A
TREATISE
ON THE
CULTURE
OF THE
TOBACCO PLANT.
Price Two Shillings and Sixpence.
[Illustration: _Flowers of the Tobacco plant_
_Drawn and Engraved by Copland & Sansom No 16 Maiden Lane_]
A
TREATISE
ON THE
CULTURE
OF THE
TOBACCO PLANT;
WITH THE
MANNER in which it is usually CURED.
ADAPTED TO
NORTHERN CLIMATES,
AND
DESIGNED FOR THE USE OF THE
LANDHOLDERS OF GREAT-BRITAIN.
TO WHICH ARE PREFIXED,
TWO PLATES OF THE PLANT AND ITS FLOWERS.
BY JONATHAN CARVER, ESQ.
Author of TRAVELS through the interior Parts of NORTH-AMERICA.
LONDON:
Printed for the AUTHOR,
And sold by J. JOHNSON, in St. Paul's Church-yard.
1779.
TO THE
RIGHT HONOURABLE
THE PRESIDENT,
VICE-PRESIDENTS,
AND
MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY
FOR THE
ENCOURAGEMENT OF ARTS,
MANUFACTURES AND
COMMERCE.
The Extension of every Branch of useful Knowledge being the great
Object of the SOCIETY for the Encouragement of ARTS, MANUFACTURES and
COMMERCE, the Author begs Leave to commit the following Treatise to
their Patronage.
London, March 26th, 1779.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
_Of the Discovery and Uses of Tobacco_ P. 1
CHAPTER II.
_A Description of the Plant and its Flowers_ 9
CHAPTER III.
_Of the Soil and Situation most proper for raising the
Plant_ 13
CHAPTER IV.
_Of its Culture, with a Description of the Worm that
annoys it_ 15
CHAPTER V.
_Of the Manner in which it is usually cured_ 28
APPENDIX 35
[Illustration: _Tobacco plant_
_Drawn and Engraved by Copland & Sansom No 16 Maiden Lane_]
A TREATISE, _&c._
CHAPTER I.
_Of the Discovery and Uses of Tobacco._
Tobacco, or Tabacco, is a medicinal plant, which remained unknown
to Europeans till the discovery of America by the Spaniards; being
first imported from thence about the year 1560. The Americans of the
continent called it Petun; those of the islands, Yoli. Hernandez de
Toledo sent it into Spain from Tabaco, a province of Yucatan, where
he first found and learned its use; and from which place he gave it
the denomination it still bears.
Sir Walter Raleigh first introduced the use of it into England, in
the reign of Queen Elizabeth, about the year 1585. The plant was
probably known in this kingdom before that time, by means of the
Spaniards or Portuguese; it is however certain, that he first taught
the English to smoke it.
The French, on its first introduction among them, gave it various
names, as Nicotiana, or the Embassador's Herb, from John Nicot, who
came soon after it was discovered, as embassador to that court, from
Francis the Second of Portugal, and brought some of it with him;
which he presented to a grand Prior of the house of Lorrain, and to
Queen Catherine de Medicis: on this account it was sometimes called
the Grand Prior's Herb, and sometimes the Queen's Herb.
When, or in what manner this plant was introduced into the oriental
nations is uncertain, although it is at present in general use among
them. Considerable quantities of it are likewise cultivated in the
Levant, the coasts of Greece and the Archipelago, in the island of
Malta and in Italy.
Tobacco is termed by botanists, Nicotiana; and is arranged by them as
a genus of the Pentandria Monogynia class of plants. It is sometimes
used medicinally; but being very powerful in its operations, this
must be done with great caution. The most common uses of it are,
either as a sternutatory when taken by way of snuff, as a masticatory
by chewing it in the mouth, or as an effluvia by smoking it; and
when used with moderation is not an unhealthy amusement, whether it
replenishes the humble pouch of the rustic, or the golden box of the
courtier.
Before pipes were invented, it was usually smoked in segars, and they
are still in use among some of the southern nations. The method of
preparing these is at once simple and expeditious: a leaf of tobacco
being formed into a small twisted roll somewhat larger than the stem
of a pipe, and about eight inches long, the smoke is conveyed through
the winding folds, which prevent it from expanding, as through a
tube; so that one end of it being lighted, and the other applied
to the mouth, it is in this form used without much inconvenience:
but in process of time, pipes being invented, they were found more
commodious vehicles for the smoke, and are now in general use.
Among all the productions of foreign climes introduced into these
kingdoms, scarcely any has been held in higher estimation by persons
of every rank than tobacco. In the countries of which it is a native,
it is considered by the Indians as the most valuable offering that
can be made to the Beings they worship: they use it in all their
civil and religious ceremonies. When once its spiral wreaths ascend
from the feathered pipe of peace, the compact that has just been
made, is considered as sacred and inviolable. Likewise, when they
address their great Father, or his guardian Spirits, residing as they
believe in every extraordinary production of nature[1], they make
liberal offerings of this valuable plant to them, doubting not but
that they secure thereby the protection they request.
Smoking was at first supposed to be the only means by which its
virtues could be attained; but at length it was found out that
the juices of it extracted by chewing were of a cordial nature,
alleviating, in laborious employments, the cravings of hunger, or
the depression of fatigue; and also, that the powder of it received
into the head through the nostrils, in moderate quantities, was a
salubrious and refreshing sternutatory. For these purposes, the
Americans inhabiting the interior settlements manufacture it in the
following easy manner. 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 folded it
into rolls of about twenty pounds weight each, they lay it by for
use. In this state it will keep for several years, and be continually
improving, as it every hour 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
longer, as choice directs; if they intend to make snuff of it they
take a quantity 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 improved regions,
who like their snuff scented, may apply to it such odoriferous waters
as they can procure, or think most pleasing.
The Illinois usually form it into carots, which is done by laying a
number of leaves, when cured, on each other, after the ribs have been
taken out, and rolling them round with packthread, till they become
cemented together. These rolls commonly measure about eighteen or
twenty inches long, and nine round in the middle part. But as many
other methods are at present well known in England, that probably
answer the purpose full as well as these, it is almost unnecessary to
describe them.
These directions are here given for the benefit of those who raise
tobacco for their own use, and chuse to make their snuff without
applying to the manufacturer for it.
Among the articles of commerce tobacco holds a distinguished rank,
and affords no inconsiderable addition to the revenues of the
state. Before the present unhappy dissentions broke out between
Great-Britain and America, about ninety-six thousand hogsheads were
annually imported from Maryland and Virginia. Thirteen thousand
five hundred of which were consumed at home; the duty of which, at
the rate of 26_l._ 1_s._ per hogshead, amounted to 351,765_l._ The
remaining eighty-two thousand, five hundred hogsheads were exported
to various parts of Europe, and their value received in specie, or
the produce of those countries.
To the uses already enumerated, I shall add another to which tobacco
might be applied, that I believe has never been made known to
Europeans, and which will render it much more estimable than any
of the foregoing. It has been found by the Americans to answer the
purpose of tanning leather, as well, if not better, than bark; and
was not the latter so plentiful in their country would be generally
used by them instead of it. I have been witness to many experiments
wherein it has proved successful, especially on the thinner sorts of
hides, and can safely pronounce it to be, in countries where bark is
scarce, a valuable substitute for that article.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] Vide Travels into the interior parts of North-America, chap. 13,
page 382.