The Project Gutenberg eBook of Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce
Title: Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce
Author: E. R. Billings
Release date: January 31, 2008 [eBook #24471]
Most recently updated: January 3, 2021
Language: English
Credits: Produced by Ted Garvin, Christine P. Travers and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected, all other inconsistencies are as in the original. The author's spelling has been maintained.
Page 62-63: The part between = obviously did not belong in that place and has been removed, "From this time forward the Plantation seemed to prosper, Charles granted lands to all the planters and adventurers who would till them, upon paying the annual sum of two shillings payable to the crown for each hundred acres. =direction, appointing the governor and council himself, and= Before the death of King James, however, the cultivation of tobacco had become so extensive that every other product seemed of but little value in comparison with it, and the price realized from its sale being so much greater than that obtained for "Corne," the latter was neglected and its culture almost entirely abandoned."
Page 115: The verse "And can but end with time;" was missing and has been added.
TOBACCO:
ITS
HISTORY, VARIETIES, CULTURE,
MANUFACTURE AND COMMERCE,
WITH
AN ACCOUNT OF ITS VARIOUS MODES OF USE, FROM ITS FIRST DISCOVERY UNTIL NOW.
BY
E. R. BILLINGS.
With Illustrations by Popular Artists.
"My Lord, this sacred herbe which never offendit,
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,
Makes earth-born weeds imperial man enslave,—
Not little souls, but e'en the wise and brave!"
Arbuckle.
HARTFORD, CONN.:
AMERICAN 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 Washbourne, 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, soften'd by thy breath,
Unbind the captive, hate had doomed to death.
Rev. Walter Colton.
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 King.
Hail! 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. Mr. Prior.
TO
CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER,
Whose rare, good gifts have endeared him to all lovers of the English tongue, this volume, historically and practically treating of one of the greatest of plants, as well as the rarest of luxuries, is respectfully dedicated by
The Author.
PREFACE.
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 themselves 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 only 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 nearly 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 unpublished 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, dominated not one particular nation, but the whole world, both Christian and Pagan. Ushered into the Old World from the New by 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 Church 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
- Frontispiece. —
- Tobacco Stalks. 22
- Tobacco Leaves. 24
- Bud and Flowers. 25
- Capsules. (Fruit Bud.) 27
- Suckers. 28
- Primitive Pipe. 33
- Native Smoking. 35
- Old Engraving. 40
- The Contrast. 44
- John Rolfe. 48
- Virginia Tobacco Field, 1620. 51
- Buying Wives. 57
- Growing Tobacco in the Streets. 64
- Natives Growing Tobacco. 66
- Destroying Suckers. 69
- Carrying Tobacco to Market. 73
- Enriching Plant-Bed. 75
- Shipping Tobacco. 78
- Old Engraving of Tobacco. 86
- Sir Walter Raleigh. 89
- English Gallants. 90
- Smoking in the 17th Century. 94
- Exhaling through the Nose. 97
- Old London Ale-house. 101
- Punishment for Snuff Taking. 104
- Silver Spittoons. 106
- The Negro Image. 108
- Tobacco and Theology. 112
- Weighing Smoke. 117
- Indian Pipe. 126
- Sculptured Pipe. 128
- Pipe of Peace. 130
- A Model Cigar. 132
- South Americans smoking. 135
- A War Pipe. 139
- Peace Pipe. 140
- A Tchuktchi Pipe. 143
- Turk Smoking. 145
- Old English Pipes. 148
- French Pipes. 149
- Pipe Colorer. 152
- German Porcelain Pipes. 153
- A Persian Water Pipe. 156
- Searching for Amber. 160
- Fancy Pipes. 162
- Clay and Reed Pipes. 164
- Fairy Pipes. 166
- Female Smoking in Algiers. 168
- African Pipe. 170
- Egyptian Pipes. 172
- Japanese Pipes. 173
- Engraved Boxes. 177
- Tobacco Jars. 179
- Tobacco Stoppers. 181
- Lord and Lackey. 185
- The Strange Youth. 190
- Smokers Reading Epigrams. 193
- The Explosion. 195
- Theory against Experience. 199
- A Faithful Attendant. 203
- Newton and his Pipe. 207
- Tennyson, Smoking. 209
- Modern Smokers. 212
- The Artist. 215
- The Yankee Smoker. 216
- A Tobacco Grater. 220
- Demi-journées. 222
- James Gillespie. 224
- Fops Taking Snuff. (From an old print.) 226
- Horn Snuff-boxes. 227
- Scotch Snuff-mills. 232
- Sweeping from the Pulpit. 235
- Snuff-mill a Century ago. 240
- Perfuming Snuff. 242
- Fuegian Snuff-Takers. 244
- Snuff-Dipping. 247
- Snuffers. 248
- Fancy Snuff-boxes. 251
- Curing a Headache. 255
- Highlanders. 257
- Cigars. 260
- Cigar-holders. 262
- Life in Mexico. 266
- Cuban Cigar Shop. 268
- Tobacco Leaf. 271
- Wenches Smoking. 274
- A Moonlight Reverie in Havana. 275
- By the Sea. 277
- An American Smoker. 279
- "Light, Sir?" 282
- Bringing a Light. 285
- Making Cigars. 288
- Havanas. 301
- Yara Cigars. 303
- Manilla Cigar and Cheroot. 304
- Swiss Cigars. 306
- Paraguay Cigars. 306
- Connecticut Tobacco Field. 312
- Home of the Connecticut Planter. 315
- Negro Quarters. 317
- The Planter's Home. 318
- "Burning the Patch." 322
- Stringing the Primings. 323
- Worming. 325
- Ohio Tobacco Field. 329
- Tobacco Warehouse. 331
- Kentucky Tobacco Plantation. 332
- The Kentucky Planter. 334
- Florida Tobacco Plantation. 336
- Louisiana Tobacco Plantation. 338
- Mexican Tobacco Plantation. 342
- St. Domingo Tobacco Field, 1535. 345
- A Cuban vega. 346
- Killing Bugs by Night. 348
- Going to Market. 349
- German Tobacco Field. 351
- Dutch Planters. 355
- Success to Von Tromp. 358
- Tobacco Field in Algiers. 360
- Tobacco Field in Africa. 361
- Tobacco Field in Syria. 363
- Tobacco Field in India. 365
- Turkish Tobacco going to Market. 370
- Japan Tobacco Field. 371
- Transplanting. 372
- Chinese Tobacco Field. 373
- Tobacco Field in Persia. 374
- Growing Tobacco on the Philippine Islands. 377
- Tobacco Plow. 378
- Spanish Planters. 380
- Mexican Dwarf Tobacco. 384
- Connecticut Seed Leaf. 385
- Havana Tobacco. 387
- Virginia Tobacco. 388
- Ohio White Tobacco. 389
- Latakia Tobacco (Syria). 393
- Orinoco Tobacco (Venezuela). 397
- Shiraz Tobacco (Persia). 398
- Spanish Tobacco. 400
- Japan Tobacco. 402
- Old Connecticut Tobacco Shed. 406
- Modern Connecticut Tobacco Shed. 407
- Stripping Room. 408
- Modern Virginia Shed. 409
- Virginia Shed, 150 years ago. 410
- Ohio Tobacco Shed. 412
- Persian Tobacco Shed. 414
- Making the Plant Bed in Connecticut. 418
- Covering Plant Bed. 424
- A Tobacco Ridger. 430
- Drawing the Dirt Around the Foot. 432
- Transplanting. 433
- Transplanting. 434
- American Transplanter. 437
- The Worms. 438
- Worming Tobacco. 439
- Topping. 442
- Suckering. 445
- Cutting the Plants. 446
- Putting on Lath. 447
- Carrying to the Shed. 448
- Stripping. 456
- Hands. 457
- Stemming. 460
- Packing. 461
- Prizing in Olden Times. 464
- Tobacco Press. 467
- Firing. 470
- 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 — Nicotine Qualities — Medicinal Properties — Improvement in Plants. 17
CHAPTER II.
TOBACCO. ITS DISCOVERY.
Early Use — Origin of its Name — Early Snuff-Taking — Tobacco in Mexico — Comparative Qualities of Tobacco — Origin of the Plant — Early Mammoth Cigars — Sacredness of the Pipe — Early Cultivation — Proportions of the Tobacco Trade — Variety of Kinds — Tobacco and Commerce — Original Culture. 32
CHAPTER III.
TOBACCO IN AMERICA.
First General Planter — State of the Colony — Conditions of 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 Tobacco — Foreign Tobacco Prohibited — King Charles on Tobacco — King Charles as a Tobacco Merchant — Tobacco Taxed — Planting in Maryland — Negro Labor — Competition — Growing Suckers — Virginia 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. 47