varieties of tobacco: Brazilian, St. Domingo, Orinoco, Virginia, and Trinidad tobacco. Fairholt says of the latter that it was most popular in England and is frequently named by early authors.* Tobacco when prepared for us was made into long rolls or large balls which often answered for the tobacconist's sign. What we now call cut tobacco was not as popular then as roll. Smokers carried a roll of tobacco, a knife and tinder to ignite their tobacco. At the close of the Sixteenth Century tobacco was introduced into the East. In Persia and Turkey where at first its use was opposed by the most cruel torture it gained at length the sanction and approval of even the Sultan himself. Pallas gives the fol- lowing: account in regard to its first introduction into Asia : " In Asia, and especially in China, the use of tobacco for smoking is more ancient than the discovery of the New "World, I too scarcely entertain a doubt. Among the Chinese, and among the Mongol tribes who had the most intercourse with them, the custom of smoking is so general, so frequent, and become so indispensable a luxury; the tobacco purse afiixed to their belt, so necessary an article of dress ; the form of the pipes from whicii the Dutch seem to have taken the model of theirs so original; and, lastly the preparation of the yellow leaves, which are merely rubbed to pieces and * Ncandcr aayi that Variaas toliacco was the best. Ill 112 POPULAR USE OF TOBACCO. then put into the pipe, so peculiar, that we cannot possibly derive all this from America by way of Europe ; especitilly as India, (where the habit of smoking is not so general,) inter- venes between Persia and China. May we not expect to tind. traces of this custom in the first account of the Voyages of the Portugese and Dutch to China ? To investigate tliis subject, I have indeed the inclination but not sufficient leisure." We find by research that smoking was the most general mode of using tobacco in England when first introduced. In France the habit of snuffing was the most popular mode and to this day the cus- "^ tom IS more general than elsewhere. In the days of the Regency snuff-taking had attained more general popularity than any other mode of using the plant leaves; the clergy were fond of the " dust " and carried the most expensive snuff boxes, while many loved the pipe and indulged in tobacco-smoking. The old vicar restored to his living enjoyed a pipe when seated in his chair musing on the subject of his next Sunday's dis- course, " with a jug of sound old ale and a huge tome ot sound old divinity on the table before him, for the occasional refreshment as well of the bodily as the spiritual man," The cultivation of tobacco in Europe was begun in Spain and Portugal. Its culture in these kingdoms as well as by their colonies brought to the crown enormous revenues. In 1626, its culture began in France and is still an important product. A little later it began to be cultivated in Gerniany where it had already been used as a favorite luxury. From this time its use and cultivation extended to various parts of Europe. The Persecutors whether kings, popes, poets, or courtiers at length gave up their opposition while many of TOBACCO AND THEOLOGY. MORE POETRY 113 them joined in tlie use and spread of tlie custom. It has "been said with much truth : "History proves that persecution never triumphs in its attempted eradications. Tobacco was so generally liked that no legislative measures could prevent its use." At first the use of tobacco was confined to fops and the hangers on at ale houses and taverns but afterwards by the " chief men of the realm." Soon after the importation of the "durned weed" from Virginia the tobacco muse gave forth many a lay concerning the custom. The following verses describe the method of smoking then in vogue: Nor did that time know- To puff and to blow- In a peece of white clay, As they do at this day With fier and coole, And a leafe in a hole ; As my ghost hath late seen, As I walked betwene Westminister Hall And the church of St. Paul, And so thorow the citie Where I saw- and did pitty My country men's cases. With fiery-smoke faces, Sucking and drinking A filthie weede stinking, Was ne'r known before Till the devil and the Moro *^:' In th' Indies did meete, And each other there greete With a health they desire, Of stinke, smoke and fier. But who e're doth abhorre it. The citie smookes for it ; . Now full of fier shop, And fowle spitttng chop, So sneezing and coughing. That my ghost fell to scofltog. And to myself said : Here's filthie fumes made ; >■ Good phisicke oi force To cure a eicke horse." 114 FROM "OLD SALT." The Puritans, from the first introduction of the plant, were sincere haters of tobacco, not only in England but in America. Cromwell had as strong a dislike of the plant as King James, and ordered the troopers to destroy the crops by trampling them under foot. Hutton describes a Puritan as one who " Abhors a sattin suit, a velvet cloak, And sayes tobacco is the Devill's smoke." Probably no other plant has ever met with such powerful determined opposition, both against its use and cultivation, as the tobacco plant. It was strenuously opposed by all possible means, gpvernmental, legislative, and literary. When tea and coffee were first introduced both were denounced in unmeasured terms, but the opposition was not so bitter or as lasting. The following verses bearing the nom deplume of an " Old Salt," record much of the history of the plant : — " Oh muse ! grant me the power (I have the will) to sing How oft in lonely hour, When storms would round me lower, Tobacco's prcfv'd a King ! ** Philanthropists, no doubt With good intentions ripe, Their dogmas may put out, And arrogantly shout The evils of the pipe. * Kind moralists, with tracts, Opinions fine may show : Produce a thousand facts- How ill tobacco acts Man's system to o'erthrow. *' Learn'd doctors have employed Much patience, time and skill, * To prove tobacco cloyed With acrid alkaloid, With power the nerves to kill " E'en Popes have curst the plant; Kings bade its use to cease ; TOBACCO GLORIFIED. 115 But all the Pontift's rant And Royal Jamie's cant Ne'er made its use decreaae. *' Teetotallers may stamp And roar at pipes and beer; But place them in a swamp, When nights are dark and damp — Their tune would change, I fear. ** No adyocate am I Of excess in one or t'other. And ne'er essayed to try In wine to drown a sigh, Or a single care to smother. *' Yet, in moderation pure, A glass is well enough ; But, a troubled heart to cure, Kind feelings to insure, Give me a cheerful puff. *' How oft a learn'd divine His sermons will prepare, Not by imbibing wine, But, 'neath th' influence fine Of a pipe of " baccy " rare ! ** How many a pleasing scene, How many a happy joke. How many a satire keen. Or problem sharp, has been Evolved or born of smoke ! ** How oft, amidst the jar Of storms on ruin bent, On ship-board, near or far. To the drenched and shiv'ring tax Tobacco's solace lent! « Oh ! tell me not 'tis bad. Or that it shortens life. Its charms can soothe the sad, And make the wretched glad, In trouble and in strife. *' "Tis used in every clime. By all men, high and low; ^' It is praised in prose and rhymei So let the kind herb grow I 116 WEIGHT OF SMOKE. " 'Tis a friend to the distress'd, 'Tis a comforter in need ; It is social, soothing, blest; It has fragrance, force, and zest; Then hail the kingly weed !" While Raleigh * and many of Elizabeth's courtiers indulged frequently in a pipe, some have imagined that even Queen Bess herself tested the rare virtues of tobacco. This is hardly based upon sufficient proof to warrant a very strong belief in it ; but the follov^^ing account of " How to weigh smoke " taken from Tinsleifs Magazine shows that the Queen was acquainted at least with Raleigh's use of the weed : / " One day it happened that Queen Elizabeth, wandering about the grounds and alleys at Hampton with a single maid of honour, came upon Sir Walter Raleigh indulging in a pipe. Smoking now is as common as eating and drinking, and to smoke amongst ladies is a vulgarity. But not so then : it was an accomplishment, it was a distinction ; and one of the feathers in Sir Walter's towering cap was his introduction of tobacco. The all-accomplished hero rose and saluted the Queen in his grand manner, and the Queen, who was in her daintiest humour, gave him her white hand to kiss, and took the seat he had left. " ITow, Sir Walter, I can puzzle you at last." " I suppose I must not be so rude as to doubt your Majesty." " You are bold enough for that, but your boldness will not help you. Sir Walter, this time. You cannot tell me how much the smoke from your pipe weighs." " Your Majesty is mistaken. I can tell you to a nicety. Will your Majesty allow me to call yonder page, and send for a pair of scales and weights ? '. " By my honour," said the Queen, " were any other subject in our realm to make request so absurd, we should very positively deny it. But you are the wisest of our fools, and, though we expect to see but little use made of these weights when brought, your request shall be granted. And, suppos- ing you fail to weigh the smoke, what penalty will you pay ?'* " I will be content," said Sir Walter, " to lose my head." " You may chance to lose it on a graver count than this ; '* answered the Queen. " If the head shall have done some • It is said that Kaleigh ia commnnicatlng the art to his friends, gave smoking parties at His nouse, where his guests were treated with nothing but a pipe, a mug of ale. and a nutmeg. Says an English writer: "From the anecdote related respecting the weight of smoke, the vapor of the pipe certainly did not throw a cloud over the brilliant wit of the unfortunate Kaleigh." FIRE ! FIRE ! ir slight service to jour Majesty and the realm," replied the courteous knight, "thee will he well content nevertheless." "liut your Majesty will soon see that I fail not. First, madam, I place this empty pipe in the scales, and I find that it weighs exactly 2 ounces. I now till it with tobacco, and the weight is in- creased to 2 1-lOth ounce. I must now ask your Majesty to allow me to smoke the pipe out. I shall then turn out the ashes, and place them together with the pipe in the scale once more. The differ- 6 n c e between the weight of the pipe with the unsmoked tobacco, and weight of the pipe with the ashes, will be the weight of the smoke." "You are too clever for us, Sir Walter. We shall expect you to-night at supper, and if the conversation grow dull, you shall tell our cour- tiers the story of the pipe." Many other anecdotes have been told of the adventures of Kaleigh with his pipe. One is that wliile taking a quiet smoke his servant entered and becoming alarmed on seeing the smoke coming from his nose threw a mug of ale in his face. The same anecdote is also related of others including Tarlton. He gives an account of it in his Jests IGll. it is told in this manner : " Tarlton as other gentlemen used, at the first coming up of tobacco, did take it more for fashion's sake than otherwise, and being in a roome, sat betweene two men overcome with wine, and they never seeing the like, wondered at it, and seeing the vapour come out of Tarl ton's nose, cryed out, * Fire, fire !' and threw a cup of wine in Tarlton's face. * Make no more stirre,' quoth Tarlton, ' the fire is quenched ; if the sheriffs come, it will turne a fine as the custom is.' WEIGHING SMOKE. 118 ANECDOTES. And drinking that againe, Tie,' says the otlier: 'what a stinke it makes. I am almost poysoned.' ' If it offend/ quoth Tarlton, ' let's every one take a little of the smell, and 80 the savor will quickly go ;' but tobacco whiflfes made them leave him to pay all." Rich gives the following account of a similar scene : — "I remember a pretty jest of tobacco which was this: A certain Welchman coming newly to London, and beholding one to take tobacco, never seeing the like before, and not knowing the manner of it, but perceiving him vent smoke so fast, and supposing his inward parts to be on fire, cried out, ' O Jhesu, Jhesu man, for the passion of Cod hold, for by Cod's splud ty snowt's on fire,' and having a bowle of beere in his hand, threw it at the other's face, to quench his smoking nose." The following anecdote is equally ludicrous. Before tobacco was much known in Germany, some soldiers belong- ing to a cavalry regiment were quartered in a German village* One of them, a trumpeter, happened to be a negro. A peasant, who had never seen a black man before, and who knew nothing about tobacco, watched, though at a safe dis- tance, the trumpeter, while the latter groomed and fed his horse. As soon as this business was dispatched, the negro filled his pipe and began to smoke it. Great had been the peasant's bewilderment before; great was his terror now. The terror reached an intolerable point when the negro took the pipe from his mouth, offered it to the peasant, and asked him, in the best language he could command, to take a whiflf. "No, no !" cried the peasant, in exceeding alarm ; "no, no I Mr. Devil ; I do not wish to eat fire.'' Henry Fielding, in " The Grub Street Opera " written about a century ago, has the following verses on Tobacco : — " Let the learned talk ot books, The glutton of cooks, The lover of Celia's soft smack — O I No mortal can boast So noble a toast, As a pipe of accepted tobacco. *' Let the soldier for fame, And a general's name, In battle get many a thwack — O ! MORE SONGS. 119 i' Let who will have most Who will rule the rooste, Giro me but a pipe of tobacco. " Tobacco gives wit To the dullest old cit, And makes him of politics crack — O I The lawyers i' th' hall Were not able to bawl, Were it not for a whiff of tobacco. " The man whose chief glory Is telling a story, Had never arrived at the smack — O I Between every heying, And as I was saying, Did he not take a whiff of tobacco. " The doctor who places Much skill in grimaces, And feels your pulse running tic tack — O I Would you know his chief skill? It is only to fill And smoke a good pipe of tobacco. " The courtiers alone To this weed are not prone ; Would you know what 'tis makes them so slack — 0? 'Twas because it inclined To be honest the mind. And therefore they banished tobacco." One of the most curious pieces of verse ever written on to"bacco is the following by Southey, entitled " Elegy on a Quid of Tobacco :" — " It lay before me on the close-grazed grass, Beside my path, an old tobacco quid : And shall I by the mute adviser pass Without one serious thought? now Heaven forbid f •* Perhaps some idle drunkard threw thee there — Some husband spendthrift of his weekly hire ; One who for wife and children takes no care, But sits and tipples by the ale-house fire. 120 CURIOUS VERSES. " Ah ! luckless was the day he learned to chew ! Embryo of ills the quid that pleased him first ; Thirsty from that unhappy quid he grew, Then to the ale-house went to quench his thirst. " So great events from causes small arise — The forest oak was once an acorn seed ; And many a wretch from drunkenness who dies, Owes all his evils to the Indian weed. * " Let no temptation, mortal, ere come nigh ! Suspect some ambush in the parsley hid ; From the first kiss of love ye maidens fly, Ye youths, avoid the first Tobacco-quid ! " Perhaps I wrong thee, O thou veteran chaw, And better thoughts my musings should engage ; That thou wert rounded in some toothless jaw, The joy, perhaps of solitary age. " One who has suffered Fortune's hardest knocks. Poor, and with none to tend on his gray hairs ; Yet has a friend in his Tobacco-box, And, while he rolls his quid, forgets his cares. "Even so it is with human happiness — Each seeks his own according to his whim ; One toils for wealth, one Fame alone can bless, One asks a quid — a quid is all to him. " O, veteran chaw ! thy fibres savory, strong, While aught remained to chew, thy master chewed, Then cast thee here, when all thy juice was gone, Emblem of selfish man's ingratitude ! ** 0, happy man ! O, cast-off quid ! is he Who, like as thou, has comforted the poor ; ' Happy his age who knows himself, like thee, Thou didst thy duty — man can do no more." Another well known song of the Seventeenth Century is entitled " The Trjnmph of Tobacco over Sack and Ale :"— " Nay, soft by your leaves, Tobacco bereaves You both of the garland ; forbear it ; You are two to one, Yet tobacco alone Is like both to win it, and weare it. TRIUMPH OP TOBACCO. 121 Though many men crack, Some of ale, some of sack, And think they have reason to do it; Tobacco hath more That will never give o'er The honor they do unto it. Tobacco engages Both sexes, all ages, The poor as well as the wealthy ; From the court to the cottage, From childhood to dotage, Both those that are sick and the healthy. It plainly appears That in a few years Tobacco more custom hath gained. Than sack, or than ale, Though they double the tale Of the times, wherein they have reigned. And worthily too. For what they undo Tobacco doth help to regaine. On fairer conditions Than many physitians. Puts an end to much griefe and paine ; It helpeth digestion, Of that there's no question, The gout and the tooth-ache it easeth : Be it early, or late, 'Tis never out of date, He may-safely take it that pleaseth. Tobacco prevents Infection by scents, That hurt the brain, and are heady. An antidote is. Before you're amisse, As well as an after remedy. The cold it doth heate, Cools them that do sweate, And them that are fat maketh lean : The Imngry doth teed. And if there be need. Spent spirits restoreth again. The poets of old, Many fables have told. Of the gods and their symposia; But tobacco alone. Had they known it, had gone 122 A GOVERNMENT MONOPOLY. For their nectar and ambrosia. It is not the smack Of ale or of sack, That can with tobacco compare : For taste and for smell, It beares away the bell From them both, wherever they are : For all their bravado, It is Trinidado, That both their noses will wipe Of the praises they desire, Unless they conspire To eing to the tune of his pipe. The history of the rise and progress of tobacco in England, is one of the most interesting features connected with the use and cultivation of the plant. In Spaiu, Portugal, Germany and Holland the plant was sustained and encour- aged by the throne, and royalty was the strongest and most devoted defender it had. It saw in the encouragement of its use, an income of revenue and a source of profit far greater than that received from any other product. Soon after its cultivation began in France, Spain, and Portugal, the tobacco trade was farmed out. From its first cultivation in these countries it has been a government monopoly. In 1753, the King of Portugal farmed out the tobacco trade, and from that time until now, the annual amount received has been one of the principal sources of revenue to the crown. In France, as early as 1674, a monopoly of the trade was granted to Jean Breton for six years, for the sum of 700,000 francs. . In 1720 the Indian Company paid for the privilege 1,500,000 francs per annum ; and in 1771 the price was increased to 25,000,000 francs. Besides France there are thirteen other European states where the tobacco trade is a government monopoly, namely, Austria, Spain, Sicily, Sar- dinia, Poland, Papal States, Portugal, Tuscany, Modena, Parma, San Marino, Lichtenstein. From the first cultivation of the plant, its growers saw in the tobacco trade a vast and constantly increasing source of TOBACCO A BLESSING. 123 wealth. They doubtless in some measure comprehended the close relation existing between it and commerce and realized how extensive would be its use. From the nature of the plant, it affords states and nations an opportunity to engage either in its culture or commerce with the prospect of the largest success. In this respect it is far different from any other tropical plant, and unlike them is capable of being cultivated in portions of the earth far remote from the tropics. In Switzerland and in the Caucas- sias it attains to a considerable size, but is nevertheless tobacco although it may possess but few of the excellences of some varieties, still it affords some enjoyment to the user, from the fact that it is the Indian weed. Fairholt speaking of the tobacco trade says : " The progress of the tobacco trade from the earliest intro- duction of the plant into Europe until now, is certainly one of the most curious that commerce presents. That a plant originally smoked by a few savages, should succeed in spite of the most stringent opposition in church and state, to be the cherished luxury of the whole civilized world ; to increase with the increase of time, and to end in causing so vast a trade, and so large an outlay of money ; is a statistical fact, without an equal parallel." The tobacco plant notwithstanding its fascinating powers, has suffered many romantic vicissitudes in its fame and character ; having been successively opposed and com- mended by physicians, condemned and eulogized by priests, vilified and venerated by kings, and alternately pro- scribed and protected by governments, this once insignifi- cant production of a little island or an obscure district, has succeeded in diffusing itself throughout every clime, and — exhilarating and enriching its thousands — has subjected the inhabitants of every country to its dominion. And every where it is a source of comfort and enjoyment; in the highest grades of civilized society, at the shrine of fashion, in the depths of poverty, in the palace and in the cottage, the fascinating influence of this singular plant demands an equal tribute of devotion and attachment. CHAPTER YI. TOBA.CCO-PIPES, SMOKING AND SMOKERS, ■"} HE implements used in smoking tobacco, from the rude pipe of the Indian to the elaborate hookah of the Turk, show a far greater variety than even the various species of the tobacco plant. The instru- ments used by the Indians for inhaling the tobacco smoke were no less wonderful to Europeans than the plant itself. The rude mode of inhaling the smoke and the intoxication produced by its fumes suggested to the Spaniards a better method of " taking tobacco." Hariot, however, found clay pipes in use by the Indians of Yirginia, which though having no resemblance to the smoking implements discovered by Columbus, seem to have afforded a model for those afterward manufactured by the Virginia colony. The sailors of Colum- bus seemed to have first discovered cigar, rather than pipe- smoking, inasmuch as the simple method used by the natives, consisted of a leaf of maize, which enwrapped a few leaves of the plant. The next instruments discovered in use amgng the Indians were straight, hollow reeds and forked canes. Their mode of use was to place a few leaves upon coals of fire and by placing the forked end in the nostrils and the other upon the smoking leaves, to inhale the smoke until they were stupified or drunken with the fumes. Their object in inhaling the fumes of tobacco seemed to be to produce intoxication and insensibility rather than a mode of enjoyment, although the enjoyment with them consisted of seeing the most remark- able visions when stupefied by its fumes. Such were the 124 INDIAN PIPES. 125 modes of smoking among the Indians when Columbus planted .the banner of Spain in America. A writer in The Tobacco Plant has given a very interest- ing description of Indian pipes in use among the natives of both North and South America. He says : " In the tumuli or Indian grave mounds of the Ohio and Scioto valleys, large quantities of pipes have been found, bearing traces of Indian ingenuity. . That their burial mounds are of great antiquity, is proved by the fact that trees several centuries old are to be found growing upon them. About twenty-five years ago, two distinguished archeologists Squier and Davis — made extensive exploration of these mounds, the results of which were published in an elaborate memoir by the Smithsonian Institution. The mounds indicate that an immense amount of labor has been expended upon them, as the earthworks and mounds may be counted by thousands, requiring either long time or an immense population ; and there is much probability in the supposition of Sir John Lub- bock that these parts of America were once inhabited by a num- erous and agricultural population. It may be asked, have the races who erected these extensive mounds become extinct, or do they exist in the poor uncivilized tribes of Indians whom Europeans found inhabiting the river valleys of Ohio and Illinois \ Many of these mounds are in the form of serpents and symbolic figures, and were evidently related to the sacrificial worship of the mound builders,'" Squier and Davis are of the opinion that : — " The mound builders were inveterate smokers, if the great numbers of pipes discovered in the mounds be admitted as evidence of the fact. These constitute not only a numerous^ but a singularly interesting class of remains. In their con- struction the skill of the maker seems to have been exhausted. Their general form, which may be regarded as the primitive form of the implement, is well exhibited in the accompany- ing sketch. They are always carved from a single piece, and consist of a flat carved bore of variable length and width, with the bowl rising from the centre of the convex side. From one of the ends, and communicating with the hollow of the bowl, is drilled a small hole, which answers the pur- pose of a tube ; the corresponding opposite division being left for the manifest purpose of holding the implement to the mouth. "The specimen here represented is finely carved from a 126 MATERIAL FOR PIPES. beautiful variety of brown porphyry, granulated with various- colored materials, the whole much changed by the action of fire, and somewhat resembling porcelain. It is intensely hard, and successfully resists the edge of the finest-tempered knife. The length of the base is five inches ; breadth of the same one inch and a- quarter. The bowl is one inch and a-quarter high, slightly tapering upwards, bnt flaring near the top. The hollow of the bowl is six- iNDiAN PiPK. ^gj^^j^g ^f ^^ ^^^Yi in diameter. The perforation answering to the tube is one-sixth of an inch in diameter, which is about the usual size. This cir- cumstance places it beyond doubt that the mouth was applied directly to the implement, without the intervention of a tube of wood or metal." This is an account of a simple pipe, with a small bowl ; but most of the pipes found in the mounds are highly ornamented with elaborate workmanship, representing animals such as the beaver, otter, bear, wolf, panther, raccoon, squirrel, wild- cat, manotee, eagle, hawk, heron, swallow, paroquet, etc. One of the most interesting of the spirited sculptures of animal forms to be found on the mound pipes, is the repre- sentation of the Lamantin, or Manotee, a cetacean found only in tropical waters, and the nearest place which they at present frequent is the coast of Florida — at least a thousand miles away. According to Sir John Lubbock, these are no rude sculptures, for the characteristics of the animal are all distinctly marked, rendering its recognition complete. Many modern Indians are possessed of a wonderful aptitude for sculpture, and they appear to gladly exchange their work for the necessaries of life. The material most prized for the purpose of pipe-making is the beautiful red pipe-stone of the Coteau des Prairies, which is an indurated aluminous stone, highly colored with red oxide of iron. It is frequently called " Catlinite," out of compliment to George Catlin, the distinguished collector of Indian traditions, who claims to be the first European that LEGEND OP THE RED PIPE. 127 ever visited the Red Pipe-stone Quarry, wliicli is situated amongst the upper waters of Missouri. Catlin gives the following legend as the Indian version of the birth of the mysterious red pipe : — " The Great Spirit, at an ancient period, here called together the Indian warriors, and standing on the precipice of the red pipe-stone rock, broke from its wall a piece, and made a huge pipe by turning it in his hand, which he smoked over them, and to the north, the south, the east and the west ; and told them that this stone was red, that it was their flesh, that they must use it for their pipes of peace, that it belonged to them all, and that the war club and tlie scalping knife must not be raised on its ground. At the last whifi' of his pipe his head went into a great cloud, and the whole surface of the rock for several miles was melted and glazed. Two great ovens were opened beneath, and two women, guardian spirits of the place, entered them in a blaze of fire, and they are heard there yet, answering to the invocations of the priests and medicine-men." At the pipe-stone quarry there is a row of five huge, granite boulders, which the Indians regard with great reverence, and when they visit the spot to secure some red stone to make pipes, they seek to propitiate the guardian spirits by throwing plugs of Tobacco to them. Some admi- rable pieces of pipe-sculpture are produced by the Boheen Indians, who are found on the coast of the Pacific to the south of the Russians. These pipes are made from a soft blue clay stone which is found only in slabs, and the sculptures are wrought on both sides, the pipes being generally covered with singular groups of human and animal forms, grotesquely intermingled. The Chippewas are also celebrated for their pipes, which are cut out of a close-grained stone of a dark color; and Pro- fessor "Wilson, of Toronto, states that Pobahmesad, or the Plier, one of the famed pipe-sculptors, resides on the Great Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron. The old Chippewa has never deviated from the faith of his fathers, as he still adheres to all their rites and ceremonies. He uses the red pipe-stone and other materials in the production of his pipes, which are ingenious specimens of sculpture. The calumet, or pipe of 128 CHIPPEWA PIPES. peace, is still an object of special reverence with tlie Indian tribes, and the pipe-stem is ornamented with six or eight eagle's SCULPTURED PIPE. feathers. Each tribe has an official who takes charge of the calmnet, which he keeps rolled up in a bearskin robe ; and it's never exposed to view or used, except when the chief enters into a treaty with some neighboring chief. On these occasions the pipe is taken out of its covering by the Indian dignitary, ready charged with the " holy weed," when it is smoked by all the chiefs, each one taking only a single breath of smoke, which is regarded as implementing the treaty. The pipe is then rolled up in its robe of fur, and stowed away in the lodge of its keeper until it is again required. The war pipe is simply a tomahawk, with a perforated handle communicating with the bowl, which is opposite the sharp edge of the weapon. When the Indians joined the British as allies during the American war, they had to be supplied with iron tomahawks of the native pattern, before they could enter the field as allies. Many tribes of Indians use herbs of various kinds to mix with tobacco to reduce its strength, as they are in the habit of exhaling the smoke from the nostrils, and not from the mouth. By the adoption of this means a much smaller quantity of tobacco suffices to produce the soothing influence on the nervous system so well known to votaries of the weed. Longfellow, in his great Indian epic of the Song of Hiawa- tha, has portrayed with graphic power in pleasing verse the mysterious legends describing the birth or institution of the peace-pipe by Gitche Manito, " The Master of Life ; " and a few extracts from " Hiawatha " may be interesting to illus- " HIAWATHA." 129 trate the deep significance of the ideas which the Indian holds regarding liis relations to the Great Spirit of the Universe, and of the esteem with which he views the peace-pipe, which in the words of Catliu "has shed its thriUing fumes over the land, and soothed the f iirj of the relentless savage." Longfellow, in the opening of his poem, says : — "Ye wliose hearts are fresh and simple, Who have faith in God and Nature, Who believe that in all ages Every liuman heart is human, That in even savage bosoms There are longings, yearnings, strivings, For the good they comprehend not, That the feeble hands and helpless, Groping blindly in the darkness, Touch God's right hand in that darkness And are lifted up and strengthened; — Listen to this simple stor}', To the song of Hiawatha. He then describes the making of the pipe from the great Eed Pipe-Stone Quarry, as follows : — " On the Mountains of the Prairie, On the great Red Pipe- Stone Quarry, Gitche Manito, the mighty. He the Master of Life, descending, On the red crags of the quarry Stood erect, and called the nations, Called the tribes of men together. From his foot-prints flowed a river, Leaped into the light of morning, O'er the precipice plunging downward Gleamed like Ishkoodah, the comet. And the Spirit stooping earthward, With his finger on the meadow Traced a winding pathway for it, Saying to it, ' Run in this way !' " From the red stone of the quarry With his hand he broke a fragment. Moulded it into a pipe-head. Shaped and fashioned it with figures ; From the margin of the river 9 130 MAKING THE " PEACE-PIPES." Took a long reed for a pipe-stem, With its dark green leaves upon it ; Filled the pipe with bark of willow ; With the bark of the red willow ; Breathed upon the neighboring forest, Made its great boughs chafe together, Till in flame they burst and kindled ; And erect upon the mountains, Gitche Manito, the mighty, Smoked the calumet, the Peaoe-Pipe, As a signal to the nations." PIPE OF PEACE. The next verses describe the assembling of the nations at the call of Gitche Manito, who proceeds to speak to his children words of wisdom and announces that he : *' ' Will send a prophet to you, A Deliverer of the nations. Who shall guide you and shall teach you, Who shall toil and suffer with you. So j'ou listen to his counsels, You will multiply and prosper ; If his warnings pass unheeded. You will fade away and perish ! " ' Bathe now in the stream before you, Wash the war-paint from your faces, Wash the blood-stains from your fingers, Bury your war-clubs and your weapons, Break the red stone from this quarry. Mould and make it into Peace-Pipes, Take the reeds that grow beside you, Deck them with your highest feathers, SOUTH AMERICAN PIPES. 131 Smoke the calumet together, And as brothers live henceforward !' * * * m " And in silence all the warriors Broke the red stone of the quarry, Smoothed and formed it into Peace-Pipes, Broke the long reeds by the river. Decked thera with their brightest feathers, And departed each one homeward, While the Master of Life, ascending Through the opening of cloud curtains. Through the doorways of the heavens. Vanished from before their faces, In the smoke that rolled around him. The Pukwana of the Peace-Pipe !" Along the nortliern parts of America, are to be found the Esquimaux popuhition, estimated to number about 60,000. They are votaries of the weed, making their pipes either out of driftwood, or of the bones of animals they have used for food. Tobacco is found growing along the whole western sea- board of South America until we reach the northern bound- aries of Patagonia. Far inland on the banks of the Amazon, Kio l^iger, and other great rivers, the weed has been found in luxurious abundance, with a delightful fragrance. Stephens, in his " Travels in Central America," says that *' the ladies of Central America generally smoke — the mar- ried using tobacco, and the unmarried, cigars formed of selected tobacco rolled in paper or rice straw. Every gentleman carries in his pocket a silver case, with a long string of cotton, steel and flint, and one of the offices of gallantry is to strike a light. By doing it well, he may help to kindle a flame in a lady's heart ; at all events, to do it bunglingly would be ill-bred. I M'ill not express my sentiments on smoking as a custom for the sex. I have recollections of beauteous lips profaned. Nevertheless, even in this I have seen a lady show her prettiness and refinement, barely touching the straw on lier lips, as it were kissing it gently and taking it away. When a gentleman asks a lady for a light, she always removes the cigar from her lips." The Rev. Canon Kingsley, in liis fascinating novel of *' Westward Ho ! " has some quaint remarks on the method 132 CIGARETTES. I'llli (//'/, i^m of smoking described by Lionel "Wafer, surgeon to Dampier, which are well worth quoting. He says, " When they, (the Darien Indians,) will deliberate on war or policy, they sit round in the hut of the chief ; where being placed, enter to them a small boy with a cigarro of the bigness of a rolling-pin, and puffs the smoke thereof into the face of each war- rior, from the eldest to the youngest ; while they, putting their hands funnel- wise round their months, draw into the sinuosities of the brain that more than Delphic vapor of prophecy ; which boy presently falls down in a swoon, and being dragged out by the heels and laid by to sober, enter another to puff at the sacred cigarro, till he is dragged out like- wise, and so on till the Tobacco is fin- ished, and the seed of wisdom has sprouted in every soul into the tree of meditation, bearing the flower of eloquence, and in due time the fruit of valiant action." Tobacco in the form of cigarettes, is extensively used by the inhabitants of Nicaragua, Guiana, and the dwellers on the banks of the Orinoco, and the use of the weed is not confined to the male sex, but is freely used both by the female and juvenile portions of the community. Mr. Squier, in his " Travels in Nicara- gua," states that the dress of the young urchins consists mainly of a straw hat and a cigar — the cigar when not in use being stuck behind the ear, in the man- ner in which our clerks place their pens. The natives of Guiana use a tube or pipe not unlike a cheroot, made from the rind of the fruit of a species of palm. This curious pipe is called a " Winna," TOBACCO ON THE AMAZON RIVER. 133 and the hollow is filled with tobacco, the smoking of which affords much enjoyment to the denizens of the swampy regions of Guiana. Mr, Cooke, in " The Seven Sisters of Sleep," states that a tube much resembling the " Winna " of Guiana was some years ago to be met with in the Tobacconists' Shops in London. The Indian dwelling in the dense forests in the region of Orinoco has found that tobacco is an excellent solace to relieve the monotony of his life; he uses it "not only to procure an afternoon nap, but also to induce a state of quiescence which they call dreaming with their eyes open." We find from voyagers up the Amazon, that smoking prevails not merely amongst the natives inhabit- ing the regions which skirt that great river, but also amongst the people on the banks of its numerous tributaries. Mr. Bates the distinguished Naturalist, when making researches far up one of the tributaries of the Amazon, found tobacco extensively cultivated, and some distinguished makers of cigarettes. One maker, Joan Triuidade, was noted for his Tobacco and Tauri cigarettes. This cigar is so named from the bark in which the tobacco is rolled. Some of the tribes inhabiting the district of the lower Amazon indulge in snuff- taking. This snuff is not made from tobacco, it is the produce of a plant of the leguminous order, the seeds being carefully collected and thoroughly dried in the sun before they are pounded in a mortar, when the powder is ready for use. The snuff-making season is quite an event in a Brazilian village, the week or so during which it lasts forming a kind of religious festival mingled with a good deal of indulgence in fermented liquors, chiefly of native origin. Humboldt, when traveling in South America, found in use among the Ottomac Indians a powder called Niopo, or " In- dian snuff." Isiopo is a powerful stimulant, a small portion of it producing violent sneezing in persons unaccustomed to its use. Father Gumilla says : — "This diabolical powder of the Ottomacs, furnished by an adolescent tobacco plant, intoxicates them through the nostrils, deprives them of 134: BRAZILIAN TOBACCO. reason for some hours, and renders them furious in battle." Humboldt, however, has shown that this stimulating snufF is not the product of the tobacco plant, but of a species of acacia, Niopo being made from the pods of the plant after tliey have undergone a process of fermentation. Captain Burton, when traveling in the Highlands of Brazil, found the tobacco plant growing spontaneously, which made him conclude that it is indio;enous to Brazil. He found the " Aromatic Brazilian " a kind of tobacco with thin leaves and a pink flower, which is " much admired in the United States, and there found to lose its aroma after the second year." It is usually asserted that the tobacco grown in Brazil contains only two per cent, of nicotine, but Captain Burton is disposed to doubt this, as he states that some varieties of the " holy herb " grown at Sa'a' Paulo and Nimos suggests a larger proportion. In the small towns in the Highlands of Brazil, Captain Burton found that excellent cigars, better than many " Havannas," were retailed at a halfpenny each. In La Plata, Paraguay, and other countries to the south of Brazil, nearly every person smokes, and an American traveler quoted by Mr. Cooke states that women and girls above thirteen years of age use the weed in the form of quids. A magnificent Hebe, arrayed in satin and flashing in diamonds, "puts you back with one delicate handy while with the fair taper fingers of the other she takes the tobacco out of her mouth previous to your saluting her." A European visiting Paraguay for the first time is rather aston- ished at the conduct of the fair beauty, but such is the force of custom that the squcamishness of the new-comer is soon overcome, when he finds that he has to kiss every lady to whom he is introduced ; and the traveler says that " one half of those you meet are really tempting enough to render you reckless of consequences." Smoking is practised by the natives of Patagonia, who are a tall and muscular class of men, though not such giants as represented by the early voyagers. Hutchinson, in a valua- ble paper on the Indians of South America has an account of the Pehuenches, one of the principal tribes of Patfigonia, PATAGONIANS AS SMOKERS. 135 in •which he states that " tlieir chief indulgence is smoldno-. The native pipes are fabricated out of a piece of stone, ftishioned into the shape of a bowl, into which is inserted a long brass tube. The latter is obtained by barter at Bohia Elanca. The tobacco in the bowl being lighted, each man of a party takes a suck at the pipe in his turn." Tilston, who witnessed the operation, describes it as a most ludicrous one. " The smoker gives a pull at the pipe, gulping in a quantity of Tobacco vapour, the cubic measurement of which my informant would be afraid to guess at. All the muscles of the body seem in a temporary convulsion whilst it is being taken in, and the neighbour to whom the pipe is transferi-ed follows suit by inhaling as if he were trying to swallow down brass tube, bowl, Tobacco, fire, and all. Meanwhile, there issues from the nose and mouth of the previous smoker such a cumulus of cloud as for a few seconds to render his face quite invisible." Tobacco is more used in Chili than in the other countries on the Pacific side of South America ; this is owing to the extensive use of the leaves of the Cocoa plant as a narcotic by the natives of Bolivia, Peru, and Colombia. We refrain from enlarging on the nature and use of this narcotic, as on some future occasion we may take an oppor- tunity of making some observations on Cocoa, which according to Jonson, holds an undisputed sway over some seven or SOUTH AMERICANS SMOKING. eight millions of the inhabitants of South America. The Indians formerly inhabiting the high table-lands of what is now called Peru and Bolivia appear prior to the invasion of 136 FORM AND MATERIAL. the Spaniards to have been much further advanced in civilization than the races occupying the otlier portions of South America ; and there is a strong probability that thej are of a different origin from the races occupying Chili, Patagonia, Brazil, and the great district washed by the waters of the "West Indian Sea. Science as yet cannot give any- thing like an accurate idea of the time man has existed in these widely-diversified countries, but we cannot go wrong in accepting the statement of Darwin, who observes that " we must admit that man has inhabited South America for an immensely long period, inasmuch as any change in climate, effected by the elevation of the land must have been extremely gradual." Another writer says of the pipes of the Indians of North America : "Great variety of form and material distinguishes the pipes of the modern Indians ; arising in part from the local facilities they possess for a suitable material from which to construct them ; and in part also from the special style of art and decoration which has become the traditional usage of the tribes. The favorite red pipe-stone of the Coteau des Prairies, has been generally sought after, both from its easiness of working and the beauty of its appearance. A pipe of this favorite and beautiful material, found on the shores of Lake Siracoe, and now in my possession, measures five inches and three-quarters in length, and nearly four inches in greatest breadth, yet the capacity of the bowl hollowed in it for the reception of tobacco is even less than in the smallest of the " Elfin Pipes." In contrast to this, a modern Winnebago pipe recently acquired by me, made of the same red pipe-stone, inlaid with lead, and executed with ingenious skill, has a bowl of large dimensions illustrative of Indian smoking usages modified by the influence of the white man. From the red pipe-stone, as well as from the lime stone and other harder rocks, the Chippeways, the Winnebagos, and the Sioux, frequently make a peculiar class of pipes, inlaid with lead. " The Chincok and Puget Sound Indians, who evince little taste in comparison with the tribes surrounding them, in ornamenting their persons or their warlike and domestic implements, commonly use wooden pipes. Sometimes these are elaborately carved, but most frequently they are rudelj MORE INDIAN PIPES. 137 and hastily made for immediate use; and even among these remote tribes of the flat head Indians, the common clay pipe of the fur trader begins to supersede such native arts. Among the Assinaboin Indians a material is used in pipe manufac- ture altogether peculiar to them. It is a fine marble, much too hard to admit of minute carving, but taking a high polish. This is cut into pipes of graceful form, and made so extremely thin, as to be almost transparent, so that when lighted the glowing tobacco shines through, and presents a singular appearance when in use at night or in a dark lodge. Another favorite material employed by the Assinaboin Indians is a coarse species of jasper also too hard to admit of elaborate ornamentation." This also is cut into various simple but tasteful designs, executed chiefly by the slow and laborious process of rub- bing it down with other stones. The choice of the material for fashioning the favorite pipe is by no means invariably guided by the facilities which the location of the tribe affords. A suitable stone for such a purpose will be picked up and carried hundreds of miles. Mr. Kane informs me that, in coming down the Athabaska River, when drawing near its source in the Rocky Mountains, he observed his Assinaboin guides select the favorite bluish jasper from among the water-worn stones in the bed of the river, to carry home for the purpose of pipe manufacture, although they were then fully five hundred miles from their lodges. Such a traditional adherence to a choice of material peculiar to a remote so""ce, may frequently prove of considerable value as a clue to former migrations of the tribes. Both the Cree and the Winnebago Indians carve pipes in stone of a form now more frequently met with in tlie Indian curiosity stores of Canada and the States than any other specimens of native carving. The tube, cut at a sharp right angle with the cylin- drical bowl of the pipe, is ornamented with a thin vandyked ridge, generally perforated with a row of holes, and standing up somewhat like the dorsal fin of a fish. The Winnebagos also manufacture pipes of the same form, but of a smaller size, in lead, with considerable skill. Among the Cree Indians a double pipe is occasionally in 138 PIPE OF THE BOBEEN INDIANS. use, consisting of a bowl carved out of stone without mucli attempt at ornament, but with perforations on two sides, so that two smokers can insert their pipe-stems at once, and enjoy the same supply of tobacco. It does not appear, how- ever, that any special significance is attached to this singular fancy. The Saiiltaux Indians, a branch of the great Algon- quin nation, also carve their pipes out of a black stone found in their country, and evince considerable skill in the execu- tion of their elaborate details. But the most remarkable of all the specimens of pipe sculpture executed by the Indians of the north-west are those carved by the Bobeen, or Big-lip Indians, — so called from the singular deformity they produce by inserting a piece of wood into a slit made in the lower lip. The Bobeen Indians are found along the Pacific coast, about latitude 54°, 40', and extend from the borders of the Russian dominions eastward nearly to Frazer River. The pipes of the Bobeen, and also of the Clalam Indians, occu- pying the neighboring Vancouver's Island, are carved with the utmost elaborateness and in the most singular and gro- tesque devices, from a soft blue clay-stone or slate. Their form is in part determined by the material, which is only procurable in thin slabs, so tbat the sculptures, wrought on both sides, present a sort of double bas-relief. From this, singular and grotesque groups are carved without any appa- rent reference to the final destination of the whol " as a pipe. The lower side is generally a straight line, and in the speci- mens I have examined they measure from two or three to fifteen inches long; so that in these the pipe-stem is included. A small hollow is carved out of some protruding ornament to serve as the bowl of the pipe, and from the further end a perforation is drilled to connect with this. The only addition made to it when in use is the insertion of a quill or straw as a mouth-piece. The Indians have both war and peace pipes. The War pipe is a true tomahawk of ordinary size with a perforated handle the tobacco being placed in the receptacle THE WAR PIPE. 139 A WAR PIPE. above the hatchet the handle serving as a pipe-stem and iTsed for either pipe or tomahawk. Many varieties of Indian Pipes have been found not only in the "Western and Southern mounds but in Mexico and Central America. Fine specimens are found in Florida and some elabo- rately carved have been unearthed in Virginia, Wilson Bays of the pipes used by the Indians : " The pipe stem is one of the charac- teristics of modern race, if not distinctive of the Northern tribes of Indians." In alluding to the pipes more particularly he says : " Specimens of another class of clay pipes of a larger Bize, and with a tube of such length as obviously to be designed for use without the addition of a "pipe-stem," most of the ancient clay pipes that have been discovered are stated to have the same form ; and this, it may be noted, bears so near a resemblance to that of the red clay pipe used in modern Turkey, with the cherry-tree pipe stem, that it might be supposed to have furnislied the model. The bowls of this class of ancient clay pipes are n.ot of the miniature proportions which induce a comparison between those of Canada and the early examples found in Britain ; neither do the stone pipe-heads of the mound-builders suggest by the size of the bowl either the self-denying economy of the ancient smoker, or his practice of the modern Indian mode of exhaling the fumes of the tobacco, by which so small a quantity suffices to produce the full narcotic effects of the favorite weed. They would rather seem to confirm the indications derived from the other sources, of an essential difference between the ancient smoking usagea of Central America and of the mound-builders, and those which are 140 PIPE SCULPTURE. Btill maintained in their primeval integrity among the Indians of the North West. Of the mound-builders Foster says : *'The mound-builders were well aware of the narcotic proper- ties of tobacco, a plant which indigenous to America, and which since the discovery of the western continent has been domesticated in every region of the earth where the soil and climate are favorable to its cultivation. No habit at this day, it may be said, is more universal or more ditiicnlt to eradi- cate than that of smoking. With the mound-builder tobacco was the greatest of luxuries; his solace in his hours of relaxations, and the choicest offering he could dedicate to the Great Spirit. Upon his pipe he lavished all the skill he possessed in the lapidary's art. "From the red stone of the quarry With his hand he broke a fragment Moulded it into a pipe head Shaped and fashioned it with figures." Many of these pipes are sculptured from the most obdurate Btones and display great delicacy of w^orkmanship. The features of animals are so truthfully cut that often there is no difficulty in their identification, and even the plumage of birds is delineated by curved or straight lines which show a close adherence to nature. The bowl and stem piece wrought from a single block, are as accurately drilled as they could be at this day, by the lapidary's art. Both the War pipe and Peace pipe are the most sacred and the most highly valued of all the various kinds. " The calumet, or pipe of peace, ornamented with the war eagles quill, is a sacred pipe, and never used on any other occasion than that of peace niakiiig, when the chief brings it into treat}^, and unfold- ing the many bandages w h i c h are carefully kept around it, has it ready to be mutually smoked by the chiefs, after the terms of the treaty are agreed upon, as the means of solemnizing it ; which is done by passing the sacred stem to each chief, who draws one breath of smoke only PEACE PIPE. SMOKING IN ALASKA. 141 through it. Nothing can be more binding than smoking the pipe of peace and is considered by them to be an inviolable pledge. There is no custom more uniformly in constant use amongst the poor Indians than tiiat of smoking nor any more highly valued. His pipe is his constant companion through life — his messenger of peace; he pledges his friends through its stem and its bowl, and when its care-drowning fumes cease to flow, it takes a place with him in his solitary grave with his tomahawk and war-club companions to his long- fancied 'happy hunting grounds.'" From specimens of clay pipes found at the South from Virginia to Florida it would seem that the Indians had a great variety of pipes some of which were beautifully carved while others are perfectly plain. Many of them however are of rude workmanship and might have been fashioned by Bome of the tribe unacquainted with pipe-making. Dall gives the following account of smoking among the natives of Alaska : "We broke camp about five o'clock in the morning. Nothing occurred to break the monotony of constant steady plodding. Two Indians in the bow of the boat would row until tired, and then we would stop for a few minutes to rest, and let them smoke. The last operation takes less than a minute ; their pipes are so constructed as to hold but a very small pinch of tobacco. The bowl, with ears for tying it to the stem is generally cast out of lead. Sometimes it is made of soft stone, bone or even hard wood. The stem is made of two pieces of wood hollowed on one side, and bound to the bowl and each other by a narrow strip of deerskin. In smoking the economical Indian generally cuts up a little birch wood, or the inner bark of the poplar, and mixes it with his tobacco. A few reindeer hairs pulled from his paska, are rolled into a little ball, and placed in the bottom of the bowl to prevent the contents from being drawn into the stem. A pinch of tobacco cut as fine as snufE is inserted and two or three whiffs are afforded by it. The smoke is inhaled into the lungs, producing a momen- tary stupor and the operation is over. A fungus which grows on decayed birch trees, or tinder manufactured from the down of the poplar rubbed up with charcoal is used with flint and steel for obtaining a light. Matches are highly 142 GOOSE-QUILL STEMS. valued and readily purchased. The effect of the Circassian tobacco on the lungs is extremely bad, and among those tribes who use it many die from asthma and congestion of the lungs. This is principally due to the saltpetre with wliich it is impregnated. The Indian pipe is copied from the Eskimo, as the latter were the first to obtain and use tobacco. Many of the tribes call it by the Eskimo name. The Kutchin and Eastern Finneh were modeled after the clay pipes of the Hudson Bay Company, but they also carve very pretty ones out of birch knots and the root of the wild rose-bush. The Chukchees use a pipe similar to those of the Eskimo, but with a much larger and shorter stem. This stem is hollow, and is filled with fine birch shavings. After smoking for some months these shavings impregnated with the oil of tobacco, are taken out through an opening in the lower part of the stem and smoked over. The Hudson Baymeu make passable pipe-stems by taking a straight-grained piece of willow or spruce without knots, and cutting through the outer layers of bark and wood. This stick is heated in the ashes and by twisting the end in contrary directions the heart-wood may be gradually drawn out, leaving a hollow tube. The Kutchin make pretty pipe-stems out of goose- quills wound about with porcupine-quills. It is the custom in the English forts to make every Indian who comes to trade, a present of a clay pipe filled with tobacco. We were provided with cheap brown ones, with wooden stems, which were much liked by the natives, and it is probable that small brier- wood pipes, which are not liable to break, would form an acceptable addition to any stock of trading goods". The Tchuktchi of north-eastern Asia are devoted worshipers of tobacco, and is one of the chief articles of trade with them. Their pipes are large, much larger at the stem than the bowl. In smoking, they swallow the fumes of the tobacco wliich causes intoxication for a time. " The desire to procure a few of its narcotic leaves induces the American Esquimaux from SMOKING IN RUSSIA. 143 the Ice Cape to Bristol Bay, to send their produce from hand to hand as far as the Gnosden Islandsin Belirings Straits, where it is bartered for the to- bacco of the Tchuktchi, and there again princi- pally resort to the fair of Ostrownoje to purchase A TCHTiKTCHi PIPE. tobacco from the Rus- sians. Generally the Tchuktchi receive from the Americans as money skins for half a pond, or eighteen pounds of tobacco leaves as they afterwards sell to the Russians for two ponds of tobacco of the same quality. The Russians also are great lovers of the weed. A writer says : — "Everybody smokes, men, women, and children. They smoke Turkish tobacco, rolled in silk paper — seldom cigars or pipes. These rolls are called parporos. The ladies almost all smoke, but they smoke the small, delicate sizes of parporos, while the gentlemen smoke larger ones. Always at morning, noon and night, comes the inevitable box of parporos, and everybody at the table smokes and drinks their coffee at the same time. On the cars are iixed little cups for cigar ashes in every seat. Ladies frequently take out their part parporos, and hand them to the gentlemen with a pretty invitation to smoke. Instead of having a smoking car as we do, they have a car for those who are so ' pokey ' as not to smoke." Throughout the German States the custom of smoking is universal and tobacco enters largely into their list of expenditures. A writer says of smoking in Austria: — "AVe have been rather surprised to find so few persons smoking pipes in Austria. Indeed, a pipe is seldom seen except among the laboring classes. The most favorite mode of using the weed here is in cigarettes, almost every gentle- man being provided with a silver box, in which they have Turkish tobacco and small slips of paper, with mucilage on them ready for rolling. They make them as they use them, and are very expert in the handling of the tobacco. The 144 SMOKING IN PERU, chewing of tobacco is universally repudiated, being regarded as the height of vulgarity. The Turkish tobacco is of fine flavor, and commands high prices. It is very much in appear- ance like the fine cut chewing tobacco so extensively used at home." The cigars made by the Austrian Government, which are the only description to be had are very inferior, and it is not to be wondered that the cigarette is so generally used in preference. The smoking of cigarettes by the ladies is quite common, especially among the higher classes. In no part of the world is smoking so common as in South America; here all classes and all ages use the weed. Smoking is encouraged in the family and the children are early taught the custom. A traveler who has observed this custom more particularly than any other, says of the use of tobacco in Peru : — " Scarcely in any regions of the world is smoking so com- mon as in Peru. The rich as well as the poor, the old man as well as the boy, the master as well as the servant, the lady as well as the negroes who wait on her, the young maiden as well as the mother — all smoke and never cease smoking, except when eating, or sleeping, or in church. Social distinc- tions are as numerous and as marked in Peru as anywhere else, and there is the most exclusive pride of color and of blood. But differences of color and of rank are wholly dis- regarded when a light for a cigar is requested, a favor which it is not considered a liberty to ask, and which it would be deemed a gross act of incivility to refuse. It is chiefly cigarritos which are smoked. " The cigarrito, as is well known, is tobacco cut fine and dexterously wrapped in moist maize leaves, in paper, or in straw. Only the laborers on the plantations' smoke small clay pipes. Dearer than the cigarritos are the cigars, Avhich are not inferior to the best Havanna. Everywhere are met the cigarrito-twisters. Cleverly though they manipulate, cleanliness is not their besetting weakness. But in Peru, and in other parts of South America, cleanliness is not held in more esteem than in Portugal and Spain." The Turks have long been noted as among the largest con- sumers of tobacco as well as using the most magnificent of smoking implements. The hookah is in all respects the most expensive and elaborate machine (for so it may be called) SMOKING IN TURKEY. 145 nsed for smoking tobacco. A traveler gives the following graphic description of smoking among them : "As each man smokes only out of his own pipe, it is not surprising that this instrument is an indispensable accompa- T0RK SMOKING. niment of every person of rank. Men of the higher classes keep two or three servants to attend to their pipes. While one looks after things at home, the other has to accompany his master in his walks and rides. The lung stem is on such occasions packed in a finely embroidered cloth cover, while the bowl, tobacco, and other accessories are carried by the servant in a pouch at his side. A stranger in Constantinople will often regard with curiosity and surprise, a proud Osmanli on foot or horseback, followed by an attendant who, through the long, carefully-packed instrument which he carries, gives one the idea tliat he is a Aveapon-bearer of some heroic period following his lord to some dangerous rendezvous. So are -the tin)es altered. What the armor-bearer was for the war- like races of old, such is the tchbukdi for their degenerate descendants. "To smoke from sixty to eighty pipes a day is by no 10 146 MODERATE SMOKING. means imcommon ; for whatever be the business, no matter how serious, in which the Turk is engaged, he must smoke at it. In tiie divan, where the grandees of ihe empire consult together on the most delicate affairs of State, the question was once mooted whether the tchbukdes should not be excluded from such debates as were of a strictly private nature. There was a great diversity of opinion on the sub- ject. Politics and reason were on opposite sides. At last it was decided that they would not disgrace an ancient national usage, but would allow the harmless attendants to enter the council-room every now and then to change the pipes. In Turkey, pipes and tobacco afford means of distinguishing not only the different classes of the community, but even the several graduates of rank in the same class. A musliir (mar- shal) would find it derogatory to his dignity to smoke out of a stem less than two yards in length. The artisan or official of a lower rank, would consider it highly unbecoming on his part to use one which exceeded the proper proportions of his class. A superior stretches his pipe before him to his inferior ; while the latter must hold his modestly on one side, only allowing the end of the mouth-piece to peep out of his closed fist. " The pasha has the right to puff out his smoke before him like a steam engine, while his inferiors are only allowed to breathe forth a light curl of smoke, and that must be let off" backwards. Not to smoke at all in the presence of a superior, is held the most delicate homage which can be paid him. A son, for instance, acts in this manner in the presence of his father, and only such a one is considered to be well brought up who declines to smoke even after his father has repeatedly invited him to do so. The fair sex in the East is scarcely less addicted to the use of this weed. "The girl of twelve years old smokes a cigarette of the thickness of pack-thread. "When she has attained her four- teenth or fifteenth year, and is already marriageable, she is allowed to indulge her penchant at will, which is forbidden when younger. After this age the diameter of the cigarette increases year by year; and when a lady has reached the mature age of twenty-four, no one sees anything remarkable in her smoking a modest little chibouque as slie sits on the lower divan of the harem. Elderly matrons — and in Turkey every lady is an elderly matron in her fortieth year — are passionately devoted to this enjoyment. The pipe-bowls and stems always remain of the size appropriated by etiquette to FEMALE SMOKING. 147 the use of the harem ; but the stronjjcst and most pungent sorts of tobacco are not unseldom smoked, until the mouth, which, according to tlie assurance of the poet, in the bloom of its 3'outh breathed forth ambergiris and musk, in its forti- eth year acquires so strong a smell that the lady cau be scented from a distance. "Like their lords, the lianyrus of rank have also their tchbukdes, of course of their own sex, who accompany them when out walking or ou a visit. In this case, however, the cover in which the pipe-stem is made, not of cloth, but of silk. The habit of refreshing oneself with a pipe on some elevated spot which commands a tine view, is common to both sexes. Men can indulge this taste whenever their fancy may suggest, but ladies only in retired spots ; for, Avhenever a Turkish fair one removes the yas mak (veil) from her lips, as she does to smoke, all around her must be harem (sacred). " Sometimes an eunuch stands guard at a little distance off, and if a stranger of the male sex approaches, gives a signal ; the pipe is held aside, while the mouth is kept covered by the veil, until the unexpected Acteon has passed by. But where the pipe plays the most important part is in the bath. It is well known that the Turkish ladies are accustomed to frequent the hommams assiduously, and to remain there for hours together. They enter the bath about eight o'clock in the morning; take their midday meal there, and return home between three and four in the afternoon. During these hours of leisure, the most agreeable in a Moham- medan woman's life, the pipe is their constant resource. In the middle of the warmest room is a round terrace-like elevation, called Gobek-tosh. "Here are clustered old and young, the snow white daughters of Circassia and the coal-black beauties of Soudan, and beguile the hours with never ending gossip, while around them rise the dense fumes of their pipes. Now one of the elders of the party tells a story, now a learned lady holds a discourse on religion, or extols the beauty and virtue of ' Aisha Fatima.' " The Fairy, or Dane's pipe is the most ancient form of the tobacco pipe used in Great Britain and of about the same size as the "Elfin pipes" of the Scottish peasantry. A great variety of pipes both in form and size have been found in the British Islands some of which are of ancient origin bearing dates prior to the Seventeenth Century. Some of 148 EARLY MANUFACTURE OF PIPES. these ancient pipes are formed of very fine clay and although they held but a small quantity of tobacco were doubtless considered to be fine specimens in their time. The manufacture of pipes commenced soon after the custom of using tobacco had become fashionable and soon after the Virginians commenced its cultivation. Fairholt says: " The early period at which tobacco pipes were first manu- factured, is established by the fiict that the incorporation of the craft of tobacco-pipe makers took place on the 5th of October, 1619. Their privileges extending through the cities of London and Westminster, the kingdom of England OLD ENGLISH PIPES. and dominion of Wales. They have a Master, four Wardens, and about twenty-four Assistants. They were first incorpo- rated by King James in his seventeenth year, confirmed again by King Charles I., and lastly on the twenty-ninth of April in the fifteenth year of King Charles II., in all the privileges of their aforesaid charters. "Tlie London Company of Tobacco Pipe Makers was incorporated in the reign of Charles II (1663) ; it bad no hall and no livery but was governed by a Master two wardens, and eighteen assistants. The first pipes used in the British Islands were made of silver wliile 'ordinary ones' were made of a walnut shell and a straw. Afterwards appeared the more common clay pipes in various forms and which are in use at the present time." During the reign of Anne and George I. the pipes assumed a different form and greater length so long were the stems of some of them that they were called yards of day. The French pipe is one of the finest manufactured and is made of a fine red clay especially those made by Fiolet of St. Omer, one of the best designers of pipes. Man}' of these like German pipes are made of porcelain, adorned with portraits FRENCH PIPES. 149 and landscapes. Others are made of rare kinds of wood turned in the lathe or artistically carved, and lined with clay to resist the action of fire. The French also make pipes of agate, amber, crystal, car- nelian and ivory, as well as the various kinds of pure or mixed metals. Many of the French and German pipes while they are beautiful in design and made of the most costly materials are often exceedingly grotesque, representing often the most ludicrous scenes and all possible attitudes. Many of them have been termed as satirical pipes taking off some public character a la Nast. Fairholt says of satirical pipes : "England has occasioned the production of one satirical pipe for sale among ourselves. The late Duke of Wellington toward the close of his life, took a strong dislike to the use of tobacco in the army, and made some ineffectual attempts to suppress it. Benda, a wholesale pipe importer in tlie city employed Dumeril, of St. Omer, to commemorate the event, and the result was a pipe head, in which a subaltern, pipe in hand, quietly 'takes a sight' at the great commander who is caricatured after a fashion that must have made the work a real pleasure to a Frenchman." Many of the French pipes are exceedingly quaint representing all manner of comical scenes. One is formed like a steam-engine the smoke pass- FEENCH PIPES. ing through the funnel. Another is fashioned after a potato or a turnip while others often represent some military subjects. In England and Ireland also pipes of a whimsical form are common. CHAPTEK VII. PIPES AND SMOKERS. (CONTINUED,) N Russia and Denmark as also in Norway and Sweden tlie pipes are more simple and are principally formed of wood sometimes tipped with copper but usually of inferior material and work when compared with French and German pipes. The German pipes con- sidered as works of art are doubtless the finest made. Many are made of meerschaum (sea foam). This material is found in various parts of Asia Minor. When first obtained it is capable of forming a lather like soap, and is used by the Tartars for washing purposes. The Turks use it for pipes which are made in the same way that pottery is and after- wards soaked in wax and is then ready for smoking. It heats slowly and is capable of greater absorption than any other material used in pipe making. To properly color a meer- schaum is now considered as one of the fine arts and when completed is considered quite a triumph. "When the pipe takes on a rich deep brown tint it is considered a valuable pipe and is watched and guarded as a most valuable treasure. M. Ziegler thus describes the source whence the considerable annual supply of meerschaum for meerschaum pipes is derived : "Large quantities of this mineral so highly esteemed by smokers, comes from Hrubschitz and Oslawan in Austrian Moravia, where it is found embedded between thick strata of serpentine rock. It is also found in Spain at Esconshe^ Yallecos, and Toledo ; the best however comes from Asia Minor. The chief places are the celebrated meerschaum 150 MEERSCHAUM PIPES. 151 mines from six to eight miles southeast of Eskis chehr, on the river Pursak chief tributary to the river Sagarius. They were known to Xenophon, and are now worked principally by Armenian Christians, who sink narrow pits, to the beds of this mineral, and work the sides out until water or immi- nent danger drives them away to try another place. Some meerschaum comes from Brussa, and in 1869 over 8,000 boxes of raw material were imported from Asia Minor at Trieste, with 345,000 florins. The pipe manufacture and carving is pi'incipally carried on in Vienna and in Rhula, Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The commercial value of meerschaum carving at these places may be estimated at $2,000,000 annually. However very large quantities of them are not made from genuine but artificial material. The waste from these carvings is ground to a ver}^ lino powder, and then boiled with linseed oil and alum. When this mixture has suflicient cohesion, it is cast in molds and care- fully dried and carved, as if these blocks of mineral had been natural. It is said that about one-half of all pipes now sold are made from artificial meerschaum. Meerschaum is one of the lightest of minerals and it is said that in Italy bricks have been made of it so light that they would float on (he top of the water. Some pipes (doubtless owing to the quality of meerschaum) take on more color in a given time than others this is owing in a great measure however to the thickness of the bowl." Pipe-colorers, who go around coloring pipes or meer- schaums, pride themselves on the rapidity with which they are enabled to color a pipe. The following, on "Pipe Colorers," is from " The Tobacco Plant " : "There are men who pride themselves upon the skill with which the}' are able to color the pipes they smoke. Some of these are amateurs, who smoke Tobacco only with the view of gratifying that taste for color which is satisfied when a bowl of clay or meerschaum is sufficiently yellowed, browned, or blacked. There are men who care nothing for Tobacco of itself, and would be much more easily and rationally pleased were they to set their pipes upon an esisel and ])aint tliem with oils and camel's-liair. Others of the class are professional colorers, who hire themsehes to pipe-sellers or connoisseurs by the M'eek, or day, or hour, to smoke so many ounces or pounds of strong Tobacco through such and such pipes in such and such a time, with the view of causing such 152 COLOKINQ MEERSCHAUMS. PIPE COLORER. and such stains of Tobacco-juice to make themselves visible on the bowls or stems of those specified pipes. These are mostly old, well -seasoned smokers, to whose existence the weed has become essen- tial; who smoke their own old pipes, which lack artistic coloring, in the intervals when they lay aside the pipes they are employed to color. Another and much smaller section of the class are those who smoke for smoking's sake, and yet are weak enough to nnrse some special pipes for show. To such it is a joy to say, when friends are gathered at the festive board ' Look ! is not that well colored ? 1 colored it myself.' In such an age as this, when the learned cannot tell us which of our various branches of knowledge and inquiry are sciences and which are not, it may not seem a great anomaly that this \yi\>e- coloring should, by some, be called ' an art.- Nor is it, when we think that there is such an 'art' as blacking shoes; and when we must perforce admit that he who, barber fashion, cuts our hair — and he who, cook-wise, broils the kidney for our mid-day dinner — is an artist. "We have not come as yet to give this title to the weaver who watches the loom tliat weaves our stockings, or to the hammer-man who beats the red-hot horse-shoe on the anvil in a smithy; but even there we designate 'artisans,' and 'artists' may come next. So, hey ! for the art of coloring pipes ! " It may not be denied that there is beauty in a well-colored meerschaum ; but in the admission lies the contradiction of Keats' well-known line — "A thing of beauty is n joy for ever." For, your meerschaum is a fragile thing, and eminently fran- gible. This present writer once did see four beauties break within a single moon. And when they break, what previous joy of coloring can over-top the sorrow of their dire destruc- tion ? It is a singular difficulty in the way of those who most desire to beautify utility or utilize the beautiful, or THE CITY OF SMOKERS. 153 show that beauty is most lovely when made practical, that these artistic colorers of pipes are always those who make least use of Tobacco, save for the immediate purpose of obtaining the clay in M'hich it is smoked. Ask such an artist why he smokes, and he will scarcely tell you. His best rea- son certainly will be, that others smoke, and, as a custom, it becomes him. And when you find an ardent smoker — one who smokes because he likes Tobacco for itself, or finds it useful — who spends his time in tinting pipes, you will have found a vara ams^ or a monstrosity. Apart from taste, there are some practical objections to this custom of coloring pipes. Smoking, to be worthy, should be free and unrestrained ; while he who colors his pipe is tied by system and confined to rule. " A pipe to be enjoyable, should be its master's slave ; but he who keeps a ' well-colored ' pipe is slave thereto. He can- not smoke it as, or when, or where he will. He must not smoke it in a draught, or near a fire; he must not lay it down, or finger it ; he must not pufi" too fast, nor yet too slow. In short, he is the creature of this ' Joss ' — this hotne- made deity — to which he bows down and worships. The pipe-colorers are the Sabbatarians of smoking. Whereas, the pipe was made for man, they treat man as made for the pipe. And thus, as in all cases where the cart is expected to draw the horse, the economy of nature is reversed, and mischief is evolved." Dibdin, in his " Tour in France and Germany," says of Vienna, that it is a city of smokers, — "a good Austrian thinks he can never pay too much for a good pipe." Many of the Germans use a kind of pipe carved from the root of the dwarf oak; wooden pipes of a similar kind are made of brier root, and are very common, as are also those made from maple and sweet-brier. One of the favorite pipes used by Germans is the porcelain pipe, which consists of a double bowl — the upper one containing the to- bacco, which fits into another portion of the pipe, allowing the oil to ^^^^^^ porcelain pipes. drain into the lower bowl, which may be removed and the pipe cleaned. The bowls are 154 "MY GREAT GRANDFATHER." sometimes painted beautifully, representing a variety of Bub- jects, and in no way inferior to the painted porcelain for the table. The Dutch are famous smokers and are constantly " pull- ing at the pipe." They use those with long, straight stems, and both their clay and porcelain pipes are of the finest form and finish. Irving, in " The History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty," has given a good description of the smoking powers of the Dutch. Speaking of his grandfather's love for the weed, he says : "My great-grandfather, by the mother's side, Hermanns Yan Clattercop, when employed to build the large stone church at Rotterdam, which stands about three hundred yards to your left, after your turn from the Boomkeys; and which is so conveniently constructed that all the zealous Christians of Rotterdam prefer sleeping through a sermon there to any other church in the city. My great-grandfather, I say, when employed to build that famous church, did, in the first place, send to Delft for a box of long pipes ; then, having purchased a new spitting-box and a hundred weight of the best Virginia, he sat himself down and did nothing for the space of three months but smoke most laboriously. " Then did he spend full three months more in trudging on foot, and voyaging in the Trekschuit, from Rotterdam to Amsterdam — to Delft — to HaBrlem — to Leyden — to the Hague — knocking his head and breaking liis pipe against every church in liis road. Then did he advance gradually nearer and nearer to Rotterdam, until he came in full sight of the identical spot whereon the church was to be built. Then did he spend three months longer in walking round it and round it, contemplating it, first from one point of view, and then from another, — now would he be paddled by it on the canal — now would he peep at it through a telescope from the other side of the Mouse, and now would he take a bird's- eye glance at it from the top of one of those gigantic wind- mills which protect the gates of the city. " The good folks of the place were on the tip-toe of expec- tation and impatience. Notwithstanding all the turmoil of my great-grandfather, not a symptom of the church was yet to be seen ; they even began to fear it would never be brought into the world, but that its great projector would lie HUDSON AS A SMOKER. I55 down and die in labor of the mighty plan he had conceived. At length, having occupied twelve good months in puffing and paddling, and talking and walking, — having traveled over all Holland, and even taken a peep into France and Germany, — having smoked five hundred and ninety-nine pipes and three hundred weight of the best Virginia tobacco, — my great-grandfather gathered together all that knowing and industrious class of citizens who prefer attend- ing to anybody's business sooner than their own, and having pulled off his coat and five pair of breeches he advanced sturdily up and laid the corner-stone of the church, in the presence of the whole multitude, — just at the commence- ment of the thirteenth month." He also alludes to Hudson whom he says was: " A seafaring man of renown, who had learned to smoke tobacco under Sir Walter Raleigh, and is said to have been the first to introduce it into Holland, which gained him much popularity in that country, and caused him to find great favor in their High Mightinesses, the lords and states general, and also of the honorable West India Company. He was a short, square, brawny old gentleman, with a double chin, a mastiff mouth, and a broad copper nose, which was supposed in those days to have acquired its fiery hue from the constant neighborhood of his tobacco pipe. * * * As chief mate and favorite companion, the commander chose Master Robert Juet, of Limehouse, in England. By some his name has been spelled Chewit, ascribed to the circum- stance of his having been the first man that ever chewed tobacco. * * * * Under every misfortune he comforted himself with a quid of tobacco, and the truly philosophical maxim, ' that it will be all the same a hundred years hence ! ' " Further on he alludes to the attempt to subjugate New Amsterdam to the British crown and the effect produced by the burghers lighting their pipes. " When " he says " Cap- tain Argol's vessel hove in sight, the worthy burghers were seized with such a panic, that they fell to smoking their pipes with astonishing vehemence, insomuch that they quickly raised a cloud, which, combining with the surrounding woods and marshes, completely enveloped and concealed their beloved village ; and overhung the fair regions of Pavonia : — so that the terrible Captain Argol passed on, totally unsus- picious that a sturdy little Dutch settlement lay snugly couched in the mud, under cover of all this pestilent vapor." 156 PERSIAN WATER PIPES. A PERSIAN WATER PIPK. The Persians* are said to be the first to invent the mode of drawing tobacco smoke through water thereby cooling it before inhaling it. Fair- liolt says " it is to smoking what ice is to Champagne." The London Review gives the following description of pipes and smoking apparatus : "The hookah of India is the most splendid and glit- tering of all pipes ; it is a large affair, on account of the arrangements for caus- ing the smoke to pass through water before it reaches the lips of the smoker, as a means of ren- dering it cooler and of ex- tracting from it much of its rank and disagreeable flavor. " On the top of an air-tight vessel, half filled with water, is a bowl containing tobacco ; a small tube descends from the bowl into the water, and a flexible pipe, one end of which is between the lips of the smoker, is inserted at the other end into the vessel, above the level of the water. Such being the adjustment, the philosophy of the inhalation may be easily understood. The smoke sucks the air out of the vessel, and makes a partial vacuum ; the external air, pressing on the burning tobacco, drives the smoke through the small tube into the water beneath ; purified from some of its rank qualities, the smoke bubbles up into the vacant part of the vessel above the water, and passes through the flexible pipe to the smoker's mouth. Sometimes the affair is made still more luxurious by substituting rose-water for water j9?^r et simple. The tube is so long and flexible that the smoker may sit (or squat) at a small or great distance from the vessel containing the water. In the courts of princes and wealthy natives the vessels and tubes are lavishly adorned with precious metals. One mode of showing hospitality in the •Sandys, writing In 1610 narrates a Persian legend to the effect tl at Phiraz tobacco waa given by a holy man to a virtuous youtli, disconsolate at the loss of his lovinfr wife. " Oo to thy wife's tomb," said the anchorite, " and there thou wilt find a weid. riuck it. place it In a reed, and inhale the smolie, as you put tire to it. This will be to vou wife, mother, father and brother," continued theholyman, in Homeric strain, "and abevo all, will be a wise counsellor, and teach thy soul wisdom and thy spirit joy." TURKISH PIPES. 157 East is to place a hookah in the center of tlic apartment, range the guests around, and let all have a whiff of the pipe in turn ; but in more luxurious establishments a separate hookah is placed before each guest. Some of the Egyptians use a form of hookah called the narghile or nargeeleh — so named because the water is contained in the shell of a cocoa- nut of which the Arabic name is nargeeleh. Another kind, having a glass vessel, is called the sheshee — having, like the other, a very long tube. Only the choicest tobacco is used with the hookah and nargeeleh ; it is grown in Persia. " Before it is used, the tobacco is washed several times, and put damp into the pipe-bowl, two or three pieces of live charcoal are put on the top. The moisture gives mildness to the tobacco, but renders inhalation so difficult that weak lungs are unfitted to bear it. The dry tobacco preferred by the Persians does not involve so much difficulty in ' blowing a cloud.' " TURKISH CHIBOUQUES AND "WOOD PIPES. " The stiff-stemmed Turkish pipes, quite different from the flexible tube of the hookah and narghile, are of two kinds, the kablioun or long pipe, and the chibouque or short pipe. Some of the stems of the kablioun, made of cherry tree, jas- mine, wild plum, and ebony, are five feet in length, and are bored with a kind of gimlet. Tlie workman, placing the gimlet above the long, slender branchlet of wood, bores half the length, and then reverses the position to operate upon the other half. The wild cherry tree wood, which is the most frequently employed, is seldom free from defects in the bark, and some skill is exercised in so repairing these defective places that the mending shall be invisible." The tubes or pipe-bowls used with these steins are mostly a combination of two substances — the red clay of Nish and the white earth of Rustchuk ; they arc graceful in form and sometimes decorated with gilding. It is characteristic of some of the Turks that they estimate the duration of a journey, and with it the distance traveled, by the number of pipes smoked, a particular size of pipe-bowl being undei'stood. Dodwell, in his " Tour through Greece," says that " a Turk is generally very clean in his smoking aj^paratus, having a small tin dish laid on the carpet of his apartment, on which the bowl of the pipe can rest, to prevent the tobacco from 158 PIPE STEMS. burning or soiling the carpet. The tubes of the kabliouna are often as much as seven or eight feet long. Some of the gardens of Turkey and Greece contain jasmine trees pur- posely cultivated to produce straight stems for these pipes." Of those Turkish pipes which are used in Egypt, Mr. Lane, after mentioning the narghile and the chibouque or " shibuk," says : — " The most common kind used in Egypt is made of wood called garmashak (I believe it is maple). The greater part of the stick, from the mouth-piece to three-fourths of its length, is covered with silk, which is confined at each extremity by gold thread, often intertwined with colored silks, or by a tube of gilt or silver ; and at the lower extremity of the cover- ing is a tassel of silk. The covering was originally designed to be moistened with water in order to cool the pipe, and consequently the smoke by evaporation ; but this is only done when the pipe is old or not handsome. These stick pipes are used by many persons, particularly in winter ; in summer the smoke is not so cool from them as from the kind before mentioned. The bowl is of baked earth, colored red or brown." AUSTKIAN AND HUNGARIAN PIPE STEMS. Before passing to the subject of the costly mouth-pieces of Oriental pipes, we must say a few words concerning the extraordinary care bestowed on some kinds of plain wood sticks for stems or tubes. Cherry-tree stems, under the name of agriots, constitute a specialty of Austrian manufacture. The fragrant cherry (prunus makaleb) is a native of that country ; and the young trees are cultivated with special ref- erence to this application. They are all raised from seed. The seedlings, when two years old, are planted in small pots, one in each ; as they grow, every tendency to branching is choked by removing the bud ; and as they increase in size from year to year, they are shifted into larger pots or into boxes. Great care is taken to turn them round daily, so that every part shall be equally exposed to sunshine. When the plants have attained a sufficient height they are allowed to form a small bushy head ; but the daily care is continued until the stems grow to a proper thickness. They are then AMBER MOUTH-PIECES. 159 taken out of the ground, the roots and branches removed, and the stem bored through after being seasoned for some time. The care shown in rearing insures a perfect straight- ness of stem, and an equable diameter of about an inch or an inch and a half. The last specimens, when cut from the tree, are as much as eight feet in length, dark purple-brown in color, and highlj fragrant. At Pesth are made pipes about eighteen inches in length, of the shoots of the mock orange, remarkable for their quality in absorbing the oil of tobacco, they are flexible without being weak. The French make elegant pipe-bowls of the root of the tree-heath, but their chief attention is directed, as far as concerns wood pipes, to those of brier-root, which are made by them in large quanti- ties. The bowl and the short stems are carried out of one piece, and the wood is credited with absorbing some of the rank oil of tobacco. Amber — the only kind of resin that rises to the dignity of a gem — is unfitted for the bowl of a tobacco-pipe, because it cannot well bear the heat ; but it is largely used for mouth- pieces, especially by wealthy Oriental smokers. The Turks have a belief that amber wards off infection ; an opinion which, whether right or wrong, tells well for the amber workers. There has always been a mystery connected with this remarkable substance. So far back as the Phenicians, amber was picked up on the Baltic shore of what is now called Prussia; and the same region has ever since been the chief store-house for it. Tacitus was not far wrong when he conjectured that amber is a gum or resin exuded from certain trees, although other authorities have preferred a theory that it is a kind of wax or fat which has undergone slow petrifac- tion. At any rate, it must at one time have been liquid or semi-liquid ; for insects, flies, detached wings and legs, and small fragments of various kinds, are often found imbedded in it — those odds and ends of which Pope said : — " The things, we know, are neither rich nor rare; The wonder's how the devil they got there !" 160 OBTAINING AMBER. Whether new stores of amber are now being formed, or whether, like coal, it was the result of causes not now in operation, is an unsolved problem. The specimens obtained differ considerably; some are pale as primrose, some deep orange or almost brown ; some nearly as transparent as crys- tal, some nearly opaque. Large pieces, uniform in color and translucency, fetch high prices; and there are fashions in this matter for which it is not easy to account, — seeing that the Turks and other Orientals buy up, at prices which Euro- peans are unwilling to give, all the specimens presenting a straw-yellow color and a sort of cloudy translucency. The Russians, on the contrary, prefer orange-yellow transparent specimens. The amber is seldom obtained by actual mining. It is usually found on sea-coasts, after storms, in rounded nodules ; or, if scarce on shore, it is sought for by men clad in leather garments, who wade up to their necks in the sea, and scrape the sea-bottom with hooped nets attached to the end of long poles ; or (rather danger- ous work) men go out in boats, and examine the faces :|> of precipitous cliffs, picking off", by means of iron hooks, the lumps of amber which they may see here and there. Some- times a piece weighing nearly a pound is found, and a weight of even ten pounds is recorded. As small pieces can easily be joined by smoothing the surfaces, moistening them with linseed oil, and pressing them together over a charcoal fire, and as gum copal is sometimes very like amber, there is much sophistica- tion indulged in, which none but an expert can guard against. In fashioning the nodules of amber, whether genuine or SEARCHING FOR AMBER. ITS VALUE. iQi fictitious, into pipe mouth-pieces, they are split on a leaden plate in a turning lathe, smoothed into shape by whet-stones, rubbed with chalk and water, and polished with a piece of flannel. It is an especially difficult kind of work ; for unless the amber is allowed frequent intervals for cooling, it becomes electrically excited by the friction and shivers into fragments ; the men, too, are put into nervous tremors if kept too long at work at one time. Amber is one of the most electrically excitable of all known substances; in fact, the name electricity itself was derived from electron, the Greek name for amber. Hookahs, chibouques, narghiles, ineerschaums, all are largely adorned with amber mouth- pieces. The mouth-piece often consists of two or three pieces of amber, interjoined with ornaments of gold and gems ; it is in such case the most costly part of the pipe. At one of the greater industrial exhibitions four Turkish amames, or amber mouth-pieces, were shown, illustrating clearly enough the value attached to choice specimens ; two of them were worth £350 each, two £200 each, diamond Etudded. The Turkish and Persian pipes have often a small wooden tube inside the amber mouth-piece. They require frequent cleaning with a long wire and a bit of tow, and in some large towns there are professional pipe-cleaners. The natives of British Guiana have a curious kind of pipe, made of the rind of the fruit of the areca-palm, coiled up into a kind of cheroot, with an internal hollow to hold the tobacco. The poorer Hindoos make a simple pipe of two pieces of bamboo, — one cut close to a knot for the bowl, and a more slender piece for the tube. A lower class of natives in India make two holes of unequal length, with a piece of Btick, in a clay soil ; the holes are unequally inclined so as to meet at the bottom ; the tobacco is placed in the shorter hole, and the smoker, applying his mouth to the longer, inhales the fumes in this primitive fashion. The pipes used for opium-smoking in various parts of the East have small bowls ; the drug is too costly to be used otherwise than in small portions at a time, and too powerful to need more than 11 162 VARIETY OF PIPES. a few whiffs to produce the opium-smoker's dreary delirium. The Tunisians use reeds for pipes. Stone pipes are found among the natives of Vancouver; while Strong Bow, the North American Indian chief, has his long wooden pipe of peace, decked out with tassels and fringes, but with an ominous-looking sharp steel cutting instrument near the end most remote from the bowl. Chinese, Japanese, Phillipine Islanders, Madagascans, Cen- tral Africans, Algerine Arabs, Mexicans, Paraguaj-ans, Siamese, Tahitians, South American Indians, Mongols, Malays, Tartars, Turcomans, as well as the nations of Europe and the chief nations of Southern Asia, all have their smok- ing-pipes, plain or ornate, as the case may be, and made of wood, reeds, bamboo, bone, ivory, stone, earthenware, glass, porcelain, amber, agate, jade, precious metals and common metals, according to the civilization of the country and the pecuniary means of the smoker. "The French clay pipes have quite a special character; they are well made, and great ingenuity is shown in the preparation of the moulds in which they are pressed ; but being mostly intended for a class of purchasers who prefer grotesque ideas to refined taste, the bowls are often ornamented with queer shaped heads, having bead-like eyes; sometimes imaginary beings, sometimes caricature portraits of eminent persons. Where more than the head is represented, license is given to a certain grossness of idea ; but this is not a general charac- teristic. The clay of which these French pipes are made is admitted to be superior to that of England, due to the careful mixture of different kinds, and to skilful manipulation. "We need not say much about Dutch pipes as distinct articles of manufacture, because the process adopted in their Production are pretty much like those in use elsewhere, 'he Dutch are famous clay-pipe smokers, not countenancing the cigar so much as their neighbors the Belgians, nor the meerschaum so largely as their German neighbors on the Rhine frontier. A notable bit of sharp practice is on record FANCY PIPES. mSTORY OF PIPES. 163 in connexion with tlie pipc-smolccrs of Holland — a dodge only to be justified on the equivocal maxini that all is fair in trade provided it just keeps within the margin we need not speak. A ])ipe manufactory was established in Flanders about the middle of the last century, "The Dutch makers, alarmed at the competition which this tln-eatened, cunningly devised a stratagem for nipping it in the bud. They freighted a large Morn-out ship with an enormous quantity of pipes of their own make, sent it to Ostend, and wrecked it there. By the nmnicipal laws of that city the wreck became public property ; the pipes were sold at prices so ridiculously low that the town was glutted with the commodity ; the new Flemish factory was thereby paralyzed, ruined, and closed. The Turks (especially those of the lower orders) use a kind of clay pipe made of red earth decorated with gilding. The stem of the pipe is made from a branch of jasmine, cherry tree or maple and is sufficiently long to rest on the floor when used by the smoker. A writer in the Tobacco Plant says of Old English Clay pipes : " Of all the various branches of the subject of tobacco, that of the history of pipes is one of the most interesting, and one that deserves every attention that can possil)ly be given. Whether considered fethnographically, historically, geographically, or archsBologically, pipes present food for speculation and research of at least equal importance to any other set of objects that can be brought forward. Some branches of the subject have already been treated in these columns, and others, in what is intended shall follow, M'ill hereafter be discussed. The present article will be devoted to ' Fairy Pipes ' and the history of the earliest pipes of this country. Smoking is an old and venerable institution in this kingdom of ours, and dates far back beyond the intro- duction of tobacco to our shores. Long before Sir Walter Italei";h was thouijht of, there is reason to believe herbs and leaves of one kind or other — coltsfoot, yarrow, mouse-lax, sword-grass, dandelion, and other plants, and even dried cow-dung — were smoked for one ailment or other, and in some instances for relaxation and pleasure, and thus, no doubt, became habitually used. These are still, in some of our rural districts, smoked by people as cures for various ailments, and are considered not only highly efficacious but very pleasant. I have known these or other herbs smoked 164 ANCIENT HABIT OF SMOKING. tlirongli a stick from wliicli the pith had been removed, the bowl being formed of a lump of clay moulded by the lingers at the time, a n d. baked in the house- hold fire. "The small branch es of the elder tree, oi sometimes the stem o f the briar and bramble, are what I have seen used, but CLAY AND REED PIPES. sven tlio Stem of the hemlock and keckse are sometimes brought into requisiton for the purpose. " 1 believe that long before the time Dr. Wilson states on the authority- of Sharpe, that it was common within memory, for the old wives of Annandale to smoke a dried white moss gathered on the neighboring moors, which they declared to be much sweeter than tobacco, and to have been in use long before the American weed was heard of ; before Sir Walter Raleigh Avooed and won Elizabeth Throgmorton, or Sir Richard Granville voyaged to Virginia with Masters Ralph Layne, Thomas Candish, John Arundell, Master Stukely, Breinize, Vincent, Heryot, and John Clarke; before Sir Francis Drake made his first voyage, or the Spanish Armada was dreamed of; before Sir John Hawkins, Captain Price, Coft, Keat or others for whom the honor of the introduction of tobacco has been claimed, drew breath — smoking was to some extent indulged in by our forefathers and (still medicinally, of course) in this country. In mediae- val times, when the Ceramic art was but little practiced, and ■when all the domestic vessels that were produced were of the rudest and coarsest character both in material, form, and decoration, it is not to be expected that pipes for tlie smok- ing of herbs would be manufactured as a matter of sale, and those of the people who wished ior such an indulgence would naturally be thrown on their own primitive resources such as I have described, for instruments for the purpose. "A portion of a very I'ude pipe-head, formed of common red clay — a lump of clay moulded b}' hand, and ornamented with small circles pressed into it as from the end of a stick — has come under my notice, as have also others of an equally primitive character, found in different parts of this kingdom. These I have no hesitation in ascribing to a pre-Raleigh FAIRY PIPES. 165 period. It is not to these, however, but to the small pipes formerly used in this kingdoui for smoking tobacco, and tobacco alone, that I wish to draw attention. Most people, especially in the Midland and Northern counties of England, as well as in Scotland and Ireland, will have heard the name of Fairy Pipes applied to the small, old-fashioned, and some- times oddly-shaped tobacco pipes which are not infrequently turned up in digging and plowing and other operations. To ' these and the general forms of old English pipes, I purpose confining myself in the present article. Many years ago I collected together a large number of these 'Fairy Pipes' from all parts of the kingdom. Since then, my own researches have, with the aid of inquiries carried on for me, enabled me to bring forward many interesting points, so as to verify dates of manufacture and more fully to carry out their classi- fication. Like their Irish brethren and sisters, English people were formerly apt to ascribe everything unusually small to the fairies, and anything out of the common way to the people of very remote ages. " Thus, these small pipes are commonly in England called * fairy pipes,' or ' Carl's pipes,' or ' old man's pipes ;' in Ire- land, where they are likewise known as ' fairy pipes,' they are also called ' Dane's pipes ;' and in Scotland, Mhere tlieir common name is ' elf pipes,' or ' elfin pij^es,' they are, in like manner, known as ' Celtic pipes.' They are also sometimes named ' Mab pipes,' or ' Queen's pipes,' from the same fairy majesty. Queen Mab. Thus, while in each country they are ascribed to the elfin race — the 'small people' of Coniisli folk-lore — their secondary names attach to them a popular belief in their extreme antiquity. Anything apparently old is at once, by the Irish, set down to the ' Danes;' by the Scots to the ' Celts;' and by people in the rural districts of our own country to the 'carls,' or ' old men ' — carl being indicative of extreme antiquity. In Ireland, the pipes ai-e believed to have belonged to the cluricaunes — a kind of Mild, ungovern- able, mischievous fairy-demon — who were held in awe liy the *pisantry ;' and whenever found, these pipes were, with much superstitious feeling, immediately broken up, so as to destroy and break up the spell their finding might have cast around the finder. But it was not only among the peasantry that this belief in the extreme antiquity of tobacco pipes existed. "Serious essays Avere written to prove their pre-historic origin, and to claim for them a history that in our d;iy reads as arrant nonsense. In 1784, a short pipe was asserted to IQQ BURIED PIPES. have been found between the jaws of the skull of an ancient Milesian exhumed at Bannockstown, county Kildare. Upon this discovery, an elaborate and learned paper was written in the 'Authologia Hibernica,' setting forth this pipe as a proof of the use of tobacco in Ireland long before that coun- try was invaded by the Danes. This pipe has been proved by comparison to be probably quite late in the reign of Elizabeth. They also have a more modern pipe, the stem of which describes one or more circles, while another is tied in a knot, yet allows a free passage of air. At another time, in opening an Anglo-Saxon grave mound, some of the men employed came across a fairy pipe which evidently had rolled down from among the surface-soil, and, being FAIRY PIPES. turned out in juxtaposition with undoubted Anglo-Saxon remains, was immediately set down by the learned director of the proceedings as a relic of that period. At another time I had brought to me, as a great curiosity, two ' Roman pipes,' as I was informed — the Unders jumping to the conclusion that because they had dug them up at little Chester (the Roman station Derventio), they must be Roman pipes ! I believe they expected to receive a large sum from these relics : how grievously they were dis- appointed I need not tell. Instances of this kind are far from rare. " I remember a man once bringing me some fragments of Roman pottery and other things of the same period, which he had turned up in the course of excavations, and among them was a Tobacco stopper formed of a Sacheverell medal ! and a George II. half-penny, all of which he was ready to Bwear he had found " all of a heap together," inside a hypo- caust tile, which, on examination, certainly had remained in sittt from Romano-British times ! The cupidity of a man had evidently led him to collect together these odds and ends, and try to turn them to profitable account. Some twenty years ago, a large number of " elfin pipes " were dug up at Bomington, near Edinburgh, along with a quantity of placks or bodies of James VI., which thus gave trustworthy evidence of their true date. Others were found in the ancient cemetery at North Berwick, adjoining to which is a email Romanesque building of the Twelfth Century, close upon the shore. Within the last half-century, the sea has JASMINE PIPES. 167 made very great inroads upon this ancient burial-place, carrying off a considerable ruin, and exposing the skeletons, and bringing to light many interesting relics at almost every epring-tide. Among these, many pipes have been washed down. A similar circumstance has occurred on the seashore at Hoy Lake, Cheshire, where several " fairy pipes " have been found. " Notices of several discoveries occur. Dr. Wilson says, in the statistical accounts of Scotland, many of which are sug- gestive of a pre-Raleigh period. Thus, ' in an ancient British encampment in the parish of Kirk Michael, Dumfriesshire, on the farm of Gilrig, a number of pipes of burnt clay were dug up, with heads smaller than the modern tobacco-pipes, swelled at the middle and straighter at the top. Again, in the vicinity of a group of standing stones at Cairney Mount, in the parish of Carluke Lanarkshire, a celt or stone hatchet, elfin bolts (flint and bone arrow-heads), elfin pipes, numerous coins of the Edwards and of later date, and other things are all stated to have been found.' An example is also recorded of the discovery of a tobacco-pipe in sinking a pit for coal, at Misk, in Ayrshire, after digging through many feet of sand. All these notes are pregnant with significant warn- ings of the necessity for cautious discrimination in determin- ing the antiquity of such buried relics." In Turkey the jasmine is cultivated for the purpose of pipe smoking. Barillet describes the growing of the com- mon jasmine near Constantinople. He says : "The object sought is a long straight stem, free from leaves and side branches. For this purpose the plants are grown quickly in a rich soil, and drawn up by being grown in a sheltered situation, to which the sun has little access at the sides, but only at the top. Pinching is resorted to, and during the second year's growth one end of a thread is attached to the top of the jasmine stem. This thread passes over a pulley attached to the post to which this jasmine is trained, and from it is suspended a weight, the efiect of which is to keep the stem always in a vertical direction. When the jasmine stem is about two centimeters (say tliree quarters of an inch) in diameter a cloth is wrapped around it to prevent access of dust and of the sun's rays. Twice or thrice in the year the stem is washed with citron-Avater, which is said to give the clear color so much esteemed. When the stem has acquired a length of some fifteen feet, it 168 SMOKING IN ALGIERS. is cut down and perforated by the workmen, and fitted with a terra-cotta bow and an amber month-piece." Blackburn, in his work entitled "Artists and Arabs," gives the following picture of life and manners in Algiers : — " There is one difficulty here, however, for the artist — that of finding satisfactory models. You can get one at last, and here is her portrait. Her costume, when she throws off her haik (and with it a tradition of the Mohammedan faith, that forbids her to show her face to an unbeliever), is a rich, loose, crimson jacket embroidered with gold, a thin white bodice, loose silk trousers reaching to the knee and fastened round the waist by a magnificent sash of various colors, red morocco slippers, a profusion of rings on her little fingers, and bracelets and anklets of gold filagree work. Through FEMALE SMOKING IN ALGIERS. her waving black hair are twined strings of coins and the folds of a silk handkerchief, the hair falling at the back in plaits below the waist. She is not beautiful, she is scarcely interesting in expression, and she is decidedly unstead)'. She seems to have no more power of keeping herself in one posi- tion or of remaining in one part of the room, or even of being quiet, than a humming-top. The whole thing is an unutter- able bore to her, for she does not even reap the reward— her father, or husband, or other male attendant always taking the money. She is petite, constitutioually phlegmatic, and as fat as her parents can manage to make her ; she has small SMOKING IN AFRICA. 169 hands and feet, large rolling e3'es — the latter made to appear artificially large by the application of henna or antimony black ; her attitudes are not ungraceful, but there is a want of character about her, and an utter abandonment to the situation, peculiar to all her race. In short, her movements ai-e more suggestive of a little caged animal that had better be petted and caressed, or kept at a safe distance, according to her humor. She does one thing — she smokes incessantly, and makes cigarettes with a skill and rapidity which are wonderful. Her age is thirteen, and she has been married six months ; her ideas appear to be limited to three or four, and her pleasures, poor creature, are equally circumscribed. She had scarcely ever left her father's house, and had never spoken to a man until her marriage. There seems to be in the Moorish nature a wonderful sense of harmony and con- trasts of color. Two Orientals will hardly walk dow^n a street side by side unless the colors of their costumes har- monize. You find a negress selling oranges or citrons; an Arab boy with red fez and white turban, carrying purple fruit in a basket of leaves — always the right juxtaposition of colors. The sky furnishes them a superb background of deep blue, and the repose of these solemn Orientals, who sit here like bronze statues, save that they smoke incessantly, inspires you with a curious respect. They are men who believe in fate — what need that they should make haste?" In Africa the pipes are made of clay and horn, and are mostly rude affairs, but well suited to their ideas of imple- ments used for holding tobacco. King gives the following * description of smoking among them: — "A party of headmen and older warriors, seated cross- legged in their tents, ceremoniously smoked the daghapipe, a kind of hookah, made of bullock's horn, its downward point filled with water, and a reed stem let into the side, surmounted by a rough bowl of stone, which is filled with the dagha, a species of hemp, very nearly, if not tlic same, as the Indian bang. Each individual receives it in turn, opens his jaws to their full extent, and placing his lips to the wide mouth of the horn, takes a few pulls and passes it on. Retaining the last draught of smoke in his mouth, which he fills with a decoction of bark and water from a calabash, he squirts it on tlie ground by his side througli a long ornamented tube in his left hand, performing thereon, by the aid of a reserved portion of the liquid, a sort of boatswain's whistle, 170 DEFENCE OF SMOKING. complacently regarding the soap-like bubbles, tbe joint pro- duction of himself and neighbor. It appeared to be a sign of special friendliness and kindly feeling to squirt into the same hole." We give an engraving of a kind of pipe used by the natives of interior Africa. It is made of clay, and holds but a small portion of the weed. The natives are great smokers and indulge in it almost constantly, but their love for it can hardly exceed that of the more hardy Laplanders, who are AFRICAN PIPE. described as " passion- ately fond of the plant." Nothing is so indispensable as tobacco to their existence. A Laplander who cannot get Tobacco sucks chips of a barrel or pieces of anything else which has contained it. Tobacco gives the Laplanders a pleasure which often rises to ecstacy. They both chew and smoke, and they are certainly the dirti- est chewers in the world. When they chew they spit in their hands, then raise them to their nose that they may inhale from the saliva the irritating principles of the plant. Thus they satisfy two senses at the same time. They regu- larly smoke after their meals. If their supply of Tobacco falls short, they sit down in a circle and pass the pipe round, 80 that every one in his turn may have a whiff.* " A Painter's Camp in the Highlands " defends the custom of smoking in the following well chosen words : "People who don't smoke — especially ladies — are exceed- ingly unfair and unjust to those who do. The reader has, I daresay, amongst his acquaintances ladies who, on hearing any habitual cigar-smoker spoken of, are always ready to exclaim against the enormit}' of such an expensive and use- less indulgence; and the cost of Tobacco-smoking is generally cited by its enemies as one of the strongest reasons for its general discontinuance. One would imagine, to hear these ♦Reynard, In his "TraTels In Lapland," says of the use of tobacco : "We Interrogated our Laplander upon many subjects. We asked hlra whathe had given his wife at thoir marriase. He told us that she had been very expensive to him during his courtahlp, having cost him two pounds weight of tobacco and four or five pints of brandy." TEA AND TOBACCO. 171 people talk, that smoking was the only selfish indulgence in the world. When people argue in this strain, I immediately assume the offensive. I roll back the tide of war right into the enemy's intrenched camp of comfortable customs; I attack the expensive and unnecessary indulgences of ladies and gentlemen who do not smoke. I take cigar-smoking as an expense of, say, half-a-crown a-day, and pipe-smoking at threepence. " I then compare the cost of these indulgences with the cost of other indulgences not a whit more necessary, which no one ever questions a man's right to if he can pay for them. There is luxurious eating, for instance. A woman who has got the habit of delicate eating will easily consume dainties to the amount of half-a-crown a-day, which cannot possibly do her any good beyond the mere gratification of the palate. And there is the luxury of carriage-keeping, in many instances very detrimental to the health of women, by entirely depriving them of the use of their legs. Now, you cannot keep a carriage a-going quite as cheaply as a pipe. Many a fine meerschaum keeps up its cheerful fire on a Bhilling a-week. I am not advocating a sumptuary law to put down carriages and cookery ; I desire only to say that people who indulge in these expensive and wholly superflu- ous luxuries, have no right to be so hard on smokers for their indulgence. " Nearly every gentleman who drinks good wine at all will drink the value of half-a-crown a-day. The ladies do not blame him for this. Half-a-dozen glasses of good wine are not thought an extravagance in any man of fair means, but women exclaim when a man spends the same amount in gmoking cigars. The French habit of coffee-drinking and the English habit of tea-drinking are also cases in point. They are quite as expensive as ordinary Tobacco-smoking, and, like it, defensible only on the ground of the pleasurable sensation they communicate to the nervous system. But these habits are so universal that no one thinks of attacking them, unless now and then some persecuted smoker in seli- defence. " Tea and tobacco are alike seductive, delicious, and dele- terious. The two indulgences will, perhaps, become equally necessaiy to the English world. It is high treason to the English national feeling to say a word against tea, which is now 60 universally recognized as a national beverage that people forget it comes from China, and that it is both alien 172 CHINESE PIPES. and heathen. Still, I mean no offence when I put tea in the same category with Tobacco. Now, who thinks of lecturing us on the costliness of tea? And yet it is a mere superfluity. The habit of taking it as we do is unknown across the Channel, and was quite unknown amongst ourselves a very little time ago, when English people were no less proud of themselves and their customs than they are now, and perhaps with equally good reason, A friend of mine tells me that he smokes every day, at a cost of about sixpence a-week. iS'ow, I would like to know in what other way so much enjoyment is to be bought for sixpence. Fancy the satisfac- tion of spending sixpence a-week in wine! It is well enough to preach about the selfishness of this expenditure; but we all spend more selfishly, and we all love pleasure, and I should very much like to see that cynic whose pleasures cost less than sixpence a-week." The Egyptian pipes, especially those of modern date are EGYPTIAN PIPES. exceedingly fanciful in shape and resemble somewhat the pipes used by the Persians. Many of them are made of clay and are sold very cheap.* The Chinese use a variety of pipes but all of them have small bowls for the tobacco. Some of their pipes are made of brass and attached to the pipe is a receptacle for water, so as to cool the smoke before it passes into the mouth. The Japanese use both copper and silver pipes, most of them similar in shape and size to those used by the Chinese. A writer says of smoking among the Japanese : * Watlin says of Bmoking in Egypt: Tobacco is tolerated, and seems to become more common again, though a smoker is generally (li^liked and not allowed to pcrfnriii the part of Imam or rehearse, of the prayers, bitore a congregation. Tlie greater part of the people, howev T. detest and condemn still the use of tohacc,", and I remember a Shaumar Redawry •who assured me that he would not carry that aboiuiuable herb on his Camel, even if a loaa Of gold were given him." SMOKING IN JAPAN. I73 "Let ns sit down to a good Japanese dinner — down on the floor. Food on the floor. Fire and cigars or pipes on the floor. Sit on yonr heels, waiting. Enter first course — Fish- skin sonp. Smoke. Third — Fish, cake and bean-clieese. Smoke. Fourth — Row fish and horse-radisli. Smoke. Fifth — Broiled fish. Smoke again, Sixth — Custard soup. Smoke. Seventh — Chicken stew, turnips and onions. Smoke a little. Eighth — Cuttle-fish, wafer cakes, Nipon tea. Here, if tired you can stop at the end of about two hours' ankle-ache. AH is cleanly, well spiced with talk, and served with the utmost politeness. Sip- ping tea may be substituted for the JAPANESE PIPES. Infinitesimal whiffs of polite smok- ing, A grand dinner is much more elaborate ; at least, so far as the variety of smokes is con- cerned. After dinner, rest and smoke." An English writer could very appropriately call this a cloud of smoke as he has another scene herein described. " 'Tis all smoke, possibly, but what cannot we discern, through a cloud of smoke ? Objects dim, but ' Thick as autumnal leaves that strew the brooks In Vallambrosa.' Be the medium of the smoke an honest * churchwarden,' a short clay, or a costly meerschaum ; does the smoke emanate from a refined Havana, a neat Manilla, or a dainty cigarette, such as we are at this moment enjoying as a sequel to a mod- est breakfast, 'tis all smoke." We have thus given a somewhat lengthy description of the custom and implements used in smoking, from the first dis- covery of the plant until now, and turn to other implements used in connection with the pipe. We, however, give the following from Cop's " Tobacco Plant," descriptive of the part played by tobacco on the stage two centuries ago : "The 'Return from Parnassus' was published anony-' mously, and the copy I have used is dateless. It was ' publicly acted by the students of St. John's College in Cambridge.' In Act I., Scene 2d, characters are given of Spenser, Ben Jonson, Marlow, Drayton, Marston and Shakespeare, together with some other of the known poets and dramatists ;1Y4 THE DEVIL AND TOBACCO. of the Elizabethan age. It contains many references to tobacco. In ' Act IV., Scene 1st,' the characters are thus placed : ' Sir Kodericke and Prodigo at one corner of the stage, Eecorder and Amaretto at the other. Two pages scouring of Tobacco pipes.' Actual smoking from tobacco- pipes was introduced on the stage afterwards ; and instances from the early dramas have been given by the writers on tobacco history. In the second scene of Act III. smoking is alluded to as one of the marks of the current man of fashion, and is coupled with that of wearing love-locks, which was to prove such a scandal to the Puritans. ' He gins to follow fashions. He wore thin sireduelt in a smooky roofe, must take tobacco and must weare a locke.' ' Work for Chimney Sweepers, or a Warning against Tobacconists, by J. H.,' was published in quarto in the year 1602. "It was answered in the same year by the anonymous * Defence of Tobacco,' a quarto of seventy pages. The author of the attack followed the line of King James, or, I should rather say, showed him the line to take, for the King's ' Counterblast' did not appear until he had been King of England for some years. The book is divided into sec- tions, each section being called 'A Reason.' The seventh * Reason' against the use of tobacco is, that the devil is the discoverer and suggester of smoking. ' It was first used and practised,' says J. H., 'by devils, priests, and, therefore, not to be nsed by us Christians. That the devil was the first author hereof. Monardus, in his ' Treatise of Tabaeo.' dooth sufficiently witnesse, saying: The Indian priests, who, no doubt, were instruments of the devil, whom they serve, even before the}'^ answer to questions propounded to them by their princes, drinke of this tobacco-fume, with the vigour and strength whereof they fall suddenly to the ground as dead men, remaining so according to the quantity of smoke that they had taken. And when the hearbe hath done his worke, they revive and wake, giving answers according to the vissions and illusions which they saw while they were wrapt in that order.' It is not unlikely that J. II. 's authority had con- fused opium with tobacco. " It was the opinion of the age that every Pagan deity had a real existence in the world of evil spirits. After further quotations of Monardus, to prove that the devil is 'the author of Tobacco, and of the knowledge thereof,' J, H. concludes his seventh reason by declaring, ' Wherefore in mine opinion this practice is more to be excluded of us TOBACCO ON THE STAGE. 175 Cliristians, who follow Veritie and Truth, and detest and abhor the devil as a lyar and deceiver of mankind.' In the first year of this century, pipes were not only exhibited, but were used upon the stage. They seem at first to have been smoked, not during ' the induction.' In the induction to Ben Jonson's 'Cynthia's Kevels' (1601), the Third Child says: 'JSfow, sir, suppose I am one of your genteel auditors, that am come in, having paid my money at the door, with much ado ; and here take my place, and sit down, I have my three sorts of tobacco in my pocket, my light by me, and thus I begin.' The Third Child thereupon smokes; but it seems as if the smoking on the stage was a kind of protest against a prior smoking in the pit. In John Webster's * Malcontent,' as augmented by John Marston in 1604, Sly says in the introduction : ' Come, coose, (coz or goose !) let's take some tobacco.' " In ' The Puritan, or the Widow of Watling Street,' published in 1607, and attributed by some to Shakespeare, tobacco-taking or tobacco-drinking (as smoking was then usually called) appears no longer in the induction, but in the play itself, Idle, the highwayman, says to the old soldier, Skirmish, 'Have j'ou any tobacco about you?' Idle being supplied, smokes a pipe on the stage. These extracts, how- ever, may have been cited before, together with others of like character in the great days of the English Drama. Pipes continued to appear upon the stage until its abolition, (in company with the Prayer Book) by the Puritan rulers. They reappeared on the stage of the Restoration. In Thomas Shadwell's ' Virtues ' (1676), — to take one instance, — Mirando and Clarinda fling away Snarl's cane, hat and peri- wig, and break his pipes, because he ' takes nasty tobacco before ladies.' " There is printed evidence, however, in this same period to show not only that all the English ladies of the time were not enemies to tobacco, but that some of them were them- selves smokers. In 1674 an anonymous quarto appeared under the title of " The Women's Petition against Cofiee." It was a protest against the growing influence of the coffee- houses in seducing men away from their homes to sit together making mischief and drinking " this boiled soot." It was answered in the same year by " The Men's Answer to the Women's Petition." After speaking of the providential 176 TOBACCO BOXES. introduction of coffee into England in the midst of the Puritan epoch, when Englishmen wanted some kind of drink which would " at once make them sober and merrj," the writer glorifies the coffee-house. John Taylor, *' the Water Poet," made a kind of compro- mise when he attributed the introduction of tobacco, not to the devil, but to Pluto, — "Pluto's Proclamation concerning his Infernal Pleasure for the Propagation of Tobacco." It appears in the folio collection of his works of the year 1628. The confusion of tobacco with opium and such destructive drugs seems to have been common with the travelers of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth centuries. Camerarius, in his "Historical Meditations," translated into English by John Malle (folio, 1621), speaks of tobacco as to be seen growing in many gardens throughout Europe. He quotes Jerome Benzo as saying that in Hispaniola "there be among them some that take so much of it, as their senses being all over- come and made drunke with the same, they fell down flat to the ground as if they were dead, and there lie without sense or feeling most part of the day or of the night." The tobacco-box, during the reign of Elizabeth, was no unimportant part of a dandy's outfit ; sometimes a pouch or bag was used. Tobacco-boxes came into general use in England soon after the introduction of tobacco, and were much sought after by all who " drank " tobacco. Marston, the Duke of New Castle, and other dramatists, alluded to the tobacco-box as a part of the smoker's outfit ; thus in the play of "The Man in the Moone" (1609), one character, in answer to an inquiry who one of the company is, answers : " I know not certainly, but I think he cometh to play you a fit of mirth, for I behelde pipes in his pocket ; now he draweth forth his tinder-box and his touchwood, and falleth to his tacklings; sure his throate is on fire, the smoke flyeth Eo fast from his mouth ; blesse his beard with a bason of water, lest he burn it; some terrible thing he taketh, it maketh him pant and look pale, and hath an odious taste, he Bpitteth BO after it. TOBACCO BOXES. 177 The tobacco boxes of the Seventeenth Century were much larger than those of the present. Some of them held a pound of tobacco besides space for a number of pipes. Many of theui were made of brass while others were fash- ioned from horn : " There is also a simple and ingenious tobacco-box used frequently in ale-houses, ' which keeps its own account,' with each smoker and acts also as a money-box. It is kept on parlor tables for the use of all comers ; but none can obtain a pipe-full, till the money is deposited through a hole in the lid. A penny dropped in, causes a bolt to unfasten, and allow the smoker to help himself from a drawer full of tobacco. His honor is trusted so far as not to take more than his pipe-full, and he is reminded of it by a verse engraved on the lid : — ' The custom is, before you fill, ' To put a penny in the till.' " Some of the tobacco boxes were made of silver and beau- tifully engraved with fancy sketches, historical scenes, or ENGRAVED BOXES. representations of personages, landscapes, flowers, etc. The late Duke of Sussex had a large collection of pipes and tobacco boxes, A journal describing them says of the collection : " The Duke of Sussex had a wonderful collection of these, the values attached to some of them being almost fabulous. One example from the work-shop of Vienna — long celebrated for this description of art, — represented the combat of Hector and Achilles, the cover of the pipe being a golden hemlet cristatus of the Grecian type." Swiss and Tyrolean artists l^g A SONG. also produce exquisite carving, but use wood as a material ; and in the famous collection of Baron de Watteville will be found a marvelous piece of carving representing Bellero- pbon overturning tlie Chimera. But French pipes are the most interesting of all to collectors, from the fact that tobacco was introduced into that country long before it was known in England, and also from the ingenuity of a people who can give interest of various kinds to what might seem a simple and prosaic branch of manufacture. In the sentiment of the following lines on " A pipe of Tobacco" by John Usher, all lovers of the plant will heartily join: "Let the toper regale in his tankard of ale, Or with alcohol moisten his thropple, Only give me I pray, a good pipe of soft clay, Nicely tapered, and thin in the stopple ; And I shall puff, puff, let who will say enough, No luxury else I'm in lack o', No malice I hoard, 'gainst Queen, Prince, Duke or Lord, While 1 pull at my pipe of Tobacco. "When I feel the hot strife of the battle of life, And the prospect is aught but enticin', Mayhap some real ill like a protested bill, Dims the sunshine that tinged the horizon ; Only let me puff, puff, — be they ever so rough, All the sorrows of life I lose track o', The mists disappear, and the vista is clear, With a soothing mild pipe of Tobacco. " And when joy after pain, like the sun after rain, Stills the waters, long turbid and troubled, That life's current may flow, with a ruddier gldw, And the sense of enjoyment be doubled, — Oh! let me puff, puff, till I feel quantum suff, Such luxury still I'm in lack o'. Be joy ever so sweet, it would be incomplete, Without a good pipe of tobacco. " Should my recreant muse, — Sometimes apt to refuse The guidance of bit and of bridle. Still blankly demur, spite of whip and of spur, Unimpassioned, inconstant, or idle ; Only let me puff, puff, till the brain cries enough, TOBACCO Jx\RS. 179 Such excitement is all I'm in lack o', And the poetic vein soon to fancy gives reign, Inspired by a pipe of Tobacco. " And when with one accord, round the jovial board, In friendship our bosoms are glowing; While with toast and with song we tlie evening prolong. And with nectar the goblets are flowing; Still let us puff, puff— be life smooth, be it rough, Such enjoyment we're ever in lack o' : The more peace and goodwill will abound as we fill A jolly good pipe of Tobacco." The tobacco jar is another accessory of more recent date than tobacco pipes but interesting from the varieties of style TOBACCO JARS. and shapes. The finest are made of porcelain and are lavish in design and enrichment. Of all the articles of the smokers' paraphernalia none however exhibit more fanciful designs than Tobacco-stoppers used by smokers for crowding the tobacco into the pipe while smoking. The author of "A Paper of Tobacco " says : " This wa3 the only article on which the English smoker prided himself. It was made of various materials — wood, bone, ivory, mother-of-pearl, and silver : and tlie forms which it assumed were exceedingly diversified. Out of a collection of upwards of thirty tobacco-stoppers of difterent ages, from 1688 to the present time, the following are the most remark- able : a bear's tooth tipped with silver at the bottom, and inscribed with the name of Captain James Kogers of the 180 TOBACCO STOPPERS. Happy Return -whaler, 1688 ; Dr. Henry Sacheverel in full canonicals, carved in ivory, 1710 ; a boat, a horse's hind leg, Puncli, and another character in the same Drama, to wit : his Satanic majesty ; a countryman with a flail ; a milkmaid ; an emblem of Priopus; Hope and Anchor; the Marquis of Granby ; a greyhound's head and neck ; a paviour's rammer; Lord Nelson ; the Duke of Wellington ; and Bonaparte. The tobacco-stopper was carried in the pocket or attached to a ring: worn on the finger." In Butler's Hudibras it is alluded to in connection with the astronomer's sign. " Bless us ! quoth he, It is a planet now I see ; And if I err not, by his proper Figure that's like tobacco-stopper, It should be Saturn I " In James Boswell's " Shrubs of Parnassus" (1760) a description in verse of the various kinds of tobacco-stoppers is given : " O ! let me grasp thy waist, be thou of wood Or levigated steel, for well 'tis known Thy habit is disease. In iron clad Sometimes thj' feature roughen to the sight, And oft transparent art thou seen in glass, Portending frangibility. The son Of laboring mechanism here displays Exuberance of skill. The curious knot, The motley flourish winding down the sides. And freaks of fancy pour upon the view Their complicated charms, and as tliey please, Astonish. While with glee thy touch I feel, No harm my fingers dread. No fractured pipe I ask, or splinters aid, wherewith to press The rising ashes down. Oh ! bless my hand, Chief when thou com'st with hollow circle crowned With sculptured signet, bearing in thy womb The treasured Cork-screw. Tlius a triple service In firm alliance may'st thou boast." ToLacco-stoppers were often made of wood from some relic like a celebrated tree or mansion which gave additional "WHAT A PIPE!' 181 value by its historic associations. Taylor alludes to several made from the well known Glastonbury thorn. He says : — " I saw the sayd branch, I did take a dead sprigge from it, TOBACCO STOPPERS. ■wherewith I made two or three tobacco-stoftpers, which I brought to London." Pipes and tobacco-stoppers have often been favorite testi- monials of friendship and reward. Fairholt says : — " It was the custom daring the last century to present country churchwardens with tobacco-boxes, after the faithful discharge of their duties." The following lines from " The Tobacco Leaf," penned by some favored one on receiving a rare pipe, are no doubt aa neat as the object that called them forth : — " I lifted off the lid with anxious care, Removed the wrappages, strip after strip, And when the hidden contents were laid bare, My first remark was : " Mercy, what a pipe ! " A pipe of symmetry tliat matched its size. Mounted with metal bright — a siglit to sec — With the rich umber hue that smokers prize, Attesting both its age and pedigree. A pipe to make the royal Freidrich jealous. Or the great Teufelsdrockh with envy gripe ! A man should hold some rank above liis fellows To justify his smoking such a pipe ! 182 MUSINGS OVER A PIPE. "What country gave it birth? What blest of cities Saw it first kintlle at the glowing coal? What happy artist murmured " Nunc dimUtis" When he had foshioned this transcendent bowl ! Has it been hoarded in a monarch's treasures? Was it a gift of peace, or price of war? Did the great Khalif in his " Houre of Pleasures," Wager and lose it to the good Zaafar? It may have soothed mild Spenser's melancholy, While musing o'er traditions of the past, Or graced the lips of brave Sir Walter Raleigh, Ere sage King Jamie blew his " Counterblast." Did it, safe hidden in some secret cavern. Escape that monarch's pipoclastic ken? Has Shakespeare smoked it at the Mermaid Tavern, Quaffing a cup of sack with rare old Ben? Ay, Shakespeare might have watched his vast creation Loom through its smoke — the spectre-haunted Thane, The Sisters at their ghostly invocations. The jealous Moor and melancholy Dane. Round its orbed haze and through its mazy ringlets, Titania may have led her elfln rout, Or Ariel fanned it with his gauzy winglets, Or Puck danced in the bowl to put it out. Vain are all fancies —questions bring no answer ; The smokers vanish, but the pipe remains; He were indeed a subtle necromancer. Could read their records in its cloudy stains. Kor this alone : its destiny may doom it To outlive e'en its use and history — Some ploughman of the future may exhume it From soil now deep beneath the eastern sea. And, treasured by some antiquarian Stuh'us, It may to gaping visitors be shown, Labelled : •' The symbol of some ancient Cultus, Conjecturally Phallic, but unknown." Why do I thus recall the ancient quarrel 'Twixt Man and Time, that marks all earthly things? " PUFFS FROM A PIPE." 183 Why labor to re- word the hackneyed 'moral, Qg K^ 'a3g»B««»^TniBiirir Lord Houghton smokes /sMfMmsm^m. ^^ Kembie, author of ' The Seasons in England,' was a tremendous smoker. Moore cared not for it; indeed, I think that L'ish gentlemen smoke much less than English. Well- >ii)gton shunned it; so did Peel. D'Israeli loved the long pipe in his youth, but in middle age pro- nounced it 'the^ tomb of love.' While I am writ- ing, it is not too much to aver that 99 persons out of 100, taken at random, under forty years of age, smoke habitually every day of tl^ir lives. How many in Melbourne injure health and brain, I leave to more skilled and morose critics. But my mind misgives me. Paralysis is becoming very frequent. " I have seen stone pipes from Gambia, shaped like the letter U consisting each of one solid flint, hollowed through, 14 TENNYSON, SMOKING. 210 PLEASANT PIPES. also hookahs made by sailors with cocoanut shells. All, however, now agree that it is impossible to have either com- fortable, cool, or safe smoking, unless through a substance like claj, porous and absorbent, especially as portable pipes are the mode. Those of black charcoal are not handsome ; indeed, I always feel like a mute at a funeral while smoking one, but they are delightfully cool, absorbing more essential oil of nicotine, and more quickly than any meerschaum. I caution the smoker to have an old glove on ; as these pipes * sweat,' the oil comes through, and nothing is more pertina- cious than oil of tobacco when it sinks into your pores, or floats about hair or clothes. My own taste inclines to the German receiver, long cherry tube and amber, and to my own garden, for all street smoking is unaesthetic, and the traveller by coach, boat, or rail has the tastes of others to consult. Surely it is not urbane to throw on another the burden of saying that he likes not the smell or the inhaling of burning tobacco. Better postpone your solace to more fitting time and place — the close of day and your own veranda. Indoor smoking is detestable. Life has few direr disenchanters than the morning smells of obsolete tobacco, relics though they be of hesternal beatitude. Give me, in robe or jacket, a hookah, or German arrangement, Chinese recumbency in matted and moistened veranda, and the odors of fresh growing beds of flowers wafted by the southern breeze. Nor be wanting the fragrant perfume of coffee. ' Meat without salt,' says Hafiz, ' is even as tobacco without coflee.' The tannin of the coffee corrects the nicotine. And it may not be amis3 to learn that a plate of watercress, salt, and a large glass of cold water should be at hand to the smoker by day ; the watercress corrects any excess, and is at hand in a garden. Smoke not before breakfast, nor till an hour has elapsed after a good meal. Smoke not with or before wine, you destroy the wine-palate. If you love tea, postpone pipe till after it ; no man can enjoy fine tea who has smoked. In short, smoke not till the day is done, with all its tasks and duties. " I have seen men of pretension and position treat cai-pets most contumeliously, trampling on the pride of Plato with a recklessness that would bring a blush to the cheek of Diogenes himself. Can they forget the absorbent powers of carpet tissues, and the horrors of next morning to non-smokers, perhaps to ladies ? Surely this is unaesthetic and illiberal : it is in an old man most pitiable, in a young one intolerable, in RULES FOR SMOKING. 211 a scholar inexcusable, from an uncleanness that seems willful. Let the young philosopher avoid such practice, and give a •wide berth to those who follow them. Take the following rules, tyro, 'ineo jx^^iculo '. — 1. Never smoke when the pores are open : they absorb, and you are unUt for decent society. Be it your study ever to escape the noses of strangers. First impressions are sometimes permanent, and you may lose a useful acquaintance. 2. Learn to smoke slowly. Cultivate ' calm and intermit- tent puffs.' — Walter Scott. 3. On the first symptom of expectoration lay down the pipe, or throw away the cigar ; long-continued expectoration is destructive to yourself and revolting to every spectator. 4. Let an interval elapse between the filling of succeeding pipes. 5. Clean your tube regularly, and your amber mouthpiece with a feather dipped in spirits of lavender. Never suffer the conduit to remain discolored or stuffed. 6. A German receiver can be washed out like a teacup, and the oil collected is of value, but a meerschaum should never be wetted. A small sponge at the end of a wire dipped in sweet oil should be used carefully and persistently round and round, coaxing out any hard concretions, till the inside be smooth in its dark polished grain, of a rich mahogany tint. The outside, also, .well polished with sweet oil and stale milk, then enveloped in chamois leather. The rich dark coloring is the pledge of your safety — better there than darkening your own brains. " The pale gold c'noster and Turkey have now given way to the splendid varieties of America, and my knowledge halts behind the age. The black sticks resembling lollipops are said to be compounds of rum, bullocks' blood and tobacco lees. A taste for them, when once contracted, is abiding. Fine volatile tobacco, with aromatic delicacy, requires a long tube ; used in a short pipe of modern fashion, they parch and shrivel the tongue. In short, what is true of all other pleasures is also true of tobacco-smoking. Fruition is some- times too rapid for enjoyment, as "the dram-drinker is less wise than the calm imbiber of the fragrant vintage of the Garonne. With Burke's common sense I began, and with it I end. Depurate vice of all her offensiveness, and you prune her of half her evil. Let not your love of indulgence be so inordinate as to purchase short pleasure by impairing health, neglecting duty, or, while promoting your own self-complacency, allow yourself to become permanently 212 A TOBACCO WORLD. revolting to society, by offending more senses as well as more principles than one.' " Mantegazza, one of the most brilliant of all writers on tobacco, in alluding to the enchantment of the " weed," says : — " If a winged inhabitant of some remote world felt the impulse to traverse space, and, with an astronomical map, to fly round our planetary system, he would at once recognize the earth by the odor of tobacco which it exhales, forasmuch MODERN SMOKERS. as all known nations smoke the nicotian herb. And thou- sands and thousands of men, if compelled to limit themselves to a single nervous aliment, would relinquish wine and coffee, opium and brandy, and cling fondly to the precious narcotic leaf. Before Columbus, tobacco was not smoked except in America ; and now, after a lapse of a few centuries in the furthest part of China and in Japan, in the island of Oceanica as in Lapland and Siberia, rises from the hut of the savaire and from the palace of the prince, along with the smoke of the fireplace, where man bakes his bread and warms his heart, another odorous smoke, which man inhales and CRUELTY TO SMOKERS. 213 breathes forth again to soothe his pain and to vanquish fatigue and anxiety. " In the early times of the introduction of tobacco, smokers in many countries were condemned to infamous and cruel punishments; had their noses and their lips cut off, and with blackened faces and mounted on an ass, exposed to the coarse jests of the vilest vagabonds and the insults of the multitude. But now the hangman smokes, and the criminal condemned to death smokes before being hanged. The king in his gilt coach smokes ; and the assassin smokes who lies in wait to throw down before the feet of the horses the murder- ous bomb. The human family spends every year two thou- sand six hundred and seventy millions of francs (about a hundred millions in English money) on tobacco, which is not food, which is not drink, and without which it contrived to live for a long succession of ages. " In the discomfitures and disasters which befell the Army of Lavalle, in the civil wars of the Argentine Republic, the poor fugitives had to suffer the most horrible privations, which can be imagined. By degrees the tobacco came to an end, and the Argentines smoked dry leaves. One man, more fortunate than his comrades, continued to use with much economy the most precious of all his stores — tobacco. A fel- low soldier begged to be allowed to put the economist's pipe in his own mouth, and thus to inhale at second-hand the adored smoke, paying two dollars for the privilege. What is more striking still, when, in 1843, the convicts in the prison of Epinal, France, who had for some time been deprived of tobacco, rose in revolt, their cry was ' tobacco or death ! ' When Col. Seybourg was marching in the interior of Suri- nam against negro rebels, and the soldiers had to bear the most awful hardships, they smoked paper, they chewed leaves and leather, and found the lack of tobacco the greatest of all their trials and torments." Elsewhere, inquiring what nervous aliments harmonize the one with the other, he says : — " The only, the true, the legitimate companion of coffee is the nicotian plant; and wisely and well the Turkish epicures declare that for coffee — the drink of Heaven — tobacco is the salt. The smoke of a puro, of a manilla, or of real Turkish tobacco, which passes amorously through the voluptuous tip of amber, blends magnificently with tlie austere aroma of the coffee, and the inebriated palate is agitated between a caress and a rebuke." 214 QUAINT WHIMS. From a Southern paper we extract these whimsical h'nes. " On the Great Fall in the Price of Tobacco in 1801," by Hugh Montgomery, Lynchburgh, Va., "Lately a planter chanced to pop His head into a barber's shop — Begged to be shaved ; it soon was done, When Strap (inclined oft-times to fun,) Doubling the price he'd asked before, Instead of two pence made it four. The planter said, ' You sure must grant. Your charge is most exhorbitant.' ' Not so,' quoth Strap, ' I'm right and you are wrong, For since tobacco fell, your face is twice as long.'" Another quaint whim in the form of an advertisement for a lost meerschaum is from an Australian paper : " To Honest men and others, — Driving from Hale Town to Bridgetown, on Sunday, last, the advertiser lost a cigar holder with the face of a pretty girl on it. The intriirsic value of the missing article is small, but as the owner has been for the last few months converting the young lady from a blonde into a brunette, he would be glad to get it back again. If it was picked up by a gentleman, on reading this notice, he will, of course, send it to the address below. If it was picked up by a poor man, who could get a few shil- lings by selling it, on his bringing it to the address below, he shall be paid the full amount of its intrinsic value. If it was picked up by a thief, let him deliver it, and he shall be paid a like amount, and thus for once can do an honest action, without being a penny the worse for it." A humorous writer thus discourses on man, who he denominates as "common clays" : " Yet we are all common clays ! There are long clays and short clays, coarse clays and refined clays, and the latter are pretty scarce, that's a fact. To follow out the simile, life is the tobacco with which we are loaded, and when the vital spark is applied we live ; when that tobacco is exhausted we die, the essence of our life ascending from the lukewarm clay when the last fibre burns out, as a curl of smoke from the ashes in the bowl of the pipe, and mingling with the perfumed breeze of heaven, or the hot breath of — well, never mind ; we hope not. Then the clay is cold, and glows no more from the fire within ; the pipe is broken, and ceases to comfort and console. We say, MEN LIKE PIPES. 215 * A friend has left us,' or ' Poor old Joe ; his pipe is out.' "We have all a certain supply of life, or, if we would pursue the comparison, a share of tobacco. Some young men smoke too rapidly, even voraciously, and thus exhaust their share before their proper time, — then we say they have * lived too fast," or ' pulled at their pipes too hard.' Others, on the contrary, make their limited supply go a long way, and when they are taking their last puffs of life's perfumed plant their energy is unimpaired ; they can run a race, walk a mile with any one, and show few wrinkles upon their brow, " A delicate person is like a pipe with a crack in the bowl, THE ARTIST. for it takes continued and careful pulling to keep his light in ; and to take life is like willfully dashing a lighted pipe from the mouth into fragments, and scattering the sparks to the four winds of heaven. An artist is a good coloring pipe ; 216 UNIVERSAL USE. an attractive orator is a pipe that draws well ; a communist is a foul pipe ; a well-educated woman whose conversation ia attractive is a pipe with a nice mouthpiece ; a girl of the period is a fancy pipe, the ornament of which is liable to chip ; a female orator on woman's rights is invariably a plain pipe ; an old toper is a well-seasoned pipe ; an escaped thief is a cutty pipe, and the policeman in pursuit is a shilling pipe, for is he not a Bob ? " From these ingenious " conceits " we turn to a few thoughts on the present condition and history of the plant. The calumet or pipe of peace, decorated with all the splen- dor of savage taste, is smoked by the red man to ratify good feeling or confirm some treaty of peace. The energetic Yankee bent upon the accomplishment of his ends, puffs vigorously at his cigar and with scarcely a passing notice, strides over obstacles that lie in his path of whatever nature they may be. The dancing Spaniard with his eternal casta- nets whispers but a ^ word to his dark-eyed "^~ senorita as he hands her another perfumed ^ cigarette. The loung- ^ ing Italian hissing intrigues under the shadow of an ancient portico, 'smokes on as he stalks over the proud place where the blood of Csesar dyed the stones of the Capitol, or where the knife of Virginias flashed in the summer sun. The Turk comes forth from the Mosque only to smoke. The priest of Nicaragua with solemn mien strides up the aisle and lights the altar candles with the fire struck from his cigar. The hardy Laplander invites the stranger to his hut and offers him his pipe while he inquires, THE YANKEE SMOKER. DEVELOPMENT OF TOBACCO. 217 if he comes from the Land of tobacco. The indigent Jakut exchanges his most vahiable furs and skins for a few ounces of tlie " Circassian weed." Its charms are recognized by the gondolier of Venice and the Muleteer of Spain. The Switzcr lights his pipe amid Alpine heights. The tourist climbing ^tna or Vesuvius' rugged side, puffs on though they perchance have long since ceased to smoke. Tobacco, soothed the hardships of Cromwell's soldiers and gave novelty to the court life of the dauojhters of Louis XIV, delighted the courtiers of Queen Elizabeth and bidding defiance to the ire of her successors, the Stuarts, has never ceased to hold sway over court and camp, as well as over the masses of the people. In nothing cultivated has there been so remarkable a development. Originally limited to the natives of America, it attracted the attention of Europeans who by cultivation increased the size and quality of the plant. But not alone has the plant improved in form and quality, the rude implements once used by the Indians have given away (even among them- selves) to those of improved form and modern style. These facts are without a doubt among the most curious that com- merce presents. That a plant primarily used only by savages, should succeed in spite of the greatest opposition in becom- ing one of the greatest luxuries of the civilized world, is a fact without parallel. It can almost be said, so universally is it used, that its claims are recognized by all. Though hated by kings and popes it was highly esteemed bj'" their subjects. Their delight in the new found novelty was unbounded and doubtless they could sing in praise as Byron did in later times of: " Sublime tobacco which from East to West Cheers the tar's labor and the Turkman's rest." CHAPTER VIII. SNUFF, SNUFF-BOXES AND SNUFF-TAKERS. HE custom of snuff-taking is as old at least as the discovery of the tobacco plant. The first account we have of it is given by Roman Pane, the friar who accompanied Columbus on his second voyage of discovery (1494), and who alludes to its use among the Indians by means of a cane half a cubit long. Ewbank says : " Much has been written on a revolution so unique in its origin, unsurpassed in incidents and results, and constituting one of the most singular episodes in human history ; but next to nothing is recorded of whence the various processes of manufacture and uses were derived. Some imagine the popular pabulum* for the nose of translantic origin. No such thing! Columbus first beheld smokers in the Antilles. Pizarro found chewers in Peru, but it was in the country dis- covered by Cabral that the great sternutatory was origiually found. Brazilian Indians were the Fathers of snuff, and its best fabricators. Though counted among the least refined of aborigines, their taste in this matter was as pure as that of the fashionable world of the East. Their snuff has never been surpassed, nor their apparatus for making it." Soon after the introduction and cultivation of tobacco in Spain and Portugal its use in the form of snuff came in vogue and from these notions it spread rapidly over Europe, par- ticularly in France and Italy. It is said to have been used • Dr. John Hill in his tract " Cautions against the Immoderate use of ennff" gives the following definition of it. " The dried leaves of tobacco, rasped, beaten, or otherwise reduced to powder, make what we call snutf." This tract was published in 1761. The author, •fterwards Sir John Hill, was equally celebrated as a physician and a writer of farces, at denoted by the following epigram by Garrick : " For physic and farces his equal there scarce is ; His farces are physic, his physic a farce is." 218 ITS INTRODUCTION. 219 first in France* by the wife of Henry II., Catherine de Medici, and that it was first used at court during the latter part of the Sixteenth Century, The Queen seemed to give it a good standing in society and it soon became the fashion to use the powder by placing a little on the back of the hand and inhaling it. The use of snufl* greatly increased from the fact of its supposed medicinal properties and its curative powers in all diseases, particularly those affecting the head, hence the wide introduction of snuff-takin^g in Europe. Fairholt says of its early use : " Though thus originally recommended for adoption as a medicine, it soon became better known as a luxury and the gratification of a pinch was generally indulged in Spain, Italy and France, during the early part of the Seventeenth Century. It was the grandees of the French Court who * set the fashion ' of snuff, with all its luxurious additions of scents and expensive boxes. It became common in the Court of Louis le Grand, although that monarch had a decided antipathy^rto tobacco in any form." Says an English writer "Between 1660 and 1700, the custom of taking snuff, though it was disliked by Louis XIV., was almost as prevalent in France as it is at the present time. In this instance, the example of the monarch was disregarded ; tobac en poudre or tohao rapef as snuff" was sometimes called found favor in the noses of the French people ; and all men of fashion prided themselves on carrying a handsome Bnuff-box. Ladies also took snuff; and the belle whose grace and propriety of demeanour were themes of general admiration, thought it not unbecoming to take a pinch at dinner, or to blow her pretty nose in her embroidered mou^ choir with the sound of a trombone. Louis endeavored to discourage the use of snuff and his valets-de-chambre were obliged to renounce it when they were appointed to their office. One of these gentlemen, the Due d' Harcourt, was supposed to have died of apoplexy in consequence of having, in order to please the king, totally discontinued the habit which he had before indulged to excess." Other grandees were less accommodating: thus we are • An English writer gives a different account— "The custom of taking snuff as a naBal gratiQcatioii does not appear to be of earlier date than 1620, though the powdered leaves of tobacco were occasionally prescribed aa a medicine long before that time. It appears to have first become prevalent in Spain, and from thence to have passed into Italy and France. t Grated tobacco. 220 BOXES AND GRATERS. told that Marechal d' Huxelles used to cover his cravat and dress with it. The Royal Physician, Monsieur Fagon, is reported to have devoted his best energies to a public oration of a very violent kind against snuff, which unfortunately failed to convince his auditory, as the excited lecturer in his most enthusiastic moments refreshed his nose with a pinch. Although disliked by the most polished prince of Europe, the use of snuff increased and soon spread outside the limits of the court of France and in a short time became a favorite mode of using tobacco as it continues to be with many at this day.* The snuff-boxes of this period were very elegant and were decorated with elaborate paintings or set with gems. It was the custom to carry both a snuff-box and a tobacco grater, which was often as expensive and elegant as the snuff- box itself. Many of them were richly carved and ornamented in the most superb manner. Others bore the titles and arms of the owner and it was considered as part of a courtier's outfit to sport a magnificent box and grater. The French mode of manufacturing snuff was to satu- rate the leaves in water, then dry them and color according to the shade desired. The perfume was then added and the snuff was pre- pared for use. The kind of tobacco used was " Tobac de Virginie." Spanish snuff was perfumed in the same manner with the additional use of orange-flower water. Carver gives the mode of manufacturing snuff in America (1779). " Being possessed of a tobacco wheel, which is a very simple machine, they spin the leaves, after they are properly cured, into a twist of any size they think fit ; and having A TOBACCO GRATER. * The Rev. S. 'Wesley speaking of the abuses of tobacco, intimates that the human ear, will Dot long, remain exempted from its afBictiun. " To such a height witli gome Is fashion grown They feed they very nostrils with a spoon. One, and but one degree is wanting yet. To make their senseless luxury complete; Some choice regale, useless as snuff and dear. To feed the mazy windings of the ear. MODE OF PREPARATION. 221 folded it into rolls of about twenty pounds weight each, they lay it bv iov use. In this state it will keep for several years, and be "continually improving, as it every liour grows milder. When they have occasion to use it, they take off such a length as they think necessary, which, if designed for smoking, they cut into small pieces, for chewing into larger, as choice directs ; if they intend to make snuff of it they take a quan- tity from the roll, and laying it in a room where a fire is kept, in a day or two it will become dry, and being rubbed on a grater will produce a genuine snuff". Those in more iuiproved regions who like their snuff' scented, apply to it such odoriferous waters as they can procure, or think most pleasing." Dutch snuff was only partially ground, and was therefore coarse and harsh in its effects when inhaled into the nostrils. The Irish, according to Everards, used large quantities of enuff " to purge tlieir brains." Snuff-taking became general in England* at the commencement of the Seventeenth Cen- tury, and scented snuffs were used in preference to the plain. Frequent mention is made in the plays of this time of its use and varieties. In Congreve's "Love for Love," one of the characters presents a young lady with a box of snuff, on receipt of which she says, " Look you here what Mr. Tattle has given me ! Look you here, cousin, here's a snuff-box ; nay, there's snuff in't : here, will you have any ? Oh, good ! how sweet it is !" Portuguese snuff seemed to be in favor and was delicately perfumed. It was made from the fibres of the leaves, and was considered among many to be the finest kind of the "pungent dust." Some varieties of snuff were named after the scents employed in flavoring them. In France many kinds became popular from the fact of their use at court, and by the courtiers throughout the kingdom. Pope notes the use of the snuff-box by the fops and courtiers of his time in this manner : — •"The cnetom of taking snuff was prohaWy brought Into England by some of the followers Of Charles II.. about the time of the KeBtoration. Duriug his rtigu, and that of his brother, )t does not appear to have gained iiiiich ground: but towards tlie end of the Seventeenth Century it had become ouile the" ra^e" wiUi beaux, who at tliat period, as well as In the reign of Queen Anne, souieiiiues carried lUeir Bnutf la the hollow ivory head of their canes." —APuper of Tobacco. 222 SNUFFBOXES. " Sir Plume of amber snuff-box justly vain, And the nice conduct of a clouded cane ; With earnest eyes, and round, unthinking face, He first the snuff-box open'd, then the case." The mode of " tapping the box " before opening was char- acteristic of the beaux and fops of this period, and is com- mented on in a poem on snuff : — " The lawyer so grave, when he opens his case. In obscurity finds it is hid. Till the bright glass of knowledge illumines his face, As he gives the three taps on the lid." Spain, Portugal, and France early in the Seventeenth Century became noted as the producers of the finest kinds of snuff. In Spain and Portugal it was the favorite mode of using tobacco, and rare kinds were compounded and sold at enormous prices. Its use in France by the fair sex is thus commented on by a French writer : — " Everything in France depends upon la mode ' and it has DKMI-JOIJRNiKS. pleased la mode to patronize this disgusting custom, and carry about with them small boxes which they term demi- journeesy The most expensive materials were employed in the manu- facture of snuff-boxes, such as agate, mosaics, and all kinds of rare wood, while many were of gold, studded with diamonds. Some kinds were made of China mounted in metal, and were very fanciful. In "Pandora's Box," a "Satyr against Snuff," 1719, may be found the following description of the snuff-boxes then in vogue : FAMOUS SNUFFS. 223 " For females fair, and formal fops to please, The mines are robb'd of ore, of shells the seas, With all that mother-earth and beast afford To man, unworthy now, tho' once their lord : Which wrought into a box, with all the show Of art the greatest artist can bestow ; Charming in shape, with polished rays of light, A joint so fine it shuns the sharpest sight ; Must still be graced with all the radiant gems And precious stones that e'er arrived in Thames. Within the lid the painter plays his part, And with his pencil proves his matchless art ; There drawn to life some spark or mistress dwells, Like hermits chaste and constant to their cells." Some of the more highly perfumed snuffs sold for thirty shillings a pound, M'hile the cheaper kinds, such as English Kappee and John's Lane, could be bought for two or three shillings per pound. There are at least two hundred kinds of snuff well known in commerce. The Scotch and Irish snuffs are for the most part made from the midribs ; the Strasburgh, French, Spanish, and Russian snuffs from the soft parts of the leaves. An English writer gives the foUow- ins: account of some of the well-known snuffs and the method of manufacturing : — " For the famous fancy snuff known as Maroco, the recipe is to take forty parts of French or St. Omer tobacco, with twenty parts of fermented Virginia stalks in powder ; the whole to be ground and sifted. To this powder must be added two pounds and a half of rose leaves in fine powder ; and the whole must be moistened with salt and water and thoroughly incorporated. After that it must be ' worked up ' with cream and salts of tartar, and packed in lead to preserve its delicate aroma. The celebrated 'gros grain. Paris snuff' is composed of equal parts of Amersfoort and James River tobacco, and the scent is imported by a ' sauce,' among the ingredients of which are salt, soda, tamarinds, red wine, syrup, cognac, and cream of tartar." The mode of manufacture of snuff' now is far different than that employed in the Seventeenth Century. Then the leaves were simply dried and made fine by rubbing them together in the hands, or ground in some rude mill ; still later the 224 A CELEBRATED MANUFACTURER. tobacco was washed or cleansed in water, dried, and then ground. Now, however, the tobacco undergoes quite a process, and must be kept packed several months before it is ground into snuff. One of the most celebrated manufacturers of snuff was James Gillespie, of Edinburgh, who compounded the famous variety bearing his name. The following account of him we take from " The Tobacco Plant :" — " In the High Street of Edinburgh, a little east from the place where formerly stood the Cross, — " ' Dun-Edin's Cross, a pillar'd stone, Rose on a turret octagon,' was situated the shop of James Gillespie, the celebrated snuff manufacturer. The shop is still occupied by a tobacconist, whose sign is the head of a typical negro, and in one of the windows is exhibited the effigy of a High- lander, who is evidently a compe- tent judge of 'sneeshin.' Not much is known regarding the personal history of James Gilles- pie, but it is understood that he was born shortly after the Jacobite rebellion of 1715, at Roslin, a pic- turesque village about six miles from Edinburgh. He became a tobacconist in Edinburgh, along with his brother John, and by the Wercise of steady industry and frugality, he was enabled to pur- chase Spylaw, a small estate in the parish of Colinton, about four miles from Edinburgh, where he erected a snuff-mill on the banks of the Water of Leith, a small stream which flows through the finely -wooded grounds of Spylaw. The younger brother, John, attended to the shop, while the subject of our notice resided at Spylaw, where he superintended the snuff- mill. Mr. Gillespie was able to continue his industrious habits through a long life, and having made some successful speculations in tobacco during the war of American Independ- ence, when the ' weed ' advanced considerably in price, he was enabled to increase his Spylaw estate from time to time JAMES GILLESPIE, HABITS AND LIFE. 225 by making additional purchases of property in the parish. "Mr. Gillespie remained through life a bachelor. His establishment at Spy law was of the simplest description. It is said that he invariably sat at the same table with his serv- ants, indulging in familiar conversation, and entering with much spirit into their amusements. Newspapers were not 60 widely circulated at that period as they are now, and on tlie return of any of his domestics from the city, which one of them daily visited, he listened with great attention to the 'news, and enjoyed with much zest the narration of any jocular incident that had occurred. Mr. Gillespie had a penchant for animals, and their wants were carefully attended to. His poultry, equally with his horses, could have testified to the judicious attention which he bestowed upon them. A stoiy is told of the familiarity between the laird and his riding horse, which was well-fed and full of spirit. " The animal frequently indulged in a little restive curvet- ting with its master, especially when the latter was about to get into the saddle. ' Come, come,' he would say, on such occasions, addressing the animal in his usual quiet way, 'hae dune, noo, for ye'll no like if I come across your lugs (ears) wi' the stick.' " Even in his old age Mr. Gillespie regularly superintended the operations in the mill, which was situated in the rear of his house. On these occasions he was wrapped in an old blanket ingrained with snuff. Though he kept a carriage he very seldom used it, until shortly before his death, when increasing infirmities caused him occasionally to take a drive. It was of this carriage, plain and neat in its design, with nothing on its panel but the initials 'J. G.' that the witty Henry Erskine proposed the couplet — ' Who would have thought it That noses had bought it ?* as an appropriate motto. In those days snufi" was much more extensively used than at present, and Mr. Gillespie was in the habit of gratuitously filling the ' mulls' of many of the Edinburgh characters of the last century. Colinton appears to have been a great snuff-making centre. About thirty years ago there were five snuff mills in operation in the parish, the produce of which was sold in Edinburgh. Even now a considerable quantity of snuff" is made in the district, chiefly by grinders to the trade. Murray, alluding to the popularity of the custom in 15 226 THE SNUFFING PERIOD. FOPS TAKING SNUFF. {FroTTi an old pi'ltit) . England during the reign of the House of Brunswick, sajs : — "The reigns of the four Georges may be entitled the snuffino- period of English history. The practice became an appanage of fashion before 1714, as it has continued after 1830, to be the comfort of priests, literary men, highlanders, tailors, fac- tory hands, and old peo- ; pie of both sexes. George lY. was a na- sute judge of snuifs, and ', so enamoured of the delectation, that in each of his palaces he kept a jar chamber, containing a choice assortment of tobacco powder, pre- sided over by a critical superintendent. His fa- vorite stimulant in the morning was violet Strasburgh, the same which had pre- viously helped Queen Charlotte to ' kill the day' — after din- ner Garrotte — named from his penchant for it. King's Garrotte, Martinique, Etrenne, Gld Paris, Bureau, Gologne, Bordeaux, Havre, Princeza, Eouen, and Rappee, were placed on the table, in as many rich and curious boxes." Sterne, in his " Sentimental Journey," gives a pleasing description of snuff-taking with the poor monk. He writes: "The good old monk was Avithin six paces of us, as the idea of him crossed my mind ; and was advancing towards us a little out of the line, as if uncertain whether he should break in upon us or no. He stoop'd, however, as soon as he came up to us with a world of frankness; and having a horn snuff-box in his hand, he presented it open to me. " ' You shall taste mine,' said I, pulling ont my box (which was a small tortoise one), and putting it into his hand. " ' 'Tis most excellent,' said the monk. "'Then do me the favor,' I replied 'to accept of the box and all, and when you take a pinch out of it, sometimes recollect it was the peace-offering of a man who once used you unkindly, but not from his heart.' "The poor monk blushed as red as scarlet, ' Mon Dieu ?' said he, pressing his hands together, * you never used me unkindly.' THE MONK AND HIS SNUFF-BOX. 227 "'I should think,' said tlic ladj, 'lie is not likel}'.' I blushed in my turn ; but from what motive.*, I leave to the few who feel to analyze. ' Excupe me, madam,' replied I, 'I treated him most unkindly, and from no provocations.' '* "Tis impossible,' said the lady. "'My God!' cried the monk, with a warmth of assevera- tion which seemed not to belt ng to him, 'the fault was in me, and in the indiscretion of my zeal.' " The lady opposed it, and 1 joined with her in maintain- ing it was impossible, that a spirit so regulated as his could give offence to any. I knew not that contention could be rendered so sweet and pleasurable a thing to the nerves as I then felt it. "We remained silent, without any sensation of that foolish pain which takes place when, in a circle, yon look for ten minutes in one another's faces without paying- a word. " Whilst this lasted, the monk rubb'd his horn box upon HORN SNtPy-nOXES. the sleeve of his tunic; and as soon as it had acquired a little air of brightness by the friction, he made a low bow and said, 'twas too late to say whether it was the weakness or goodness of our tempers which liad involved us in ibis contest, but be it as it would, he begg'd we would exchange boxes. In saying this, he presented this to me with one, ms he took mine from me in the other; and having kissed it, with a stream of good nature in his eyes, he put it into his bosom, and took his leave. I guard this box as I would the instrumental parts of my religion, to help my mind on to something better : in truth I ecldom go abroad without it ; 228 " A PINCH OP SNUFF." and oft and many a time have I called up by it the courteous spirit of its owner, to regulate my own in the jostlings of the world ; they had found full employment for his, as I learnt from his story, till about the forty-fifth year of his age, when upon some military services ill-requited, and meet- ing at the same time with a disappointment in the tenderest of passions, he abandoned the sword and the sex together, and took sanctuary, not so much in his convent as in himself. I feel a damp upon my spirits, as I am going to add, that in ray last return through Calais, upon inquiring after Father Lorenzo, I heard he had been dead near three months, and was buried, not in his convent, but according to his desire, in a little cemetery belonging to it about two leagues off. I had a strong desire to see where they had laid him, when, upon pulling out his little horn box, as I sat by his grave, and plucking a nettle or two at the head of it, which had no business to grow there, they all struck together so forcibly upon my affections that I burst into a flood of tears — but I am as weak as a woman ; I beg the world not to smile, but pity me." Many pleasing effusions have been written promoted doubt- less by a sneeze among which the following .on "A pinch of Snuff " from " The Sportsman Magazine," exhibits the cus- tom and the benefits ascribed to its indulgence. " With mind or body sore distrest, Or with repeated cares opprest, What sets the aching heart at rest ? A pinch of snuff! " Or should some sharp and gnawing pain Creep round the noddle of the brain, What puts all things to rights again ? A pinch of snuff 1 " When speech and tongue together fail, What helps old ladies in their tale, And adds fresh canvass to their sail ? A pinch of snuff! " Or when some drowsy parson prays, And still more drowsy people gaze. What opes their eyelids with amaze ? A pinch of snuff! « PANDORA'S BOX." 229 ** A comfort which they can't forsake, What is it some would rather take, Than good roast beef, or rich plum cake ? A pinch of snuff! " Should two old gossips chance to sit, And sip their slop, and talk of it, What gives a sharpness to their wit ? A pinch of snuff! " What introduces Whig or Tory, And reconciles them in their story, When each is boasting in his glory? A pinch of snuff! " What warms without a conflagration Excites without intoxication. And rouses without irritation? A pinch of snuff! " When friendship fades, and fortune's spent. And hope seems gone the way they went. One cheering ray of joy is sent — A pinch of snuff! " Then let us sing in praise of snuff! And call it not such ' horrid stuff,' At which some frown, and others puff, And seem to flinch. " But when a friend presents a box, Avoid the scruples and the shocks Of him who laughs and he who mocks. And take a pinch!" From "Pandora's Box" from whicli we have already quoted, we extract the following in which the use of snufE is deprecated by the author : — " now, 'tis by every sort And sex adored, from Billingsgate to court. But ask a dame ' how oysters sell ? ' if nice. She begs a pinch before she sets a price. Go thence to 'Change, inquire the price of Stocks; Before they ope their lips they open first the box. Next pay a visit to the Temple, where The lawyers live, who gold to Heaven prefer ; You'll find them stupify'd to that degree, 230 PLEASURES OF SMELLING. They'll take a pinch before they'll take their fee. Then make a step and view the splendid court, Where all the gay, the great, the good resort; E'en they, whose pregnant skulls, though large and thick, Can scarce secure their native sense and wit, Are feeding of their hungry souls with pure Ambrosial snuff. * ♦ * * But to conclude: the gaudy court resign, T' observe, for once, a place much more divine. When the same folly's acted by the good, And is the sole devotion of the lewd ; The church, more sacred once, is what we mean, Where now they flock to see and to be seen ; The box is used, the book laid by, as dead, With snuff, not Scripture, there the soul is fed ; For where to heaven the hands by one of those. Are lifted, twenty have them at the nose ; And while some pray, to be from sudden death Deliver'd, others snuff to stop their breath." Paolo Mantegazza, one of the most brilliant and witty of Italian writers on tobacco, says of its use and " some of the delights that may be imagined through the sense of smell :" — " Iluman civilization has not yet learned to found on the sense of smell aught but the moderate enjoyment derived from snufiing, which, conhned within the narrow circle of a few sensations, renders us incapable of entering into the most delicate pleasures of that sense. " Snutf procures us the rapture of a tactile irritation, of a slight perfume ; but, above all, it furnishes the charm of an intermittent occupation which sootlies us by interrupting, from time to time, our labor. At other times it renders idleness less insupportable to us, by breaking it into the infinite intervals which pass from one pinch of snuff to another. Sometimes our snuff-box arouses us from torpor and drowsiness ; sometimes, it occupies our hands when in society we do not know where to put them or what to do with them. Finally, snuff and snuffing are things which we can love, beca^^e they are always with us; and we can season them with a little vanity if we possess a snuff-box of silver or of gold, which we open continually before those who humbly content themselves with snuff-boxes of bone or of wood. We gladly concede the pleasures of snuffing to men of all condi- tions, and to ladies who, having passed a certain age, or who, being deformed, have no longer any sex ; but we solemnly FREDERICK THE GREAT. 231 and resolutely refuse the snuff-box to young and beautiful women, who ought to preserve their delicate and pretty noses for the odors of the mignonette and the rose." With royalty snuff has been a prime favorite. Charles III. of Spain had a great predilection for rappee snnff, but only indulged his inclination by stealth, and particularly while shooting, when he imagined himself to be unnoticed. Fred- erick the Great and Napoleon* both loved and used large quantities of the " pungent dust." Of the former the follow- ing anecdote is related : — " The cynical temper of Frederick the Great is well known. Once when his sister, the Duchess of Brunswick, was at Potsdam, Frederick made to the brave Count Schwerin the present of a gold snuff-box. On the lid inside was painted the head of an ass. Next day, when dining with the king, Schwerin, with some ostentation, put his snuff'-box on the table. Wishing to turn the joke agains^t Schwerin, the king called attention to the snuff-box. The Duchess took it up and opened it. Immediately she exclaimed, ' What a striking likeness ! In truth, brother, this is one of the best portraits I have ever seen of you.' Frederick, embarrassed, thought his sister was carrying the jest too far. She passed the box to her neighbor, who uttered similar expressions to her own. The box made the round of the table, and every one was fervently eloquent about the marvelous resemblance. The king was puzzled what to make of all this. When the box at last reached his hands, he saw, to his great sur|)rise, that his portrait was really there. Count Schwerin had simply, with exceeding dispatch, emploj'ed an artist to remove the ass's head, and to paint the king's head instead. Fi-ederick could not help laughing at the Count's clever trick, which M'as really the best rebuke of his own bad taste and want of proper and respectful feeling." "As Frederick William 1., of Prussia, was eminently the Smoking King, so his son Frederick the Great was eminently the Snutfing King. Perhaps smoking harmonizes best with action; and it might, without much stretch oi' fancy, be shown that as the Prussian monarch}' was founded on (obncco smoke, it flourished on snulf. Possibly, if Napoleon the . Great, who like Frederick the Great, was an excessive siiuftier, •Napoleon, having beei\ unable to nndfrgo the ordeal of a first pipe, stigTnntlzrd It ns a habit ouly litto amuie BluggarUs. What he renounced in BUiokiug, however, he cuuiiicniiaied IB muff. 232 EMINENT SNUFF.TAKERS. had smoked as well as smifFed, he might have preserved his empire from overthrow, seeing that smoking steadies and snuffing impels. The influences of smoking and snuffing on politics and war are ascertainable. What the effect of chew- ing is on political and military affairs, it is not so easy to discover. We recommend the subject for meditation to the profoundest metaphysicians. How many of the American politicians and generals have been chewers as well as snuffers and smokers ? Is there to be some mysterious affinity between chewing and the revolutions, especially the social revolutions of the future? May not apocalyptic interpreters be able to show that chewing is the symbol of anarchy and annihilation ?" When first used in Europe snuff was made ready for use by the takers — each person being provided with a box or SCOnm SNTTFF-MILLS. " mill," as they were termed, to reduce the leaves to powder. In connection with this, the following may not be irrelevent : — The following anecdote of Huerta the celebrated Spanish guitarist, is taken from one of M. Ella's programmes : — " In the year 1826 the famous Huerta, who astonished the English by his performances on the guitar, was anxious to be introduced to the leader of the Italian Opera Baud — a warm-hearted and sensitive Neapolitan — Spagnoletti. The latter had a great contempt for guitars, concertinas, and other fancy instruments not used in the orchestra. He was fond of snuff, had a capacious nose, and, when irritated, would ejaculate ' Mon Dieu P On my presenting the vain Spaniard to Spagnoletti, the latter inquired, ' Vat you play V Huerta — ' De guitar-r-r, sare.' Spagnoletti — ' De guitar ! humph !' (takes a pinch of snuff.) Huerta — ' Yeas, sare, de guitar-r-r, and ven I play my adagio^ de tears shall run down both side your pig nose.' ' Veil den,' (raking snuff,) said Spagnoletti, * I vill not hear your adagio.'' * TOO STRONG. 233 The anecdote related of Count de Tessc, a celebrated cour- tier of France, is one of the best of its kind : — " Count de Tesse, Marshal of France, was an eminent man during the reign of Louis XIV. Though he was a brave soldier and by no means an incompetent general, yet he \vas more remarkable as a skillful diplomatist and a pliant and prosperous courtier. During the War of Succession in Spain, he besieged Barcelona with a considerable army, in the spring of 1705. Terrible was the assault, and terrible was the resistance. At the end of six weeks the arrival of the British fleet, and reinforcements thrown into the place, forced Mar- shal Tesse to retire. Besides immense losses in dead and wounded, he had to abandon two hundred and twenty cannon and all his sup2)lies. Incessantly fighting for fifteen days in his retreat towards the Pyrenees, he lost three thousand more of his men. It ought to be said, in vindication of Tesse, that he undertook the siege by express and urgent connnand of the French King, and contrary to his own judgment ; for in writing to a friend, he said: 'If a Consistory were held to decide the infallibility of the King, as Consistories have been held to decide the infallibility of the Pope, I should by my vote declare His Majesty infallible. His orders have con- founded all human science.' " Soon after the siege of Barcelona, a lady at a fashionable party took out her snuff-box and offered a pinch to any one who wished it. Marshal Tesse approached to take a pinch ; but suddenly the lady drew her snuff-box back, saying, ' For you. Marshal, the snuff is too strong — it is Barcelona.' " In Scotland the dry kinds of snuff are in favor and are esteemed as highly as the moister snuffs. Robert Leighton gives the following pen picture of the snuff-loving Scotch- man ; it is entitled " The Snuffie Auld Man :"— " By the cosie fire-side, or the sun-ends o' gavels, The snuffie auld bodie is sure to be seen. Tap, tappin' his snuff-box, he snifters and sneevila, And smachers the snuff frae his mou' to his een. Since tobacco cam' in, and the snuffin' began, There hasna been seen sic a snuffie auld man. " His haurins are dozen'd, his cen sair bedizzened And red round the lids as the gills o' a fish ; His face is a' bladdit, his sark-breest a' smaddit. As snuffie a picture as ony could wisti. 234 SAVINGS FROM THE PULPIT. He makes a mere merter o' a' thing he does, Wi' snuff frae his fingers an' drops frae his nose. " And wow but his nose is a troublesome member — Day and nicht, there's nae end to its snuffie desire : It's wide as the chimlie, it's red as an ember, And has to be fed like a dry-whinnie fire. It's a troublesome member, and gi'es him nae peace, Even sleepin*, or eatin', or sayin' the grace. " The kirk is disturbed wi' his hauckin' and sneezin' The dominie stoppit when leadin' the psalm ; The minister, deav'd out o' logic and reason, Pours gall in the lugs that are gapi' for balm. The auld folks look surly, the young chaps jocose, While the bodie himscl' is bambazed wi' his nose. " He scrimps the auld wife baith in garnal and caddy He snuffs what wad keep her in comfort and ease; Rapee, Lundyfitt, Prince's Mixture, and Toddy, She looks upon them as the worst o' her faes. And we'll see an end o' her kooshian nar While the auld carle's nose is upheld like a Czar. Sharp has written some verses founded upon the following singular anecdote in Dean Ramsay's "Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character :" "The inveterate snuff-taker, like the dram-drinker, felt severely the being deprived of his accustomed stimulant, as in the following instance: A severe snow-storm in the Highlands, which lasted for several weeks, having stopped all communication betwixt neighboring hamlets, the snuff- boxes were soon reduced to their last pinch. Borrowing and begging from all the neighbors within reach were first resorted to, but when these failed all were alike reduced to the long- ing which unwillingly abstinent snufi'-takefs alone know. The minister of the parish was amongst the unhappy num- ber ; the craving was so intense that study was out of the question, and he became quite restless. As a last resort, the beadle was dispatched through the snow, to a neighboring glen, in the hope of getting a supply ; but he came back as unsuccessful as he went. ' What's to be done, John ? was the minister's pathetic inquiry. John shook his head, as much as to say that he could not tell, but immediately there- after started up, as if a new idea occurred to him. He came THE STORY IN VERSE. 235 back in a few minutes, crying, ' Ilae ! ' The minister, too eager to be scrutinizing, took a long deep pinch, and then Baid, ' Whour did you get it ? ' 'I soupit (swept) the poupit,' was John's expressive reply. The minister's accumulated Buperfluous Sabbath snuH' now came into good use." " Near the Highlands, Where the dry lands Are divided into islands, And distinguish'd from the mainland As the Western Hebrides. " Stonny weather. Those who stay there, Oftentimes for weeks together Keep asunder from their neighbors, Hemm'd about by angry seas. " For, storm-batter'd, Boats are shattered, And their precious cargoes scatter'd In the boist'rous Sound of Jura, Or thy passage, Colonsay ; 236 STORM-BOUND. " "While the seamen, Like true freemen, Battle bravely with the Demon Of the storm, who strives to keep tkem From their harbor in the bay. " For this reason One bad season, (If to say so be not treason,) In an island town the people Were reduced to great distress. "Though on mainland They would fain land, They were storm-bound in their ain land, Where each luxury was little. And grew beautifully less. *' But whose sorrow, That sad morrow. When no man could beg or borrow From a friend's repository, Equall'd theirs who craved for snu£ " But, most sadden'd, Nearly madden'd For the lack of that which gladden'd His proboscis, was the parson, Eight the Rev'rend Neil Macduff. •' If a snuffer. Though no puffer. You may guess what pangs he'd suffer In his journey through a snow-drift, Visiting a neighboring town. *' From his rushing For some sneishing ; But his choring and his fishing Could procure no Toddy's Mixture, Moist Rappee, or Kendal Brown. " In his trouble — Now made double, Since his last hope proved a bubble — To his aid came Beadle Johnnie, In his parish right-hand man. THE SECRET. 237 " With a packet, Saying, Tak' it, It's as clean as I can mak' it, If ye'd save yer snuff on Sabbath A toom box ye needna scan. " Being lusty (Though 'twas musty) To his nose the snuff so dusty Put the minister, too much in want, The gift to scrutinize, "An idea He could see a Blessing in this panacea ; So he took such hearty pinches as brought Tears into his eyes. " Then to Johnnie, His old cronie, Cried — ' I fear'd I'd ne'er get ony.* ' Well, I'll tell ye,' said the beadle, * Whaur I got the stock of snuflf.' " ' In the poupit Low I stoopit, ' An' the snuflF and stour I soupit, Then I brocht ye here a handfu', For ye need it sair enough.' " The old Scottish snuff-mill, which consisted of a small box-like receptacle into which fitted a conical-shaped projec- tion with a short, strong handle was a more substantial affair than the rasp used by the French and English snuff-takers. (See page 232). Both, answered the purpose for which they were designed, the leaves of tobacco being " toasted before the fire," and then ground in the mill as it was called. The more modern snuff-mill is similar in shape, but is used to hold the snuff after being ground, rather than for reducing the leaves to a powder. Boswell gives the following poem on snuff, in his " Shrubs of Parnassus : " "Oh Snuff! our fashionable end and aim ! Straaburg, Rappee, Dutch, Scotch, what'eer thy name, 238 "COME TO MY NOSE." Powder celestial ! quintessence divine ! New joys entrance my soul while thou art mine. Who takes — who takes thee not ! where'er I range, I smell thy sweets from Pall Mall to the 'Change. By thee assisted, ladies kill the day, And breathe their scandal freely o'er their tea ; Nor less they prize thy virtues when in bed, One pinch of thee revives the vapor'd head. Removes the spleen, removes the qualmish fit, And gives a brisker turn to female wit, Warms in the nose, refreshes like the breeze, Glows in the herd and tickles in the sneeze. Without it, Tinsel, what would be thy lot ! What, but to strut neglected and forgot ! What boots it for thee to have dipt thy hand In odors wafted from Arabian land ? Ah ! what avails thy scented solitaire. Thy careless swing and pertly tripping air, The crimson wash that glows upon thy face, Thy modish hat, and coat that flames with lace ! In vain thy dress, in vain thy trimmings shine, If the Parisian snuff-box be not thine. Come to my nose, then, Snuff, nor come alone. Bring taste with thee, for taste is all thy own." There seems to be as great a variety of design in snuff- boxes as among pipes and tobacco-stoppers. The Indians of both North and South America have their mills for grinding or pulverizing the leaves. In the East a great variety of snuff-boxes may be seen ; they are made of wood and ivory, while many of them have a spoon attached to the box, which they use in taking the dust from the box to the back of the hand, whence it is taken by the forefinger and conveyed to the nose. In Europe we find greater variety of design in snuff-boxes than in the East. In Europe they are made of the most costly materials, and studded with the rarest gems. In the East they are made of ivory, wood, bamboo, and other materials. Of late years boxes made of wood from Abbotsford or some other noted place have been used for the manufacture of snuff-boxes. Formerly when snuff-taking was in more general use by kings and courtiers than now — a magnificent snuff-box was considered by royalty as one of SNUFF MANUFACTURE. 239 the most valuable and pleasing of " memorials." Many of these testimonials of friendship and regard were of gold and silver, and set with diamonds of the finest water. Among the anecdotes of celebrated snuff-takers, the fol- lowing from White's " Life of Swedenborg," will be new to many : " Swedenborg took snuff profusely and carelessly, strewing it over his papers and the carpet. His manuscripts bear its traces to this day. His carpet set those sneezing who shook it. One Sunday he desired to have it taken up and beaten. Shearsmith objected, 'Better wait till to-morrow,' 'Dat be good ! dat be good !' was his answer." We copy the following article on the manufacture of snuff from a well-known English journal, "Cope's Tobacco Plant:"— " Although snuff is still extensively consumed in this coun- tiy (Great Britain), the mode of its manufacture is very little known to those who use it ; and there are very few persons of even the most inquisitive turn of mind who can say they have ever penetrated into the mysterious precincts of a snuff- mill. Even those who have been privileged, and have had the courage to inspect the interior of such an establishment, have come away with very vague notions of what they saw. The hollow whirr of the revolving pestles, the hazy atmos- phere closely resembling a London fog in November, a jthe- nomenon which is produced by the innumerable particles of tobacco floating about, and causing the gas to flicker and sparkle in a m3'sterious way, and producing a lively irritation of the mucous membrane, all combine in placing the visitor in a state of amusing bewilderment, and he is compelled to make a speedy exit, having only had just a running peep at the interesting process of snuft'-making. It is therefore our duty to give a description of a process which will be new to a large number of people, and will help to clear up some of the obscure theories that a great many more entertain of it. "Those persons who have travelled on the Continent, and who have noticed on tobacconists' counters a small machine, somewhat like a coffee-mill, which a man works with one hand, while he holds a hard-pressed plug of tobacco about a pound weight against the revolving grater, and produces snuff while the snuff-taker waits for it, may in^agine that snuff in England is produced on a somewhat similar small 240 PREPARATION OF THE TOBACCO. Bcale. But this, like many kindred theories, is quite a mis- take. In this country there exist large snutf-mills worked by Bteara power, and in Scotland there is one water-mill which is driven by a water-power of the strength of thirty horses. The grinding of snutf is at present carried on much as it was one hundred years ago. The apparatus, although effective, f . la SNUFF-MILL A CENTURY AGO. is very primitive, and would lead one to suppose that mechan- ical ingenuity had wholly neglected to trouble itself about improving that branch of machinery. "All kinds of snuff are made from tobacco leaves, or tobacco stalks, either separate or mixed. This in the first instance goes through a kind of fermentation, and, like the basis of soup at the modern hotels, forms, as it were, the stock from which all the varieties in flavor and appearance are produced by special treatment and flavoring. Of course the strength and pungency of the snuff will depend a good deal upon the richness of the tobacco originally put aside for it. About one thousand pounds of tobacco would form an ordinary batch of snuff. The duty on this would amount to about £150, and this has to be paid before the tobacco is removed from the bonded warehouse. Having got his heap of material ready, the snuff-maker moistens it, then places it in a warm room and covers it over with warm cloths — coddles it, as it were, to make it comfortable, so that the cold air cannot get to it — and the heap is then left for three or four weeks, as the case may be, to ferment. " In France, where, under the Imperial regime, snuff-making was a Government monopoly, the tobacco was allowed to fermentwfor twelve or eighteen months ; and in the principal factory (that at Strasburg) might have been seen scores of GRINDING THE LEAVES. 241 huge bins, as largo as porter vats, all piled up with tobacco in various stages of fermentation. The tobacco, after being fermented, if intended for that light, powdery, brown-looking Bnuff called S. P., is dried a little ; or if for Prince's Mixture, Macobau, or any other kind of Pappee, is at once thrown into what is called the mull. The mull is a kind of large iron mortar weighing about half a ton and lined with wood ; and there is a heavy pestle which travels round it, forming, as it were, a large pestle and mortar. These mulls are placed in rows and shut up in separate cupboards, to keep in the dust. The snuff-maker wanders from one to the other, and feeds them as they require. " "When the grinding of the snuff is completed it is then ready for flavouring, and in this consists the great art and secret of the trade. Peceipts for peculiar flavors are handed down from father to son as most valuable heir-looms, and these receipts are in fact a valuable property in many instances, for so delicate is the nose of your snuff-taker that he can detect the slightest variation in the preparation of his favor- ite snuff. It is related of one old snuff-maker in London, who had acquired a handsome fortune and retired from busi- ness, that he made it a consideration with his successors that he should be allowed, so long as he lived, to attend one day in the week at the business and flavor all the snuff. Most people will also be familiar with some one of the numerous versions of the origin of the once famous Lundy Foote Snuff, better known as ' Irish Blackguard.' " The excise are very rigid in their laws for regulating the manufacture of snuff; and with the exception of a little com- mon salt, which is added to make the tobacco keep, ^ud alkalies for bringing out the flavor, nothing is allowed to be used but a few essential oils. And here we must digress for a moment to correct a popular error, viz., that snuff contains ground glass, put there for titillating purposes. "What appears to be ground glass is only the little crystals or small particles of alkali that have not been dissolved. So that fastidious snufi-takers may dismiss this bugbear at once and forever. " The essential oils referred to form a very expensive item in the manufacture of snuff. The ladies would be much surprised to see a dusty snuft-maker drain off Ave pounds' worth of pure unadulterated otto-of -roses into a tin can, and 16 242 FLAVORING THE SNUFF. PERFUMING SNUFF. as they (the ladies) would suppose, throw it away on a heap of what would appear to them rubbishy dust in one corner of the snuff-room. Of course the ladies would consider the proper place for it to be on the cambric handkerchief, but this idea would be about the last to occur to your matter- of-fact snuff-maker. " In addition to otto-of- roses, the scent-room con- tains great jars of essence of lemon, French gera- nium, verbena, oil of pi- mento, bergamotte, etc., all of which are used in the various flavoring com- binations. There would most likely also be a few hundred-weight of fine Tonquin beans, and one of these beans is generally presented to any visitor who drops in, as souvenir to carry away in his waistcoat pocket. Snuff is very extensively used in the mills and factories of Lancashire. Those who toil long in heated and noisy mills seem to require, and doubtless do require, tobacco in some shape or other to keep them from jflagging ; and as chewing is not polite, and smoking in a mill not allowed, the only resource left to the operative is his snuff. A singular feature connected with this is, we believe, the fact that spinners in very few instances use snuff- boxes, they prefer having their supply of snuff screwed up in a piece of paper. One retail shop-keeper in a busy spin- ning town in Lancashire assured us that he retailed over four hundred weight of snuff a week in pennyworths, " It is impossible to state the exact quantity of snuff used in this country ; but, as far as we can arrive at it from statistics at hand, we should say it cannot be less than five hundred tons per annum. This seems an enormous quantity, considering the comparatively small number of persons who now use snuff; but the great bulk of snuff seems to be consumed by particular communities, such as the Lancashire operatives, and the consumption of it is therefore not generally observable ; and further it should be remembered that those who do take snuff, individually use large quantities." PROFITS MADE. 243 Snuff-manufacturing has in some cases been attended with considerable affluence. One instance is the London man- ufacturer already mentioned, whose profits accumulated to the extent of nearly a quarter of a million ; another is the Lundy Foote business, and the third a Scotch manufacturer (Gillespie), who by the way, practised a bit of benevolence, in the shape of building an hospital, in return for the good things fortune had sent him. Of course an hospital, like many other things, may have a doubtful origin, as witness the famous Guy's, which stands as a lasting monument to the wonderful profits that used to be made out of the iniquitous advance note system. But we do not by any means wish to make comparisons which must be odious and although the profits of snuff-manufacturing are for a variety of reasons — amongst others the decreased consumption of the manu- factured article — not nearly as large as they were fifty years ago ; yet we are sure that the fortunes accumulated by some of the old snuff-makers were the result of honest, upright industry. Of European tobacco used in the manufacture of snuff that of Holland and France (St. Omer) is considered to be equal to any grown in Europe. Of the varieties grown in America, Virginia leaf is used quite extensively for some grades of snuff and "good stout rich snuff leaf^' commands excellent prices and meets with a ready sale. A writer gives the following account of the love the Terra Del Fuegians have for tobacco. " This morning we were up early, a large party going ashore for various scientific purposes, and the others taking the ship out in the channel to do a little dredging ; both parties were very successful, and added much to our collec- tion. As we on the shore w^ere about ready to come off, we were visited by a party of Fuegians, five men, four women, and nine children, with three dogs. They came in an English- built boat, stolen or lost from some English ship. The men and dogs landed and came towards us with a great frankness of manner. They could talk neither English nor Spanish, except the few words, boat, fire, tobac, galleto, arco. But they understood the imperial manner of one of our officers, 244 LOVE OF TOBACCO. who said quietly but firmly, 'keep back those dogs,' and immediately drove back the barking curs with sticks and stones. They warmed themselves at our fire, and seemed disposed to be very civil and friendly. We gave them our remaining biscuit, and what little tobacco there was in our party to spare. One of them accepted a pinch of snuif and pretended to sneeze, crying ' Hatchee ! ' with mock solemnity. An old man sat down on a stone and sang to us a low. FUEGIAN SNUFF-TAKERS. sweet recitation, or chant, in wild key, or mode, ending on a rising melody with each stanza. They followed us to tlie ship, and we gave them some calico and beads, and tobacco, and also bought bows and arrows, and a sea-urchin, paying them in tobacco. They clung to the ship as we got under way, men and women, crying, ' Tobacco !' and frantic to catch any fragment of the precious weed thrown to them. But at length they let go, and we left the bay with the cry of tobacco ringing in our ears." Having spoken of most of the modes of using snuff in both the Old and New World, we come now to a description of using snuff at the South, known as " dipping," and by some as " rubbing," both terms used to denote the same man- ner of use. The description of it as given by A. L. Adams is as follows : — " In the South, and more especially in Virginia, where tobacco has been cultivated for more than two hundred and CHEWING AND DIPPING. 245 fifty years, and where a few pounds of it was the legitimate price for a wife, it is not surprising that it should be more highly prized and come into more general use than in any other section of our country. On the banks of the James River it was first successfully cultivated by the English col- ony, and this simple fact alone must forever throw a charm around it, which will foster the pride of the Virginian who has any respect for his ancestry, and hold him under sacred obligations to use, cherish, and defend the plant and its use — all of which he regards as no less a pleasure than a duty. Here too its many virtues were first discorered, and its sooth- ing efiects first felt and appreciated. " To the old Virginian it is indeed a cherished weed, charm- ing all manner of diseases, comforting in sorrow, soothing the ills of life, and preserving to a good old age and in a happy frame of mind all who use it. He believes in its superior virtues, and ascribes to it more good qualities than to any other known plant. He always carries it about with him, and if perchance he gets out he is truly miserable. He not only loves but worships it as a cure all. His wife and daughters know its virtues full well, and use it with equal grace and relish, believing it gives a lustre to the eye and a freshness to the cheek rarely surpassed. Among the variety of ways in which it is used none attracted my attention so much as the novel manner of snufi'-taking in various jDarts of Virginia, West Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia. " In some localities the practice is unknown, while in many others it is very common. I first discovered young ladies putting snufi" into their mouths as if eating it, when my curiosity was excited to an alarming extent, but on being invited to ' dip ' with them I soon learned that they were not eating, but ' rubbing and chewing' it, as they called it, and in such a lively manner as to soon convince me that they appreciated it. I found the habit to be quite common even among the young of both sexes — all indulging in it as if it afforded real satisfaction to the appetite for tobacco in some form. " The young ladies however seemed the more attached to the ' rubbing process,' as it has been appropriately styled, and defended it with equal lo'j^'m and grace whenever it was assailed. The young gentlemen when in the society of the young ladies generally join them in this unique use of snuff*, as they are always sure to be invited and urged if they decline, and to merit their favor of course they must appear 246 UNIVERSAL USE. Bocial. I believe, in credit to their taste, however, that they really prefer a good cigar, and think it more in keeping with their ideas of manhood and neatness. I have seen young girls of ten * rubbing and chewing,' as if they appreciated it as much as mother Eve did the apple in the garden of paradise. " I have also seen old ladies with trembling limbs and few teeth ' rubbing and chewing,' as if it made them feel young ao-ain. I have frequently been ushered unexpectedly into the presence of young ladies, and found them puffing their cigarettes in a manner that convinced me that they knew how to smoke. There is nothing that will more surely and quickly bring a stranger into the fellowship and good graces of the ladies than to join them in their pet habit of snuff- rubbing. It seems to form a bond of friendship which they regard as sacred as the vows of wedlock. " The older matrons ' rub ' less and smoke more, which is in accordance with nature and philosophy : The older we grow the more we smoke. They find solid pleasure in sitting by the open grate after tea with fifteen inches of pipe's tail between their teeth, and slowly but gracefully puffing the perfumes of the exhilarating weed into the room, and watch- ing with childish pleasure the hazy curling wreaths of smoke as they gently float around, changing in form and color until they finally disappear up the chimney, affording rich themes for meditation and profitable study, and perhaps suggestive of earlier days when grandmother, an innocent, blooming maid, was exchanged for the weed, the seed of which pro- duced the plant she is now burning. Everywhere I marked only pleasant and soothing effects from the use of tobacco. " The planter is never more indifferent to the ills of life and in sympathy with good feeling and pleasure, than when he sits down after dinner in his vine-thatched portico and lights his pipe, passing to his guests pipes, cigars, and tobacco in various forms, leaving them to choose their favorite mode of using it. Sambo is never more contented than when he bums the weed in a cob pipe, and draws the delicious smoke through an elder sprig or muUen stem. But the maid is happiest of all when with her lover she sits face to face, and they ' dip ' together from the same magic plant — tobacco. " In every walk of life throughout the sunny South tobacco in some form may be found, and its effects are always the Bame, whether drawn from the pocket of the beggar or taken with gloved fingers from the golden tobacco-box of the ADVANTAGES OF DIPPING. 247 planter. For snuflf the ladies have very nice round boxes ■with lids which, they always carry with them full of black snuif highly but pleasantly flavored. They also carry little brushes or sticks about three inches long with pliable ends ; these they wet in the mouth, then dip into the snuif-box, and then place it in the mouth outside of the gums and rub earn- estly for two or three minutes. ' Will you dip with me V -tvO> SNUFF-DIPPING. is the usual way of putting the invitation, when the box is drawn from the pocket and rapped slightly on the cover, sometimes by all present, who thus signify their readiness to ' dip,' then it is repassed open to all, and the ' dipping and rubbing ' begins in earnest. " The only advantage I ever discovered in this unnatural way of snuffing is in avoiding all unpleasant sneezing which enuffing is sure to produce, although it is claimed that it whitens and preserves the teeth and sweetens the mouth, and produces a beneficial effect on the lungs, all of which is true or not, just as you choose to believe. 'Will you dip and rub with me?' said one of the prettiest belles of Winchester, and in another city in another state the daughter of an ex-governor, handing me a silver-tipped brush and openmg ft rose-wood snuff-box richly inlaid with gold, politely asked me to * dip ' with her, expressing the belief that friendship would always follow. I have frequently been asked by ladies 24:8 SNUFF-TAKERS. when travelling through the country and stopping at farm- houses, if I used tobacco — as a hint to offer them some, and it was a pleasure to comply, and receive the thankful smile of an appreciative heart." In other parts of the country the habit of snuff-taking is confined principally to old ladies, who use any kind, either black or yellow, and who prefer themselves the cheaper kinds. SNUFFERS. But few varieties are used, and there seems to be but little taste manifested in the selection of the " dust." Foreign varieties are used only to a limited extent, being chiefly con- fined to those of transatlantic birth and tastes'. The custom of chewing and smoking seems to be more popular with the male sex than snuff-taking, and one rarely finds a man addicted to the latter habit, unless it be one somewhat advanced in years. Stewart in his admirable paper on snuff gives much useful information in regard to the universal custom of using it as well as its origin and distinguished uses of the great sternutatory. THE FIRST SNUFFERS. 249 " The luckless fate of inventors and originators has become proverbial, but the ingenious individual whose nostrils rejoiced in the first pinch of snulf stood in no need of the niggardly praise of contemporaries or the lavisli gratitude of posterity. That first ' pinch' was its own priceless reward, far above present appreciation or future fame. What mat- ters it, that his great name has not been reverently handed down to us : that posterity seeks in vain his honored tomb, on which to hang her grateful votive wreath ; that zealous anti- quaries have raised up innumerable pretenders to his unclaimed honors, and striven to rob him of his fame ? Enough for that lucky inventor, wherever he may rest, that he enjoyed in his lifetime the reward for which ordinary benefactors of their kind are fain to look to the future. " It is perfectly vain to attempt now to penetrate into the mystery which envelopes the name and nation of the first snuff-taker: long befca*e rough, noble-hearted Drake cured his dyspepsia by the use of tobacco, or Kaleigh transplanted some roots of that precious weed into English soil, there were European noses which had rejoiced at its pulverized leaves. Conjecture, lost in the mazy distance, gladly lays hold of something substantial in the shape of snuff's first royal patron. This was Catherine de Medicis, who, receiv- ing some seeds of the tobacco plant from a Dutch colony, cherished them, and elevated the dried and pounded leaves into a royal medicine, with the proud title of ' Herbe a la Heine.' For in the beginning men took snuff, not as an everyday luxury, but as a medicament. Like tea — which a hundred years later was advertised as a cure for every ill — the new sneezing powder was hailed a universal specific; and so pleasant in its operation, that mankind, acting upon the wholesome aphorism that prevention is much better than cure, and eagerly anticipated the disease it was supposed to remedy." " The use of ' the pungent grains of titillating dust ' received a somewhat heavy and discouraging blow from an unexpected quarter. That ubiquitous power which hurled anathemas alike at the heresies of Luther and the length of clerical wigs, discountenanced its use, and at length fairly lost its temper in the contest %vitli snuff. AVhctlier from a prescience of the beneficial influence it was destined to exert upon mankind, or from a suspicion of its power of sharpening intellects, it is difficult to say ; but Popes Urban VIII., and Innocent waged quite a miniature crusade against 250 PERSECUTION. . sniiff, anathematizing those who should use it in any church, and positively threatening with excommunication all impious persons who should provoke a profane sneeze within the sacred precincts of St. Peter's pile; Louis XIV., that good son of the Church, filially complied with the paternal injunction, but his courtiers were less yielding ; and the aiite-chamber of Versailles frequently resounded with the effects of the pleasant stinmlant. " All persecution has a distinct tendency to establish the object of its hate, and so it was with the subject of our arti- cle— it only required to be loved ; and I do not doubt that, had circumstances required them, snuff would have found its martyrs. Its use was not general in England until Charles II. introduced it, upon his return from exile, with other important fashions. It had been known and used before, as had the periwig, but it was not until his reign that it became common. When the Stuarts relieved the country of their presence for the second and last time, it had become firmly established ; and, by the days of good Queen Anne, was such a necessary of life, that there were in the metropolis alone no less than seven thousand shops where the snuff-boxes of the Londoners could be replenished. ''At that time, indeed, gallants were as proud of their jewelled boxes of amber, porcelain, ebony and agate as they were of their flowing wigs and clouded canes, the handles of which were not unf requently constructed to hold the cherished dust. We are told by courtly Dick Steel, that a handsome snuff-box was as much an essential of ' the fine gentleman ' as his gilt chariot, diamond ring, and brocade sword-knot. We know them to have been manufactured of the costliest material, heavy with gold and brilliant with jewels, as they needed to be when their masters carried wigs ' high on the shoulder in a basket borne,' worth forty or fifty guineas, and wore enough Flanders lace upon their persons to have stocked a milliner's stall in New England. " Unfortunately, but very naturally, this extravagance rendered snuff a butt for the wits (who all took it, by the way), to shoot at. Steele, whose weakness for dress and show were proverbial, levelled many of his blunt shafts at its use ; and Pope, who himself tells us ' of his wig all pow- der and all snuff his band,' let fly one of his keener arrows at the beaux, whose wit lay in their snuff-boxes and tweezer cases. As the men laid by, in the Georgian era, much of the magnificence of their attire, so their snuff-boxes became WORKS OP ART. 251 FANCY SNUFF-BOXES. plainer and decidedly uglier. Hushing into an opposite extreme, the most outrageous receptacles for the precious dust were devised. Boxes in the shape of bibles, boots, shoes, toads, and coffins outraged public taste. The strangest materials were used in their construction ; the public taste leaning towards relics possess- ing historical interest. Thus the mulberry tree planted by Shake- speare, the hull of the Royal George, in which ' brave Kempen- felt went down, with twice four hundred men,' and the deck of the Victory, on which Nelson died ' for England, home, and beauty,' have alone been supposed to supply material for snuff-boxes to an ex- tent which, if known, must con- siderably weaken the faith of their possessors in their genuineness. " Nor has snuff itself been less liable to the rule of fashion than the boxes that held it. We will give a few familiar instances. In the naval engagement of Viga, in 1703, when a large Spanish fleet was taken or destroyed, a great quantity of musty snuff was made prize of, and patriotism ran high enough to cause the ' town' for some length of time to resist all that was not manufactured to imitate the flavor from which it took its well-known name of ' musty.' Nearer to our own time, a large tobacco ware- house having been destroyed by fire, in Dublin, a poor man purchased some of the scorched or damaged stock, and man- ufacturing it into coarse snuff, sold it to the poorer class of snuff-takers. Forthwith capricious fashion adopted it, endow- ing it with fabulous qualities, and Lundy Foot's Irish Black- guard (so it was termed) filled the most fashionable boxes. "Again, during the Peninsular campaigns, in which the light division of the British army bore so memorable a part, the mixture used by and called after its gallant leader, Gen- eral Sir. Amos Norcott, had a more extensive sale than any other. When Napoleon was at Elba, and folks began to tire of legitimacy, as they soon did, it became fashionable to use Bnuff scented with the spirit of violet, and significantly to allude to the perfume. Garrick, when he was manager of 252 FAMOUS SNUFF-TAKERS. Drury Lane Theatre, brought a mixture into fashion by using or alluding to it in one of his most famous parts. The tobac- conist whom he thus favored was his under-treasurer, Hard- ham, whom no writer about snuff should omit to notice. He was a great favorite with Garrick, whom in his turn he almost revered. One of Hardham's most important duties was to number the house from a hole in the curtain above the stage ; and it is amusing to fancy the little tobacconist, snuff-box in hand, calmly watching the pit fill, or from his elevated posi- tion admiring the histrionic talents of his gifted patron. His shop in Fleet street is also memorable. It was the general resort of theatrical men and tyros, who sought to reach the manager through his subordinates, and his little back parlor witnessed the debut of many who afterwards gained aj)plause from larger, though not more exacting audiences. " Her Majesty Queen Charlotte has bequeathed her name to a once favorite mixture, and George the Fourth has some slight chance of being remembered by the famous ' Prince's Mixture,' which was so popular when it was the fashion to admire and imitate that gifted individual. It would be a grateful but almost an impossible task to enumerate the kings, soldiers, lawyers, poets and actors who had sought from and found in the snuff-box comfort and inspiration. Prominent among the rulers of the earth who have acknowl- edged the pleasing influence of snuff is Frederick the Great. His snuff-box was the pocket of the long waistcoats of that period, in which he kept large quantities loose — a dirty habit, which Napoleon, who was a great plagiarist, adopted. It would be easy to draw out a famous list of literary names attached to snuff, beginning with Dryden, who was particular enough to manufacture his own mixture, and selfish enough to preserve the secret of its excellence, with a view, prob- ably, of enhancing the value of the pinch from his box, for which the beaux and wits at Will's intrigued. " In the pulpit, at the bar, and on the stage,' snuff has been equally valuable in adding to the persuasive eloquence and talent of its patrons. By the female portion of human-kind it was at one time pretty generally taken, nor was it uncom- mon for young and even pretty women to offer and accept a pinch in public. After the gentle sex had to a great extent given up the habit, some strong minded females were to be found who retained it. Mrs. Siddons, when she came off the stage after dying hard, as Desdemona, or harrowing the hearts of her audience by her representation of Jane Shore, could SNUFF AS A PACIFICATOR. 253 composedly ask those around for a pinch of the precious restorative. When we consider the beneficial influence which snuii has exerted over mankind generally, we cannot help regretting that its virtues were not sooner known. " For we put forth the proposition seriously, that its effect upon the world has been to render it more humane and even-tempered, and that had the western hemisphere dis- covered the tobacco plant earlier, historians would have had more pleasant events to chronicle. For instance, it is not ilnpos^iI)le — nay, most probable — that the fate of Rome, dis- cussed by the Triumvirate over their snuif-boxes, would have been diti'erent. Is it likely that, under the humanizing influ- ence of mutual pinches, Antony would have asked for, or Augustus resigned, the head of Cicero to his bloodthirsty colleague ; or that the other details of the conscription which deluged the streets of Rome with the blood of her best citizens, would have been agreed to? Again, can any one imagine Charles the Ninth and his evil counsellors plotting the massacre of St. Bartholomew over pinches of the soothing dust? Is it probable that the High Court of Justiciary would have entitled its royal martyr to a special service in the Book of Common Prayer, if its deliberation had been inspired by the kindly snuff which since that time has so often softened the rigor of the law ? My hypothesis may seem an absurd one, but history supports it. "When Charles the Second introduced snuff into general use, men's hands had scarcely adapted themselves to more peaceable occupations than cutting their neighbors' throats, and the ashes of a long and bitter civil war needed little fan- ning to break into a blaze again ; and yet, for forty years of misgovernment the nation kept its temper. How can tliis forbearance be accounted for ? Was it that circumstances no longer called for as stern and as effectual remedies as before ? No. Was the second Charles one whit more desirable than the first of that ilk ? Was Clarendon more liked than Staf- ford ? was Russell's head of less consequence than Piwnne's ears ? No. Again, wrongs as grievous as those which Hamp- den had died in resisting were to be avenged, but in a milder, better fashion ; for mankind had in the meantime learned to take snuff. Much of the haste and irritation which had pre- viously led to blows discharged itself in a good-natured Biieeze. Snuff made men forbearing, even jocular over their wrongs. Who can doubt that the revolution wliieh ended in placing William of Orange on his father-in-law's throne owed 254: A PREVENTIVE OF ANGER. its bloodless character not a little to the influence of snuff. We read of difficulties in its course, which, fifty years previ- ously, would inevitably have led to bloodshed, being easily, almost humorously surmounted. The plagued nation effected a revolution over its snuff-boxes in the happiest conceivable manner. " Having ventured so far I am inclined to put forward a yet higher claim which snuff has upon our gratitude, and to hint that the great deeds of great men who were snuff-takera may be traced by a chain of reasoning — slight, yet conclusive ■ — to this dearly prized luxury. The hackneyed saying that time is money, or money's worth, has more truth in it than most of the fallacies which are supposed to regulate our con- duct. The most important events of our lives often hinge on moments. A moment to stifle passion, to summon reflection, to plunge into the past and bring up a buried memory, to consider results, is often of the utmost consequence, and this valued moment the pinch of snuft' insures, when, without it, delay would be simply embarrassment. The pinch of snuff, taken at the right instant, secures an important reprieve, during which the unpleasant question may be evaded, the hasty reply reconsidered, or an angry repartee thought better of, while the same time gained serves to improve the diplo- matist's equivoque, to point the orator's satire, and polish the wit's mot. In a word, its use on important occasions affords, to every one who needs them, better means of acting upon Talleyrand's mischievous yet clever aphorism — that language is useful rather to conceal than to express our thoughts. Moreover, the action necessary in conveying the tempting graces to their destination has not unfrequently been found useful. It employs the hasty hand that may itch to take illegal vengeance for fancied insults ; it serves to hide the angry twitching mouth and passionately expanding nostrils, to give a natural expression to changes of the countenance which would otherwise indicate emotion, and to parry atten- tion till reason has been summoned to supplant passion. " It is denied (in a rather irritating way sometimes) that the subject of our article has any beneficial influence upon the intellects of its patrons. We are not about to claim for it any such exalted qualities, but we may be allowed to men- tion a fact or so which entitles it to some respect medicinally. As we have before stated, in its early days it was considered to possess powerful healing qualities, and even now is found of use in cases of headache and weak sight. It was also A NATIONAL STIMULANT. 255 supposed valu cultivated in nearly all parts of the world with varying sue/ cess, according to the system of cultivation adopted by its growers. Primarily cultivated by the aborigines of America in the rude manner common to uncivilized races, the plant has, by numerous experiments and careful culture, become one of the greatest of agricultural products. -.JWlien-ficst discovered bx- tlie Spanish and Portuguese, the plant -war smairfand in flavor " poor and weak and of a byting taste." As soon, however, as the Spaniards began its cultivation in the islands of St. Domingo and Trinidad, attention was paid to developing it, and in a few years the description we find of the latter variety is that it is "large, sharp, and growing two or three yards from the ground." At the close of the sixteenth century the Portuguese began its cultivation in Portugal, the soil of which seemed well adapted to the plant, and still further increased the size and quality of the leaf. Tobacco is now cultivated through a wider range of temperature than any other tropical plant, and whether grown amid the sands of Arabia, the plains of South America, or in the rich valley of the Connecticut, develops its finest form and perfection of leaf. During the last half-century the plant has been developed to a greater 415 416 TOBACCO CULTURE. extent than during tlie three hundred years succeeding its discovery. Now its cultivation has been reduced to almost an exact science, and the quality of the leaf is in a great measure within the control of the growers of the plant. Formerly it was supposed that the varieties that grew in the tropics could not be successfully cultivated in the tem- perate regions, but recent and repeated experiments have demonstrated the fact that the tobacco of Cuba can be grown with success in the Connecticut valley. While the tobacco of the tropics is the finest in flavor, the more temperate regions produce the finest and best colored leaf. The tobacco of the tropics, as to the uses to which it is put, is limited, while the tobacco of the more temperate regions can be used for all the purposes for which the plant is designed. The cultivation of the plant varies with the variety, the soil, and the use to be made of the leaf. Thus a tobacco designed for cutting purposes is cultivated somewhat differ- ently from that designed for the manufacture of snuft' or cigars. In the one case the plant is allowed to remain grow- ing longer in the field, while in the other the work of topping the plants is performed at an earlier stage of their growth. Primarily but little attention was paid to the color and texture of the leaf, the principal object being the production of a leaf of large size, rather than one of good color, and of a silky texture. Now, however, these are most important con- siderations, and give value to the tobacco in proportion to the perfection of these qualities. The soil, too, is carefully chosen and fitted in the most thorough manner, while the fertilizers used are selected with reference to the color of leaf desired. When first cultivated in the United States it was thought that tobacco designed for various uses could not be grown in the same state or section ; now, however, tobacco for cigars and for cutting are grown nearly side by side. But in the fineness of the leaf, tobacco culture has made its greatest stride. By a careful selection of soil, and by the judicious application of proper fertilizers, the leaf tobaccos of Connecticut, Cuba, and TOBACCO CULTURE. 417 Virginia, resemble in texture the finest satins and silks. This result has been reached, not by the sacrifice of the strength of the leaf, but by the most careful culture and improved methods of curing. The first labor to be performed in connection with the growth of a crop of tobacco, is the selection of a site for, and the making of, the " plant bed " or " plant patch." These beds for the early growth of the plants until large enough to transplant, are made in various ways and at difierent times, according to the method of tilling adopted and the climate. In California the tobacco bed is made in January, in the Southern States, Syria, Turkey, and Holland, in March. In New England in April. In Mexico and Java in June, and in Persia in December. In the Connecticut valley the manner of making the PLANT BED, as given by a Massachusetts tobacco-grower, is as follows : — "No rigid rules can be given for any process in tobacco culture, which depends much upon weather and season, but certain advantages may be obtained by skillful adaptation of general principles to circumstances. Tliis is especially true of raising tobacco plants, which occupy an extremely slight depth of ground for weeks after sowing, making it necessary to prepare the whole soil with reference to the state of this thin surface. Any slight mistake of treatment may make in the end a difference of several days ; consequently each item is of importance. While every tobacco-raiser wants early plants, and appreciates the value of a good location for grow- ing them, many naturally sheltered spots of ground, protected from northerly w^inds by buildings, trees, or hills, remain unappreciated. Tight board fences are no protection worth mentioning. " A heavily manured crop of tobacco would fit such places for tobacco beds, and leave them freer from -weeds than any other cultivation ; and a subsequent use of some commercial fertilizer would avoid the introduction of weed seed. With these precautions, and a careful destruction of all neighboring weeds, a tolerably clean bed may be expected. To prepare the ground, plow or loosen deeply with a large cultivator ; 27 418 HOT BEDS. MAKING THE PLANT BED IN CONNECTICUT. harrow in two-thirds of the fertilizer to be used ; rake the bed perfectly level, then rake in the other third ; roll once, and another slight raking will fit the bed for sowing, after which it should be rolled down hard. If the soil is handled in dry- ing M-eather, it should be done quickly, be- cause damp ground, if prepared and rolled down before drying, will 'set' like mor- tar, and remain damp on the surface. Moisture and darkness are essential to the germination of the seed, and these conditions can be secured only by making the surface compact while damp. The disintegration of the deeper lumps, and the decomposition of fertilizers, will cause the surface to grow gradually softer. The effect of plowing is to break the ground into lumps, which lie upon each other, giving free admission to the air between them. Harrowing makes finer the lumps near the surface, and mixes the fertil- izer deeper than a rake can be used. The first raking is to pulverize and level, so that rains will neither collect in ponds, nor run off, but penetrate the soil evenly. The second raking is to mix the fertilizer equally through the soil, to tho depth of an inch or less, and reduce the lumps to the size of peas, which is as fine as a medium loam can be made without danger of a tough crust. Too much working destroys the healthy grain of the soil, and reduces it to a paste, which the roots of the tobacco plants can penetrate but slowly. " The bed should not be watered before nor after the plants come up. The ground will be cold enough without any extra evaporation, and if the place is suitable for tobacco plants, and rightly fitted, the surface will be damp in the morning, even in very dry weather. If the plants need stimulating, sow on them a coat of Peruvian guano or super- phosphate at the commencement of a rain, regulating the quantity used by the amount of the water likely to fall. Superphosphate makes dark-colored, thick-leaved, stockj PREPARATION OF SEED. 419 plants. Fish gnano has about the same effect, but gives a ligliter color and thinner leaf. Peruvian guano is more stim- ulating than either, and makes a light-colored, thin leaf. Great caution is necessary in the use of these powerful medi- cines to avoid an over-dose. A quantity that would be safe in a heavy rain, would in a light rain kill many or nearly all the plants. " Old seed will sprout sooner than new. The seed should be measured while dry, and the same spoon used every year, so the effect of a given amount may be noted and the quan- tity regulated by experience. Level the seed in the spoon with a knife-blade, like measuring grain in a half-bushel. After sprouting again, allowing for the seed, increase in bulk for each rod separately. The amount of seed needed to the square rod varies with different seasons, soils, and seeds, but can be loosely a tablespoonful. There are many breeds of tablespoons. Too thick sowing will nearly spoil a bed by causing it to produce weak, yellow, spindling plants, while thin sowing will give good square ones. A bed should appear about half stocked till the plants are nearly ready to set, when they will suddenly spread and seem to multiply. " Some growers sprout and some prefer dry seed. In favorable circumstances sprouting will give a gain of four to six days, but in many cases dry seed will be fully as early. A long sprout is liable to be broken off in sowing, or killed by cold, after it is in the ground. A sprout just showing will endure several nights' freezing if there is some warm sun in the day-time. One way to sprout is to spread the seed thinly on cotton cloth, and roll it up inside of woolen cloth, keep it in a warm place, and dip in warm water every day. In about four days the white spots will show. Sprouted no more than this, it will stand unfavorable weather as well as dry seed. A pint of meal and a pint of plaster to each rod, is a good mixture to sow in. Pouring from one dish to another many times will mix the plaster, meal, and seed per- fectly if dry. If sprouted, it should be rubbed through the hands a few times with the mixture, to dry it and prevent any bunches of plants coming from seed stuck together. The plaster will show on the ground whether the sowing is being done evenly. "Weeding should of course be done early and thoroughly. Weeds are stronger than the plants, and a little neglect will check them, making practically, perhaps, a difference of sev- eral days. A good way to prepare for weeding and taking 420 VIRGINIA PLANT PATCH. up plants, is to make the bed about fifteen feet wide, and place round, straight poles across it about eleven feet apart. The poles should be three inches in diameter at the smallest end. They cost nothing and save moving blocks around with the weeding planks." "^ If the plants are tardy of growth, or the season is back- ward, wooden frames covered with cloth soaked in linseed oil may be placed over the beds, which is far better than to cover with pine boughs or glass even. The cloth soaked in oil draws the rays of the sun and keeps the earth dry and warm, causing a rapid growth of the plants, which at this stage need forcing in order to be forward enough for early transplanting. A Virginia planter gives the following description of making the PLANT PATCH. " Cut wood in September or October, so that it may season, to burn patches (beds) in winter or spring. For ten acres, or fifty thousand hills, burn and sow three patches each of Beventy-five square yards. Say one (if the land be in good condition) the latter part of December, and if it be not in condition then, burn one hundred and fifty square yards the first good weather in January or February, and the other the first of March. Select a place on some small constant run- ning stream, not liable to overflow, with a moist, sandy soil ; cut down all trees close to the ground ; get off all shrubbery, leaves, etc. The patch will then be ready for wooding. Commence by laying on skids ten or twelve feet long, four in diameter, three and a half feet apart ; cover thickly with brush, then put on wood regular all over, and thick enough to burn dry an inch in depth. Commence your fires on the side, and continue to move after it has burnt hard enough. After it has burned, sweep off all coals, but not the ashes : then it will be ready for hoeing up, which can be done with good grub hoes ; hoe deep, but do not turn over the soil ; get ofl: all large and small roots ; chop over with hill hoes, and rake until the earth is thoroughly pulverized ; then put on twenty-five bushels of good, fine, stable manure, with- out weed and grass seed, and twenty-five pounds of Peruvian guano, which should be put on regularly, hoed and raked in. " For sowing, lay off beds four feet wide, so that the water from rains may run or drain oflT. For every bed four feet VIRGINIA PLANT PATCH. 421 wide and twelve yards long, sow one chalk pipe bowl full of seed, after being mixed with ashes ; tread with the feet or pat it over with weeding hoes, that it may be close and smooth ; cover it with dog-wood, maple, or any fine brush, to the depth of twenty or twenty-four inches, to protect the young plants from cold or a drouth. After the plants have commenced coming up, re-sow the patches with half the quantity of seed first sown, which will not interfere with the plants first up, but make good re-planting plants. When the plants, or some of them, have grown to the size of a Spanish mill dollar, take off the brush, pick off all sticks, weeds, and grass, and keep them well picked ma til you have finished setting out. " Should the plants not grow fast enough to suit, manure with Peruvian guano ; have it fine, and sow over in the middle of the day when they are dry, or if it be raining briskly, it may then be sown over. Should the patches be eufiering for rain, put five pounds of Peruvian guano in twenty gallons of water, and sprinkle it over with a watering- pot. To destroy the flea, bug, or fly, put dry leaves around the patch, and set fire to them at night, which will attract and destroy them if they are disturbed with a broom or leafy brush." The old Yirginia planters selected and made the plant patch as follows : — "The quality of earth, and places which are universally chosen for this purpose, are newly cleared lands of the best possible light black soil, situated as near to a small stream of water as they can be conveniently found, due attention being paid to the dryness of the place. " The beds, or patches, as they are called, difier in size, from the bigness of a small salad bed to a quarter of an acre, according to the magnitude of the crop proposed ; and they are prepared for receiving the seed in March and the early part of April, as the season suits, first by burning upon them large heaps of brush wood, the stalks of the maize or Indian corn, straw, or other rubbish ; and afterwards, by digging and raking them in the same manner of preparing ground for lettuce seed ; which is generally sown mixed with the tobacco seed (the same process being suitable to both plants) ; and which answers the double purpose of feeding the laborer, and of protecting the young tobacco plant from the fiy ; for which intent a border of mustard seed round the plant patch is found to be an effectual remedy, as the fly prefers mustard, 422 TENNESSEE PLANT BED. especially white mustard, to any other young plant ; and will continue to feed upon that until the tobacco plant waxes strong, and becomes mature enough for transplantation." A Tennessee planter gives the following description of mak- ing the plant bed as practised in his State. In some respects, especially in preventing the growth of weeds, it is the best process of making the " plant patch " that we have ever seen described. He says : — " To make a good plant bed it requires good management and pretty hard work. It will hardly be done well without the presence of the farmer to attend to it. The time to make a bed is from the 15th of October to the first of April. The best beds are made in the Fall, for the reason that the ground is then very dry and therefore more easily burned, and besides there is more time for the ashes to rot before the hot weather. A bed turned in the Fall will hold moisture better than burned later. It takes less Wood to burn well. The plants are more vigorous and tougher. The soil should be rich and light and never tilled before. The location should be as much exposed to the sun as possible. It is best for a bed to be surrounded by timber. The bugs are not so apt to find it. Low rich vallej^s will generally do better than ridges, though any good rich new ground will make good plants if well burned and prepared. The ground should be raked very clean of leaves before packing on the brush and wood. The fire must have a fair chance at the ground. The brush should be packed on straight and close, at least enough wood mixed with it to make it lie close. If the brush is green, endeavor to mix what dry stufi" there is thorough, so the fire will burn through without trouble. It is ver}'^ important that the fire should be as hot as possible while it is burning. The bed should not be rained upon after it is set before it is burned, as it will be doubtful whether the ground beneath the brush will get dry well. " The ground should always be as dry as possible when it is burned. The bed should be set on fire in several places at once so as to have a very great heat on it at once. If the ground is well burned it will be a little crusty and whitish, and will pulverize beautifully. As soon as the ground is cool enough it may be loosened up and pulverized. This should be done well, and may be done with a good sharp harrow and then followed with hoes and , grubbing hoes. Aim to keep the ashes and rich soil on the surface, and for this reason a CUBAN PLANT BED, 403 bed is sometimes damaged by a too deep working. Hake carefully, getting off all the roots and trash. The bed should be drained by a little ditch around it on the upper side. If it is very early in the Fall, the seed should not be sown until the danger of very warm days has passed. After the last of November the sowing should be as soon as the bed is prepared. A little less than a heaping tablespoonful to ten steps square is about the quantity of seed. Cover the seed very lightly with the rake or tramping the ground with the feet. Cover the bed with a good layer of straight brush, not enough to keep the light rains from the bed, but at the same time enough to keep the ground in a moist condition even in hot weather. Make a low close brush fence around the bed to keep the leaves from being blown upon it. Re-sow whenever • the plants are well up, so as to have two chances. Take off the brush cover when the plants are big enough to shade the ground themselves. If the plants are rather thin on the bed, do not uncover until you go there to draw the plants. If there is any danger of a scarcity of plants, always put the trash back after drawing." In Cuba the "SEMILLEROS" or planting beds as a rule, lie higher than the rest of the farm. On the large vegas or tobacco plantations, numbers of planting beds are made under the supervision of the mayoral. Siecke gives the following account of making the beds or aemilleros : " On the island of Cuba any field selected for the cultiva- tion of tobacco is divided into long beds {Canteras) twenty- five to twenty-eight feet long, and nineteen to twenty inches wide. The soil is then manured with a mixture of two parts of well rotten dung and one part of either sand or fine sandy earth. During the months of August, September, and even October, the beds are watered, and the seeds mingled with the nine-fold quantity of fine sand, are sown broad cast or through a fine sieve, and immediately after covered with a mixture of dung and triturated or molaxated earth, in such a manner that this mixture forms a covering layer of about 1-32 inches. " The utmost care is taken to protect the seeds against the stifling heat of sunrays as well as heavy showers. To this end forked sticks about three inches high, are placed 424 COVERING PLANT BED. around the tobacco beds, opposite one another, and into COVERING PLANT BED. these forks thin twigs are laid, which are covered with palm-leaves in such a way as to form a slight roof." In Syria the tobacco seed is sown in ground free from stones, well manured with goats dung, and strewn over with prickly bushes to protect the young plants from birds. The plants are watered daily till they reach the height of eight or ten inches, when they are transplanted. In Persia where the celebrated Shiraz tobacco is cultivated, the seed is planted in a dark soil slightly manured ; the ground is covered with light thorny bushes to keep it warm, and these are removed when the plants are a few inches high. The ground ig regularly watered if required, and when the plants are six to eight inches high are transplanted. In Turkey " the tobacco seed is sown early in the spring, in small beds carefully pre- pared for the early growth of the young plants. In a few weeks the plants appear thick ; then begins the occupation of the farmer's wife, and their numerous children, whose little fingers are engaged day by day in thinning the beds, care being taken to leave the most healthy looking plants. The husband is engaged either in carrying water from the nearest well by the aid of his mule, or in preparing the land for the reception of the plants. The beds are well watered before sunrise and after sundown." "The Hungarian peasantry always make their tobacco beds against the south ends of their houses. These beds are enclosed by hurdles two feet high, at the bottom of which stones are laid, and on the outside of these, thorns are thickly SELECTION OF SOIL. 425 placed, to exclude the moles. They fill this enclosure to the height of eighteen inches with fresh, coarse manure, which they press closely by beating as they throw it on ; covering with finely pulverized earth mixed with dung of the preceding year that had become soil. They do not regulate their time of sowing either by the moon, month, the season, but by the holy week of the passing year ; it is on Good Friday that all of their beds are sown, and although this day may vary nearly one month in difierent years, they are faithful ta their thermometer — their piety not permitting them to know any other. To the mysterious influence of the day, without regard to the season, they ascribe their success and they generally succeed." Bickinson gives an account of the man- ner of making the plant bed in the East Indian Archipelago. He says : " Not far from us is a hut inhabited by two natives, who are engaged in cultivating tobacco. Their ladangs, or gardens, are merely places of an acre or less, where the thick forest has been partially destroyed by fire, and the seed is sown in the regular spaces between the stumps." After making the plant bed and tending through the weed- ing season, the next step to be taken is the CHOICE OF GROUND for the tobacco fields. Tobacco, unlike any other plant, readily adapts itself to soil and climate. The effect produced upon the plant may be seen in comparing the tobacco of Holland and France, the one raised upon low, damp ground, the other on a sandy loam. The early growers of the plant in Virginia, were very particular in the selection of soil for the plant. The lands which they found best adapted were the light red, or chocolate-colored mountain lands, the light black mountain soil in the coves of the mountains, and the richest low grounds. Tatham says : " The condition of soil of which the plant- ers make choice, is that in which nature presents it when it is first disrobed of the woods with which it is naturally clothed throughout every part of the country ; hence in the parts . where this culture prevails, this is termed new ground, which may be there considered as synonymous with tobacco ground. Thus the planter is continually cutting down new ground) 426 THE SOIL AFFECTING COLOR. and every successive spring presents an additional field, or opening of tobacco (for it is not necessary to put much fence round that kind of crop) ; and to procure this new ground you will observe him clearing the woods from the sides of the steepest hills, which afford a suitable soil ; for a Virginian never thinks of reinstating or manuring his land with economy nntil he can find no more new land to exhaust, or wear out, as he calls it; and, besides, the tobacco which is produced from manured or cow-penned land, is only considered, in ordinary, to be a crop of second quality. It will hence be perceived, (and more particularly when it is known that the earth must be continually worked to make a good crop of tobacco, without even regarding the heat of the sun, or the torrent of sudden showers,) that, however lucrative this kind of culture may be in respect to the intermediate profits, there is a considerable drawback in the waste of soil." * In the Connecticut valley where tobacco is grown for wrapping purposes, the selection of soil will depend upon the color of leaf in demand (as the soil as well as the fertil- izers determine in a measure the color and texture of the tobacco). If the grower wishes to obtain dark colored tobacco then the soil selected should be a dark loam ; on the other hand, if a light colored wrapper is desired he selects a light loam, and with the application of proper fertilizers the proper color will be obtained. The tobacco plant flourishes well either on high or low I ground, providing the soil be dry and free from stones, which \are a source of annoyance during the cultivation of the \plants and especially in harvesting. When grown on very low ground the plants should be " set " early, so as to harvest before early frosts. The plant may be cultivated on such soil in almost any part of the valley excepting only near the sound, or other body of salt water, the effect produced by plant- ing tobacco too near the sea, more especially in Connecticut, being injurious to the leaf, which is apt to be thick and unfit •Lianconrt in his TraTeU in Korth America, says of tobacco culture In Virginia: "The nature of the country beyond the James Kiver is much more variegated than on this side. At present they are preparing the lands for the planting of tobacco. After having worked the land it is thrown into small hillocks. * » * The cultivation of tobacco, which has been very much neglected during several years, is more followed this year on account of the high price it bears in Europe ; but the soil has been so long worked with this exhausting produce, and is so badly manured (for manure is absolutely necessary for tobacco when the eoU is not newly broken ap>, that it is not capable of producing good crops." RULES FOR SELECTING SOIL. 427 for a cigar wrapper. In gome countries, however, the leaf grown near salt water is equal in color and texture to any grown in the interior. But generally the plant obtains its finest form and quality of leaf — whether in the islands of the ocean, on the great prairies of the west, amid the sands of Arabia, on the mountains of Syria, or along the dykes of Holland — on lands bordering the largest rivers. This is true of the tobacco lands of Connecticut, Kentucky, Virginia, Florida, Brazil, Venezuela, and Paraguay, as well as of those in the islands of Cuba and St. Domingo, where the rivers flow to the southern coast from the mountains which lie to the north. It must not be imagined from this that tobacco can not be successfully cultivated at a distance from valleys enriched by large and overflowing rivers. Some of the finest tobacco grown in Connecticut is grown in counties some distance from the river that gives name to our state. When possible, select that kind of soil for the tobacco field that will produce the color and texture of leaf desired. For Connecticut seed leaf a light moist loam is the proper Boil. The same field can be used a number of seasons in fiuccession ; the result will be a much finer leaf than will come from selecting a new field each year. The early plant- ers of tobacco in Virginia soon ruined their fields by failing to manure them. In Maryland the soil best adapted for the growth of tobacco is a light, friable soil, or what is commonly called a sandy loam, not too flat, but of a rolling, undulating surface, and not liable to overflow in excessive rains. New land is far better than old. A Missouri tobacco grower gives the following account of the selection of soil for tobacco in that State : — "Select upland, or black oak ridges and slopes, which comprise a large area of the tobacco lands of our county, and carefully clear off all the timber, and take out all the roots we can conveniently, and break up the ground as thoroughly as can be done by ploughing and harrowing until all the tufts and dirt are perfectly pulverized." In Cuba the planters select the red soil as the best for fine tobacco. Some planters, however, prefer a soil mixed of ^ 428 PREPARING THE SOIL. sand and |^ to f of decayed vegetable matter. In St. Domin- go the soil is not uniform. The planters select a deep black loam or tenacious clay, or even loams mixed with sand. The most fertile places are on the banks of the Yuna, from Laxay to Jaigua, in the vicinity of Mocha, on the banks of the Camoo, and around La Yega. Around Santiago, clay and sand predominate, and the soil can not be highly praised. Most of the tobacco grown in the island is raised in the valley of the Yega. Cussree, in treating of this subject, says : — " The quahty of tobacco depends as much upon the nature of the soil as of the climate. The plant requires peculiarities of soil to develop certain of its qualities. And these peculi- arities are such that art cannot furnish the conditions to produce them where they are naturally wanting. The sugar- cane grows chiefly on soils derived from calcareous forma- tions ; but few or none of these are fitted for tobacco, which is cultivated only on sandy loams. Both the Cuban and American planters concur in asserting that a large quantity of silicious matters in soils is essential for the growth of good tobacco. " As already noticed, the rich clay loams on the banks of the James River, in Yirginia, do not grow good tobacco ; while the less fertile silicious soils in the county of Louisa produce it much superior in quality. Small patches of tobacco are everywhere seen growing over the sugar produc- ing districts of Cuba ; but I saw no tobacco plantations in the calcareous regions over which I traveled. The soils rest upon the primary formation. Even in the tobacco districts the planters know the spots in the different fields that produce the various qualities of leaf." In PREPARING THE SOIL . for the reception and growth of the plants, the fertilizing as well as the plowing of the fields should be performed in the most thorough manner. The first is essential for a large and vigorous growth, while the latter renders the cultivation of the plants much easier. The careful preparation of soil ia 80 intimately connected with all that pertains to the plant, that it should be done well in order that the best results may FERTILIZERS. 429 follow. Tobacco of good body, color, and texture, cannot be grown on laud devoid of fertility. The field selected for tobacco, if heavy sward, should be plowed early in the spring or the fall before, and later in the season if the turf is well rotted. After spreading on the manure, the field may be plowed again and harrowed frequently until all the lumps are made fine, and the surface mellow. In the use of fertilizers select, if a light colored leaf is desired, either horse manure or tobacco stems. In the Con- necticut valley nearly all kinds of Domestic, Commercial, and Special fertilizers are used. Of domestic fertilizers, horse manure is considered the best, as it produces the finest and lightest colored leaf of any known fertilizer. Of commercial fertilizers, Peruvian guano is doubtless one of the best — imparting both color and fineness to the leaf. Of special manures, tobacco stems are perhaps the best, at least the most frequently used. Of the other special fertilizers, such as cotton seed meal, castor pomace, ground bone, damaged grain, tobacco waste and saltpetre waste, much may be said both in praise and dispraise. Cotton seed meal, when used with domestic manure is an excellent and powerful manure. If domestic manures are applied, use about twelve cords to the acre, composting before plowing under. As soon as spread, plow the field and see that all of the manure is covered. If tobacco stems are used, plow in from three to five tons to the acre, all of them at once, or a part in the fall and the remainder in the spring. If Peruvian guano is applied, sow on about three hundred pounds to the acre in connection with the domestic manure. Fish guano should be composted before sowing, either with loam or manure, and when used on light soil is a very good fertilizer, producing a light, thin leaf. After the tobacco field is harrowed it is ready for the ridger, which makes the hills and gathers together all of the loose manure on the surface, and collects it in the ridges. "Where a ridger is not used, work ofi" the rows from three and one half to four feet apart, or even wider than this. In the Connecticut valley the field is marked and 430 VIRGINIA METHODS. hilled so as to give about 6000 hills to the acre. This will be a sufficient number if the growth is likely to be large. Where a ridger is used, manure can not be dropped in the hill and in many respects it is well not to do so, as the plants A TOBACCO RIDGER. are liable to be blown over during a storm — not standing as firmly in the hills as plants when no manure is used in the hills. If the hills are to be made with the hoe, avoid all stones, bits of turf and grass in making them, and select only the fresh earth — gently patting the top of the hill with the hoe. New- made hills are better than old, but it will make but little difference unless the soil is very dry at the time of transplanting. The following description of the manner of preparing the tobacco field in Virginia by the old planters is quite interest- ing, and gives some idea of the amount of labor to be performed on the tobacco plantation : — " There are two distinct and separate methods of preparing the tobacco ground : the one is applicable to the preparation of new and uncultivated lands, such as are in a state of nature, and require to be cleared of the heavy timber and other productions with which Providence has stocked them ; and the other method is designed to meliorate and revive lands of good foundation, which have been heretofore cultivated, and, in some measure, exhausted by the calls of agriculture and evaporation. BURNING BRUSH. 431 " The process of preparing new lands begins as early in the winter as the housing and managing the antecedent crop will permit, by grubbing the undergrowth with a mattock ; felling the timber with a poll-axe ; * lopping off the tops, and cutting the bodies into lengths of about eleven feet, which is about the customary length of an American fence rail, in what is called a worm or panel fence, f During this part of the process the negro women, boys, and weaker laborers, are employed in piling or throwing the brush-wood, roots, and small wood, into heaps to be burned ; and after such logs or stocks are selected as are suitable to be mailed into rails, make clap- boards, or answer for other more particular occasions of the planter, the remaining logs are rolled into heaps by means of hand-spikes and skids; but the Pennsylvania and German farmers, who are more conversant with animal powers than the Virginians, save much of this labor by the use of a pair of horses with a half sledge, or a pair of truck wheels. " The burning of this brush-wood, and the log piles, is a business for all hands after working hours ; and as nightly revels are peculiar to the African constitution, this part of the labor proves often a very late employment, which affords many scenes of rustic mirth. When this process has cleared the land of its various natural incumbrances (to attain which end is very expensive and laborious), the next part of the process is that of the hoe ; for the plough is an implement which is rarely used in new lands when they are either designed for tobacco or meadow. There are three kinds of the hoe which are applied to this tillage : the first is what is termed the sprouting hoe, which is a smaller species of mat- tock that serves to break up any particular hard part of the ground, to grub up any smaller sized grubs which the mat- tock or grubbing hoe may have omitted, to remove small stones and other partial impediments to the next process. The narrow or hilling hoe follows the operation of the sprouting hoe. Jt is generally from six to eight inches wide, and ten or twelve in the length of the blade, according to the strength of the person who is to use it ; the blade is thin, and by means of a movable wedge which is driven into the eye of the hoe, it can be set more or less digging (as it is termed), that is, on a greater or less angle M'itli the helve, at * This is a short, thick, heavy-headed axe, of a somewhnt ohlong shape, with which the Americans make great dispatch. They treat the Kngllsli poll-axe with great contempt, and always WDrk it orer again as old iron hefore they deem it fit for their use. tThe worm or panel fence, orlglmilly of Virginia, connists of logs or mailed rails from about four to six or eight inches tliick and eleven feet in Icnirth. A good fence consists of ten rails and a rider. It is called a worm fence from the zigzag manner of Us coDBtrucUoi;. 432 IMPLEMENTS. pleasure. In this respect there are few instances where the American blacksmith is not employed to alter the eye of an English-made hoe before it is fit for nse ; the industrious and truly useful merchants of Glasgow have paid more minute attention to this circumstance. " The use of this hoe is to break up the ground and throw it into shape ; which is done by chopping the clods until they are sufficiently fine, and then drawing the earth round the foot until it forms a heap round the projected leg of the laborer like a mole hill, and nearly as high as the kuc e ; lie then draws out his foot, fiatteus the top of the hill by a dab with the flat part of the hoe, and advances forward to the next hill in the same manner, until the whole piece of ground is prepared. The center of these hills are in this manner guessed ^^^ by the eye; and in most in- stances they approach near to lines of four feet one way, and three feet the other. The plant- er always endeavors to time this operation so as to tally with the growth of his plants, so that he may be certain by this means to pitch his crop within season. "The third kind of hoe is the broad or weeding hoe. This is made use of during the cultivation of the crop, to keep it clean from the weeds. It is wide upon the edge, say from ten inches to a foot, or more ; of thinner substance than the hilling hoe, not near so deep in the blade, and the eye is formed more bent and shelving than the latter, so that it can be set upon a more acute angle upon the helve at pleasure, by removing the wedge." The manner of preparing the soil in Virginia at the present time is thus described by a Virginia planter : — " The crop usually grown in Virginia is divided into three classes, viz.: — Shipping, Sun-cured Fillers, and Bright Coal- cured Wrappers and Smokers. The first may be grown on any good soil, upland or alluvial : the latter two on dry, well- drained upland only. All require thorough preparation of the soil to insure good crops. The work first necessary for this crop is to burn a sufficiency of plant land. To prepare DRAWING THE DIRT AROUND THE FOOT. TRANSPLANTING PLANTS. 433 the land for transplanting, put the land in full tilth, then mark olf with a shovel, ])low furrows three feet to three feet four inches apart, and into these furrows sow the fertilizers ; then with turniui^ plows, bed the land on these furrows, and to facilitate the hilling, cross these beds three feet apart with fur- rows by a shovel plow, and the hills are made, except to pat them with hoes. Hilly lands will seldom admit of this cross- plowing, and the beds must be chopped into hills. On new ground apply the fertilizers broadcast. It acts well, and for line yellow pays better on new grounds than any other lands. The culture is essentially the same for all classes of tobacco. Stir the land up as often as necessary to promote a rapid growth of the plants, and to keep down grass and weeds. ' Shipping ' tobacco may be plowed later and worked longer than ' fine yellow.' For 'coal-curing' sacrifice pounds for color." The next operation to be performed on the tobacco farm or plantation is TRANSPLANTING. As soon as four or five leaves on a plant about the size of a dollar have appeared, they are large enough to transplant. TRANSPLANTING. Take the plants up with care, sprinkling with water and keeping covered. In taking them up, the earth may be 28 434 SETTING. allowed to remain on the roots, or shaken off, at the option of the grower. As a general rule, however, the earth should remain rather than be shaken off. Eemove to the field and drop one at each hill, and where the plants are small, two. A common custom is to " set " every tenth or twelfth hill with two plants. This is a good plan, as they are frequently needed during hoeing time to "fill in." If holes have not been made, insert the first two fingers, making a hole large enough for the roots to remain in an easy and natural posi- tion. Press the earth gently around the plant if the soil is moist, but if dry, more firmly. See that the plant stands in an upright position. If dry after '• setting " the plants, water them, and if a protracted drought follows, cover them up with grass or hay dipped in water ; remove, however, in a day or two.* Plaster may also be used to advantage, as it keeps TRANSPLANTING. the hill moist, besides fertilizing the plant ; put a little just around the plants. In taking up from the bed select large ones, leaving the smaller ones to grow. Transplanting should commence as early as possible that this result may follow. •Walker says of tobacco culture In Colombia (Sonth America) :— "It is advisable to cover the plant with a banana leaf, or something similar: by this means the tobacco is protected from the beat of the buu, and from the heavy rains, which would not prove less prejudicial." VIRGINIA METHdD. 435 Plants Tvitli largo broad leaves are considered the best, while those that grow tall and " spindling" or "long shank" plants, as they are called at the South, are rejected and should not be set out when others that are more " stocky " can be obtained. Avoid, however, setting too large plants, a& they are not as apt to live as smaller ones. Transplanting should be done as fast as possible, that the tobacco field may present an even appearance and be ready to harvest at one time. If the plants are to grow and ripen evenly, the transplanting should be finished in a week or two from the time of the first setting. This can generally be done unless plants are very scarce, when circumstances, beyond the growers' control, often make the field give apparent evidence of want of care, although the real trouble is a want of plants. " It may be necessary to water the plants once or twice after transplanting ; this in a measure will depend upon the season." Tatham in his Essay on the Culture and Commerce of Tobacco, (London 1800,) gives an account of the manner of transplanting in Virginia at that period. Under the head of "THE SEASON FOR PLANTING," he says : " The term, ' season for planting,' signifies a shower of rain, of sufiicient quantity to wet the earth to a degree of moisture which may render it safe to draw the young plants from the plant bed, and transplant them into the hills which are prepared for them in the field, as described under the last head; and these seasons generally commence in April, and terminate with wjiat is termed the long season in May ; which (to make use of an Irishism), very frequently happens in June ; and is the opportunity which the planter finds himself necessitated to seize with eagerness for the pitching of his crop : a term which comprehends the ultimate opportunity which the spring M'ill afford him, for planting a quantity equal to the capacity of the collective power of his laborers when applied in cultivation. By the time which these seasons approach, nature has so ordered vegetation, that the weather has generally enabled the plants, (if duly 436 SEASON IN MEXICO AND PERSIA. sheltered from the spring frosts, a circumstance to which a planter should always be attentive in selecting his plant patch,) to shoot forward in suflScient strength to bear the vicissitude of transplantation. " Thej are supposed to be equal to meet the imposition of this task, when the leaves are about the size of a dollar ; but this is more generally the minor magnitude of the leaves ; and some will be of course about three or four times that medium dimension. Thus, when a good shower or season happens at this period of the year, and the field and plants are equally ready for the intended union, the planter hurries to the plant bed, disregarding the teeming element, which is doomed to wet his skin, from the view of a bountiful harvest, and hav- ing carefully drawn the largest sizable plants, he proceeds to the next operation, (that) of planting. " The office of planting the tobacco, is performed by two or more persons, in the following manner : The first person bears, suspended upon one arm, a large basket full of the plants, which have just been drawn and brought from the plant bed to the field, without waiting for an intermission of the shower, although it should rain ever so heavily ; such an opportunity indeed, instead of being shunned, is eagerly sought after, and is considered to be the sure and certain means of laying a good foundation, which cherishes the hope of a bounteous return. The person who bears the basket, proceeds thus by rows from hill to hill ; and upon each hill he takes care to drop one of his plants. Those who follow make a hole in the center of each hill with their fingers, and having adjusted the tobacco plant in its natural position, they knead the earth round the root with their hands, until it is of a sufficient consistency to sustain the plant against wind and weather. In this condition they leave the field for a few days, until the plants shall have formed their radifica- tions ; and where any of them shall have casually perished, the ground is followed over again by successive replantings, until the crop is rendered complete." In tropical regions, the plants are transplanted as well in summer and fall as in the spring, but more frequently in the early autumn. In Mexico, transplanting is performed from August till I^ovember. In Persia, the tobacco plants are " transplanted on the tops of ridges in a ground trenched so as to retain water. When the plants are thirty to forty inches high, the leaves vary from three to fifteen inches in length, THE AMERICAN TRANSPLANTER. 437 when the buds are ready to be pinched off ; tlie leaves increase in size until August and September, when they have attained their growth." In Turkey " when the young plants are about six inches in height they are removed from the small beds and planted in fields like cabbages in this country, and are then left to nature to develop them to a height of from three to four feet ; three leaves, however, are removed from each plant to assist its growth." A year or two since, a machine was invented and offered to the growers of the Connecticut valley, called a transplanter, of which we here give an engraving. The inventor claimed that the "American Transplanter " could do the work of several men and do it equally well. It rolls along the ridge something like a wheelbarrow, marking the hills with a sharp joint in the wheel and setting the plants as they are dropped into the receptacles at the top. The tobacco plant, like most of the vegetable products, has many and varied foes, ]S"ot only is it most easily affected and damaged by wind and hail, but it seems to be the espe- cial favorite of the insect world, who, like man, love the taste of the plant. The first of them " puts in an appearance " immediately after transplanting, which necessitates the per- formance of what is known to all growers of the plant as WORMING. There are two kinds of worms that prey upon the plants; viz : the " cut worm " - and the green or "horn worm." The AMERICAN TRANSPLANTER. • Hughes, In Ws History of Barbadoes, says that the common people call the worm kltlfonU. 438 PESTS. first commences its work of destruction in a few hours after transplanting in the field. During the night it begins by eating off the small or central leaves called by the grower the " chit," and often so efiectually as to destroy the plant. The time chosen by the planter to find these pests of the tobacco field is early in the morning, when they can be found nearer the surface than later in the day. Remove the earth around the roots of the plants, where the worm will generally be found. Occasionally they are found farther from the hill. If they are numerous, the field should be " wormed " every morning, or at least every other day, which' labor will be rewarded with a choice collection of primitive tobacco chewers. Sometimes the worms are very small and difiicult to find, while at other times more are found than are required for the growth and development of the plants. As soon as they disappear they make way for the "horn worm'' who now takes his turn at a " chaw." By some the cut worm is con- sidered the most dangerous foe ; as it often destroys the plant, WORMING. 139 while the other injures the leaf without endangering the plant. A little plaster sprinkled around the hill sometimes cheeks their progress, yet we have never found any remedy that would hinder their depredations very much. The plants should be kept growing as soon as transplanted, which will be found the better method, as they will soon be too large for the cut worm to injure them much, if at all. The "horn worm" feeds upon the finest and largest leaves. They are not found as often on the top leaves — especi- ally those growing on the very highest part of the stalk, as they prefer the ripe leaves and those lower on the plant. The horn worm, if large, eats the leaves in the finest part of them, frequently destroying half of a leaf. They leave large holes which renders the leaf worthless for a cigar wrapper, leaving it fit only for fillers or seconds. In Cuba the tobacco plant is assailed by three diflerent kinds of insects — one attacks the foot of the leaves ; a second the under side; a third devours the heart of the plant. In Colombia the following are the great enemies of the tobacco plant : A grub, named canne^ which devours the young buds ; the rosca-worm, which commits its depredations in the night only, burrowing in the ground during the day ; the grub of a butterfly, called by the Creoles palometa ; a species of scarabijeus called arader^ which feeds on the root of the plant; and a species of caterpillar* which is called in the WORMING TOBACCO. * Wallace eay9 of worming tobacco in Brazil: " The plants are much attacked by the cat- erpillar of a ephiux motli, which grows to a large size, and would completely devour the crop unless carefully picked ofl'. Old men, and women, and children arc therefore constantly employed going over a part of the field every day, and carefully examining the plants leaf by leaf till the insects are completely exterminated." 440 CULTIVATION. country tlie horned-toorm, so voracious as to require one night only to devour an entire leaf of tobacco. At the South, and especially in Virginia, the housewife's flock of turkeys are allowed to range in the tobacco fields and devour many of these pests. Almost as soon as the plants have been transplanted, the work of CULTIVATING should commence. As the tobacco plant grows and ripens in a few weeks from the time it is transplanted in the field, it is of the utmost importance that the plants get " a good start " as soon as possible. In a favorable season, and with ordinary culture, the plants will do to harvest or " cut " in from eight to ten weeks after transplanting. From the rapid- ity of its growth it will readily be seen that the plant should come forward at once, if large, fine leaves are desired. In a week from the time of transplanting a light cultivator should be run between the rows, stirring the soil lightly, after which the plants should be hoed carefully, drawing away from the hill and plant the old and "baked" earth and replacing it with fresh. If the hill is hard around the plant it should be loosened by striking the hoe carefully into the hill and gently lifting the earth, thus making the hill mellow. This is apt to be the case with stiflf, clayey soil, which, if possible, should be avoided in selecting the tobacco field. It is doubtless as true a saying as it is a common one with Connecticut tobacco-growers, that the plants will not " start much until they have been hoed." Where the first hoeing is delayed two or three weeks, the plants will to a certain extent become stunted and dwarfed, and will hardly make up for the delay in growing. In from two to three weeks, the field should be hoed again, and this time the cultivator should mellow the soil a little deeper than the first time, w^hile the hoeing should be done in the most thorough manner. Draw the earth around the plant and cut up with the hoe all grass and weeds, aiid remove all stone and lumps of manure and BACKWARD PLANTS. 441 any rubbish that will hinder easy cnlti ration, or retard the growth of the plants. At this period the most careful atten- tion must be given to the plants, as they are (or ought to be) growing rapidly, and upon their early maturity will depend the color and texture of the leaf. In a short time the plants may be hoed for the third and last time (as a fourth hoeing is but rarely necessary). At this time they have attained considerable size, (say two or three feet high) and are rapidly maturing, and ere long will be ready to harvest. At the last hoeing the plants should be " hilled up," that is, the earth should be drawn around the plant under the leaves, causing it to stand firmly in the hill, and keeping the roots well protected and covered. The tobacco plant requires constant cultivation, and the cultivator may be run through the rows after loosening the earth and turning up the manure towards the plants. Some growers of tobacco in the early stages of its growth apply some kind of fertilizers to the backward jjlants; this will be found to be of advantage, and should be done just before a rain, when the plants will start in a manner almost surprising. A little phosphate or Peruvian guano may be used, but should be applied with care or the plants may be retarded instead of quickened in their growth. There is much to be done in the tobacco field besides cul- tivating and hoeing the plants. In many hills there will be found two plants, which should be re-set at the second hoe- ing if needed, and if not, pulled up and destroyed, as it is better to have one large plant in the hill than two small ones. Again, after the last hoeing, the tobacco should be kept free from worms. If any have been overlooked they will have attained to a good size by this time, and will devour in a short time enough tobacco to make a " short six." From this account of the cultivation of tobacco as practiced in the Connecticut valley, one will readily see that the labor performed during the growing of the plants should not be superficial. On their rapid growth depends the color and texture of the leaf. Plants that are slow in maturing never 442 CULTIVATION IN VIRGINIA. make fine wrapping leaves or show a good color. "Where the growth is rapid the plants will be more brittle than if of slower growth, and must therefore be handled with care in passing through the rows to worm, top, and sucker the plants. A century ago the Virginia planters cultivated their tobacco fields in the following manner : — " Hoeing commences with the first growth of the tobacco after transplantation, and never ceases until the plant is nearly ripe, and ready to be laid by, as they term the last weeding with the hoe ; for he who would have a good crop of tobacco, or of maize, must not be sparing of his labor, but must keep the ground constantly stirring during the whole growth of the crop. And it is a rare instance to see the plough intro- duced as an assistant, unless it be the slook plough, for the purpose of introducing a sowing of wheat for the following year, even while the present crop is growing ; and this is frequently practiced in fields of maize, and sometimes in fields of tobacco, which may be ranked amongst the best fallow crops, as it leaves the ground perfectly clean and naked, permitting neither grass, weed, nor vegetable to re- main standing in the space which it has occupied." The next operation to be performed in the tobacco field is known by the name of TOPPING, and is simply break- ing or cutting off the top of the stalk, pre- roPPiNG. ^ venting the plant from running up to flower and seed. By so doing the growth of the leaves is secured, and they at once develop to the largest possible size. > TOPPING. 443 The leaves ripen sooner if the plant is topped, while the quality is much better. There are various methods of top- ping as well as dift'erent periods. Some growers top the plant as soon as the capsules appear, while others wait until the plants are in full blossom. If topped before the plants have come into blossom, the oi^eration should be performed as soon as possible, as a longer time will be required for the leaves to grow and ripen than when topping is delayed until the plants are in blossom. In the Connecticut valley most growers wait until the blossoms appear before breaking off the top. Topping must not be delayed after the blossoming, in order that all danger from an untimely frost may be avoided. The toj) may be broken off with the hand or cut with a knife, the latter being the better as well as the safer way. Sometimes the rain soaks into the stalk, rotting it so that the leaves fall off", injuring them for wrappers. Top the plants at a regular height, leaving from nine to twelve leaves, 60 that the field will look even, and also make the number of leaves to a plant uniform. Late plants may be topped with the rest or not, at the option of the grower. This mode of topping refers more particularly to cigar rather than cutting leaf. Those varieties of tobacco adapted for cutting leaf should be topped as soon as the button appears ; top low, thereby throwing the strength of the stalk into a few leaves, making them large and heavy. The number of leaves should not exceed fourteen. Let it stand from live to six weeks after it is topped. The object in letting it stand so long after topping is to have it thoroughly rij)e. This gives it the bright, rich, golden color, entirely different from cigar leaf, but very desirable for chewing leaf. On account of the length of time it must stand after topping, it is desirable to take that which has been topped early, in order to have it ripen, and get it in before a freeze, although ripe tobacco is not injured by cold nights, and will sometimes stand even an ordinary frost. The manner of topping in Virginia by the first planters in the colony, is thus described : — 444 SUCKERS. " This operation, simply, is that of pinching off with the thumb nail* the leading stem or sprout of the plant, which would, if left alone, run up to flower and seed ; but which, from the more substantial formation of the leaf by the help of the nutritive juices, which are thereby afforded to the lower parts of the plant, and thus absorbed through the ducts and fibres of the leaf, is rendered more weighty, thick, and fit for market." Now the custom is to top for shipping from eight to ten leaves, for coal-curing from ten to twelve, according in both ' cases to strength of soil and time of doing the work. In Mexico " as soon as the buds begin to show themselves the top is broken off. Not more than from eight to ten leaves are left on the plant, without counting the sand-leaf, which is thrown away," and destroyed in the same manner as the Dutch are said to do of spies. In some countries the plants are not topped at all, and the leaves are left upon the stalk until fully ripe, when they are picked. The next labor following the topping of the plants is called SUCKEEING. Immediately after topping the plants, shoots or sprouts make their appearance at the base of the leaves where they join the parent stalk. They are known by the name of suckers and the removal of them by breaking them off is called sucker- ing. At first the suckers make their appearance at the top of the plants at the base of the upper leaves, and then gradually appear farther down on the stalk until they are found at the very root of the plant. The plants should be suckered before the shoots are tough, when they will be removed with difficulty, frequently clinging to both stalk and leaf, thereby injuring the latter, as the leaf very often comes off with the sucker if the latter is left growing too long. The plants should be kept clean of them and especially at the time of harvesting. An old writer on tobacco says of Suckers and Suckering : — " The sucker is a superfluous sprout which is wont to make its appearance and shoot forth from the stem or stalk, near to •Many of the Virginians let the thnmb nail grow long, and harden it in the candle, for this purpose : not for the use of gouging out people's eyes, as some hare thought fit to insinuate. MATURATION. 445 the junction of tlie leaves with the stem, and about tlie root of the plant and if these suckers arc permitted to grow, they SUCKEKING. injure the marketable quality of the tobacco by compelling a division of its nutriment during the act of maturation. The planter is therefore careful to destroy these intruders with tho thumb-nail as in the act of topping, and this process is termed Biickering. " After this operation is performed the j^lanter ascertains in regard to the RIPENING OF THE PLANTS. As soon as the plants are fully ripe they not only take on a different hue but give evidence of decay. The leaves as they ripen become rougher and thicker, assume a tint of yellowish green and are frequently mottled with yellow spots. The tobacco grower has two signs which he regards as " infal- lible " in this matter. One is that on pinching the ujider part of the leaf together, if ripe it will crack or break ; the other is the growth of suckers to be found ( if ripe ) around the base of the stalk. Tatham says : — " Much practice is requisite to form a judicious discern- ment concerning the state and progress of the ripening leaf; U6 THE HARVEST. yet care must be used to cut up the plant as soon as it is suffi- ciently rij)e to promise a good curable condition, lest the approach of frost should tread upon the heels of the crop- master ; for in this case, tobacco will be among the first plants that feel its influence, and the loss to be apprehended in this instance, is not a mere partial damage by nipping, but a total consumption by the destruction of every plant. I find it difiicult to give to strangers a full idea of the ripening of the leaf : it is a point on which I would not trust my own experi- ence without consulting sorale able crop-master in the neigh- borhood ; and I believe this is not an uncustomary precaution among those who plant it. So far as I am able to convey an idea, which I find it easier to understand than to express, I should judge of the ripening of the leaf by its thickening suffi- ciently ; by the change of its color to a more yellowish green ; by a certain mellow appearance, and protrusion of the web of the leaf, which I suppose to be occasioned by a contraction of the fibres ; and other appearances as I might conceive to indicate an ultimate suspension of the vegetative functions." After the plants have ripened the operation of cutting or begins. HARVESTING The cutter passes from plant to plant cutting only CUTTING THE PLANTS. those plants that are ripe. In harvesting a light hatchet or CUTTING. 44T saw may be used or a tobacco cutter which is the better and not as liable to injure the leaves. The plants may be cut either in the morning (after the dew is off) or just at night, providing there are no indications of frost. Lay the plants carefully on the sides to avoid breaking the leaves. If the plants are cut during a very warm day they should be examined from time to time as they are liable to " sun-burn," an injury much dreaded by the planter, as sun-burnt leaves are useless for cigar wrappers. After the plants are wilted on one side they are turned so tliat the entire plant will be in good condiiion to handle without breaking. Harvesting should be performed in the most careful manner. At this time the leaves are very brittle and unless the cutter is an experienced hand much injury may be done to the leaves. The stem of each plant is severed as near as possible to the ground and afterwards if hung on lath they are divided longitudinally to admit the air and dry them sooner. When the plants are to be hung on lath they may be wilted before " stringing" or not, at the option of the grower. Most growers are of the opinion now that the plants should ■ ^ PL'TTIXG ON LATH. be harvested without wilting at all, stringing on the lath as soon as cut and carrying them immediately to the shed. When wilted in the field there is often much damage done to the leaves whether they are sun-burnt or not. Oftentimes 448 HAN(j!I^'G. tlie ground is hot and the plants in a few hours both on the under and upper sides become very warm and almost burnt by the rays of the sun. For this reason the manner of hang- ing on lath is the better way and in !New England is fast dis- placing the old method of hanging with twine. When hung in this manner five or six plants to the lath are the usual CARRYING TO THE SHED. number unless they are very large. When placed or strung on the lath the plants are not as liable to sweat or pole rot, owing in part to the splitting of the stalk, which causes the rapid curing of the leaves as well as the stalk itself. A new method of hanging tobacco has been introduced of late in the Connecticut valley by means of tobacco hooks attached to the lath. This mode is considered by many growers the safest way, and by others as no better than the more common way of hanging simply on the lath. In Yirginia in " ye olden time," the following method of harvesting was adopted : — " When the plant has remained long enough exposed to the sun, or open air, after cutting, to become sufficiently pliant to bear handling and removal with conveniency, it must be removed to the tobacco house, which is generally done by manual labor, unless the distance and quantity requires the assistance of a cart. If this part of the process were managed with horses carrying frames upon their backs CUTTING TIME IN CUBA. 44<) for the conveniency of stowage, in a way similar to that in which grain is conveyed in Spain, it would be found a con- siderable saving of labor. It becomes necessary, in the next place, to see that suitable ladders and stages are provided, and that there be a sufiicient quantity of tobacco sticks, such as have been described to answer the full demand of the tobacco house, whatsoever may be its size; time will be otherwise lost in make-shifts, or sending for a second supply. " When everything is thus brought to a point at the tobacco house, the next stage of the process is that termed hanging the tobacco. This is done by hanging the plants in rows upon the tobacco sticks with the points down, letting them rest upon the stick by the stem of the lowest leaf, or by the split which is made in the stem when that happens to be divided. In this operation care must be taken to allow a sufficient space between each of the successive plants for the due circulation of air between : perhaps four or five inches apart, in proportion to the bulk of the plant. When they are thus threaded upon the sticks (either in the tobacco houses, or, sometimes, suspended upon a temporary scaffold near the door), they must be carefully handed up by means of ladders and planks to answer as stages or platforms, first to the upper tier or collar beams of the house, where the sticks are to be placed with their points refiting upon the beams transversely, and the plants hanging down between them. This process must be repeated tier after tier of the beams, downwards, until the house is filled ; taking care to hang the sticks as close to each other as the consideration of admitting air will allow, and without crowding. In this position the plants remain until they are in condition to be taken down for the next process." In Cuba about the beginning of January the tobacco is ready for cutting. If the harvest is good, all the leaves are taken from the plants at once. Tobacco consisting of those leaves is called Temprano, or " Early Pipe." If, on the con- trary, the harvest is not good, the immature leaves are left to grow. Tobacco formed of these leaves has the name of Tardio, or "Late Pipe." In every respect, appearance included, the Temprano is much superior to the Tardio. In the purchase of tobacco, it is a principal thing to ascertain how much or how little Temprano a parcel contains. More- over, there are what may be called bastard leaves, which 29 450 HARVESTING IN VIRGINIA. grow after the leaves proper have been gathered.'* Tobacco made from these bastard leaves is easily recognizable, the leaves being long and narrow, of a reddish color, and a bitter taste. The mode of harvesting tobacco in Virginia at present is thus described by a Virginia planter : — " In bringing to the barn place the tobacco on scaffolds near the barn-door, so that it can be readily housed in case of rain. As Bright Wrappers and Smokers pay so much better than dark tobaccos, it is advisable, whenever practica- ble, to coal-cure all that ripens of a uniform yellow color. The quality of the leaf will determine the hanging : ' Ship- ping ' should be hung seven to nine plants to the stick four and a half feet long. To cure the plants properly requires some experience, great care, and much attention. The plants should not be ' cut ' until fully ripe. Be careful in cutting to select plants of a uniform size, color, and quality, putting six or seven to the stick. Let the plants go from the cutter's hands on to sticks held in the hands of women or boys ; and as soon as the sticks are full, place them carefully on wagons and carry them to the barn. Place the sticks on tiers about ten inches apart, and regulate the plants on the sticks. " It is impossible to lay down any uniform system or give specific instructions. General principles will be suggested to guide the planter amid the changeableness of seasons and variableness of material to be operated upon." In Turkey — " The planters calculate always fifty-five days from May 12th, for their crops to be ready for gathering. When the leaves show the necessary yellow tips, they are carried to the house, and there threaded into long bunches by a large, flat needle, about a foot long, passed through the stalk of each." In Ohio the process of harvesting tobacco for cutting is thus described by a grower : — " When thoroughly ripe, having stood two or three weeks longer than is necessary for cigar leaf, it is ready to cut. This is done with a knife made for the purpose. It resem- bles a wide chisel, except that the handle and chisel are at right angles. Before cutting, the stalk is split down through the center. Being ripe, it splits before the knife, and follow- ing the grain the leaves escape unharmed. This splitting ia *Second crop, or Volunteer tobacco. THE SEASON IN OTHER PLACES. 451 done in as little time as is necessary to cut the stalk off in the ordinary way. Split it to within about three or four inches of the ground, and cut it off in the ordinary way with the same knife. Cut it off and hang it over one of your sticks that you have driven slanting into the ground near you. Cut and put six stalks on the stick, and then lay it down on the ground to wilt, taking the usual care to prevent sun-burn. When it is sufficiently wilted, haul to the shed and hang it up." In the East Indian Archipelago, " as soon as the leaves are fully grown they are plucked off, and the petiole and a mid- rib are cut away. Each leaf is then cut transversely into strips about a sixteenth of an inch wide, and these are dried in the sun until a mass of them looks like a bunch of oakum." In Persia, when the plants are ripe they are cut off close to the root, and again stuck firmly in the ground. Bj exposure to the night dews the leaves change from green to yellow. When of the proper tint, they are gathered in the early morning while wet with dew, and heaped up in a shed, the sides of which are closed in with light thorny bushes, so as to be freely exposed to the wind. In Japan, the leaves are gathered in the height of summer. When the flowers are of a light tint, two or three of the leaves nearest the root are gathered. These are called first leaves, but produce tobacco of second quality. After the lapse of a fort- night, the leaves are gathered by twos, and from these the best tobaccos are produced. Any remaining leaves are after- wards broken off along with the stem and dried. These form the lowest quality of tobacco. After gathering, the leaves are arranged in regular layers and covered with straw matting, which is removed in a couple of days. The leaves are now of a light yellow color. They are then fastened by the stem in twos and threes to a rope slung in a smoke room, and after being so left for fourteen or fifteen days, they are dried for two or three days in the sun, after which they are exposed for a couple of nights in order that they may be moistened with dew. They are then smoothed out and arranged in layers, the stems being fastened together, pressed down with boards, and packed away in a dark room. 452 CURING. D'Alrairda says that in Java, the leaves are gathered and tied np in bundles of fifteen, twenty or thirty, and suspended from bamboo poles running across the interior of the shed, where they are left to dry for twenty days or more, accord- ing to the state of the atmosphere. As soon as the plants have been hung in the shed the process of CUEING begins. If fully ripe at the time of harvesting, the plants will " cure down " very fast and take on a better hue than when they cure less rapidly. During cool weather the doors and ventilators should be left open that the plants may have a free circulation of air and cure the faster. When, however, the weather is damp, they should be closed, to avoid sweat- ing and pole rot. When a light leaf is desired, the tobacco shed should be provided with windows to let in plenty of sunlight, which has much to do with the color of the leaf. When a dark leaf is desired, all light should be excluded. The time necessary for the curing of the plants will depend upon the ripeness of the plants as well as the weather during curing. There are three kinds or methods of curing, viz : air curing, sun curing and firing, or curing by flues. Air curing is the curing of the plants in sheds or barns. Sun curing is the process of curing in the open air, while " firing" is the process of curing by " smoke," the common method employed at the South and to some extent at the West. This is the common way of curing cutting leaf, while air curing is the manner of curing cigar leaf. Tatham, already quoted, gives the following account of the process as per- formed in Virginia of "SMOKING THE CROP." " From what has been said under the head of hanging the plant, it will be perceived that the air is the principal agent in curing it, but it must be also considered that a want of uniform temperature in the atmosphere calls for the constant care of the crop-master, who generally indeed becomes CURINa BY SMOKE. 453 habitually weather-wise, from the sowing of his plants, until the delivery of his crop to the inspector. To regulate this effect upon the plants he must take care to be often among them, and when too much moisture is discovered, it is tem- pered by the help of smoke, which is generated by means of small smothered fires made of old bark, and of rotten wood, kindled about upon various parts of the floor where they may seem to be most needed, " In this operation it is necessary that a careful hand should be always near : for the fires must not be permitted to blaze, and burn furiously ; which might not only endanger the house, but which, by occasioning a sudden over-heat while the leaf is in a moist condition, might add to the malady of * firing ' which often occurs in the field." In Virginia the manner of curing tobacco at the present time, is thus described by a planter. " For curing tobacco the simplest method is sun-curing or air curing and the one most likely to prove successful. The tobacco barn should be so constructed as to contain four, five or six rooms four feet wide, so that four and a half feet sticks may fit, all alike. Log barns are best for coal curing. All should be built high enough to contain four firing tiers under joists covered with shingles or boards and daubed close. Fire with hickory all rich, heavy, shipping tobacco. " As soon as the barn is filled kindle small fires of coals or hickory wood, about twenty fires to a barn twenty feet square, four under each room. Coal is best, but hickory saplings, chopped about two feet long, make a good steaming heat. The successful coal-curer is an artist, and all engaged in the business are experimenters in nature's great laboratory." A North Carolina planter gives an interesting account of cur- ing tobacco yellow. " Curing tobacco yellow, for which this section is so famous, is a very nice process and requires some experience, observation, and a thorough knowledge of the character and quality of the tobacco with which 3'ou have to deal, in order to insure uniform success. Much depends upon the character of the crop when taken from the hill. If it is of good size, well matured and of good yellowish color, there is necessarily but little difficulty in the operation. As soon as the tobacco is taken from the hill and housed, we commence with a low degree of heat, say 95*^ to 100° Fahr., ' the yellowing ' or ' steaming ' process. This is the first and simplest part of the whole process, and requires from fifteen to thirty-six hours, according to the size and quality of the 454 YELLOW TOBACCO. tobacco, and tins degree of heat should be continued until the leaf opens a lemon color, and is nearly free from any green hue. When this point is reached, the heat should be gradually raised to lOS*^ in order to commence drying the leaf, and here lies the whole difficulty in curing (I mean in drying the leaf). The last degree of heat indicated, should be continued five or six hours, when it should again be gradually raised to 110*^, when it should be maintained at this point, until the tail or points of the leaves begin to curl and dry. Indeed it will probably be safest for begin- ners to continue this degree of heat until one-third of the leaf is dried. " The temperature may then be gradually increased to US'*, and kept for several hours at that point, until the leaf begins to rattle when shaken, then again raise the heat to 120®, at which point it should be continued until the leaf is dried, after which the temperature may be increased to 150* or 160*^ to dry the stem and stalks ; the latter should be black- ened by the heat before the curing is complete. Ordinarily it requires from two and a half to five days to cure a barn of tobacco, dependent entirely upon the size and quality. Put seven or eight plants on each stick and place them eight inches apart on tier poles. In the yellowing process the door of the barn should be kept closed to exclude the air. When this point is reached for drying the leaf, the door may be opened occasionally, and kept open for twenty or thirty minutes at a time, especially if the tobacco gets into a " sweat," as it is called, or becomes damp and clammy. " The temperature is raised in the barn by cautiously add- ing coal from time to time to the fires, which should be placed in small piles on the floor, in rows, allowing about five feet between each pile, which should at first contain a double handful of coal. In adding coal, you will soon learn the quantity necessary to be applied by the eflfect produced. Avoid raising the heat hastily after the drying ,is commenced, lest the leaf should be scalded and reddened ; on the other hand, it should not be raised too slowly for fear of ' raising the grain,' or the leaf becoming spongy and dingy. Both extremes are to be avoided, and the skill required is attained only by experience and observation. We usually cut tobacco the latter part of the week, house it and sufier it to remain until the first of next week, that we may not violate the fourth commandment." In California tobacco is cured by the method known as THE "CULP PROCESS." 455 the " Gulp process '' from tliu nume of its patentee. When tlie plant lies in the field, Mr. Gulp's peculiar process begins which is described as follows : " Tobacco had long been grown in Galifornia, even before Americans came. He had raised it as a crop for fifteen years ; and before he perfected his new process, he was able usually to select the best of his crop for smoking tobacco, and sold the remainder for sheep wash. One year, two millions of pounds were raised in the State, and as it was mostly sold for sheep wash, it lasted several years, and discouraged the growers. Tobacco always grew readily, but it was too rank and strong. They used Eastern methods, topping and suckering, and as the plant had here a very long season to grow and mature, the leaf was thick and very strong. The main features of the Gulp process are, he said, to let the tobacco, when cut, wilt on the field ; then take it at once to the tobacco house and pile it down, letting it heat on the piles to 100° for Havana. It must, he thinks, come to lOO*', but if it rises to 102** it is ruined. Piling, therefore, requires great judgment. The tobacco houses are kept at a temperature of about 70'^ ; and late in the fall, to cure a late second or third crop they sometimes use a stove to maintain a proper heat in the house, for the tobacco must not lie in the pile without heating. When it has had its first sweat, it is hung up on racks; and here Mr. Gulp's process is peculiar. " He places the stalk between two battens, so that it sticks out horizontally from the frame; thus each leaf hangs independently from the stalk ; and the racks or frames are BO arranged that all the leaves on all the stalks have a separate access to the air. The tobacco houses are frame buildings, 100x60 feet, with usually four rows of racks, and two gang- ways for working. On the rack the surface moisture dries from the leaf ; and at the proper time it is again piled, racked, and so on for three or even four times. The racks are of rough boards, and the floor of the houses is of earth. After piling and racking for three weeks, the leaves are stripped from the stalk and put into ' hands,' and they are then 'bulked' and lie thus about three months, when the tobacco is boxed. From the time of cutting, from four to six months are required to make the leaf ready for the manufacturer. "Piling" appears to be the most delicate part of the cure, and they have often to work all night to save tobacco that th-eatens to overheat." 456 CURING IN OTHER COUNTRIES. In Mexico the leaves are hung up on bast* strings, dried in the shade and then sent to the chief depots, where, when they have undergone fermentation, they are sorted, and tied up in bundles. In Persia, the plants are carried to the shed and heaped, and in four or five days the desired pale yellow color is further developed. The stalks and center stem of each leaf are now removed and thrown away, while the leaves are heaped together in the drying house for another three or four days, when they are fit for packing. In Turkey the bunches of leaves are exposed to the sun to dry, and some months' exposure is necessary before they are sufiicently matured for baling. Eain sets in at a later period, and the tobacco becoming moist and fit for handling, is then *The Inner bark of the lime-tree. STRIPPING. 457 removed from the threads, and made into bundles or " hands " of about sixty leaves each and tied around the stems. After the leaves are thoroughly cured they are in condition for STRIPPING. The leaves of the tobacco are easily affected by the humidity of the atmosphere and during damp weather every opportunity is improved by the grower for taking down the tobacco prepar- atory to stripping. After taking down from the poles the plants should be packed in order to keep moist until stripped. The tobacco should not be removed from the poles when it drips or the juice exudes from either the stalk or the leaves. If stripped in this condition the leaves are apt to stain and thus become unfit for wrappers. The operation of stripping consists in taking the leaves from the stalk and tying them in bundles or hands with a leaf around the base of the hand. Each " hand " or bunch should contain at least eight leaves and from that number to twelve. If the plants are large the leaves of one stalk will form a hand ; a poor leaf is used for binding as it can not be used for the same purpose as the leaves around which it is bound. The old planters of tobacco in Virginia called this operation 458 ASSORTING. of taking off the leaves and tying them up " stripping and bundling " which is here described. " When the plants of tobacco which are thus hanging upon the sticks in the house have gone through the several stages of process before the time of stripping, and are deemed to be in case for the next operation, a rainy day (which is the most suitable) is an opportunity which is generally taken advantage of when the hands cannot be so well employed out of doors. The sticks containing the tobacco which may be sufSciently cured, are then taken down and drawn out of the plants. They are then taken one by one respectively, and the leaves being stripped from the stalk of the plant are rolled round the butts or thick ends of the leaves with one of the smallest leaves as a bandage, and thus made up into little bundles fit for laying into the cask for final packing. " Hazard gives the following method of assorting and strip- ping tobacco in Cuba : — " Among the Cubans, the leaves are divided into four classes : first, desecho, desecho limpio, which are those immedi- ately at the top of the plant, and which constitute the best quality, from the fact that they get more equally the benefit of the sun's rays by day and the dew by night ; second, desechito, which are the next to the above ; third, the libra, the inferior or small leaves about the top of the plant ; and fourth, the inju- ■ riado, or those nearest the root. Of the injuriado there are three qualities ; the best is called injuriado de reposo, or 'the picked over,' and the other two, firsts and seconds {jprimeros, sequndos). " Tobacco of the classes desechito and lihra, of which the leaves are not perfect, is called injuriado hueno, while all the rest, of whatever quality, that is broken in such a manner as to be unfit for wrappers'are qsMq^l injuriado malo. Amongst the trade in place of the above names, the different qualities are simply designated by numbers. " Meyer, a German writer who resided several years in Cuba, gives another classification, making ten classes altogether, while Hazard mentions only four general classes. After the leaves are stripped from the stalk the process known as ASSORTING commences. Assorting tobacco is doing up in hands the vari- ous qualities and keeping them separate. In the Connecticut SHADING. 459 valley the growers make usually but two kinds or qualities excepting only when the crop is poor when three qual- ities are made, viz : Wrappers, Seconds, and Fillers. The Wrappers are the largest and finest leaves on the plant and should he free from holes and sweat as well as green and white veins. The leaves selected for this quality come from the middle and even the top leaves of the plant. The Seconds are made up of leaves not good enough for Wrappers and too good for Fillers. Such leaves sometimes are worm- eaten and of various colors on the same leaf — one part dark and another light. The fillers are the poorest quality of leaves to be found on the plants, and consist of the " sand "or ground leaves, one or two to each plant. Some of our largest growers in assorting the leaves keep each color by itself, an operation known as SHADING. This is a very delicate operation and requires a good eye for colors as well as a correct judgment in regard to the quality of the leaf. This mode of assorting colors in stripping is similar to that of shading cigars, in which the utmost care is taken to keep the various colors and shades hy themselves. In shading the wrappers only are so assorted, and may be " run into " two or three shades depending on the number of shades or colors of the leaf. The better way is to make only two qualities of the wrappers in shading — viz., light and dark cinnamon " selections." Shading tobacco does not imply that it is carried to its fullest extent in point of color as in shading cigars, but simply keeping those general colors by themselves like light and dark brown leaves. Cutting tobaccos before being used are subjected to a process known as STEMMING. Tatham gives the following account of the process of stem- ming in Virginia a century ago : — '" Stemming tobacco is the act of separating the largest stems or fibres from the web of the leaf with adroitness and facility, 60 that the plant may be nevertheless capable of 460 STEMMING. package, and fit for a foreign market. It is practised in cases where the malady termed the fire, or other casual misfortune during the growth of the plant, may have rendered it doubt- ful in the opinion of the planter whether something or other which he may have observed during the growth of his crop, or in the unfavorable temperature of the seasons by which it STEUUING. hath been matured does not hazard too much in packing the web with a stem which threatens to decay. To avoid the same species of risk, stemming is also practised in cases where the season when it becomes necessary to finish packing for a market is too unfavorable to put up the plant in leaf in the usual method ; or when the crop may be partially out of case. Besides the operation of stemming in the hands of the crop- master, there are instances where this partial process is repeated in the public warehouses; of which I shall treat under a subsequent head. " The operation of stemming is performed by taking the leaf in one hand, and the end of the stem in the other, in such a way as to cleave it with the grain ; and there is an expertness to be acquired by practice, which renders it as easy as to separate the bark of a willow, although those unaccustomed to it find it difiicult to stem a single plant. When the web is thus separated from the stem, it is made up PACKING. 461 into bundles in the same way as in the leaf, and is laid in bulk for farther process. The stems have been generally thrown away, or burnt with refuse tobacco for the purpose of soap-ashes ; but the introduction of snufF-mills has, within a few years back, found a more economical use for them." As soon as the tobacco has been stripped it is ready for PACKING. It is necessary to pack the " hands " after stripping in order to keep it moist, or in nearly the same condition as when stripped. Select a cool place, not too dry or too damp, but one where if properly protected, the tobacco will remain moist. It should be packed loosely or compact, according as the hands are moist or dry. It may be packed in the center of the floor so that it may be examined from either side, or against the sides of the packing house, as may be thought best. Hand the tobacco to the packer, who presses the hands firmly with his knees and hands, laying the tobacco in twe tiers and keeping the pile at about the same height until 462 MISSISSIPPI GARRETS. all is packed. If possible pack all together, that is, each kind by itself, as it is better to have the wrappers or fillers all together rather than in several places, as the moisture ia retained better than when it is packed in small piles or heaps. Use in packing a plank or board, placing it against the front of the tier and bring the ends of the hands up against it. This will make the tobacco look much better and also render the process of packing firmer. The tobacco may be packed any height or length desired, according to the quantity, but usually from three to four feet high will be found to be convenient while the length may be proportioned to the height or not. Tobacco may be packed by the cord or half cord so as to be able to judge of the quantity — ^good large wrappers averaging a ton to the cord. Seconds and Fillers will not contain as many pounds to the cord as wrappers. After the tobacco is packed, cover first with boards — planed ones are preferable, — or. even shing- les— and press firmly, especially if the tobacco is dry, then cover with blankets or any kind of covering, adding plank or pieces of timber if additional pressure is needed. It can now remain packed until sold or cased, and will hardly need to be examined unless packed while very damp or kept packed until warm weather. Wailes says of planting by the early planters of tobacco in Mississippi : — " The larger planters packed it in the usual way in hogs- heads. Much of it, however, was put up in carrets, as they were called, resembling in size and form two small sugar- loafs united at the larger ends. The stemmed tobacco was laid smoothly together in that form coated with wrappers of the extended leaf, enveloped in a cloth, and- then firmly compressed by a cord wrapped around the parcel, and which was suffered to remain until the carret acquired the necessary dryness and solidity, when together with the surrounding cloth, it was removed, and strips of lime-bark were bound around it at proper distances, in such a manner as to secure it from unwrapping and losing its proportions." In Turkey, after the tobacco is made into bundles or hands, it is piled against the walls inside the dwelling rooms and a CASING. 463 carefully graduated pressure put upon it until ready for baling. In Java, when the tobacco is ready to pack the leaf is examined, and if found quite brown, it is tightly pressed and packed up either in boxes or matting for exportation, or in the bark of the tree plantain, for immediate sale. The next process on the tobacco plantation is that of PKIZING, CASING, AND BALING. The term prizing originated in Virginia, and as performed by the early planters, is thus described by an old writer on tobacco culture: — " Prizing, in the sense in which it is to be taken here is, perhaps, a local word, which the Virginians may claim the credit of creating, or at least of adopting ; it is at best tech- nical, and must be defined to be the act of pressing or aqueezing the article which is to be packed into any package, by means of certain levers, screws, or other mechanical powers ; so that the size of the article may be reduced in stowage, and the air expressed so as to render it less pregnable by outward accident, or exterior injury, than it would be in its natural condition. " The operation of prizing, however, requires the combi- nation of judgment and experience; for the commodity may otherwise become bruised by the mechanic action, and this will have an efi'ect similar to that of prizing in too high case, which signifies that degree of moisture which produces all the risks of fermentation, and subjects tlie plant to be shat- tered into rags. The ordinary apparatus for prizing consists of the prize beam, the platform, the blocks, and the cover. The prize beam is a lever formed of a young tree or sapling, of about ten inches diameter at the butt or thicker end, and about twenty or twenty-five feet in length ; but in crops where many hands are employed, and a suflicient force always near for the occasional assistance of managing a more weighty leverage, this beam is often made of a larger tree, hewn on two of its sides to about six inches thick, and of the natural width, averaging twelve or fourteen inches. The thick end of this beam is so squared as to form a tenon, which is fitted into a mortise that is dug through some growing tree, or other, of those which generally abound con- venient to the tobacco house, something more than five feet above the platform. Close to the root of this tree, and 464 ^LD STYLE. immediately under the most powerful point of the lever, a platform or floor of plank is constructed for the hogshead to Btand upon during the operation of prizing. This must be laid upon a solid foundation, levelled, upon hewn pieces of PRIZING IN OLDEN TIMES. wood as sleepers ; and so grooved and perforated that any wet or rain which may happen to fall upon the platform may run off without injuring the tobacco. Blocks of wood are prepared about two feet in length, and about three or four inches in diameter, with a few blocks of greater dimensions, for the purpose of raising the beam to a suitable purchase ; and a movable roof constructed of clap-boards nailed upon pairs of light rafters, of sufficient size to shelter the platform and hogshead, is made ready to place astride of the beam, as a saddle is put upon a horse's back, in order to secure the tobacco from the weather while it is subjected to this tedious part of the process. " That part of the apparatus which is designed to manage and give power to the lever is variously constructed : in some instances two beams of timber about six feet long, and squared to four by six inches, are prepared ; through these, by means of an auger hole, a sapling of hickory or other tough wood, is respectively passed ; and the root thereof being formed like the head of a pin to prevent its slipping through the hole, the sapling is bent like a bow, and the other end is passed through the same piece of wood in a reversed direction, in which position it is wedged. These two bows are in this manner hung by the sapling loops upon RESISTANCE TO DAMPNESS. 465 the end of the prize beam or lever ; and loose planks or slabs of about live or six feet long being laid upon these suspended pieces of timber, a kind of lianging floor or platform is constructed, upon which weights are designed to act as in a scale. A pile of large stones are then carted to the place, and a sufiicient number of these are occasionally placed upon this hanging platform, until the lever has obtained precisely the power which the crop master wishes to give it by this regulating medium. " The prizing or packing by the old planters must have been a tedious aflair, and far difterent from the quick work made by the screw-press now owned by all well to-do planters. The size of the hogsheads containing the tobacco was regu- lated by law to the standard of four feet six inches in length, but the shape of the cask varied according to the fancy of the cooper, or roughness of his work. At this period (a century ago), the tobacco hogshead was made most generally of white oak ; but Spanish oak, and red oak, were sometimes used, when the usual kind could not be so readily commanded. Now the hogsheads are made of pine, but are nearly as rough as those made by the colonial growers. " Tobacco, if well packed, and prized duly, will resist the water for a surprising length of time. An instance is recorded in strong proof of this, which occurred at Kingsland upon James river in Virginia, where tobacco, which had been carried off by the great land floods in 1771, was found in a large raft of drift wood in which it had lodged when the warehouses at Richmond were swept away by the overflowing of the freshets ; an inundation which had happened about twenty years before this cask was found." Tatham gives the following account of a similar instance : — " On the sixth of October, 1782, 1 myself was one of a party who were shipwrecked upon the coast of New Jersey, in America, on board the brigantine Maria, Captain McAulay, from Eichmond in Virginia, and laden with tobacco. Several hogsheads, which were saved from the wreck were brought round to Stillwill's landing upon Great Egg harbor; and amongst them some which had lost the headings of the cask, and the hoops and staves, were so much shattered by the beat- ing of the surf, that it was not thought worth while to land them, and they were just tumbled out of the lighter upon the beach, and left to remain where the tide constantly flowed over them for several weeks, so that the outside was com- pletely rotten, and they had the appearance of heaps o£ 30 466 PRIZING.' manure. In this very bad condition, I still persisted in trying to save what I supposed might remain entire in the interior of the lump, and at last prevailed so far over tlie ignorance and prejudice by which I had been ridiculed, as to effect an overhauling and repacking of this damaged commodity and to save a proportion thereof very far beyond what I myself had expected. Some of the heart of this was so highly improved, that I have seldom seen tobacco equal to it for chewing, or for immediate manufacture ; and what was repacked was sold to a tobacconist in Water Street, Philadelphia, at a price so little reduced below the ordinary market, that the man very frankly told me, that if he could have had the whole drowned tobacco in a short time after it was saved from the wreck, he would have made no difference in the price but would rather have prefer- red it for immediate manufacture, as it would have spared him, some little labor in a part of the process. " Prizing tobacco applies to the packing of tobacco in hogs- heads all such leaf being used for cutting purposes, cigar leaf being either cased or baled. In some sections about 800 pounds net is packed in one parcel, while in others 1000 pounds and sometimes even 1500 and 1800 pounds. " Seed leaf " tobacco in this country is all packed in cases instead of hogsheads, each case containing from 375 to 400 pounds net. It is necessary that all kinds of tobacco should be pressed in some kind of package before it is ready to be manufactured. There are exceptions, however, as in the case of Latakia tobacco, which is simply hung in the peasant's huts through the winter to be fumigated and to acquire the peculiar flavor this tobacco has. Tobacco in good condition to case must be damp enough to bear the pressure in casing without breaking and crumbling, while it must not be too moist or it will rot in the case. The number of pounds to the case will vary according to the size of the leaf, as well as the condition of the tobacco. When ready to case the " hands " are packed in the case, laying them in two tiers. The case being nearly full the contents are then subjected to a strong pressure until it is reduced to one half its bulk, then another layer is placed in the case and again pressed, and succeeded by as many as are required to fill the case. The tobacco should be packed evenly in layers with the ends of the leaves touching one another or MARKING. 467 even crossing, and the whole mass presenting a smooth and even appearance. The " wrappers " should be cased by them- selves and " the seconds " and " tillers " together or separate at the option of the packer. The tobacco should be cased TOBACCO PRESS. hard so that the mass will rise but little when the pressure is removed. As the fillers are usually dry they must be moistened before casing or subjected to a very strong press- ure. After packing the cases should be turned on their sides, and the grower's name marked on each case, also the kind of tobacco, whether wrappers or fillers, together with the number of pounds and the weight of the case. This is necessary to ascertain the quality of leaf produced by each grower, as well as to protect the buyer against all fraud in packing and casing. The cases may be piled one upon another, but should be kept from the rays of the sun and in a dry room, so that the sweating of the leaf may be sufficient to fit it for use. It is necessary that the season during sweating should be warm, in order to secure a good sweat. It will commence to "warm up " sometime in April or May, and will be ready to sample or uncase about the first of September. After " going through a sweat," the leaf takes on a darker color, and loses the rank flavor which it had before. It is better to let the tobacco dry ofi" before being used or taken from the case. " Baling " is packing tobacco in small bundles or packages containing from one hundred to two hundred pounds, 468 BALING. and is the manner of putting up tobacco for export in Cuba, Paraguay, Algiers, Hungary, Mexico, Syria, the Philippines, China, Sumatra, Japan, Java, Turkey, and in some other tobacco-growing countries. In Cuba after being formed into hands or " gavillos " and four of these tied together with strips of palm-leaf so as to constitute a " tnanoja^'^ fifty or eighty of them are packed together, making what is called a " tercio " or bale, the average weight of which is two hundred pounds. Hazard says of the number of pounds produced on the i^egas : "A caballeria of thirty -three acres of ground produces about nine thousand pounds of tobacco, made up in about the following proportions : four hundred and fifty of desecho, or best ; one thousand eight hundred pounds desechito, or seconds ; two thousand two hundred and fifty pounds of libra, or thirds ; and four thousand five hundred pounds of injuriado. From these figm-es, taking tha bale at one hund- red pounds, and the average price of the tobacco at twenty dollars per bale, (though this is a low estimate, for the crops of some of the vegas are sold as high, sometimes, as four hundred dollars per bale,) an approximate idea may be formed of the profit of a large plantation in a good year, when the crops are satisfactory." In Mexico, after being baled, the tobacco is sent to the government factories, where it is not weighed until two months afterwards. The price is high, varying from twelve to twenty-eight dollars per crate ; and is paid in ten monthly installments. In Persia, when the tobacco is fit for packing, the leaves are carefully spread on each other, and formed into cakes four or five feet round, and three to four inches thick, care being taken not to break or injure the leaves. Bags of strong cloth, thin and open at the sides, are provided, into which the cakes are pressed strongly down on each other. When the bags are filled they are placed in a separate drying house, and are turned every day. Water is then sprinkled on the cakes, if required, to prevent them from breaking. The leaf is valued for being thick, tough, of a uniform light yellow color, and of an agreeable aromatic smell. In Turkey, the tobacco after remaining in the dwelling- room of the house a sufficient time, is ready for baling. The CERTIFICATES. 469 bales average in weight about forty oques (110 English pounds). The covering of the bales is a sort of netting made by the peasants from goat's hair ; it is elastic and of great strength. Yamberry says of packing tobacco in European Turkey : " The tobacco is packed in small packets {Jjog tche), and only after it has lain for years in the warehouses of the tobacco mer- chants, is it honored by the connoisseurs of Stamboul with the title of ' Aala Gobeck.' This sort of finely-cut tobacco resembling the finest silk, is held in equally high estimation in the palaces of the Grand Seignior, in the seraglio, and in the divan of the sublime Porte, where the privy council debate the most important afiairs of the empire, under the soothing influence of its aromatic vapors." In St. Domingo and the United States of Colombia, South America, the bales are called Serous, and in Holland and Germany, Packages. Tobacco is sent to market in bales of various sizes and made of various materials. In Cuba, the tobacco is bound with palm leaves. In South America it is packed in ox hides. From the East it comes in camel's hair sacks or " netting made from goat's hair," while from Persia, tobacco is exported in sacks of strong cloth. Manilla tobacco is shipped in bales containing four hundred pounds net. It is covered first with bass and then with sacking, made of Indian grass tied around with ratan. Each bale con- tains a printed statement, of which the following is a copy : PRO VINCI A DE CAGAYAN, PAETiDo DE ciTA. Cosecha de 186 . Clas de conteine 40 manos de tabaeo aforado por la junta de aforo y enfardelado por el que subscribe. Tuguegarao de de 186 . El Gdbernadc/rciUo cavdillo. Y° B° Yicente Lasan. El Interventor de aforo. The tobacco plant while growing is easily affected by a wet season, while it is also liable to injury by the opposite extreme of heat or drought. If a drought occurs soon 470 FIRING. after the plants are transplanted, their growth and devel- opment is greatly hindered. When, however, the plants are nearly grown, a severe drought affects the plants but little, the large palm-like leaves forming a kind of canopy and keeping the earth moist and cool. During a wet season, and sometimes when the plants have been set in damp soil, they are affected by " brown rust," or, as it is called at the South, FIRING. It is supposed to be caused by very damp weather, and is much dreaded by all growers of the weed, as it is sometimes quite common, and on low soil affects the crop to a consider- able extent. It spots the leaf with hard brown spots that often fall out, producing holes fatal to the value of the crop. The lower leaves on the plant are more likely to be injured than those higher on the stalk. The spots vary in size ; sometimes they are as large as a three cent piece, but more fre- quently about the size of a small pearl button. At the South, rust or " firing " is much more common than in the Connecticut valley, and often whole fields are badly affected by the FiniKG. malady. -Some seasons hardly any rust can be discovered on the leaves, and if any spots are found they are fixed and do not spread. Small plants are more liable to be injured than large ones, and not unfrequently nearly every leaf is covered with the spots. Many theories have been advanced in regard to the WHITE RUST. 471 cause of rust and how to prevent it. It usually occurs just before, or after, topping, and if the plants are ripe enough to harvest, they should be cut before the rust spreads to any great extent. It makes its appearance very suddenly, and if the weather be favorable (damp), spreads rapidly, often in a few days injuring the plants to a great extent. There are two varieties of rust or " tiring," brown and white ; and while the former is dreaded by the grower, as it injures the quality of the plant, the other is regarded with special favor, as it gives value to the leaf. The white rust,* as it is termed, is a small white speck (often noticed on cigars), making its appearance on the leaves of the plant towards the latter part of its growth, and usually found on the top and middle leaves. It is usually found on the best, and more frequently on light than dark tobacco. Unlike the brown rust, the white does not fall out, but is as firm in its place as any part of the leaf ; sometimes the spots are as white as chalk, and again they will be of a yellowish shade, though lighter in color than brown rust. The lighter the color the better their effect on the leaf upon which they are found. Leaves thus " spotted " make the finest of wrap- pers, and light-colored leaf thus afiected brings the very highest price. It is well known to manufacturers of cigars that such leaves burn well, and almost invariably make a light ash. Good judges of cigars always pick for those thus affected, and watch with interest the ash of the cigar, noting the color as well as the flavor. Some seasons this kind of rust is quite common, and it is supposed to be caused in the same way as the brown, although there are some growers who think that it is produced by altogether different causes. There is, however, a marked difference in the appearance of the leaves thus spotted ; the white rust is not usually as thick upon the leaf, and is more generally found along the sides of the leaf, while the brown rust is found more in the center than along the sides. Tobacco of a light cinnamon color thus "marked" is considered *f lorlda tobacco is noted for the wbite rust found on Uie leaTes. 472 SEED PLANTS. the most valuable, and could the planter obtain such a crop at option, he could realize the very highest price for it. Large growers who find much of their tobacco " spotted " in this manner, would do well to keep such leaves by themselves, and sell direct to the manufacturer. Both kinds of rust are more commonly seen on the plants during a wet than a dry season, and particularly if the plants have grown rapidly during the latter part of the time. Formerly buyers of leaf tobacco were more interested in leaf of this description than now ; and some of them, more anxious than others, made liberal ofiers to any grower of tobacco who could ascertain how such tobacco could be obtained. It is hardly probable that any method of culture could be devised so as to obtain such leaf; it seems to be a freak of nature, depending somewhat on the soil as well as the humidity of the atmosphere, and without doubt is beyond the control of the grower. Various theories propounded and experiments tried have not met with any success that we are aware of. Some growers are of the opinion that light manure spread on moist soil will tend to produce leaf affected with white rust, while others affirm that such leaf is common on high ground when manured with light fertilizers. It is a matter of doubt whether such leaf can be obtained by any preparation of soil, or any system of cultivation whatever. SEED PLANTS. The selection of large, well-formed plants for the maturing of the seeds, is of more importance than most growers are aware of.* JNot only should the altitude of the plant be taken into account, but also the size and texture of the leaf. If a variety foreign to the soil (on which it is. cultivated) is grown, then particular pains should be taken to select seed plants resembling those cultivated in its native home. In cultivating foreign varieties, even the first season plants may be seen that do not resemble the majority, but are *Llancourt says of the selection of seed plants In Virginia:—" The seed for the next year 18 obtained from forty to fifty stalks per acre, which the cultirator leta run up au hieli u they win grow, without bruising their head*." HAVANA TOBACCO. 473 seemingly trying to accommodate themselves to the soil and climate, and in consequence resemble in a measure the variety commonly cultivated. Growers of Havana tobacco in the Connecticut valley can testify to this, and especially to the in- creased size of the plants. There are, however, growers of Havana tobacco, who claim that it will never deteriorate in quality, and that seed from Havana is not required in order to secure the delightful flavor of the Vuelta de Ahajo leaf. Our experience is the re- verse of this, and ap- plies more directly to the flavor of the leaf than the size, color, or texture. In the Connecticut valley Havana leaf retains in a remarkable degree the texture and color of leaf, but not the flavor. Fresh or new seed is required from time to time. Sieckle says on the choice of seed : — " The selection of seed is one of the principal conditions for raising good tobacco, especially when intended for the manufacture of cigars. In the United States now and then Havana seeds are planted. The tobacco raised therefrom generally resembles the real Havana in shape and color of leaves. But in order to reproduce approximately also the fine taste and flavor of genuine Havana tobacco, it would be required to impart to the soil exactly the components which constitute the famous tobacco-ground, viz.: the soil of the above-mentioned Vuelta de Alajo in Cuba. We say approx- imately, because the climate is a thing that can be neither transplanted nor fully equaled by artificial means. Havana seed propagated in the United States usually degenerates very soon, even in the course of two or three years. la SPANISH SEED TOBACCO. 474 MATURING OF SEEDS. Other countries the experiment has been made to acclimate foreign seeds, for instance, Havana, by crossing, respectively changing the sexes and giving the male influence now to the foreign, then to the home plant." In the Connecticut valley the cultivation of Havana tobacco is increasing year by year, and it promises to become the principal variety cultivated. All of the leading qualities of Connecticut seed leaf, such as color, strength, and texture, are preserved, while the flavor is as fine as that of much that is imported. The plants selected for seed should be allowed to fully ripen, when the leaves may be stripped from the stalks, that the capsules may receive all the strength of the growing and maturing plants. The seed plants should be left standing some six or eight weeks after the other plants have been harvested. If the nights are very cold and frosty, the top of the plants may be covered with a light cloth or paper to protect the seed buds. When the capsules are of full size and brown in color, the top may be broken off and hung up in a dry, cool place to cure, after which the seeds should betaken from the capsules. To do this, the end of the seed buds may be cut, when most of the seeds will fall out if the buds are fully ripe and dry. A southern planter gives the following account of the curing and management of seed plants : — " There are four classes of tobacco grown in Virginia and North Carolina, viz.: Shipping, filling, smoking, and wrap- ping ; and it is important that planters desiring to raise either one of these should choose the kind of seed best adapted to each particular class. The Pry or makes the heaviest, richest shipping, and can only be grown to perfection on alluvial or heavily manured lands. The Frederick or Maryland grows larger, but is not so rich and waxy. The Oronoko is far preferable for fillers, smokers or wrappers, being sweeter in flavor, finer in fibre and texture, and more easily cured yellow. This is the kind best adapted to our gray soils, giving best returns. The product is not so large as on black or brown lands, yet with skill in curing and management, the difference in product is more than made up in quality. " The Oronoko, therefore, is the only kind suited to our gray lands, and of this there are several varieties, the two ORONOKO TOBACCO. 475 most in favor being the yellow Oronoko, and the Gooch or Pride of Granville. The first is the kind that gave character to the Caswell (North Carolina) yellow tobacco more than twenty years ago, and is still preferred by a very large number of planters who grow the finest yellow smokers and wrappers. The latter is preferred in Granville county, North Carolina, that produces the finest yellow tobacco grown on this continent, or, perhaps, in the world. This latter is clearly an Oronoko tobacco, very much resembling the former, except that the leaf grows rather broader, and by some is considered sweeter. These two kinds have been grown with special reference to their adaptation to producing the finest quality of wrappers, smokers, and fillers. 1 am satisfied that the art of curing and management have not only been very far advanced toward scientific perfection, but that in perfecting the kinds of seed grown much improvement has been made. For instance, in the saving of seed, by adopting the plan of turning out the forwardest plants growing in the best soil, and afterwards observing to cut off all the heads of plants that ripen up coarse, narrow or ill-shaped, or of a green color on the hill, and saving only those heads that ripen yellow in color and of a smooth and fine texture, much has been done to improve the kind. Besides, the most important point in the saving of tobacco seed is to cut off all the lateral shoots, leaving only three crown shoots to perfect seed, thereby securing larger pods and more perfect seed that always ripen in good time, and are more reliable for seed beds and the production of early, vigorous plants. "By following this mode of saving seed with special reference to the growth of a particular class of tobacco, in a few years the seed is not only greatly improved, but as like begets like in the vegetable as in the animal kingdom, becomes sui generis — the first of its species. The writer can bear testimony to the above facts and desires that others may profit thereby. Where any plant attains its highest perfec- tion, there is the place to secure the best seed. The home of the tobacco plant is in Virginia and North Carolina, and the growth and perfection of the kinds here cultivated have reached a point unattained any where else. The West and South would do well to procure their seed from us, and then Bave and propagate after the instructions above given." SECOND GROWTH. The first account we find of raising a second crop of tobacco 476 SECOND GROWTH. on the original field, is found in the earlj history of the Virginia colony ; who, not satisfied with the vast amount cultivated in the usual manner, allowed a second growth to spring up from the parent stalk and thus obtained two crops from the same field in one year. The inferior quality of this growth at length caused its prohibition by law, as described elsewhere in this work. Of late, however, this "new departure " in tobacco culture seems to have attracted some attention, particularly in the Southern States, where numer- ous experiments have been made, and in some instances with complete success. In Mexico and also in Louisiana and Cali- fornia, two and even three crops are gathered, thus adding to the profit of the grower, but hardly to the fertility of the tobacco fields. Whatever the fertility of the tobacco field may be, or the care and attention given to the second crop by the planter, it can not equal the first crop, and must from the nature of the case be quite inferior in size, texture, and flavor of leaf. Doubtless the varieties grown in the tropics will be much finer than the varieties grown in a more temperate region. There are many reasons why a second and third crop can not be equal to the first in the qualities necessary for fine leafy tobacco. In the first place, the soil will hardly produce a second crop of the size and texture of leaf that will compare with the first growth : the leaves will be small and resemble the top leaves of the original plant rather than the large, well-formed leaves of the center. Again, the season will hardly be favorable (unless in the tropics), for a second growth, which has much to do with the quality of the leaf and which alone ensures large, well-matured plants. In the Connecticut* valley but one crop can be. grown of seed leaf, and even this when planted late is frequently overtaken by the " frost king " whose cold breath strikes a chill to the heart of the tobacco grower who has been so unfortunate as to have but a few plants ; especially if his fields were " set " late in the season, or with " spindling " or "long shank plants " which come forward slowly and forbid EXPERIMENTS. 477 all thought of a second growth, and sometimes give small hopes of even the first. In Virginia and North Carolina the experiment has been tried of covering the stumps or trunk of the plants with straw, followed by plowing on both sides of the rows, thereby covering them to a depth of several inches, in which condition they are left until spring, when the covering is removed and the suckers or sprouts shoot forth and grow with great rapidity. This novel experiment may succeed so far as the growth and maturing of the plants is concerned, but will hardly add to the reputation of " Virginia's kingly plant " or to the prolit of the growers, as the product must necessarily be small if the labor of transplanting is avoided. Beyond all question, experiments with the growth and culture of the tobacco plant are among the most interesting and valuable, and aflford the planter the most pleasure and instruction of all similar trials with the products of the vegetable kingdom. These experiments at once develop not only the rare qualities of the plant, but its various forms and habit of growth. They show as well as its adaptation to all countries and climes, and the preservation of its qualities when grown in regions far remote from its native home. The florist finds no more pleasure in the cultivation of the rarest exotic than the tobacco planter in testing some new variety of tobacco, and noting its varied qualities and adap- tation to his fields. By trying new varieties, some of the finest qualities of the plant have been developed, and many other of its excellences still further advanced. In the United States numerous trials and experiments are constantly being made to still further perfect the various kinds already culti- vated, as well as to test other varieties and note their qualities and adaptation to the soil. Already far advanced, the culture of the plant has not yet reached its highest point. The adaptation, soil, and fertilizers, are now attracting much attention, and further study of these elements promises to " bring out " qualities of leaf hitherto overlooked, or at least but partially developed. CHAPTEK XIV. THE PRODUCTION, COMMEKCE AND MANUEACTTJEE OF TOBACCO. ""EW comparatively of the users or even of the growers and manufacturers of tobacco, are aware of the vast amount cultivated, manufactured and used. Many- suppose that its cultivation is confined to the United States and a few of the West India Islands, having no idea of the large quantities grown in Europe, Asia and Africa and the islands of the East India Archipelago. The Spaniards first began the cultivation of the plant on theT!sland of St. Domingo, afterwards extending it to Trinidad, the coast of South America, Mexico and the Philippine Islands. In Portugal the cultivation commenced about 1575-80, and continued some years. The Dutch a little later, began the production of tobacco in the East Indies, and in connection with the Spaniards and Portuguese were the only cultivators of tobacco until the English commenced its growth in Virginia in 1616. The first production in St. Domingo by the Spaniards was sometime previous to 1535, and the island has continued to produce the great staple until now. In Trinidad, however, a finer article was yielded, and its cultivation became more general here until the Spaniards began to plant it in Cuba in 1580. From the West Indies, South America and the East Indies, Europe raised its supply of tobacco until the English colonists commenced its cultivation in Virginia. The Span- iards and Portuguese at first controlled the trade in tobacco, and extorted most fabulous prices for it. As soon, however, as the Dutch and English began to cultivate it and receive it 478 EARLY HISTORY OF TOBACCO. 479 from their colonies the price gradually fell while the demand and consumption for it increased in proportion to the falling off of prices. From the island of Trinidad, Europe received its finest tobacco, and it continued to maintain its reputation as such until that variety known as Varinas tobacco from South America appeared ; this variety attracted the attention of European buyers and consumers, from its superiority in flavor and appearance which it has maintained for more than two hundred and fifty years. In South America, the cultivation of tobacco took its rise in Venezuela, Brazil and Colombia. The varieties there produced had acquired an established reputation as early as 1600, together with St. Lucia, Philippine and Margarita tobaccos. Early in the Seventeenth Century, the Dutch became the great producers and importers into Europe, and the growths of their colonies continued to furnish a large proportion of the quantity used until English colonial tobacco made its appearance from Virginia. The Plymouth and London companies from its first appear- ance in their markets, saw its vast importance as an article of agriculture and commerce, and in twenty years afterthe first planting of it, began to reap rich returns from its sale and pro- duction. From this time forward, not only in America, but in Europe and Asia, its cultivation spread among other , nations until at length it has become one of the great sources of revenue of almost every country, and a leading product of nearly every clime. The islands of St. Domingo, Trinidad, St. Lucia and Martinique, do not produce as large quantities of tobacco as formerly ; its cultivation in the West Indies being now confined chiefly to the island of Cuba. This island produces at the present time the finest cigar leaf of the West Indies, which is considered by many as the best grown. The value of the annual product of Cuba is estimated at $20,000,000, nearly as much as that of the entire United States. Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, and Paraguay, which are the tobacco-producing countries of South America, furnish Europe with a large amount of leaf tobacco. In 480 COMMERCE IN TOBACCO. Brazil according to Scully it '* occupies the fourth place in the exports " and is extensively cultivated in various parts of the empire. In Venezuela it is an important article of agriculture, and the product is of fine quality and in good repute in Europe. Colombia has long been noted for the amount and excellence of its tobacco ; its various growths are fine in all respects and are among the finest cigar tobaccos grown. In Paraguay large quantities of excellent cigar tobacco are raised, much of which is used in various parts of South America, the remainder going to Europe. All of the tobacco of South America is unrivaled in flavor and is well adapted for the manufacture of cigars. In Mexico, tobacco is raised to some extent, particularly in the Gulf States, where it develops remarkably and is of excellent quality both in texture and flavor. Mexico is doubtless as well adapted for tobacco as any country in the world, and if certain restrictions* were removed, its culture would increase and the demand would cause its extensive production. In the Central American States, some tobacco is cultivated, but not to the extent that is warranted by the demand or the adaptation of the soil. Some parts of the States, especially of Honduras, are well adapted for the production of the very finest leaf. As it is but little is grown ; hardly any being exported to Europe. America is the native home of the tobacco plant, and in the United States vast quantities are produced of all qualities and suited for all purposes. In New England from 20,000 to 30,000 acres are cultivated annually, estimated to yield on an average from 1500 to 1700 pounds to the acre. The annual product in cases is from 50,000 to 170,000. t Of the Middle States, New York and Pennsylvania furnish a large amount of "seed leaf" as it is called. In 1872 the latter state reported 38,010 cases, mostly grown in three counties. A fine quality of tobacco is raised in the immediate vicinity of the old William Penn mansion, and is known to all dealers as superior leaf. In New York ♦ Tobacco is not allowed to pass fiom one state Into another without paying a certain duty. tXhe amount in 18T2, was 172,000. CULTIVATION IN THE SOUTH. 481 the crop is usually good, and along the valleys are found some excellent lands for its culture. As we go South, we reach the great tobacco-growing states, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, and others. Maryland has long been noted for its tobacco, and annually exports thou- sands of hogsheads to European markets. Virginia, as we have seen, is the coldest tobacco-producing stafe in the Union, and still continues to raise thousands of acres of the "weed" forhomeTuse' fifid for export. In^l622^six years after its cultivation began, she produced 60,000 pounds of leaf tobacco. IToJ^th Carolina also raises a fine article of smoking tobacco — of fine color and superior flavor. This state has long been noted for its superior leaf tobacco, and ever since the first settlement of the state has produced large quantities of it. In 1753 100 hogsheads were exported, the number constantly increasing until the present. In Georgia some tobacco is grown. Havana tobacco was first cultivated in this state by Col. Mcintosh, and succeeded finely in some of the counties along the coast. In Florida, Havana tobacco is cultivated altogether. It differs somewhat in flavor, however, so that it is called Florida tobacco, not because it is grown in that state, but because it is a little bitter, unlike that grown in Cuba. Kentucky is the great tobacco-producing state of the Union. Two-fifths of the entire amount grown in the country comes from this state. In 1871 nearly 150,000 acres were devoted to it in the state — producing 103,500,000 pounds of leaf tobacco. In Ohio and Missouri large quantities of tobacco are grown, the former state furnishing both cutting and seed leaf tobaccos. The other Western states including Illinois, Indi- ana, and "Wisconsin, are engaged largely in its production, and furnish a good article of leaf. California for the last few years has given the culture of tobacco some attention, and promises to become a great tobacco-producing state. The United States have cultivated in some seasons 350,769 acres of tobacco, valued at $25,901,- 769. The average yield per acre is greater in Connecticut 31 482 QUANTITY GROWN IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. than in any other state, being 1,700 pounds, while the small- est yield is in Georgia, 350 pounds. The average price per pound in Connecticut is 25cts ; in Kentucky 7 7-lOcts ; in Geor- gia 21 4:-10cts ; in Ohio 9 1-lOcts; and in Pennsylvania 15 2-10 cts. In 1855 there was exported from this country 150,213 hogsheads and 13,366 cases of tobacco. In Europe large quantities of tobacco are grown, excepting in England, Spain, and Portugal, where its culture is prohibit- ed by law to benefit the colonial growers of the plant. Austria is the great tobacco-producing country of Europe, and yields an annual product of 45,000,000 pounds of tobacco ; the leaf is of good quality, and is used for cigars. France also raises about 30,000,000 pounds of tobacco besides importing large quantities from the United States. In Eussia the annual tobacco crop is about 25,000,000 pounds. In Holland about as much tobacco is grown as in the state of Connecticut — 6,000,000 pounds and the product is adapted for both eigar and snuff-leaf. Large quantities of tobacco arp also imported, from 30,000,000 to 35,000,000 pounds. The tobacco factories in the country are stated to give employment to one million oper- atives. Belgium produces considerable tobacco, about 3,000,- 000 pounds annually. Switzerland also raises from 1,000,000 to 1,200,000 pounds of leaf. In Greece tobacco is an impor- tant product and the quality of leaf is very fine ; her product has been as high as 5,500,000 pounds. In Asia tobacco has long been cultivated, and is one of the greatest products of the country. In both Asiatic and European Turkey the annual production is about 43,000,000 pounds. In China and Japan large quantities are grown, as well as in Persia, Thibet, and other portions of Asia. In the Philippine Islands its cultivation is carried on by the Span- iards, as it has been for upwards of 250 years. iBowring says of its culture : — " The money value of the tobacco grown in the Philippines is estimated at from 4,000,000 to 5,000,000 of dollars, say 1,000,0001. sterling. Of this nearly one half is consumed in the island, one quarter is exported in the form of cheroots (which is the Oriental word for cigars), and the remainder GOVERNMENT MONOPOLY. 483 Bent to Spain in leaves and cigars, being estimated as an annual average contribution exceeding 800,000 dollars. The sale of tobacco is a strict government monopoly, but the impossibility of keeping up any sufiicient machinery for the protection of that monopoly is obvious even to the least observant. The cultivator, who is bound to deliver all his produce to the government, first takes care of himself and his neighbors, and secures the best of his growth for his own benefit. From functionaries able to obtain the best which the government brings to market, a present is often volun- teered, which shows that they avail themselves of something better than the best. And in discussing the matter with the most intelligent of the empleados, they agreed that the emancipation of the producer, the manufacturer and the seller, and the establishment of a simple duty, would be more productive to the revenue than the present vexatious and inefficient system of privileges. *' In 1810 the deliveries were 50,000 bales (of two arrobas), of which Gapan furnished 47,000 and Cay ay an 2,000. In 1841 Cayayan furnished 170,000 bales ; Gapan, 84,000 ; and New Biscay, 34,000. But the produce is enormously increased ; and so large is the native consumption, of which a large pro. portion pays no duty, that it would not be easy to make even an approximative estimate of the extent and value of the whole tobacco harvest. Where the fiscal authorities are so scattered and so corrupt ; — where communications are so imperfect and sometimes wholly interrupted ; where large tracts of territory are in the possession of tribes unsubdued or in a state of imper- fect subjection ; where even among the more civilized Indians the rights of property are rudely defied, and civil authority imperfectly maintained ; where smuggling, though it may be attended with some risk, is scarcely deemed by any body an ofiense, and the very highest functionaries themselves smoke and ofier to their guests contraband cigars on account of their superior quality, — it may well be supposed that lax laws, lax morals and lax practices, harmonize with each other, and that Buch a state of things as exists in the Philippines must be the necessary, the inevitable result. " I am informed by the alcalde mayor of Cayayan that he sent in 1858 to Manilla from that province tobacco for no less a value than 2,000,000 dollars. The quality is the best of the Philippines ; it is all forwarded in leaf to the capital. The to- bacco used by the natives is not subject to the estanco, and on my inquiring as to the cost of a cigar in Cagayan, the answer waa 484 A SOURCE OF REVENUE. 'Casinada' (Almost nothing). They are not so well rolled as those of the government, but undoubtedly the raw material is of the very best." In Sumatra some of the finest tobacco in the world is pro- duced which has an established reputation in European markets. In Africa tobacco is grown to some extent in Egypt, Algiers and Tripoli as well as by the natives of Central and South, Western Africa. The French have paid particular attention to its culture in Algiers and have succeeded in producing tobacco of good flavor and texture. In Australia the plant does remarkably well and promises to become as celebrated as that of other portions or islands of the East India Archipelago. It readily appears from the extensive cultivation of tobacco that it can hardly fail of becoming an important article of commerce. The Spaniards and Portuguese found it to be an important source of revenue, and from South America and the West Indies exported large quantities to Europe. As soon as it began to be cultivated in Yirginia its commercial value began to be apparent and attracted many navigators who came thither to barter for tobacco and furs, and other articles of inferior value. Most of the tobacco exported from the United States is shipped to Europe and from there is reshipped to Asia and Africa. Of foreign tobacco but little finds its way to this country, the duties* preventing many varieties of excellent quality competing with our domestic tobacco. Cuba, St Domingo and Manilla tobacco are the only varieties that are imported from other countries. West India tobacco, more particularly that of Cuba — is shipped to all parts of the world, especially to Spain, Great Britain, Russia, France and the United States. The tobacco of South America is exported almost entirely to Europe. England receives a large quantity of South American tobacco as well as Spain and Portugal. The varieties cultivated in Asia and Africa for export are shipped mostly to Europe. Great Britain, Spain, France and Ger- many are the great tobacco-consuming countries of the *Thirty-flye cents a pound, gold. MANUFACTURE. 485 world, or at least of Europe. In Great Britain, Spain and Portugal, no tobacco is cultivated, and these countries are therefore dependent upon their colonies for a supply of the great product. The commerce in the plant is extensive and reaches to every part of the globe. No nation, state, or empire now ignores the revenue to be derived from its import or culture, and many a government receives more from this plant alone than from any other source. While some nations prohibit its culture at home, their colonies are allowed to grow it, and thus the article and the revenue are both secured. But while the production of the plant and the commerce depending on it are extensive, they are not more so than the manufacture of the leaf into the various preparations for use. The government work-shops of Seville and Manilla, as well as those of Havana and Paris are of enormous proportions and employ thousands of operatives in the manufacture of cigars and cigarettes. In this country and in England, large quantities of cigars are made both from domestic and foreign tobaccos. In South America also many are made, but more for home use than for export. Cutting leaf is largely manufactured in this country, especially near the great leaf growing sec- tions. Most of this is used here, the leaf for manufacture abroad being exported in hogsheads for cutting in any form desired. Snuff leaf is exported largely from this country to Great Britain and France, where are the largest manufact- urers of snuff in the world. At the present time the demand seems greater for cutting than for cigar leaf. The growths of the West Indies and South America furnish a large quantity of fine tobacco for cigars, but comparatively little for cutting purposes. European tobaccos are adapted for both cutting and for cigars, and are used extensively at home though not considered equal to American varieties, being of a milder flavor. As an article of production and commerce, tobacco must be considered as important as any of the great products or staples, since the demand is constant and continually increasing. Year by year its cultivation 486 INCREASE OF TOBACCO CULTURE. extends into new sections, where it becomes a permanent production if the soil and climate prove congenial. From time to time new varieties become known, and are cultivated in various countries with success varying according to the soil and climate and the knowledge of the planter. Nowhere is the plant receiving more attention both in its cultivation and manufacture, than in this country. (Lhe varieties grown in the tropics have been tested with more or less succesSj^'an'd bid fair ere long to become the leading kinds in some sec- tions. But not alone in this country is the plant attracting the attention of the great commercial nations. In Europe and Asia as well as in Africa, its production is assuming the large proportions due to its vast importance to Agriculture and Commerce. tate' Collet A X «v )(/' ^,