To supply the want thus indicated, the present volume has been prepared. The invaluable assistance of tobacco-planters in both the Indies and in many other tropical countries, has rendered the portion relating to field operations eminently practical and complete, while the editor’s acquaintance with agricultural chemistry and familiarity with the best tobacco-growing regions of Asiatic Turkey, have enabled him to exercise a general supervision over the statements of the various contributors.
CONTENTS.
| CHAPTER I. | |
| PAGE | |
| The Plant | [1] |
| CHAPTER II. | |
| Cultivation | [7] |
| CHAPTER III. | |
| Curing | [67] |
| CHAPTER IV. | |
| Production and Commerce | [137] |
| CHAPTER V. | |
| Preparation and Use | [231] |
| CHAPTER VI. | |
| Nature and Properties | [253] |
| CHAPTER VII. | |
| Adulterations and Substitutes | [267] |
| CHAPTER VIII. | |
| Imports, Duties, Values, and Consumption | [271] |
| CHAPTER IX. | |
| Bibliography | [276] |
| Index | [281] |
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
| FIG. | PAGE | |
| 1. | Cuban Tobacco Plant | [4] |
| 2. | Maryland Tobacco Plant | [5] |
| 3. | Amersfort Tobacco Plant | [6] |
| 4. | Straw Mat for Covering Seed-beds | [47] |
| 5. | Shade Frames used in Cuba | [49] |
| 6. | Quincunx Planting | [52] |
| 7. | Tobacco Worm and Moth | [56] |
| 8. | Shed for Sun-curing Tobacco | [83] |
| 9. | Hanging Bunches of Leaves | [95] |
| 10. | Tobacco Barn | [95] |
| 11. | Interior of Tobacco Barn | [96] |
| 12. | Hand of Tobacco | [108] |
| 13. | Packing Hogshead | [133] |
| 14 to 17. Tobacco-cutting Machine | [234] | |
| 18. | Machine for making Plug Tobacco | [237] |
| 19 to 21. Machine for making Twist or Roll Tobacco | [238] | |
| 22, 23. Diagrams of Segment Rollers of Twist Machine | [240] | |
| 24 to 26. Andrew’s Improvements in Twist Machine | [243–4] | |
| 27. | Machine for Cutting and Sifting Scrap Tobacco | [246] |
| 28. | Machine for making Cigarettes | [247] |
| 29. | Resweating Apparatus | [249] |
| 30. | Machine for Weighing out Small Parcels of Tobacco | [250] |
| 31. | Tobacco-cutting Machine | [252] |
TOBACCO:
GROWING, CURING, AND MANUFACTURING.
CHAPTER I.
THE PLANT.
Next to the most common grains and pulses, probably no plant is so widely and generally cultivated as tobacco. In what country or at what date its use originated has little to do with us from a practical point of view, though interesting enough as a subject for the student of ethnography and natural history. Suffice it to say that it has been grown and smoked since pre-historic times in many tropical and sub-tropical countries, and has assumed an importance in modern daily life only surpassed by a few prominent food plants and cotton.
This long-continued and widespread cultivation has helped to produce local varieties or races of the plant which have sometimes been mistaken for distinct species, and caused a multiplication of scientific names almost bewildering. The following epitome comprehends the species and varieties of Nicotiana possessing interest for the cultivator:—