In Persia tobacco is cultivated near Shiraz, which gives name to the variety. The soil is very fertile and richly cultivated. Not only does the tobacco plant flourish finely, but all kinds of vegetables grow to perfection. The Persians cultivate the plant principally for their own use. It is a fine smoking tobacco, and when cured properly is said to be equal to Latakia. Their mode of curing is unlike that adopted by any other cultivators of the weed but is very successful, and is no doubt the proper method of preparing the leaves for use. Their mode of pressing in large cakes is unlike that of any other growers—but doubtless adds to the aromatic quality of the leaf which makes it so popular in the East.
The tobacco field is trenched so as to retain water, while the plants are set on the ridges where they flourish and mature until the buds and flowers are broken off. The harvest occurs in the autumn, when the singular process of curing begins.
Abbott says of the culture and commerce of tobacco in Persia:
"Jehrum, South Persia, is the principal mart for tobacco, which is brought here from all the surrounding districts, and disposed of to traders, who distribute it over the country far and near. These traders are numerous, and many established here are wealthy; they usually transact their business in their private houses, without resorting to the caravansaries of which there are six in the place. There are many grades and qualities of Shiraz tobacco but that produced at Tuffres (according to Forster), a town about one hundred miles to the south-west of Turshish, is esteemed the best in Persia.
"Of the many varieties of the tobacco plant grown in the East, that known as Manilla is among the most famous and the most extensively cultivated. It is grown in several of the Philippine islands, particularly in Luzon and the southern group, known as the Visayos. The Philippines are a large group of islands in the North Pacific Ocean, discovered by Magellan in 1521; they were afterwards taken posession of by the Spaniards, in the reign of Philip II., from whom they take their name.
"The islands are said to be eleven hundred in number, but some hundreds of them are very small, and all are nominally subject to the Spanish government at Manilla. The Philippines produce a great variety of tropical products such as rice, coffee, sugar, indigo, tobacco, cotton, cacao, abaca, or vegetable silk, pepper, gums, cocoa-nuts, dye-woods, timber of all descriptions for furniture and the buildings, rattans of various kinds, and all the agreeable fruits of the tropics. On the shores are found nacre, or mother of pearl, magnificent pearls, bird's-nests, shells of every description, an incredible quantity of excellent fish, and the trépang, or balatê, a sea-worm, or animal substance, found on the shores of the Philippine Islands, resembling a large pudding. The Chinese esteem it as a great delicacy and mix it with fowl and vegetables. The inhabitants practise various kinds of industry; they weave matting of extraordinary fineness and of the brightest colors, straw hats, cigar cases and brackets; they manufacture cloth and tissues of every sort from cotton, silk, and abaca; they, from filaments taken from the leaves of the etuana, make cambric of a texture much finer than that of France; and they also manufacture coarse strong cloth for sails, and ropes and cables of all dimensions; they tan and dress leather and skins to perfection; they manufacture coarse earthen ware, and forge and polish arms of various kinds; they build ships of heavy tonnage, and also light and neat boats; and at Manilla they frame and finish-off beautiful carriages; they are also very clever workers in gold, silver, and copper; and the Indian women are specially expert in needlework, and in all kinds of embroidery.
"The island of Luzon is the largest of the Philippines, and extends from north to south for the length of about six degrees. It is divided throughout its whole extent by a chain of mountains, which in general owe their formation to volcanic eruptions. In the provinces of Laguna and Batangas there is the high mountain called Maijai, one of the loftiest in Luzon, which is beyond doubt an ancient crater; on the summit a little lake is found, the depth of which cannot be measured. At some period the lava that then flowed from the summit towards the base, in the neighborhood of the town of Nacarlan, covered up immense cavities, which are now recognizable by the sonorous noise of the ground for a great extent; and sometimes it happens that, in consequence of an inundation or an earthquake, this volcanic crust is in some places broken, and exposes to the view enormous caverns, which the Indians call 'the mouths of hell.' In the district about the town of San Pablo, which is situated on the mountain, are found great numbers of little circular lakes and immense heaps of rotten stones, basalt, and different descriptions of lava, which show that all these lakes are nothing else than the craters of old volcanoes. Altogether the soil to the southward, in the province of Albai, is completely volcanic, and the frequent eruptions of the volcano bearing that name may, as the natives say, be attributed to the same cause as the earthquakes so often felt in the island of Luzon. Over almost the whole of these mountains, where fire has played so conspicuous a part, there is a great depth of vegetable earth, and they are covered with a most splendid vegetation. Their declivities nourish immense forests and fine pastures in which grow gigantic trees—palm trees, rattans, and lianas of a thousand kinds, or gramineous plants of various sorts, particularly the wild sugar cane, which rises to the height of from nine to twelve feet from the ground; in their interior are rich mines of copper, gold, iron, and coal.
Growing Tobacco on the Philippine Islands.