* * * * *

THE STORY ABOUT TOBACCO.

HOW IT CAME TO BE USED.—­Tobacco is the leaves of the tobacco plant, a native of America.  It was used by the Indians of this country before Columbus came here in 1492.  Some of the Spaniards who were with him on his second visit took some of it back with them to Portugal, and told the people they had discovered a wonderful medicine.  From Spain tobacco seed was sent to France by Jean Nicot, in 1560.  It is said that Sir Walter Raleigh carried it to England in 1586, when Elizabeth was queen.

In a few years many civilized people were snuffing, chewing, and smoking tobacco, like the wild Indians, although it cost them a great deal of money to do so.  King James does not seem to have liked it very much, for he said, “It is a custome loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, and dangerous to the lungs.”  He called the smoke “stinking fumes.”

THE TOBACCO PLANT. This plant belongs to the same family as the deadly nightshade, henbane, belladonna, thorn-apple, Jerusalem cherry, potato, tomato, egg-plant, cayenne pepper, bitter-sweet, and petunia.  Most of the plants of this Nightshade family have more or less poison in their leaves or fruit.  Tobacco is supposed to have been named from the pipe used by the Indians in smoking its leaves.

The common tobacco plant grows from three to six feet high, and has large, almost lance-shaped, leaves growing down the stems; its flowers are funnel-shaped and of a purplish color.  When fresh the leaves have very little odor or taste.

HOW TOBACCO IS USED.—­When the plants are ripe, they are cut off above the roots and placed where they will become dry, sometimes in a building made for this purpose, called “a tobacco house.”  After a short time they begin to smell strong and taste bitter.  They are then stripped from the stems very carefully and sorted.  The leaves nearest the root are considered the poorest, those at the top generally the best.

The different sorts are packed in separate hogsheads, and sent away to be sold to manufacturers of cigars, snuff, etc.

The manufacturer has some leaves rolled into cigars, some pressed into cakes for chewing, or into little pieces to be smoked in a pipe; while some are ground for snuff.  While the dried leaves are being rolled, pressed, or ground, various substances are mixed with them to give them an agreeable odor and pleasant taste.

Yet, however pleasant the manufacturer may make them as he rolls, presses, or grinds, he cannot take the poison out of them.  It remains in its brown covering to do much harm to those who may smoke the cigars, use the snuff, or chew the tobacco.

BLACKBOARD OUTLINE.

THE TOBACCO PLANT. 
NATIVE OF FOUND BY TAKEN TO GROWS IN THE America.  Columbus, 1492.  Portugal, Torrid and
1496. temperate zones. 
France, 1560. 
(About 50 species.) England, 1586.