Chapter X: Tobacco Planters and Plantations (2)

The Creole planters sometimes raise two, and even three crops on the same field, two of them being the growths of suckers or shoots from the parent stock or stump. The growers of Perique tobacco have tested Havana seed, but can see but little difference between the product and that from Virginia or Kentucky tobacco seed, while the growth is much smaller. In color Louisiana tobacco is very dark, entirely different from any other variety grown in the Mississippi valley.

Some few years since tobacco culture was introduced into California, and the belief then entertained by those who planted the consoling weed, that the state would soon become as famous for raising tobacco as she now is for producing wheat and gold seem likely to be realized. The soil and climate of California are admirably adapted for tobacco. In the valleys the land is a deep alluvial loam, easily worked, producing bountiful crops of the finest leaf tobacco. The planters have experimented with several varieties, including Havana, Florida, Latakia, Hungarian, Mexican, Virginia, Connecticut, Standard and White leaf. Large crops are grown, especially of Florida tobacco, which, with careful culture, produces two thousand five hundred pounds of merchantable leaf to the acre. The planters get their Havana seed from Cuba, preferring to do so rather than to risk the seed from their own plants. At first they used home-grown seed and could not see any serious deterioration or change in the quality of the tobacco, but a singular change in the form of the leaf took place. That from home-grown seed grew longer, and the veins or ribs, which in Havana tobacco stand out at right angles from the leaf stalks took an acute angle, and thus became longer and made up a greater part of the leaf. Of Florida tobacco the home-grown seed comes true.

Tobacco is now being tested in the several counties in the State and with every promise of success. Many of the ranches seem well adapted for the plant and the planters are confident by their new process of curing, of being able to produce an article equal to the best Havana brand. The plants attain a remarkable size, and grow up like many kinds of tropical vegetation, without much care being bestowed upon them, although the plants are regularly cultivated and hoed. The planters are not troubled with that foe of most tobacco fields, "the worm." They attribute this in part to the excellence of their soil and partly to the abundance of birds and yellow jackets. The planters do not always "top" the Havana and do very little "suckering." If the ground is rich, and free from weeds they let one of the suckers from that root grow, and thus become almost as large and heavy as the original plant. They believe that the soil is strong enough to bear the plants and suckers, and that they get a better leaf and finer quality without suckering.

In summer the roads are very dusty in California, and this dust is a disadvantage to the tobacco planter. On some of the plantations double rows of shade trees are planted along the main roads, and gravel is spread on the interior roads; and to protect the fields of tobacco from the high winds which sweep through the California valley, almonds and cottonwoods are planted for wind-breaks in the fields.

Some of the planters employ Chinese to cultivate the plants, who are very careful in hoeing and weeding the tobacco, living an apparently jolly life in shanties near the fields. A witty California correspondent of the _Tobacco Leaf_ writes concerning the early cultivation of tobacco in that State:

"We are doing a great many other things in California now
besides raising grain, fruit, wine, wool, and gold. We are
doing a lively business in tobacco. Fifteen years ago I was
down East on one occasion when they were gathering the
tobacco crop--which goes to New York, and, by a process
equal to wine making, becomes Havana tobacco. It struck me
that this country was admirably adapted to its cultivation,
and I brought back some seed, which I gave to a friend
living on the bank of the Sacramento River, instructing him
to plant it as per direction given me. We sat down and
calculated the immense fortune we would make raising
tobacco, if the experiment was a success. A week later my
friend, who was an impatient sort of a fellow, wrote me just
a line--'No results.' I replied, and asked him if he
expected a crop of tobacco in seven days. A few weeks later
he wrote, 'Here she comes;' two weeks later, 'How big is the
stuff to be?' two weeks later, 'Not room for tobacco and me
too. Who shall quit?' I heard no more for a month and
thought I would go up and see it. I did so, and the
steamboat landed me at my friend's ranch. I could not see
the house, and hallooed. I heard an answer from the depths,
and then following a path, I found my friend swinging in a
hammock in the shade of a grove of tobacco trees. I desire
to maintain my reputation for truth and veracity, so
necessary to a correspondent, so I won't say how big or how
high those tobacco plants were; but my friend's hammock was
slung from them--and he was no feather-weight--the leaves
completely embowered the cottage. I congratulated him on the
results--such a grove and such a shade--and moreover I
said, 'You will be permanently rid of mosquitoes.' 'Will I!'
said he. 'Do you know that these gallinippers have learned
to chew already, and the habit is spreading so that all the
old he-fellows are coming down from Marysville to take a
hand.' I inquired if my friend had cured any or smoked any.
He pointed to a Manyanita pipe split open on the ground, and
said. 'Before it was real strong, some three weeks ago, I
tried a leaf in that pipe. Observe the result--busted it the
second whiff, and knocked me off the log I was sitting on.'
Such was the first experiment in tobacco raising in
California. But now they have learned the trick. They have
searched the State for the poorest and most barren soil,
and, having found it are cultivating a splendid article of
genuine Havana leaf tobacco, manufacturing cigars as good as
you get one time in twenty even in Havana, making several
brands of smoking tobacco, and, lastly, an article of
Louisiana perique, ('peruke' proper,) that any old smoker
would go into ecstasies over, fully equal, it is said to the
genuine old-fashioned article, and that is saying a good
deal. Now if we can supply the world with cigars and
tobacco, we have got a dead sure thing for the future, even
if gold gives out, grain fails and the pigs eat up all the
fruit. Your people who have been paying fifteen cents apiece
for genuine Havana cigars imported direct from--Connecticut,
should rejoice and join in an earnest _hooray!_"

In Mexico the tobacco plantations exhibit a diversity of scenery not met with in other portions of America. The soil is well adapted for the crop, and on many of the plantations in the Gulf States the plant grows as finely as on any of the _vegas_ of Cuba. The Mexicans are among the best cultivators of the plant in the world, and, like the Turks, prefer its culture to that of any product grown. The plant is a strong, vigorous grower, and ripens early, emitting an odor like that of Havana tobacco. The climate is so favorable that from one to three crops can be grown on the same field in one year, and yield a bountiful harvest without seemingly impoverishing the soil.[66] Transplanted in the summer or autumn, the plants grow through the winter months, and in spring are gathered and taken to the sheds. Sartorius, in his work on Mexico, says of its culture on the plantation:--

[Footnote 66: Shepard says of the cultivation of tobacco
by the Indians:--"The tobacco which is raised on the
Tehuantepec isthmus is said, by good judges, to rival
that of Cuba, and commands, in the capital, equal prices
with the far-famed Havana. It is cultivated by the
Indians, whose fields, or '_milpas_,' according to
Indian custom, are situated at some distance from their
villages, often in the depths of the forest. Upon these
little patches they bestow whatever labor is consistent
with dislike for exertion, leaving the rich soil to
accomplish the balance."]

"Various kinds of tobacco are planted, mostly that with the
short, dingy, yellow blossoms, which has a very large,
strong leaf. But there is little doubt that the sorts would
be more carefully selected, if the trade were not fettered
by the monopoly. Most of the government planters enter into
an arrangement with the small farmers and peasants who have
to grow a certain number of plants, on conditions of handing
over the harvest at a low figure--six to eight dollars per
crop. These _aviados_ receive something in advance, and
their chief profit consists in securing the sand leaf and
the greater part of the after-harvest, which they sell to
the contrabandists. It is indeed allowed to export whatever
remains; but it is attended with so many annoyances from the
authorities, that it is never attempted. The many ships
which enter the Mexican harbor of the east coast with
European manufactures, find no return freight except gold
and silver, cochineal, vanilla, a few drugs and goat skins,
all of which take up very little room in the ships (money is
usually sent off in the English government steamers);
consequently they must either proceed to Laguna to buy
log-wood, or they must take in sugar, coffee, or tobacco, in
a Cuban or Haytian port. As soon as tobacco becomes an
export article, its cultivation must increase immensely in
the Coast States, the Mexican being very partial to this
branch of agriculture, which occupies him part of the year
only."

Mayer also alludes as follows to the same subject:--

"A large portion of the tobacco sold in the republic is
contraband; for the ridiculous and greedy restrictions and
exactions with which a plant of such universal consumption
is surrounded, necessarily disposes the people to violate
laws which they feel were only made to impair their rights
of production and trade under a constitution professing to
be free."

The government planters in the State of Vera Cruz have large, fine plantations, and the plants are carefully tended and cultivated as in all countries where tobacco is a government monopoly. On each plant a certain number of leaves are taken off, including the sand leaf, which is thrown away, and everything in the way of topping and suckering performed as carefully as on the tobacco farms in Cuba. The small farmers who raise only a few thousand plants are not as careful as the large planters, and are sometimes guilty of planting more than the number agreed upon, while the mountain passes towards the table-land are carefully guarded to prevent smuggling of the crop, which is far more remunerative than selling to the government.

We will now take the reader to the primitive tobacco plantations of America about the middle of the Sixteenth Century. The plantations were not located in Cuba as many have supposed but what has been variously named Hispaniola, Hayti, and St. Domingo. It was in this island that the Spaniards first began the cultivation of tobacco and inaugurated (under the guise of Christianity) that career of monstrous cruelty, with which their insatiable appetite for the burning of heretics and for the baiting of bulls so well accords. In 1509, Diego Columbus, the eldest son of the great discoverer, assumed in St. Domingo, or as it was then called, Hispaniola, the vice-regal powers which had been intrusted to him. Diego as portrayed by the historian "was a man as noble as his father, and almost as gifted; and he had his father's fate. Like his father, he had to bear all that Spanish envy and Spanish malignity could inflict. In 1511, Diego Columbus sent Diego Velasquez to conquer Cuba." From historians Velasquez gets a better character than most of the _Conquistadores_, who in general were as ferocious as they were audacious and fortunate. No serious opposition was or could be offered. With the name of Velasquez the prosperity of Cuba is inseparably identified. As Governor of Cuba he was a vigorous colonizer and civilizer. He founded Havana, which he called the Key of the New World, and which is said to rank as the eighth place in the hierarchy of commercial cities. Havana, however had long been flourishing before the seat of Government had been transferred to it from Santiago. It was Velasquez who introduced slavery into Cuba; and it was during his vice-royalty and under his sanction that those memorable exploratory and conquering expeditions began, the most astonishing of which was that to Mexico, led by Cortez, the insubordinate lieutenant of Velasquez, whose death is said to have been hastened by the rebellious and ungrateful conduct of Cortez, and perhaps by the spectacle of such immense and rapid success. The agricultural, commercial, and general growth of the West India islands at this period would have been much more rapid if the Spaniards had not annihilated the native population, and if they had not been exposed to incessant piratical attacks. These were often of the most desolating kind. In 1688, the city of Puerto Principe was plundered and destroyed. From its strongly fortified position Havana set the buccaneers at defiance, and sometimes saved the whole island from ruin.

The exact period of the first cultivation of tobacco in St. Domingo is not known, but we find that as early as 1535 the negroes had habituated themselves to the use of it in the plantations of their master. Soon however its cultivation increased, and during the latter part of the Sixteenth Century the Spaniards shipped vast quantities to Europe, a very large amount of which found its way to England, where it brought fabulous prices. The Spaniards, by the application of the lash and other cruelties, extorted from the negroes an amount of labor never equaled by any other task masters in the world. Forcing these slaves to labor on the plantations from morning until night, with the fierce rays of a tropical sun shining full upon their uncovered backs, and goaded on to the performance of the severest toil, is it any wonder that the haughty cavaliers of Spain grew rich from their industry, and feasted on the products of the Indies. Cultivated on the rich soil of this fertile island, the tobacco of St. Domingo had no competitor, until the Spaniards began its culture a little later on the island of Trinidad, the product of which in time stood at the head of all the tobaccos of the Indies and of South America. The tobacco trade at this time was wholly controlled by the Spaniards, who, though successful in this direction, made but slow progress in colonization. Compared in the British colonies in the New World, the Spanish possessions were weak and incompetent, and for all their advantages in their great product, it was ultimately rivaled by the English Colonial tobacco. In the conquest of the New World, Spanish energy and enterprise seem to have exhausted themselves; and as Spain was declining, its colonies could not be expected rapidly to advance. The history of the Spanish conquest in America is a record of cruelty and of blood, while that of English colonization is marked by English rigor and enterprise, and is one of successful daring and ultimate triumph.

The West India plantations, however, were still worked, and for more than a century St. Domingo yielded a vast amount of tobacco, until the soil of Cuba was found to be better adapted for its production than any other of the West India islands, not excepting even the island of Trinidad.

Hazard, in his work on Cuba, describes the celebrated _vegas_ or tobacco plantations, of the island as follows:

"The best properties known as _vegas_, or tobacco farms, are
comprised in a narrow area in the south-west part of the
island, about twenty-seven leagues broad. Near the western
extremity of the Island of Cuba, on the southern coast, is
found one of the finest tobaccos in the world. Within a
space of seventy-three miles long and eighteen miles wide,
grows the plant that stands as eminent among tobacco plants
as the lordly Johannisberger among the wines of the Rhine.
Shut in on the north by mountains, and south-west by the
ocean, Pinar del Rio being the principal point in the
district. These _vegas_ are found generally on the margins
of rivers, or in low, moist localities, their ordinary size
being not more than a _coballeria_, which amounts to about
thirty-three acres of our measurement. The half of this is
also most frequently devoted to the raising of the vegetable
known as the _platano_ (banana), which may be said to be the
bread of the lower classes. A few other small vegetables are
raised. The usual buildings upon such places are a dwelling
house, a drying-house, a few sheds for cattle, and perhaps a
small _bohio_ (hut), or two, made in the rudest manner, for
the shelter of the hands, who, upon some of the very largest
places number twenty or thirty, though not always
negroes--for this portion of the labor of the island seems
to be performed by the lower classes of whites. Some of the
places that are large have a mayoral, as he is called, a man
whose business it is to look after the negroes, and direct
the agricultural labors; but, as a general thing, the
planter, who is not always the owner of the property, but
simply the lessee, lives upon, directs, and governs the
place.

"Guided by the results of a long experience transmitted from
his ancestors (says a Spanish author), the farmer knows,
without being able to explain himself, the means of
augmenting or diminishing the strength or the mildness of
the tobacco. His right hand, as if guided by an instinct,
foresees what buds it is necessary to take off in order to
put a limit to the increase or height, and what amount of
trimming is necessary to give a chance to the proper
quantity of leaves. But the principal care, and that which
occupies him in his waking hours, is the extermination of
the voracious insects that persecute the plant. One called
_cachaga_ domesticates itself at the foot of the leaves; the
_verde_, on the under side of the leaves; the _rosquilla_,
in the heart of the plant; all of them doing more or less
damage. The planter passes entire nights, provided with
lights, clearing the buds just opening, of these destructive
insects. He has even to carry on a war with still worse
enemies,--the _vivijagnas_, a species of large, native ants,
that are to the tobacco what the locust is to the wheat.
This plague is so great, at times, that prayers and special
adoration are offered up to San Marcial to intercede against
the plague of ants.

"The plant, whose original name was _cohiba_, seems to have
been cultivated first by Europeans on the island in the
vicinity of Havana. The island of Cuba is without doubt
well adapted for the cultivation of tobacco--the soil,
climate, and improved methods of culture all tend to the
production of a leaf tobacco as celebrated as it is
valuable.

"Between the 'Lower Valley,' in the Nicotian, not the
geographical, sense of these words, lie the so-called
_Partidos_ which produce the tobacco that is sent to Europe
as _Partido_ or _Cabañas_. The leaf often surpasses that of
the 'Lower Valley' in size and fineness, as well as in the
beauty of the color; but it is inferior in quality. The
tobacco farmers though stalwart fellows are not fond of
work, and too often waste their time at the tavern. Many of
them from thriftlessness are plunged into debt; and scarcely
is the harvest ended when they borrow money from the tobacco
merchant on the following harvest, who thereby obtains the
right to interfere, it may be despotically, with the
management of the crop. Continual embarrassments tempt the
tobacco planters to be dishonest. To cheat their creditors,
they often sell the best part of the crop in underhand
fashion. Such of the tobacco farmers as wish to produce a
great deal of tobacco, without regard to the excellence of
the article, leave the plant to its natural growth, which is
both scientifically and otherwise objectionable, for it is
on a process of thinning and pruning a due diffusion of sap
in the leaves depends, and consequently the quality of the
tobacco."

The tobacco, after being baled, is sent to the Havana market. The bales of tobacco are carried on the backs of mules or horses to the city or to the nearest railway station.

"In the long line or train of mules or horses, the head of
one mule or horse is tied to the tail of the one before it.
On the back of the foremost sits the driver. The hindmost
carries a bell, which enables the driver to know whether any
of the animals have broken loose."

From the description given by Hazard of Cuba, its soil, climate, and other resources, it will readily be seen by all acquainted with the tobacco plant that this famous island is well adapted for the production of a tobacco that for fineness and delicacy of flavor is hardly rivaled. With the peculiar composition of the soil, and with a climate well adapted for the perfection of all kinds of tropical plants and fruits, it can hardly be imagined that any finer variety of tobacco can be grown than that produced in Cuba and the adjoining islands. Doubtless the climate of Cuba is nearly the same as when Columbus discovered the island, and wrote in such extravagant language its praise. The soil of Cuba is prolific, and the variety of tropical plants and fruits grown upon the island is quite remarkable. Nowhere is this seen to a greater extent than in the varieties of tobacco cultivated. Although there are several kinds and qualities grown on the island, the mode of culture upon all the _vegas_ is nearly the same. These _vegas_ or tobacco farms greatly outnumber the coffee and sugar estates, but are much smaller, and require a less number of hands to work them. Hazard estimates the number at ten thousand, while they are constantly increasing as new fields are being tried and new modes of culture introduced. Russell says of tobacco culture in Cuba:--

"In regard to climate, it is worthy of observation that
tobacco is only cultivated during winter, when there is
little rain. It grows most luxuriantly in summer with the
increased heat and moisture; but the leaves grown in this
season are devoid of those qualities for which the weed is
esteemed. The conditions of growth are less powerful in
winter, when the temperature is ten degrees lower, and the
fall of rain small. At the same time, there is more sunshine
to impart those aromatic qualities which are so much
relished by smokers of tobacco. In Virginia the torrid heat
and thunder showers during the summer months are by no means
favorable for developing the mild aroma of a good smoking
leaf. Such atmospheric conditions are better suited for
cotton and Indian corn than tobacco, which must have dry
weather and sunshine to produce it in perfection."

No country in Europe is more celebrated for its tobacco than Germany. The tobacco plant has been cultivated in some parts of Prussia for nearly two centuries. The tobacco of Germany is used for all purposes for which the leaf is designed--for cutting, cigars, and snuff. There are various kinds of German tobacco, the finest being grown in the Grand Duchy of Baden. The native tobacco of Germany, however, is not powerful in flavor, and may be smoked continuously to an extent which would be dangerous and disagreeable if American tobacco were used. Although it is cultivated in most of the States of Germany, and by a large number of growers, still the tobacco fields as a rule are small. The Germans are among the most thorough cultivators of the plant in Europe, and every operation in the field is done at the proper time and in the right manner. After it is cured they prepare it nicely in rolls and carots, the latter for manufacturing into snuff. The tobacco fields are faithfully tended, and the utmost pains taken to secure large, well-formed leaves. The fields present a much more even appearance than similar fields in France, where the tobacco grown is small and uneven. The South German growers of tobacco are without doubt the most successful tobacco-growers in Europe, not excepting the Hollanders, who raise an excellent tobacco for snuff. The time of gathering the leaves is the occasion of quite a merry-making among the growers and villagers, and is considered an event of considerable importance. Fairholt says:--

"The time of harvesting the leaves is an interesting period
for a stranger to visit the villages, which put on a new
aspect as every house and barn is hung all over with the
drying leaves."

German tobacco cures well, and some of the finer sorts make excellent cigar wrappers and are much esteemed throughout Europe. The following account of the cultivation and production of tobacco in the different German States, will give some idea of the amount cultivated and used in Germany:--

"The aggregate area of land cultivated with tobacco in
Prussia during the year 1871, amounted to 5.925 hectares (a
hectare being equal to 2.47 English acres). It appears that
the extent of tobacco-growing land has, during the last
fifty years, been gradually diminishing in Prussia, and that
accordingly the expectations entertained in the beginning of
that period of a great future development of this branch of
agriculture, have not been realized; for whilst the area of
land planted with tobacco in the year 1825 was 12.374
hectares, it amounted in 1871 to less than one-half this
amount. The reasons for this gradual decline are considered
to be, on the one hand, the growing competition of the South
German growers, and the increase in the importations of
American tobacco; on the other, the fact that the
cultivation of beet-root (for sugar manufacturing) and of
potatoes (for the distilleries) has proved to be a more
profitable business than the cultivation of tobacco. It has,
moreover, been found by many years' experience, that whilst
the quality of the tobacco cultivated in most parts of
Prussia is not such as to enable the growers to compete
successfully with the importers of foreign (particularly of
North American) sorts, the labor attending its cultivation
and its preparation for the market, as well as the
uncertainty of only an average crop, are out of proportion,
as a rule, to the average profits arising therefrom. The
cultivation of the plant has, consequently, gradually become
restricted, chiefly to those districts of the country where
either the soil is peculiarly adapted for the purpose, or
where it is carried on for the private use of the producer."

With regard to the various provinces of Prussia, it appears
that "In East Prussia the extent of tobacco land is only a
limited one, and is confined to the district around Tilsit,
where about two-thirds of the entire cultivation is in the
hands of peasants, who consume their own produce. In West
Prussia (the western portion of the province of Prussia
proper) the cultivation is rather more extensive,
particularly near the town of Marienwerder; the tobacco,
however, is very inferior. The most important districts of
the province of Posen are those of Chodziesz and Meseritz.
In Pomerania, next to Brandenburg the most important
tobacco-growing province of the kingdom, the area of land
cultivated is very large. The principal districts are those
near Stettin. In Silesia the most important districts are
those around Breslau, Ratibor, and Oels. The principal
tobacco-growing province of Prussia is Brandenburg, and here
again, particularly the part of the government district of
Potsdam, which contains the towns of Neustadt, Eberswalde
and Prenzlau. Besides the districts mentioned, tobacco is
grown largely in that of Frankfort-on-the Oder. In the
province of Saxony the chief districts are those of Stendal,
Salzwedel, Nordhausen, Burg, and Wittenburg. Hanover, like
the other western provinces of the kingdom, produces a
superior quality of tobacco to that raised in the eastern
parts of Prussia--the most important district is that of
Munden. The chief tobacco-growing districts of Hesse-Nossau
are situated near the towns of Cassel and Hanau. In Rhenish
Prussia the plant is cultivated, particularly in the
neighborhood of Cleve, Emmerich, Coblenz, Creuznach, and
Saarbruck; the districts first mentioned produce a very
superior quality. The production of tobacco in Westphalia is
extremely small, while in the province of Schleswig-Holstein
the plant is not cultivated at all. In the account given it
will be seen that the tobacco plant holds an important place
among the products of Prussia, and although not as
extensively cultivated as formerly, has not been entirely
driven from the soil by other products which yield a larger
profit to the producer. The plant is cultivated in other
parts of Germany, especially in Bavaria, where large
quantities of tobacco are grown, particularly so in the
Bavarian Palatinate and in Franconia (viz., the districts
around Nuremberg and Erlangen). In the Kingdom of Saxony but
little tobacco is raised, as is also the case in Wurtemberg,
although the soil and climate in parts of this state are
said to be very favorable to the growth of the tobacco
plant; the area of land cultivated is upon the whole, a very
limited one, and in 1871 did not exceed 178.2 hectares. The
Grand Duchy of Baden has at all times been the chief
tobacco-growing part of Germany; as far back as the end of
the Seventeenth Century, special laws for regulation of the
cultivation, preparation, and warehousing of this article
were in force. The most prominent tobacco-growing districts
of Baden are those of Carlsruhe, Mannheim, Heidelburg,
Badenburg, Schwetzingen, and Lahr; the quality of the plant
grown in those parts being a very superior one (among the
various kinds of German tobacco). The produce of the
districts mentioned is therefore applied chiefly in the
manufacture of cigar wrappers, and is exported in
considerable quantities to Bremen, Hamburg, Switzerland,
Holland, and even to America for the use of cigar
manufacture. The prices of the best kinds of Baden tobacco
are consequently also, on an average, much higher than those
realized by other German growers. In the Grand Duchy of
Hesse the plant is cultivated, the chief district being that
around the town of Darmstadt; in the Thuringian States,
tobacco is grown; the most prominent among them as regards
its production is the Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen. In
Mecklenburg also some tobacco is raised, the most important
district being that of Neu Brandenburg (in
Mecklenburg-Strelitz). In Brunswick only a small extent of
land is used for tobacco growing, the same being situated
near the town of Helmstadt. In Alsace and Lorraine, the
recently acquired provinces of Germany, the cultivation of
tobacco has been extensively carried on for many years, more
especially in the country around Strasburg, Mulhausen,
Schirmeck, and Munster, and to a small extent near Metz and
Thionville."

It is apparent from this account that the German tobacco fields produce a vast quantity of tobacco, some of which is of excellent texture and flavor, and well adapted to the taste of European smokers of the plant.

Ever since the introduction of tobacco into Holland, its cultivation and its use has been looked upon with favor by the "true-born Nederlander," who associates the plant with every social enjoyment. The Dutch, on the discovery of tobacco, were among the first to use it and encourage its cultivation. In the history of the Dutch colonies in the Indies it plays an important part. Tobacco began to be cultivated in Holland about Amersfoot in 1615, and from that time until now, its culture has increased until it has become one of the greatest of agricultural products of the country. The plant is grown in the Veluive (the valley of Guelderland), where the soil is particularly adapted for the rich snuff-leaf which is manufactured from Amersfoot tobacco. The Dutch, like the Germans, are excellent cultivators of tobacco, selecting the richest and the strongest land, and working the fields of as fine a tilth as possible. The plants do not grow as rapidly as in America, as they are transplanted into the fields in May, and are not harvested until the latter part of September or beginning of October. The plants attain good size--larger than most of the tobacco of Europe, and a tobacco field in Holland compares favorably with any in this country. The color of the plants while growing, is a dark rich green, and they are of a uniform size, maturing slowly but thoroughly. Connor says of Amersfoot tobacco: "This tobacco is much esteemed, the fineness of the leaf and its freedom from fibres fitting it for cigar-wrappers."

The Dutch planters of tobacco are among the happiest cultivators of the plant in Europe, if not in the world, and unlike the renowned Van Twiller never "have any doubts about the matter," and believe that tobacco is absolutely necessary to sustain life. After the evening meal the planter lights his pipe or calls upon the good dominie, to have a social chat, discoursing over their favorite beverage the virtues of two great luxuries. Oftener, however, he passes his evenings at the village inn, where, surrounded by other comrades, he discourses as follows of his favorite plant,--tabak:

"That the smoking of tobacco is of infinite benefit, no one
who is impartial and unprejudiced can deny. In a country
like Holland, where the atmosphere is always laden with
heavy and hurtful particles, and where, while people
breathe that atmosphere from above, they feel themselves not
less affected from below by the cold, moist, swampy
soil--the smoking and the chewing of tobacco are the
wholesome prophylactics of which we can make use. To the
Indians and the Negroes, tobacco is almost the only solace
in this transient life. They learn, by means of it, to
support nature, and to encounter valiantly, by its help, all
the tribulations incidental to the human lot. If they are
depressed, they smoke or chew tobacco, and gladden
themselves therewith. If they are exhausted, and the sun and
their hard and inhuman masters appear to conspire to destroy
them, a little tobacco restores their strength, makes them
forget their slavish life, and go vigorously to work again.

In the Thirty Years' War in Germany, the smoking and chewing
of tobacco proved the salvation of many thousands of men,
who by its aid guarded themselves against the deadly effects
of deficient food and of bad meats and drinks. Nothing is so
good, nothing so serviceable to human life, as the smoking
of tobacco--which may well be called a kingly plant, seeing
that the monarchs of the earth are not ashamed to use it.
While tobacco cultivates sociality, and is of great avail in
severe hunger and thirst, it strengthens the body and checks
fluxions, and colds, and slimy humors. Nature has willed it
that men should make use of plants like tobacco, which, by
their heat and sharpness, draw the humors outward, and cause
a slight salivation. Witness, as confirmation of what has
been said, cloves and pepper, which hold sway nearly over
the earth; betel, which to the Hindoos is the remedy for
every disease; the onions and leeks of the Egyptians, who
while building the pyramids and obelisks, spent their money
eagerly on those dainties; and tobacco, which is adopted by
the four quarters of the world.

The justly celebrated British physician, Cheyne, has
remarked that both chewing and smoking of tobacco are
exceedingly serviceable for those who suffer from rheumatic
and catarrhal affections, have a sluggish digestion, or live
a luxurious life. As tobacco has numerous slanderers, so
there are many who know not how to turn tobacco to a good
purpose. Excess and abuse may be found in the smoking and
chewing of tobacco as in other things. Instead of using
tobacco in moderation, there are persons who make themselves
its slaves, and render themselves incapable of the immense
benefit of the enlivening and stimulating effect they would
otherwise owe to it. A little tobacco smoked or chewed
three or four times a day cannot fail to be beneficial. But
the adversaries of tobacco, in order to furnish themselves
with an argument, make tobacco bear all the blame when some
one who has given himself up to an intemperate and luxurious
life, and who is besides a great smoker, becomes the victim
of all kinds of discomforts and sickness. To condemn tobacco
by saying those who begin to chew or smoke it nearly always
suffer from malaise and nausea, is surely preposterous. May
we not in fairness contend that tobacco is essentially
wholesome, that it helps digestion, relieves the mind and
cheers the spirits."

The following humorous account of "Thirsty Tobacco" is a most curious illustration of the superstitions which spontaneously grow up in the hearts of the people.

"Soon after the introduction of tobacco into Holland many of
the Dutch were of the opinion that the tobacco plant drank
in moisture greedily and required to be often and abundantly
watered. From this insatiable thirst the belief arose that
tobacco was the cause of rain, brought clouds to the
heavens, and restored the general crops. Once, in the
neighborhood of Amersfoot, the weather was very rainy, and
the crops suffered accordingly. On the tobacco growing round
the town the blame of the calamity was thrown; and it was
resolved to punish tobacco, the sottish rain-drinker and
wicked rain-bringer. A rabble, consisting chiefly of boys
and youths, rushed to the tobacco fields, and scattered
havoc with the ferocity of stupidity. The mad creatures
pulled up the stalks, tore off the leaves, and trampled
leaves and stalks under foot. Before they had done the work
of destruction quite as completely as they desired, soldiers
appeared on the scene. They sternly commanded the rioters to
desist, but the rioters paid no heed either to entreaties or
threats. Thereupon they drew their swords, as if by the mere
flash of these to terrify the rioters, who laughed a laugh
of contempt. Then effectually to frighten the rioters, the
soldiers fired at them with blank cartridges. This harmless
noise drove the mischief-makers to ignominious flight, and
the tobacco plants which were still uninjured were left in
peace."

At what exact time this destruction of "thirsty tobacco" took place we are left in doubt. It is doubtless a "good joke" got up by some "ponderous joker" for the amusement of Dutch smokers.

All admirers of tobacco like Holland and its people. It is emphatically the land of smoke. One is constantly in cloud-land, and whether in the house or on the street the incense of tobacco is perpetual, from the good natured dominie who puffs leisurely at many pipes to the humblest peasant who works modestly among the plants, all burn the fragrant weed and pay homage to its shrine. Ever since the Dutch looked upon the plant it has been more to them than king and courtier. The old Dutch burgomasters "who dozed away their lives and grew fat upon the bench of magistracy in Rotterdam; and who had comported themselves with such singular wisdom and propriety, that they were never either heard or talked of, owed all to the use and influence of the 'kingly plant.'" Not only are the Dutch prodigious smokers, but they use the pipe at all places and at all times. On the way to Church the pipe is lighted, and after service it is the solace of the evening hour.

In all public places the pipe plays an important part. The traveler is constantly reminded of the use of tobacco; for even the bridges have public notices affixed to them requesting all visitors to prevent the fall of tobacco-ashes on the gravel or grass; and not to knock out their pipes within bounds of the place. The old Dutch planters were fond of a "silent pipe," and after the labors of the day gathered together to drink and smoke to the success of Admiral Von Tromp, whose exploits in the British Channel carried terror to many a heart. Or, speculated upon the voyage of the "_Goede Vrouw_" (Good Woman), which had been fitted out to colonize the new country.

The progress of tobacco-culture in Oceanica, is shown in the following account which Connor gives of the tobacco plantations of Australia:

"The development of tobacco culture in Australia has been
great and rapid. In these colonies, where only a few years
ago the plant was not known, there are now hundreds of acres
under tobacco. The local manufacture is also keeping pace
with the production of the leaf, and the import of tobacco
into the Australian colonies yearly diminishes in proportion
to the increased consumption of locally grown and
manufactured tobacco. Imported leaf is used in the
manufacture of cigars, those made from colonial leaf being
held in low esteem. Steady efforts are being made by the
cultivators to improve the quality of the produce, and with
every prospect of success, many places in the colonies being
well adapted for the growth of the plant. Colonel De Coin
says Australia is capable of producing very good qualities.
Tobacco has hitherto been grown upon alluvial lands, but a
preference is evinced for lands somewhat less rich but free
from floods. Alluvial land gives a larger crop per acre, but
the flavor is ranker. In 1872 there were 567 acres under
tobacco in New South Wales. The average produce of the
colonies is about 1,300 pounds to the acre. The amount of
produce varied from 976 pounds to the acre in New South
Wales to 2,016 in Tasmania, the climate of this island being
moister and more favorable for tobacco than that of the
other colonies. Manilla and Havana tobacco has been grown
with great success for seed for many years at the Adelaide
Botanic Gardens, and the seed raised has been largely
distributed."

The Australian growers may demonstrate the fact that as good or better Manilla tobacco can be grown by them than in the Philippine islands. If the leaf will burn freely, and leave a white, firm ash, the product will no doubt prove a rival of the leaf grown in Luzon. From the composition of the soil, it is hardly probable that Havana tobacco can be grown to perfection; it may, however, resemble in some measure the Cuban leaf. The climate has much to do with the flavor of tobacco; more than with the size of the plants or the color of the leaf. Cuba in this respect has a decided advantage over Australia; and Havana tobacco will hardly find a rival in Australian leaf, though grown on the finest soil, and given the most thorough care.

So extensive is the cultivation of the tobacco plant, that even the Arab cultivates it in the burning desert. In Algiers it is an important product; and through the efforts and encouragement of the French government its cultivation is assuming large dimensions. Some portions of Algiers seem to be well adapted for tobacco, the finest of which is equal to any obtained from America; but a large portion of the product from that province is of poor quality. It is a favorite plant with the Arab, and his attention seems to be about equally divided between his tobacco and his camels. The plant is light in color and of peculiar flavor, well suited to his taste, and in keeping with his idea of quality and excellence. The crop is usually bountiful, notwithstanding the heat of the summer and the absence of moisture in the soil.

The tobacco plant is also cultivated in other parts of Africa besides Algiers. In Egypt and Nubia it is grown to a considerable extent, as well as by most of the native tribes of the South-west. Among some tribes it forms an important article of trade, and serves the purpose of money or its representative. The natives are partial to the plant, and devotedly attached to smoking. Little patches may be seen near their huts, on which they lavish their attention and care. In some parts of Africa tobacco grows to a very great height. Livingstone gives an account of a variety that attained an altitude much higher than the American plant. Several varieties are cultivated, some of them resembling the Shiraz and Latakia, while most of it is said to be similar to Virginia tobacco, only larger. With careful culture the plant would doubtless thrive in most parts of Africa, as the soil is light and the season usually favorable. Though the heat is extreme the plant flourishes even in the hottest part of the season, and attains a degree of perfection corresponding to the labor bestowed by the natives in cultivating. Their manner of curing is simply by drying the leaves, and is not suited to the taste of any besides themselves. In Egypt, Algiers, and Nubia, the plant is cultivated with more care, and a better system of curing is adopted than by the natives of the interior. Burton gives an account of the cultivation of tobacco by the natives of East Africa:--

"Tobacco grows plentifully in the more fertile regions of
East Africa. Planted at the end of the rains, it gains
strength by sun and dew, and is harvested in October. It is
prepared for sale in different forms. Everywhere, however, a
simple sun-drying supplies the place of cocking and
sweating, and the people are not so fastidious as to reject
the lower or coarser leaves and those tainted by the earth.
Usumbara produces what is considered at Zanzibar a superior
article; it is kneaded into little circular cakes four
inches in diameter by half an inch deep: rolls of these
cakes are neatly packed in plantain-leaves for exportation.
The next in order of excellence is that grown in Uhiao: it
is exported in leaf or in the form called _kambari_,
roll-tobacco, a circle of coils each about an inch in
diameter. The people of Khutu and Usagara mould the pounded
and wetted material into discs like cheeses, 8 or 9 inches
across by 2 or 3 in depth, and weighing about 3 lbs.; they
supply the Wagogo with tobacco, taking in exchange for it
salt. The leaf in Unyamwezi generally is soft and
perishable, that of Usukuma being the worst; it is sold in
blunt cones, so shaped by the mortars in which they are
pounded. At Karaguah, according to the Arabs, the tobacco, a
superior variety, tastes like musk in the water-pipe. The
produce of Ujiji is better than that of Unyamwezi; it is
sold in leaf, and is called by the Arabs _hamumi_, after a
well-known growth in Hazramaut. It is impossible to give an
average price to tobacco in East Africa; it varies from 1
khete of coral beads per 6 oz. to 2 lbs."

Some of the most beautiful and fragrant tobacco fields in the world are to be found in Syria. Indeed it may truthfully be said that a field of Latakia tobacco is hardly inferior in beauty to the large and fragrant orchards of the olive and mulberry, or the wheat fields on the terraced sides of Mount Lebanon.

The tobacco plant is cultivated in various parts of Syria and particularly by the Druses on "The Lebanon," as it is usually called.

The cultivation of tobacco in Syria, has been a considerable industry, and the product has acquired a reputation in European markets that has demonstrated its real value, and a constant demand for this variety of the plant. Latakia tobacco resembles in flavor the yellow tobacco of Eastern Thibet and Western China, both of them grown from the same seed. Latakia tobacco is not sweated like most tobacco, but is first cured in the sun and then hung up in the peasants' huts to cure until ready for market. The plants ripen very fast and emit an aromatic odor, increasing in strength as the plants ripen. For smoking it has but few superiors. After curing, it is baled and sent to Europe, where it is manufactured into smoking tobacco. The plants are well cultivated and watched against the ravages of birds, which seem to like the young and tender plants especially before they are transplanted. From the nature of the soil the plants are watered frequently, and when the leaves are about the size of a large cabbage leaf are ready to harvest. As the plants ripen the leaves gradually thicken and take on a lighter shade; the leaf when green is very thick, but after curing is quite thin and of a bright yellow or brown, according to the process employed in curing. The peasants take equal pains in its fumigation, using various kinds of wood according to the color of leaf they wish to obtain. They usually make two kinds of leaf, the finest being colored brown and known by the name of _abowri_. The tobacco is fumigated with two kinds of wood, _gozen_ (pine wood) and _sindian_ (oak), the tobacco fumigated with gozen having the best smell. The fumigation, however, is said not to be resorted to expressly for the tobacco, but the mountaineers of necessity burn much wood in their huts in the winter, and the smoke improves the tobacco in color, smell, and flavor. All the tobacco grown about Latakia derives its origin from the same seed, but the difference between the _abowri_ and the other kinds is owing to the cultivation of the former about high mountains and with the use of pine wood in fumigating it. A field of Latakia tobacco presents a novel appearance, the short straight plants with their ovate leaves bearing yellow blossoms form a striking contrast to towering seed leaf rising fully two or three feet higher than the Syrian plant.

Fairholt says that "Latakia tobacco is a native of America but grows wild in other countries, and is a hardy annual in English gardens, flowering from midsummer to Michaelmas, so that by some botanists it has been termed 'common, or 'English tobacco.'" Burton's work on unexplored Syria is full of passages relating to tobacco and the custom of smoking.

"The tobacco which is grown on the slopes of the Libanus and
the Anti-Libanus mountains appears to be one of the finest
quality and most delicate flavor. The monks of the convents
are famous for the production of a snuff, which for
pungency, at least, is far superior to the snuffs of Europe.
Personal experience of it convinces us that a great deal of
the pungency of this snuff is due to the addition of some
aromatic herb in addition to the natural acridity produced
by the highly dried tobacco. The cultivation of tobacco in
Syria, will probably increase in proportion to the improved
condition of affairs in Syria, we have little doubt; and we
trust that when agricultural science is better studied
there, Englishmen will have the opportunity of testing the
value and importance of Syrian tobacco products."

Connor says of the tobacco fields of India:--

"In the Bombay Presidency tobacco is largely produced, and
its quality in such districts as Kaira and Khandesh is
superior. In 1871 there were nearly 43,000 acres of land
under tobacco in the presidency, the largest quantities
being grown in Kaira, Khandesh, Belgaum Sattara, Shalopoor,
and Poona. The trade is extensive. The exports of tobacco to
foreign countries amount to several million pounds annually.
Among foreign countries, Mauritius, Bourbon, and
neighboring places, not reckoned as part of British India,
take a large share of the exports. Bombay exports tobacco to
other Indian presidencies. Small quantities of the fine
Guzerat tobaccos find their way by rail into the
North-western Provinces. Numerous endeavors have for many
years past been made to improve the quality of Bombay
tobacco. In 1831 the Resident in the Persian Gulf sent to
the local Government a maund of seed of the 'very finest
tobacco grown in Persia,' and with it he sent some
observations on the mode of cultivating tobacco in the
neighborhood of Shiraz. In 1867 fifteen small packets of
genuine Shiraz tobacco were forwarded for trial in the
Bombay Presidency. Of the seed sown in Kolhopoor, about
eight or nine germinated, and the plants grew to a height of
five feet two inches; of these only four survived. There
were two varieties, one with oblong the other with circular
leaves.