My experience for some years in the cultivation and manufacture of Spanish tobacco into cigars, convinces me that the first-rate variety of Spanish tobacco—that is, the most odorous and fine—will bear reproduction in our climate twice, without much deterioration; by that time it becomes acidulated and worthless as Spanish tobacco. For seven years I have imported annually first seed from Cuba, but have occasionally made experiments with reproduced seed, and I have arrived at the conclusion above stated. I have obtained, annually, a cigar maker from Baltimore, who has made for me on my farm, and from Spanish tobacco. These produced about the average of 70,000 cigars, per year; they have been sold in Baltimore and Philadelphia for five dollars the half box, that is ten dollars the thousand. The tobacco has been uniformly admired, but in former years they have been very badly made; for the last two years, (writing in 1843,) my crops were destroyed by the unfavorable weather. This growth and manufacture do not interfere with my cultivation of other crops; in fact they are wholly unconnected with the other operations of the farmer." He mentions having obtained a premium from an agricultural society, for having produced on one and a half acres, growth and manufacture included, of Spanish tobacco 504 dollars net profit.
The following letter from Mr. Clarke, to the Hon. H. L. Ellsworth, Washington, speaks favorably of a new variety of tobacco:—
Willow Grove, Orange County, Virginia,
Feb. 13, 1844.
Dear Sir,—Agreeably to my promise I enclose you the Californian tobacco seed. It grew from the small parcel given to me by Mr. Wm. Smith, in your office in March last. On getting home, although late, I prepared a bed, and sowed the small parcel, the first week in April, and not having seed enough to finish the bed, sowed the balance of the bed in Oronoko tobacco seed, and to my astonishment the Californian plants were soon ready to set out, as soon as the other kinds of tobacco sown in the month of January; and the Oronoko seed, that was sown with the Californian, did not arrive to sufficient size until it was too late to set out. The Californian tobacco, if it continues to ripen and grow for the time to come, as it did for me on the first trial, must come into general use—first, because the plants are much earlier in the spring (say ten days at least), than any kind we have; secondly, when transplanted, the growth is remarkably quick, matures and ripens at least from ten to fifteen days earlier than any kind of tobacco we have in use amongst us. It is a large broad, silky leaf, of fine texture, and of a beautiful color, and some plants grow as large as seven feet across, from point to point; upon the whole, I consider it a valuable acquisition to the planting community.
Tobacco is one of the chief staples of Cuba. There are many qualities, but it is usually classed into two kinds. That which is raised on the western end of the island and is unequalled for smoking, is called "Vuelta abajo." That which is raised east of Havana, is called "Vuelta arriba," and is far inferior to the former.
The best Havana tobacco farms are confined to a very narrow area on the south west part of Cuba. This district, twenty-seven leagues long and only seven broad, is bounded on the north by mountains, on the south and west by the ocean, whilst eastward, though there is no natural limit, the tobacco sensibly degenerates in quality. A light sandy soil and rather low situation suit the best.
The "Vuelta abajo" is usually divided into five classes.
Calidad is the best tobacco, selected for its good color, flavor, elasticity and entireness of the leaves. The bales contain sixty hands of four gabillas, or fingers of twenty-five leaves each, and are marked L.60. Ynjuriado Principal has less flavor, and is usually of a lighter color. The leaves should be whole and somewhat elastic. The bales contain eighty hands of four gabillas, or thirty leaves each, and are marked B. 80. Segundas is the most inferior class of wrapper. There are many good leaves in it, but the hands are usually made up of those which are stained, have a bad color, or have been slightly touched by the worm. The bales contain eighty hands of four gabillas of thirty-six to forty leaves each, and are marked Y. 2a. 80.
Terceiras is the best tilling, and much wrapper can usually be selected from it when new. The bales contain eighty hands of four gabillas of more than forty leaves each, and are marked 3a. 80.
Cuartas is the most inferior class, fit only for filling. The bales contain eighty hands of four gabillas of no determined number of leaves, and are marked 4a. 80.
The Vuelta arriba tobacco is prepared in a similar manner, but neither its color or flavor is good, and it does not burn well.
The crop is gathered in the spring, and usually begins to appear at market in July. Good tobacco should be aromatic, of a rich brown color, without stains, and the leaf thin and elastic. It should burn well and the taste should be neither bitter nor biting. The best is grown on the margins of rivers which are periodically overflowed, and is called "De rio." It is distinguished from other tobacco by a fine sand, which is found in the creases of the leaves.
The tobacco plantations in Cuba increased in number from 5,534 in 1827, to 9,102 in 1846. The production of tobacco has nearly doubled in the province, of which St. Jago is the port, in the last ten years.
The following figures show the exports from the Havana:—
| Leaf tobacco. | Cigars. | |||
| 1840 | 1,031,136 | lbs. | 147,818 | thousand. |
| 1841 | 1,460,302 | " | 161,928 | " |
| 1842 | 1,053,161 | " | 135,127 | " |
| 1843 | 2,125,805 | " | 153,227 | " |
| 1844 | 1,197,136 | " | 147,825 | " |
| 1845 | 1,621,889 | " | 120,352 | " |
| 1846 | 4,066,262 | " | 158,841 | " |
| 1847 | 1,936,829 | " | 1,982,267 | " |
| 1848 | 1,350,815 | " | 150,729 | " |
| 1849 | 1,158,265 | " | 111,572 | " |
The class of tobacco shipped at the port of Havana, is not the same as that gathered in the districts from which the manufacturers of cigars there receive their supplies—it would cost too dear. However, it is not a rare occurrence to find among a number of bales a few of a quality about equal to that employed there, and this happens in years when the crop has been very abundant, as in 1846 and 1848. The various classes are paid in proportion to the capa, or outside leaves, which are found in an assortment; the three first classes are employed as covers, and often, if the tobacco is new, they may be found in the fourth and even in the fifth. In parcels well assorted, one-fourth is composed of capa—say, first, second, and third, and the rest is composed of tripa, or interior of the cigar. In the first-named, there generally comes more of the capa than is necessary to use; the remaining bales, which contain the inferior class, are fit only for fillings.
The following is an analysis of the ashes of Havana tobacco:—
| Salts of potash | 24.30 |
| Salts of lime and magnesia | 67.40 |
| Silica | 8.30 |
| 100. |
| Hayti exported in 1836 | 1,222,716 lbs. |
| Porto Rico, in 1839 | 43,203 cwt. |
The French have been so successful in cultivating tobacco, in their possessions in Northern Africa, that they hope soon to be independent of the foreign grown article. The mode of preparing it, however, is not very well understood by the colonists. In 1851, the number of planters in Algeria was only 137, whereas in 1852, it was 1,073. The number of hectares under culture with the tobacco plant was 446 in 1851, and 1,095 in 1852. The total of the present year's crop is estimated at 1,780,000 kilogrammes, of which 700,000 kilogrammes have been grown by the natives, and the rest by Europeans.
In the province of Algiers alone, the quantity of tobacco sold will amount to 550,000 kilogrammes, which is nearly three times as much as in 1851, and an equal progression has taken place in the provinces of Oran, and Constantina.
The cultivation of tobacco in Algeria has proved most successful; in 1851, only 264,912 kilogrammes were produced; in 1852, the quantity had risen to 735,199 kilogrammes. There are two crops in the year, the first being the best, but even this is capable of almost indefinite augmentation.
CULTURE OF TOBACCO IN THE EAST.
Having touched upon the practice of culture in the western world, we will now bend our steps towards the east, and it may be curious to notice the method pursued in cultivating and curing the celebrated Shiraz tobacco of Persia (Nicotiana Persica), which is so much esteemed for the delicacy of its flavor, and its aromatic quality. It is thus described by an intelligent traveller. The culture of the plant, it will be seen, is nearly the same; it is only the preparation of the tobacco that forms the difference:—
In December the seed is sown in a dark soil, which, has been slightly manured (red clayey soils will not do). To protect the seed, and to keep it warm, the ground is covered with light, thorny bushes, which are removed when the plants are three or four inches high; and during this period, the plants are watered every four or five days, only however in the event of sufficient rain to keep the soil well moistened not falling. The ground must be kept wet until the plants are six to eight inches high, when they are transplanted into a well moistened soil, which has been made into trenches for them; the plants being put on the top of the ridges ten or twelve inches apart, while the trenched plots are made, so as to retain the water given. The day they are transplanted, water must be given to them, and also every five or six days subsequently, unless rain enough falls to render this unnecessary. When the plants have become from thirty to forty inches high, the leaves will be from three to fifteen inches long. At this period, or when the flowers are forming, all the flower capsules are pinched or twisted off. After this operation and watering being continued, the leaves increase in size and thickness until the month of August or September, when each plant is cut off close to the root, and again stuck firmly into the ground. At this season of the year, heavy dews fall during the night; when exposed to these the color of the leaves change from green to the desired yellow. During this stage, of course no water is given to the soil. When the leaves are sufficiently yellow, the plants are taken from the earth early in the morning, and while they are yet wet from the dew, are heaped on each other in a high shed, the walls of which are made with light thorny bushes, where they are freely exposed to the wind. While there, and generally in four or five days, those leaves which are still green become of the desired pale yellow color. The stalks and centre stem of each leaf are now removed, and thrown away, the leaves are heaped together in the drying house for three or four days more, when they are in a fit state for packing. For this operation the leaves are carefully spread on each other and formed into sorts of cakes, the circumference from four to five feet, and three to four inches thick, great care being taken not to break or injure the leaves.
Bags made of strong cloth, but thin and very open at the sides, are filled with these cakes, and pressed very strongly down on each other; the leaves would be broken if this were not attended to. When the bags are filled, they are placed separately in a drying house, and turned daily. If the leaves were so dry that there would be a risk of their breaking during the operation of packing, a very slight sprinkling of water is given them to enable them to withstand it without injury. The leaf is valued for being thick, tough, and of a uniform light yellow color, and of an agreeable aromatic smell.
In India, the Surat, Bilsah, and Sandoway (Arracan) varieties of tobacco are the most celebrated. The two first are found to be good for cultivation in the district about Calcutta, but the Cabool is still more to be preferred. Tobacco requires in the East, for its growth, a soil as fertile and as well manured as for the production of the poppy or opium. It is, therefore, often planted in the spaces enriched by animal and vegetable exuviæ, among the huts of the natives. I have tried seed in different soils, says Capt. C. Cowles,—namely a light garden mould with a large portion of old house rubbish, dug to a good depth, which had a top dressing of the sweepings of the farm-yard and cow-houses; a rather heavy loam, highly manured with burnt and decayed vegetables, and old cow dung; the third was a patch of ground, which was originally an unwholesome swamp, from being eighteen inches to two feet, lower than the surrounding land; the soil appeared to be a hard sterile clay, and covered with long coarse grass and rushes. As there was a tank near it, I cut away one side of it, and threw the soil over the ground, bringing it rather above the level. Such was its appearance, (a hard compost marly clay,) that I expected no other good from it than that of raising the land so as to throw the water off; contrary, however, to my expectations, it produced a much finer crop of tobacco than either of the other soils, and with somewhat less manure. The agricultural process is limited to some practical laws founded on experience, and these are subject to two principal agents; viz., the soil and climate. With respect to the former, it is the practice amongst the growers in tobacco countries, such as Cuba, the States of Virginia, North and South Carolina, and the Philippine Islands, to select a high and dry piece of land, of a siliceous nature, and combined with iron, if possible; and with respect to the latter, there are seasons of the year too well known to the planters to need any explanation. The only difference (if there is any) depends on the geographical situation of the place, with respect to its temperature, or in the backwardness or advancement of seasons, and even on the duration of the same—in which circumstances the planter takes advantage of the one for the other.
The influence of a burning climate may be modified by choosing the coolest month of the year, whereas the soil cannot be altered without incurring great expense. I have seen tobacco lose its natural quality and degenerate by transplanting from one soil to another, although of the same temperature, and vice versa.
Mr. Piddington has analysed several Indian soils, distinguished for the production of superior tobacco. These are the table soils from Arracan, (Sandoway,) a soil from Singour, in Burdwan, near Chandernagore, the tobacco of which, though of the same species as that of the surrounding country, sells at the price of the Arracan sort; and the soil of the best Bengal tobacco, which is grown at, and about Hingalee, in the Kishnagur district.
The best tobacco soils of Cuba and Manila, are for the most part red soils. Now, the red and reddish soils contain most of their iron in the state of peroxide, or the reddish brown oxide of iron; while the lighter grey soils contain it only in the state of protoxide, or the black oxide of iron. Mr. Piddington believes the quality of the tobacco to depend mainly on the state and quantity of the iron of the soil, while it is indifferent about the lime, which is so essential to cotton. None of the tobacco soils contain any lime. Their analysis show them to contain:—
| Arracan soil. | Singour soil. | Hingalee soil. | |
| Oxide or iron. (peroxide) | 15.65 | 10.60 | 6.00 |
| Water and saline matter | 1.10 | 75 | 1.50 |
| Vegetable matter and fibre | 3.75 | 1.10 | 75 |
| Silex | 76.90 | 80.65 | 87.25 |
| Alumina | 2.00 | 4.50 | 1.50 |
| 99.40 | 97.60 | 97.00 | |
| Water and loss | 60 | 2.40 | 3.00 |
| 100 | 100 | 100 |
From which it will be seen that the best tobacco soil hitherto found in India contains about sixteen per cent., or nearly one-sixth, of iron, which is mostly in a state of peroxide; and that the inferior sort of tobacco grows in a soil containing only six per cent., or one-sixteenth of iron, which is, moreover, mostly in the state of protoxide, or black oxide. Mr. Piddington thought it worth examining what the quantity of iron in the different sorts of tobacco would be, and found that while the ashes of one ounce, or 480 grains of Havana and Sandoway cheroots gave exactly 1.94 grains, or 0.40 per cent., of peroxide of iron the ashes of the same quantity of the Hingalee, or best Bengal tobacco, only gave 1.50 grains, or 0.32 per cent.; and it appears to exist in the first two in a state of peroxide, and in the last as a protoxide of iron; rendering it highly probable that the flavor of the tobacco to the smoker depends on the state and quantity of the iron it contains! Green copperas water, which is a solution of sulphate of iron, is often used by the American and English tobacconists and planters, to colour and flavor their tobacco; and this would be decomposed by the potass of the tobacco, and sulphate of potass and carbonate of iron is formed. Carbonate of iron is of an ochre-yellow color. Mr. Piddington says he took care to ascertain that this process had not been performed with the tobacco used for this experiment; and adds that Bengal cheroot makers do not know of this method. Mr. Laidley, of Gonitea, dissents from the idea suggested by Mr. Piddington that ferruginous matter in the soil is essential to the successful growth of tobacco. He observes that if we attend only to the iron contained, why every plant will be found to require a ferruginous soil; but tobacco contains a notable quantity of nitrate of potass and muriate of ammonia (the latter a most rare ingredient in plants), and these two salts are infinitely more likely to affect the flavor of the leaf than a small portion of oxide of iron, an inert body. Now as neither of these can be supplied by the atmosphere, we must search for them in the soil, and accordingly he imagined that a compost similar to the saltpetre beds which Napoleon employed so extensively in France, would be a good manure for tobacco lands; namely, calcareous matter, such as old mortar, dung, and the ashes of weeds or wood. He was aware that good tobacco might be grown in Beerbhoom, having raised some himself several years ago from American seed. The plants grew most vigorously, and he further observed, in confirmation of his opinion about the proper manure, that in other districts in which he had resided the natives always grew the tobacco (each for his own use) upon the heap of rubbish at his door, consisting of ashes, cow-dung, and offal of all kinds. While the soil of the Gangetic diluvium almost always contains carbonate of lime, the Beerbhoom soil does not, as far at least as Mr. Laidley had examined it.
The following is the mode of culture pursued about the city of Coimbetore. Between the middle of August and the same time in September, a plot of ground is hoed and embanked into small squares; in these the seed is sown, and covered by hand three times at intervals of ten days. To secure a succession of seedlings water is then given, and the sun's rays moderated by a covering of bushes. Watering is repeated every day for a month, and then only every fifth day. The field in which the seedlings are transplanted, is manured and ploughed at the end of August. Cattle are also folded upon the ground. Four or five ploughings are given between mid September and the middle of October, when the field is divided as above into small squares. These are watered until the soil is rendered a mud. Plants of the first sowing are then inserted at the end of September, about a cubit apart, the transplanting being done in the afternoon. At intervals of ten days the seedlings of the other two sowings are removed. A month after being transplanted the field is hoed, and after another month the leading shoot of each plant is pinched off, so as to leave them not more than a cubit high. Three times during the next month all side shoots thrown out are removed. When four months old, the crop is ready for cutting. To render the leaves sweet the field is watered, and the plants cut down close to the surface, being allowed to remain when cut until next morning. Their roots are tied to a rope and suspended round the hedges. In fine weather the leaves are dry in ten days, but if cloudy they require five more days. They are then heaped up under a roof, which is covered with bushes and pressed with stones for five days. After this the leaves are removed from the stems, tied in bunches, heaped again, and pressed for four days longer. They are now tied in bundles, partly of the small leaf and partly of the large leaf bundles, and again put in heaps for ten days—once during the time the heaps being opened and piled afresh. This completes the drying. A thousand bundles, weighing about 570 lbs., is a good produce for an acre.
In 1760, Ceylon produced a considerable quantity of tobacco, principally about Jaffna, a demand having sprung up for it in Travancore, and on the Malay coast. The cultivation spread to other districts of the island, Negombo, Chilaw, and Matura. Not long after the possession of the island by the British, a monopoly was created by an import duty of 25 per cent., ad valorem, and in 1811 the growers were compelled to deliver their tobacco into the Government stores at certain fixed rates. The culture and demand thereupon decreased. In 1853, the duty on the exports of tobacco from this island amounted to £8,386, and in 1836 to £9,514.
Ceylon now exports a considerable quantity of tobacco. The value of that exported in 1844 was nearly £18,000: it went exclusively to British colonies. The shipments since have been as follows:—
| 1848 | £17,992 | —— |
| 1849 | 22,300 | —— |
| 1850 | 20,721 | 22,184 cwts. |
| 1851 | 21,422 | 22,523 cwts. |
| 1852 | 20,531 | 21,955 cwts. |
About 96,000 piculs of cigars, of five different qualities, are exported annually from Siam. A good deal of very fine tobacco is grown in the Philippines, and the Manila cheroots are celebrated all over the globe. The quantity of raw tobacco shipped from Manila in 1847 was 92,106 arrobas (each about a quarter of a cwt.); manufactured tobacco, 12,054 arrobas; and 1,933 cases of cigars. 5,220 boxes of cigars were shipped from Manila in 1844. 73,439 millions of cigars were shipped in 1850, and 42,629 quintals of leaf tobacco.
The manufacture of cigars in Manila is a monopoly of the government, and not only is this the case, but it is a monopoly of the closest description, and any infringement of the assumed rights of the Spanish Indian government is visited by the most severe penalties. Public enterprise, however little of that commodity there now exists in the Spanish character, is thus kept down; and this is not only detrimental to the nation itself, but is also unjust towards those persons who are the purchasers of the article, enhanced in price, as is always the case, by monopoly. The cheroot, which now costs, free of duty, about one halfpenny, could be rendered for half that sum, according to well-authenticated opinions. To protect itself from illicit manufacturers, or smuggling of any kind in connection with cigars, the government is compelled to maintain an army of gendarmes, in order to adopt the most stringent means which despotic states alone tolerate. No person is, therefore, permitted to have even the tobacco leaf in its raw state on his premises, and gendarmes pay, at stated intervals, domiciliary visits to the habitations of the people, in search of any contraband materials. There are several extensive manufactories of cigars and cheroots belonging to the government in and near Manila. Mr. Mac Micking, in his recent work on the Philippines, thus describes the mode of manufacture by those employed by the government:—
In making cheroots women only are employed, the number of those so engaged in the factory at Manila being generally about 4,000. Beside these, a large body of men are employed at another place in the composition of cigarillos, or small cigars, kept together by an envelope of white paper in place of tobacco; these being the description most smoked by the Indians. The flavor of Manila cheroots is peculiar to themselves, being quite different from that made of any other sort of tobacco; the greatest characteristic probably being its slightly soporific tendency, which has caused many persons in the habit of using it to imagine that opium is employed in the preparatory treatment of the tobacco, which, however, is not the case.
The cigars are made up by the hands of women in large rooms of the factory, each of them containing from 800 to 1,000 souls. These are all seated, or squatted, Indian like, on their haunches, upon the floor, round tables, at each of which there is an old woman presiding to keep the young ones in order, about a dozen of them being the complement of a table. All of them are supplied with a certain weight of tobacco, of the first, second, or third qualities used in composing a cigar, and are obliged to account for a proportionate number of cheroots, the weight and size of which are by these means kept equal. As they use stones for beating out the leaf on the wooden tables before which they are seated, the noise produced by them while making them up is deafening, and generally sufficient to make no one desirous of protracting a visit to the place. The workers are well recompensed by the government, as very many of them earn from six to ten dollars a month for their labor; and as that amount is amply sufficient to provide them with all their comforts, and to leave a large balance for their expenses in dress, &c., they are seldom very constant laborers, and never enter the factory on Sundays, or, at least, on as great an annual number of feast days as there are Sundays in a year.
The Japanese grow a good deal of tobacco for their own consumption, which is very considerable. They consider that from Sasma as the best, then that from Nangasakay, Sinday, &c. The worst comes from the province of Tzyngaru; it is strong, of a black color, and has a disgusting taste and smell. The tobacco from Sasma is, indeed, also strong, but it has an agreeable taste and smell, and is of a bright yellow color. The tobacco from Nangasakay is very weak, in taste and smell perhaps the best, and of a bright brown color. The tobacco from Sinday is very good. The Japanese manufacture the tobacco so well, says Capt. Golownin, (Recollections of Japan,) that though I was before no friend to smoking, and even when I was at Jamaica could but seldom persuade myself to smoke an Havana cigar, yet I smoked the Japanese tobacco very frequently, and with great pleasure.
The culture of tobacco is a very profitable article for the laborers, seeing that the produce is obtained from grounds which have already given the first crop. The qualities of Java tobacco are more and more prized in the European markets, the preparation and assortment are not yet all that could be desired, but they have progressed in this branch, and the contracts made with the new adventurers assure them of a considerable benefit. But before the Java tobaccos can find an assured opening in the European markets, it is necessary that the cultivators should make use of seed from the Havana or Manila. The residencies of Rembang, Sourabaya, Samarang, Chinbou, and Tagal, present districts suited for its culture; it has been carried on with success for a good many years in the residencies of Treanger, Pakalongan, and Kedu, but only for the consumption of the interior, and of the Archipelago.
Tobacco is cultivated in Celebes, but merely in sufficient quantity for local consumption. It is exclusively grown by the Bantik population—the mode of preparation is the same as in Java; it is chopped very fine and mostly flavored with arrack. When bought in large quantities, it may be had for thirty cents the pound; but in smaller quantities it costs double that price.
Tobacco is cultivated in New South Wales with much success. Australia produces a leaf equal to Virginia, or the most fertile parts of Kentucky, but the great difficulty is to extract the superabundant "nitre." The first crop in New South Wales exceeds one ton per acre, and the second crop off the same plants, yields about half the weight of the first. In 1844 there were about 871 acres in cultivation in New South Wales with tobacco, and the produce was returned at 6,382 cwts. In New England, New South Wales, as fine a "fig" as could be wished for is manufactured under the superintendence of a thorough-bred Virginia tobacco manufacturer—but the impossibility of extracting the nitre by the heating, or any other process, renders the flavor rank and disagreeable. Perhaps cheroots, or the lower numbers of cigars, manufactured from the Australian leaf, might prove more successful.
In Sydney the time for sowing tobacco seed is September, but in Van Diemen's Land it should be a month later, as tobacco plants cannot stand the frost. The ground should be made fine, and in narrow beds three feet wide from path to path, to allow for weeding without stepping on the beds. The seed, being small, should not be raked in; but after the ground is raked fine, and perfectly clean, and well pulverised, mix the seed with wood ashes, and sow over the beds, and pat in with the spade, or tread in with the naked feet, which is preferable. The ground should be moist, but not much watered, or it moulds the plants. When about as large as moderate sized cabbage plants, they should be put out—three feet or three feet six in the rows, and five feet apart between the rows. When the plant rises to about two feet high, it will throw out suckers at each leaf, which must be carefully taken off with the finger and thumb, and all bottom and decayed leaves that touch the ground taken off. When the tobacco plant throws out flower, it must be topped off, leaving about twelve leaves in the stalk to ripen and come to maturity. When the leaves feel thick between the finger and thumb, and assume a mottled appearance, they are fit to cut.
In "Tegg's New South Wales Almanac" it is stated that the end of July is the usual time for sowing the seed. In order, however, to prevent the plants from being subsequently destroyed by frost, care must be taken not to sow the seed until the frost has ceased in any respective locality (unless raised in a frame). Tobacco requires a rich light soil, and well manured.
By the instructions for cultivating it, the plant must be three feet apart each way, which would give 4,840 plants to an acre; assuming that each plant would yield half a pound for the first crop, this would give 2,420 lbs. to an acre, which is only 180 lbs. in excess of a ton. In New South Wales several parties use the tobacco stems for sheep wash. One pound of tobacco is sufficient to wash five sheep on an average (one washing), which would give 12,100 sheep to one acre.
Assuming that only one crop was grown in New Zealand in one year, of 2,420 lbs. to an acre, at 3d. per pound, (which is about half the market price of a fair sample of tobacco in bond,) it would amount to £30 5s. per acre.
Three rows of Indian corn are planted outside the tobacco plants to shelter them from the wind. In order to save seed, a few plants are allowed to flower. The Virginian tobacco is the largest; it is known by a pink flower; the Nicotiana rustica (common green) has a yellow flower.
A planter in Northern Australia furnishes the following directions:—
The land selected for the growth of tobacco ought to be of the most fertile description, of a friable description, and upon which no water can rest within eighteen inches of the surface. Newly cleared brush lands of this nature are the most prolific; upon such, after good tillage, put the plants about four feet or more apart, in rows, and five feet six inches asunder. In interior or old ground, plant proportionately closer. Before topping or nipping off the head, all the lower leaves (that is such as may touch the ground) ought to be broken off, leaving only from five to seven for the crop, which will yield a greater weight and be of a superior quality than if double that number were left. When ripe, a dry and cloudy day should be selected to cut it, as the sun destroys its quality after cutting. It ought then to lie sufficiently long upon the ground so as to welt before carting to the sheds, hanging up each stalk next morning so as not to touch its fellow.
The drying sheds ought to be built upon an elevated or dry spot, with a hoarded flour of rough split stuff, fifteen or eighteen inches from the ground, with apertures as windows to admit or to exclude the external atmosphere. In damp weather close all the doors and windows, also every night; in contrary weather open all.
In these drying houses the stalks should remain suspended until the vegetable moisture is entirely evaporated, so that on a dry day the stems of the leaves will break like a glass pipe, and the finer parts crumble into snuff upon compression; after which, in humid weather, they will become quite pliable; then strip the leaves off the stems, make them up into hands, and pack them tightly into a close bin: when full, cover it with boards and old bagged stuff, upon which place heavy weights. In this state it undergoes the sweating process, which, in this colony, is little understood or not properly attended to, and yet, upon the skill displayed thereon, the quality of the tobacco greatly depends. I will therefore give some general directions upon this portion of the planter's office. If the tobacco happen to be too damp when put into the bin, it will attain either an injurious or a destructive degree of heat; it must therefore he watched for some days after it is packed. To an experienced operator I would say, if the heat exceed 80 degrees of temperature, immediately unpack and re-hang the whole, waiting its condition as before explained, before it is again put into the sweating bin. Should the degree of heat be below that stated, it may remain for weeks or until the heat has subsided. I have generally removed it from the sweating process in about fourteen or twenty days, sometimes considerably longer, regulating that act by the odor and color of the leaf. If, however, it appears to be attaining a very dark brown color and its heat not subsided, it should be taken out and closely pressed into large cases or casks, when it will again attain a gentle heat called the "second sweating," as is invariably the case with the hogsheads of the American leaf tobacco: this again improves its quality. Here the grower's operations terminate.
It may be necessary to remark, that how skilful and experienced soever the grower may be, it is hardly possible for him to produce a good article upon a small scale; for with a less quantity than one ton to place in the sweating bin at a time, the requisite heat to insure success will not be generated. I would further observe, that the practice of the colonists in growing what they term a "second crop" is most injurious to their interests, their lands, and the quality and character of the colonial tobacco. The American planter never attempts it. I would therefore strongly recommend its discontinuance, and also never to crop one piece of land with tobacco more than two or three years in succession. The Americans rarely take more than two crops unless the land be new; after which they sow it down with grasses, in which state it remains for two or three years until it is again planted with tobacco. I would recommend this plan to the growers.
The character of the American tobacco has been greatly advanced in the mercantile world by an ordinance regulating that source of national wealth. The planters are thereby obligated to deposit their crops in warehouses, over which sworn inspectors preside, who rigidly examine every hogshead, and if found to be of mercantile quality, grant the owner a certificate, by which instrument only he sells his produce. The purchaser is hereby safe in buying these certificates. The tobacco to which they refer is delivered to the holder on presentation to the inspector. I mention this not as applicable here at present, but it most probably may hereafter.
When the colony is suffering severely for the want of labor, it may by some be deemed inopportune in offering remarks upon this article of commerce. To such dissentients I will remark, that a great portion of the work can be performed by women and children. A moiety of our anticipated increase of population will be available for this hitherto mismanaged source of wealth. At present the quantity grown in the colony is equal to three-fourths of its consumption, and which production is of a very inferior quality to the imported. These facts tend to show that my notice of the subject is not inopportune, and particularly so when the object is to point out those errors so generally adopted by the tobacco growers here. Years of practical experience, of personal observation upon the plantations of North America, and my having been, I believe, the grower of the greatest quantity of tobacco in the colony, qualify me to afford instructions thereon; whereby, if attended to, our tobacco will become fully equal to the American, as was proved to be the case by the crops I grew here (upwards of 40 tons),[56] which were sold in Sydney by the Commissariat Department at public auction, at an advance of twenty per cent. more than the imported leaf. As the duty on tobacco is about to be reduced, the present production may fall off, unless an immediate improvement in its quality take place. Instead of being importers of tobacco, we should, if it was grown here to perfection, be exporters of it to all our sister colonies; and in its raw state, also to the European markets. At present, for home consumption, there is a greater profit to be made by its cultivation, if skilfully managed, than in any part of the world; for the duty upon imported is a positive bonus to the grower.
In 1849-50 there were fifteen manufactories of tobacco on a small scale in New South Wales, but these were reduced in 1851 to six.
Many samples of tobacco grown in the colony have been pronounced by competent judges equal to Virginian, but a very considerable prejudice exists against it. There is, however, no doubt that the dealers dispose of a great deal as American tobacco, and get a best price for it. The reduction of the import duties on foreign tobacco, recently made by the Legislative Council, will probably retard the progress of the colonial production and manufacture of this article; but with an abundance of labor there is no question that this branch of industry will be again profitably resorted to. The quantity of tobacco manufactured in New South Wales, in 1847, was 1,321 cwt.; in 1848, 714 cwt.; in 1849, 2,758 cwt.; in 1850, 3,833 cwt.; in 1851, 4,841 cwt.
A correspondent of the Adelaide Observer recommends its culture in South Australia, and supplies the following useful information:—
Without entering into botanical details, I will simply state that the plant is of a shrubby nature, about five feet high, and ought not to be planted nearer than four feet from each other, in rows five feet apart—thus allowing for each plant a space of ground four feet by five, or 20 square feet. An acre will consequently furnish sufficient room for 2,178 plants.
The tobacco plant will thrive in almost any climate, from the torrid zone to the temperature of Great Britain. It luxuriates in rich alluvial valleys, where the soil is either of a loamy or a peaty nature.
Maiden soil is not recommended. The ground should be trenched, worked as fine as possible, and well manured. Tobacco will not answer unless the subsoil is thoroughly broken. The best manure is that obtained from the bullock-yard, and bark from the tan yard; and by two or three ploughings the earth can be brought to a proper consistency, and fit for the reception of the plants.
The usual method adopted in New South Wales, is to raise the plants in a warm, sheltered bed, neither exposed to wind nor to the sun's rays; but if the weather is dry, they should be well watered night and morning. The time of sowing is the end of August or the beginning of September in the latitude of Sydney, according to the state of the weather; and they may be transplanted when they have attained their sixth leaf, which is generally about a month or five weeks after they are up.
The period is rather later in this colony, and care should be taken that the plants have gained sufficient strength in the ground after transplanting to withstand the effect of the hot winds, and, if practicable, the aspect should be either N.E. or N.W., and the rows should incline towards either of these points.
The most suitable spots in this colony for the cultivation of tobacco, are Lyndoch Valley and the districts round the town of Willunga and Morphett Vale.
The greatest care is required from the cultivator to prevent the destruction of the plant from its greatest enemy, the black grub. Daily search should be made for it, and not a plant should be left unexamined; they make their appearance about the beginning of November, when the plants have scarcely had time to take root. The soil between the rows should be kept constantly stirred with a three-pronged fork, that air and the sun's rays may be admitted, which latter are as indispensable to the growing plant as injurious to the seedling. The labor is great, and from first to last requires the constant attention of one man throughout the year, with an additional hand for about six weeks during the process of curing.
The profits even in bad seasons are considerable; but when the season and soil are favorable, they average upwards of 100 per cent. The consumption of tobacco is great in this colony, not only for personal use, but for sheep-wash; and the profits may be considerably greater for the lower leaves, which, owing to their gritty nature, cannot be manufactured, but may be advantageously cured for wash.
It is not my office to argue the point as to the advantages which may accrue from a free trade in tobacco; but this I know, and confidently assert it, from actual experiments made in this province, that a more lucrative article cannot be grown.
The consumption in South America, in 1850, was 147,178 lbs.; and the annual increase since 1840 has been a higher percentage than the increase of population, chiefly owing to extension in sheep-farming.
The probable expense of cultivation per acre may be as under:—
| £ | s. | d. | |
| Rent | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| Labor, 12 months | 52 | 0 | 0 |
| Ditto, 2 months | 8 | 10 | 0 |
| Ploughing three times | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Harrowing twice | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Manure, say | 2 | 10 | 0 |
| Seed, say | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| £67 | 2 | 0 |
The Sydney average quantity is said to be 11⅓ cwt. per acre, say 10 cwt.; and the cost price per lb. will be 14½d., or £6 15s. 4d. per cwt. The profit will at once be seen on this article of consumption.
Miscellaneous Drugs.—The blood tree (Croton gossypifolia), an evergreen shrub, native of the Trinidad mountains, is remarkable for yielding, when wounded, a thick juice resembling blood in color, which is one of the most powerful astringents I know of, and as such would be valuable to medical science. The bark of Croton Cascarilla is, as we have seen in a former section, aromatic, and the seeds of C. Tiglium, the physic nut, are purgative; so are those of the purging nut (Jatropha multifida), and another species (J. gossypifolia).
The pods of cow-itch (Mucuna pruriens) act as a vermifuge; the roots of the Ruellia tuberosa, or manyroot, and the bulbs of the white lily (Pancratium Carribæum and maritimum), are emetic. The Indian root or bastard ipecacuan (Asclepias curassavica) has medicinal properties. A. tuberosa is used as a mild cathartic, and a remedy for a variety of disorders. Hydrastis canadensis, or Canadian yellow root, is a valuable bitter, and furnishes a useful yellow dye. Knowltonia vesicatoria is used commonly as a blister in the Cape Colony. Ranunculus saleratus (the R. indicus of Roxburgh, and B. camosus of Wallich), common in India, is also used by the natives for blistering purposes.
A kind of sedge rush, common in swampy places in the West India islands, the Adme cyperus, enjoys a reputation for the cure of yellow fever. It is also stated to be cordial, diuretic and cephalic, serviceable in the first stages of the dropsy, good in vomitings, fluxes, &c.
Dr. Impey, the residentiary surgeon of Malwa, has just confidence in the indigenous drugs in use by the natives of the East, many of which are quite unknown in European practice. He believes that, in the Indian bazaars and the jungle, drugs having precisely the same effect as those of Europe may be discovered, and has recently drawn up a list of ninety substances, which are perfect substitutes for an equal number of European medicines. The class of tonics, in particular, is most amply supplied, and the Englishman is not the only animal who suffers from disorders of the digestive organs.
My friend Dr. Hamilton, of Plymouth, recently brought under the notice of the profession the medical properties of the prickly poppy or Mexican thistle (Argemone Mexicana). It is indigenous to and grows wild in the greatest profusion throughout the whole of the Caribbean islands, and may be found at every season of the year covered with its bright golden blossoms, and bearing its prickly capsules in all their several stages of maturity. It is an annual plant, attaining a height of about two feet, growing abundantly in low and hot uncultivated spots. Its stem is round and prickly, furnished with alternate branches and thorny leaves. The seeds possess an emetic quality. The whole plant abounds in a yellow milky juice, resembling gamboge in color, and not improbably possessing properties similar to the seeds. In Nevis the oil is obtained from the bruised seeds by boiling, and sold by the negroes in small phials, containing about an ounce each, under the name of "thistle oil," at the price of a quarter of a dollar each. The usual dose for dry bellyache is thirty drops upon a lump of sugar, and its effect is perfectly magical, relieving the pain instantaneously, throwing the patient into a profound and refreshing sleep, and in a few hours relieving the bowels gently of the contents. This oil seems fitted to compete in utility with the far more costly and less agreeable oil of the croton.
The seeds of the sandbox (Hura crepitans) when bruised, operate powerfully as emetico-cathartic. It is probable that an oil might be obtained from them similar in its operation to the thistle oil.
A cucurbitaceous fruit, one of the Luffas (called by Von Martius Luffa purgans), a tribe closely allied to the colocynth and mornordicas, growing in South America, is a powerful purgative, and is used in the province of Pernambuco, where it is called Cabacinha. The fruit is about the size of a small pear and resembles the wild cucumber. An infusion of a fourth part of one of these fruits is administered chiefly in the form of an injection.
Another species (Luffa drastica, of Martius) is also employed for the same purpose.
The Luffa purgans grows spontaneously in the suburbs of Recieffe, the capital of the province of Pernambuco, and flowers in November and December. The fruit is a drastic purgative, and an infusion of it is used either internally or in the form of clyster. The tincture is prepared by macerating, for twenty-eight hours or more, four of the fruit deprived of the seeds in a bottle of spirit 21 degrees. The dose is three or four ounces daily, which occasions much sickness.
Poisons.—The vegetable kingdom (observes Mr. Simple), to which man is largely indebted for the materials of food, clothing, and shelter, produces also some of the most deadly poisons with which science, experience, or accident, has made him acquainted. In examining the poisonous productions of the vegetable kingdom, we find that their properties are generally due to the presence of some acid or alkali contained in the plant from which they are derived. Oil of bitter almonds and cherry laurel water are poisonous in consequence of containing prussic acid. Opium owes its activity to the alkaloid morphia. The Upas-tiente derives its energetic powers from the alkaloid strychnia; conia is the active principle of hemlock; veratria of hellebore; aconita of monk's hood; and although there are several poisonous plants in which the active principle has not yet been detected, there can be little doubt that such a principle exists, although it has hitherto eluded the researches of the chemist.—("Pharmaceutical Journal," vol. 2, p. 17.)
The bark taken from the roots of the Jamaica dogwood (Piscidia erythrina), which is extensively distributed throughout the Archipelago of the Antilles, is used for stupefying fish. The pounded root is mixed with slaked lime and the low wines or lees of the distillery, and the mixture is put into small baskets or sacks, and so suffered to wash out gradually, coloring the water to a reddish hue. The fish rise to the surface in a few minutes, when they float as if dead.
The expressed juice of the root of Maranta Arundinacea is stated to be a valuable antidote to some vegetable poisons, and also serviceable in cases of bites or stings of venomous insects or reptiles. One of the most popular remedies for the bites of snakes is a decoction of the leaves of the Guaco, or snake plant, of South America, a species of willow which flourishes along the banks of the streams in the sultry regions shaded by other trees. It is said to be both a preventive and cure.
Mr. Edward Otto, writing from Cuba to the "Gardener's Magazine" for May, 1842, p. 286, describes the guaco as a tree growing from four to eight feet in height, with beautiful dark green leaves, having a brown tinge round the margin. The blossoms are small, of a bluish brown, and hang like loose bunches of grapes at the points of the shoots, or even on the stem itself, as it has seldom branches. The milky sap is said to have poisonous effects. "I was told (he adds) that this plant is used efficiently in cholera and yellow fever." This tree is said to be the Camæladia ilicifolia of Swartz, common in Antigua and Hayti, being known in Antigua by the popular name of the holly-leaved maiden plum.
ALOES.—The drug called aloes is the bitter, resinous, inspissated juice of the leaves of various species of an arborescent plant of the lily family, with a developed stem and large succulent leaves, growing principally in tropical and sub-tropical regions, and having a wide extent of range, being produced in Borneo and the East, Africa, Arabia, and the West Indies; many are also natives of the Cape of Good Hope. The plant will thrive in almost any soil, and, when once established, it is extremely difficult to eradicate.
The cultivation and manufacture are of the most simple kind. The usual mode of propagating the plants is by suckers; and all the care required is to keep them free from weeds.
From the high price which the best Barbados aloes fetches in the market, £7 per cwt., its culture might be profitably extended to many of the other islands. The aloes plant is indigenous to the soil of Jamaica, and although handled by thousands of the peasantry and others, there is not perhaps one in five thousand who understands its properties or the value of the plant. With the Jamaicans it is commonly used in fever cases, by slicing the leaves, permitting the juice to escape partially, and then applying them to the head with bandages;—this is the only generally known property which it possesses there.
A series of trials made recently in Paris proved that cordage manufactured from the fibre of this plant grown in Algiers, was far preferable in comparative strength to that manufactured from hemp. Cables, of equal size, showed that that made of the aloe raised a weight of one-fifth more than that of hemp.
The drug is imported into this country under the names of Socotrine, East Indian or Hepatic, Barbados, Cape and Caballine aloes. It contains a substance called Aloetine, which some regard as its active principle. The various species now defined are—Aloe spicata, vulgaris, Socotrina, Indica, rubescens, Arabica, linguæ-formis and Commelina. The average imports in 1841 and 1842 were only about 170,780 cwts.; it is now much larger, and a great portion of the supply is drawn from the Cape colony.
The mode of preparing the drug, which I have myself seen in the West Indies, is exceedingly simple. When the plant has arrived at proper maturity, the laborers go into the field with tubs and knives, and cut the largest and most succulent leaves close to the stalk; these are placed upright in the tubs, side by side, so that the sap may flow out of the wound. Sometimes a longitudinal incision is made from top to bottom of the leaf, to facilitate the discharge. The crude juice thus obtained is placed in shallow flat-bottomed receivers, and exposed to the sun until it has acquired sufficient consistency to be packed in gourds for exportation. In preparing the coarser kind, or horse aloes, the leaves are cut into junks and thrown into the tubs, there to lie till the juice is pretty well drained out; they are then squeezed by the hand, and water, in the proportion of one quart to ten of juice, is added, after which it is boiled to a due consistence and emptied into large shallow coolers.
The following analysis by M. Edmond Robiquet of a specimen of Socotrine aloes, obtained from M. Chevallier, is given in the sixth volume of the "Pharmaceutical Journal," p. 277. The constituents in 100 parts were:—
| Pure aloes (Aloetine) | 85.00 |
| Ulmate of potash | 2.00 |
| Sulphate of lime | 2.00 |
| Carbonate of potash | traces. |
| Carbonate of lime | |
| Phosphate of lime | |
| Gallic acid | .25 |
| Albumen | 8.00 |
The true Socotrine aloes is the produce of A. Socotrina, which grows abundantly in the island of Socotra in the Indian Ocean. Lieutenant Wellstead says, the hills on the west side of the island are covered for an extent of miles with aloe plants. The aloe grows spontaneously on the limestone mountains of Socotra, from 500 to 3,000 feet above the level of the sea. The produce is brought to Tamarida and Colliseah, the principal town and harbor for exports. In 1833, the best quality sold for 2s. a pound, while for the more indifferent the price was 13d. The value is much impaired by the careless manner in which the aloes is gathered and packed. Aloes once formed the staple of its traffic, for which it was chiefly resorted to; but only small quantities are now exported. It was formerly shipped by the way of Smyrna and Alexandria, but is usually now brought by the way of Bombay; Melinda, on the Zanzibar coast, and Maccula on the Arabian shore, furnish the greater part of that sold in Europe as Socotrine aloes. It comes home in chests or packages of 150 to 200 lbs. wrapt in skins of the gazelle, sometimes in casks holding half a ton or more. It is somewhat transparent, of a garnet or yellowish red color. The smell is not very unpleasant, approaching to myrrh. Socotrine aloes, although long considered the best kind, is now below Barbados aloes in commercial value.
About two tons were imported from Socotra in 1833, but a much larger quantity could be obtained if required.
The price of Socotrine aloes in the Liverpool market, in the early part of 1853, was 30s. to £6 the cwt.; of Cape, 30s. to 32s.
East Indian, or Hepatic aloes.— The real hepatic aloes, so called from its liver color, is believed to be the produce of A. Arabica, or perfoliala, which grows in Yemen in Arabia, from whence it is exported by the way of Bombay to Europe. According to Dr. Thomson and the "Materia Medica," it is duller in its color than the other kinds, is bitterer, and has a less pleasant aroma than the Socotrine aloes. It should not be liquid, which deteriorates the quality.
A. Indica—a species with reddish flowers, common in dry situations, in the north-west provinces of India, is that from which an inferior sort of the drug is produced. It is obtained in Guzerat, Salem, and Trichinopoly, and fetches a local price of 2d. to 3d. a pound. In the Bombay market, Socotrine aloes fetches wholesale 16s. to 20s. the Surat maund of 41 lbs., and Maccula aloes only 9s.
Barbados aloes, is the produce of A. vulgaris, or A. barbadensis, a native of the Cape colony, and is often passed off for the Hepatic. It is brought home in calabashes, or large gourd shells, containing from 60 to 70 lbs. each, or more. It is duskier in hue than the East Indian species, being a darkish brown or black, and the taste is more nauseous and intensely bitter.
In 1786 one hogshead and 409 gourds of aloes were exported from Barbados. In 1827, there were about 96,000 packages shipped from the island. In 1844, there were 4,600 packages exported. The exports have fallen off considerably, only about 850 gourds having been shipped in the season of 1849-50; but in 1851 it increased to 2,505 gourds.
Caballine, or Horse-aloes, is the coarsest species or refuse of the Barbados aloes, and from its rank fetid smell is only useful for veterinary medicine. It is also obtained from Spain and Senegal.
A very good description of the mode of cultivating and preparing the aloes in Barbados is given in the 8th vol. of the "London Medical Journal":—