JAPAN TOBACCO.
Japan Tobacco.
Of the tobacco of Asia, the best known in Europe is the yellow leaf grown in Japan. In those provinces where a high degree of temperature prevails, the plant lives throughout the winter, but it is nevertheless customary to sow fresh seed in the early spring of each successive year. When fully grown, Japan tobacco attains an altitude of about six feet, bearing leaves long and pointed, completely enveloping the stalk. The leaves, however, differ in form in different provinces, some being round and wide, others narrow and pointed, and others thick and long.
The mode of cultivating also varies in the different provinces. The sowing and transplanting are dependent on the temperature of the locality, and each place follows its own customs. In autumn a great number of flowers spring from the tip of the stalk. These are about an inch in length, and of a pale purple tint. To these succeed small round capsules, inside of which are three small chambers containing a great number of light red seeds. The method of cultivation is novel, the manuring of tobacco differing from that of other plants in that it is plentifully applied both to the roots and leaves.
GUATEMALA TOBACCO.
The tobacco of Central America, though possessing considerable excellence, has never become an important product, nor to any great extent an article of commerce. There are several varieties grown in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and the other Central American states; some of which by proper cultivation might be valuable to both the user and the manufacturer. One variety bears white flowers like the tobacco of Persia, but in other respects it differs but little from South American varieties. Numerous other sorts occur, many of which are local, and differ principally, if not solely, in the size or form of the leaves.
The soil of Guatemala is well adapted for tobacco, and with careful cultivation it could hardly fail of becoming an important agricultural product. It is also probable that the soil of nearly all of Central America is adapted to the plant, and with the favorable climate, the varieties now grown would doubtless with proper care, become noted as tobacco well adapted for cigars.