On modern plantations machines have superseded the primitive hand methods of cleaning the fiber. Sisal is the chief product of Yucatan and its greatest export. The bulk of the production is used in the United States in making rope, twine and sacking. All of the other agave fibers are of less commercial importance than sisal or henequen.
The fiber of this species is especially valuable for ship cables, as it has been found to resist the action of sea-water better than most other materials.
Tobacco Plant (Nicotiana tabacum) is three to four feet in height; its leaves longish and lancet-shaped; its corolla pink; its fruit is a capsule, with many seeds. It is indigenous to America. Its leaves are either used for chewing, for smoking, or for snuff. It belongs to the poisonous plants, and contains no nutritious substance; its flavor and odor are disagreeable; nevertheless it furnishes much enjoyment to a large portion of mankind.
More tobacco is raised in the United States than in any other country and Kentucky raises more than any other state. India is the second largest producer. In Europe it is cultivated in Austria-Hungary, Russia, Germany, Netherlands, France, Belgium and Turkey. Cuba, Porto Rico, Mexico, Central and South America, China, Java, Sumatra, Philippines, Ceylon, Syria and Cape Colony are important producers.
Commercial grades are named from the locality of production as Havana, Sumatra, Mexican, Turkish, Virginia, etc. Certain grades are appropriate for use as cigar wrappers and others for fillers and are so named in the trade.
The United States exports over half of the tobacco raised, chiefly to England in the form of leaf tobacco. Few cigars are exported, but cigarettes and plug tobacco go to the East Indies, China and Australia.
IX. POISONOUS PLANTS
A number of plants contain so powerful a poison that we should take especial care to avoid them. As the danger may be better avoided by a general knowledge of these plants, a detailed description of them is highly desirable. Many of them are also important medicinal plants; and we should therefore by no means regret the existence of these poisonous growths; for, if we apply them to their proper uses, they serve to supply us with valuable medical aids.
Darnell (Lolium temulentum) is from eighteen to thirty-six inches high, and often found in cornfields. Its seeds contain a poison, which is narcotic and stupefying.
Deadly Nightshade (Atropa Belladonna) is common in the woods. The sappy stem is from three to six feet high; the egg-shaped leaves are covered with down; the brownish-red blossoms are arranged solitary in the axils of the leaves. The bright black berry is as large as a cherry. The nightshade is our most dangerous poisonous plant, and there is little hope for children who have eaten of its berries. From the fresh leaves atropine is prepared, which is a very powerful remedy in certain diseases of the eye.