Read Ebook: Tobacco; Its History Varieties Culture Manufacture and Commerce by Billings E R

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"The Cumanacoa, Tobacco de la Cueva, de los Misones, de la Laguna de Valencia cura seca and Caraco, de la Lagunade Valencia cura negro, de Oriluca, de Varinos cura seca, de Casovare, de Baylodores, de Rio Negro en Andull, are equal to the tobacco of the Brazils. The tobacco of the Cueva, in the department of Cumana, is said to be grown from the excrements of certain birds deposited by them in a cavity, from which the natives extract it: it is considered the finest tobacco in Colombia. The birds are a species of the owl.

"The leaf is left in this state for one or two months, and then made up for use. They never top their tobacco, and the leaves never ripen together. The mode adopted by the North American planters is somewhat different; they top their plants when they have eight full leaves, or they keep it suckered; and, by this means, the leaves are large and sappy.

"They cut off the stem at the ground, when ripe, and hang it on laths for one day and a night, with the leaves all hanging down; they then place it in their barns; and, when these are quite full, they smoke it for some days, and let it remain in that way until the stem, as well as the leaf, is quite dry; they then put it in a heap, and cover it up for market. They strip off the leaves, and pack them in hogsheads, and it is received in London."

SUMATRA TOBACCO.

Sumatra tobacco is one of the finest varieties cultivated, and commands in European markets the very highest prices. The plant is a vigorous grower, and produces large, fine leaves of most delicate odor. The leaf is of beautiful appearance, of almost a silky texture, and in color a rich brown. It is extensively used in the manufacture of cigars, and on the continent it frequently realizes as much as 5s. per pound for this purpose. It sells in London for from 3s. 6d. to 4s. per pound.

BRAZILIAN TOBACCO.

Brazil tobacco is grown chiefly in the valley of San Diego and San Francisco. The former being on the west side of the Brazilian mountains, and the latter on the east. The San Diego is the finest, and the following analysis of the San Diego of Brazil, and Vuelta de Abajo, will give one an idea of the soil of these famous tobacco lands:--

VUELTA DE ABAJO, CUBA. SAN DIEGO, BRAZIL.

The tobacco of Brazil is grown in the same manner as in other parts of South America. The planter raises two crops a year; curing for exportation as in Cuba or Venezuela. The plant grows to the height of about six feet, bearing leaves lanceolate in form, about thirty inches long, and from eight to twelve inches wide. The tobacco fields are very irregular. After it is cut it is placed on poles in the field, and afterwards carried to the drying sheds. It is gathered in the dry season in September. After curing, it is removed to the packing house and baled in packages, and then transported on mules to the coast for shipping. A large portion of the crop is shipped to Portugal. It is a dark maroon-colored leaf, and contains a large proportion of the nicotine oil. It is a high-flavored tobacco, and on this account is used for cigars and cutting.

Burton says of the tobacco of Brazil:

"The tobacco of the Rio de Pomba, especially the 'Fumo crespo,' is a dark strong leaf, well fitted for making 'Cavendish' or 'Honey-dew;' the weed flourishes throughout Minos Gerals. The soil will be much improved by compost; and the produce by being treated in Virginia style delicately dried in closed barns with fires."

VENEZUELAN TOBACCO.

The flavor is rich and mellow; a little more oily than Havana leaf. It is used for the manufacture of cigars. Orinoco tobacco makes very fine flavored cigars, burning freely, and leaving a pearl-colored ash; it is considered by the Venezuelans to be much better than any variety grown in South America. In cultivating it the planters use no fertilizers whatever, taking up new land as the old wears out. The crop is gathered first in May, and then in September.

PERSIAN TOBACCO.

Shiraz tobacco is a native of Persia, and is one of the finest varieties for the pipe to be found in the East. The plant differs from most varieties in the color of the flowers and the form of the leaves. It is not adapted for cigars as it does not readily ignite, and this variety together with Manilla, are known as non-burning tobaccos. After curing, the color is a light yellow, the flavor mild and not unlike Latakia and Turkish tobacco. The color of the flowers like those of Guatemala tobacco, is white, but in other respects nearly similar to other kinds.

AMERSFOORT TOBACCO.

This variety of tobacco is cultivated quite extensively in Holland, in the Veluwe . The plant is of good size and averages 1.580 kilos to the hectare. The cultivation is very carefully conducted on the richest soil. The leaf is very fine and is free from large fibres, fitting it for cigars. Large quantities are also used in the manufacture of snuff. The tobacco plant has been cultivated in Holland since its first introduction, with complete success, producing a variety for snuff unrivaled by any other tobacco grown in Europe.

In color Dutch tobacco is both dark and light; the former being used for snuff and the latter for cigars and cheroots.

ST. OMER TOBACCO.

The cultivation is most carefully watched, and the statistics available concerning it are of the minutest kind. Not only is the area of each field of tobacco accurately measured, but each plant is noted down, and even each leaf on each plant is accounted for. St. Omer is used chiefly for snuff, sometimes used with other kinds and is much esteemed by the French who consider it among the best of tobaccos.

HUNGARIAN TOBACCO.

This variety is attracting considerable attention, from the fact that it is well adapted for the manufacture of cigars. Like Connecticut seed leaf, the leaves are large and well suited for cigar wrappers. A considerable portion is adapted for other uses, and it is in some respects a good cutting tobacco. When in fine condition, Hungarian leaf burns freely and leaves a clean, light-colored ash. No variety of tobacco grown in Europe is attracting more notice than this, and if good leaf tobacco suitable for cigars can be grown, American tobacco will diminish in proportion. Hungarian tobacco is a favorite with the Italians, and large quantities are sold to the Italian monopoly to be used both for cigars and cutting.

SPANISH TOBACCO.

For several years the growers of tobacco in the Connecticut valley have directed their attention towards the production of a tobacco possessing all of the excellencies of both wrapper and filler; in other words, if possible securing a leaf of light color and fine texture and good flavor, so as to combine all of the desirable features and qualities of tobacco in one variety. Some few years since the Department of Agriculture at Washington distributed a variety of tobacco seed among the Connecticut tobacco growers known by the name of Spanish tobacco.

When cured the leaf is very fine and light of color, the stem and veins of the leaf are small, thus fitting it for a good wrapper as well as filler. If the tobacco growers in the Connecticut valley can succeed in raising this variety, they will produce a leaf tobacco much superior to the common variety known as seed leaf. Beyond all question a much finer flavored tobacco than Connecticut seed leaf can be grown, and still retain all of the excellencies of the latter, such as color, texture, and size of leaf.

TURKISH TOBACCO.

The tobacco of Turkey has been called by some enthusiastic smoker "the king of tobaccos," but whether it possesses this royal pre?minence over all other varieties must be decided by other than ourselves. That it is a fine smoking tobacco, no one can doubt that ever "put breath" to the favored pipe that contains the yellow shreds, but we should prefer by far to part with it rather than with its great rival, Havana tobacco.

The plant is not as large as many varieties, but grows up strong and flourishes well on account of the care and attention given it by the Turk and his family, as it is in all respects a family plant, and the flower garden is generally the tobacco field. Turkey tobacco ranges in color from brown to light yellow, the latter being the most in demand. This variety is similar in flavor to Latakia and Shiraz, and these three tobaccos, Persian, Syrian, and Turkish, are considered the finest and best adapted of all tobaccos for the pipe. The work of cultivating a field of Turkish tobacco is very tedious, as large quantities of water have to be carried to sprinkle upon the plants. The finest colored, a pale yellow leaf, brings "inflated" prices, but more often by others than the poor Turk who grows it.

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.

MANILLA TOBACCO.

This variety is one of the most celebrated grown in the East. It is used exclusively for the manufacture of cigars and cheroots, and supplies India and Spain with a vast quantity of the manufactured article. The plant is a strong, vigorous grower, bearing dark green leaves; coming forward rapidly under the careful culture bestowed upon the plants. After curing, the leaves show a variety of colors ranging from dark brown to light yellow or straw color. The leaf when cured, has a peculiar appearance unlike that of any other tobacco. It is of good body but smooth, and has the appearance of tobacco that has been 'frost-bitten.' The leaf is not as porous as most other tobaccos, and therefore does not as readily ignite, and frequently 'chars' in burning--thus giving it the name of a non-burning tobacco.

The plants are 'set' wide apart, and during the first two months are carefully cultivated, when the top is broken off and the leaves allowed to ripen. In some respects, Manilla tobacco is one of the best varieties of the plant cultivated, and were it not for its non-burning quality, it would have but few rivals among cigar tobaccos. We have thus, at some length, described nearly half of the varieties of tobacco now being cultivated. There are, however, others as well known and of equal value and favor. Some of these are of superior quality and of world-wide repute. Of those described, the varieties grown in the tropics are the most celebrated and of the finest flavor. As when first discovered, the tobaccos of the tropics command the highest prices, and possess qualities not easily transmitted when grown in a temperate clime.

TOBACCO HOUSES.

The drying houses or sheds for the curing and storing of tobacco are among the most interesting objects to be seen on the tobacco plantation. These sheds vary in size from a small structure capable of holding only a few thousand plants to the immense sheds with sufficient capacity for hanging the products of several acres. In the Connecticut valley, the Southern States, at the West, and in the Philippine Islands these tobacco sheds are often several hundred feet in length, built in the most substantial manner and provided with suitable side doors and ventilators for the free passage of air, and the most perfect system of ventilation. The most substantial and finest tobacco sheds are to be found in the Connecticut valley, which are provided with every convenience for hanging and taking down or "striking" the crop. Many of them are painted and adorned with a cupola, which serves the double purpose of an ornament and a ventilator for the hot air to pass off from the curing and heated plants. Formerly, the tobacco being harvested was hung in barns and sheds, used for storing grain and hay, and better adapted to other purposes than to that of a tobacco shed, where thorough ventilation is necessary to avoid sweat and pole-rot, attending upon the curing of the plants. Of late, tobacco growers, throughout the world, have paid considerable attention to the method of curing, and to erecting more suitable buildings for the purpose. At the South and West, the log tobacco barns are giving way to the more substantial frame buildings, and better facilities are employed for "firing" the tobacco in the sheds. Formerly, the tobacco sheds at the South looked more like the rude huts of the herders on the pampas of South America, than buildings devoted to the curing of tobacco. Tobacco barns and sheds are built of a great variety of material, and in various ways, according to the manner of building where the tobacco is grown. Thus in the Connecticut valley, such sheds or barns are large and commodious frame buildings; at the South and West, many of them are built of logs; in Cuba, of slabs covered with palm leaves or thatched. In Turkey, of stones covered with rough boards, and daubed with mud.

In selecting a site for the tobacco shed, not only should its proximity to the tobacco field be considered, but also the ground on which it is to be built. It should always be erected on dry ground, rather than upon moist, so that no dampness may arise and injure the leaves in curing. The tobacco shed should also be built on an elevated spot, so that a free circulation of air may be had, which is hardly possible if built on low ground or among trees or in the woods as at the South. This applies more particularly to sheds where the method of curing is by air-drying instead of by "firing" or by "flues." In New England the strongest timber, as oak, is used for building, as the weight of the plants before fully cured is immense. The shed is braced at every point and generally rests upon stone posts so as to allow a good circulation underneath the building. Poles are used for hanging, either round or sawed, when the plants are hung with twine; when hung on tobacco hooks, laths are used, the hooks attached to the lath; more frequently the plants are strung upon the laths without the aid of hooks, the lath passing through the center of the stalk an inch or two from the end. The doors lengthwise of the building are simply the outside boards hung on hinges, every second or third being chosen according to the ideas of curing entertained by the grower. Some planters are of the opinion that the plants need all the air that can be obtained, and keep the sheds open during both day and night, while others open the doors only now and then--closing during warm days, and during a storm. Sometimes the doors are hung on hinges at the top--opening but partially and not allowing as free circulation as when hung on the sides.

Another building of late has been built by the growers in the Connecticut valley, called a stripping house. This building is frequently attached to the shed or near by so that stripping may be performed during all kinds of weather, without danger of injuring the tobacco, or the health of the stripper. Such buildings however are needed only in tobacco sections where the cold is extreme during the winter, when most of the tobacco is to be stripped. The stripping room or house is provided with a stove, a long table, or elevated platform, in front of the windows, of which there should be several to admit plenty of light, and a number of chairs to accommodate the strippers. On the stove a kettle of water is kept constantly boiling or heated, the ascending steam of which keeps the leaves of tobacco from drying and consequently from cracking or breaking. When in condition for "striking" or taking down, the plants are carried to the stripping-room, and covered with boards and blankets, when the operation called stripping commences. Many of the stripping-rooms are built large enough to contain the cases after the tobacco is packed, thus answering a double purpose.

In Virginia and the other tobacco-growing states of the South, the tobacco barn is built altogether different, as the method of curing is by fires or flues instead of air curing. The height of the building is usually twice its width and length. In the center of the smooth earthen floor, is the trench for "firing," while around the sides of the building runs an elevated platform for placing the tobacco leaves in bulk; and, commencing at a safe distance from the trench, up to the top of the building, reach beams stretching across for the reception of the pine laths, from which are suspended the tobacco plants. Many of the tobacco sheds at the South, are built like those of New England, but many log structures are still to be seen and many planters prefer them to those made like other frame buildings. The old Virginia planters of a hundred years ago, built rough log sheds for housing the plants, which afforded little protection from wind and rain, which, in consequence, injured much of the tobacco hanging around the sides of the building. Tatham gives the following description of the "Tobacco house and its variety" in his work on tobacco.

"The barn which is appropriated to the use of receiving and curing this crop, is not, in the manner of other barns, connected with the farm yard, so that the whole occupation may be rendered snug and compact, and occasion little waste of time by inconsiderate and useless locomotion; but it is constructed to suit the particular occasion in point of size, and is generally erected in, or by the side of, each respective piece of tobacco ground; or sometimes in the woods, upon some hill or particular site which may be convenient to more than one field of tobacco. The sizes which are most generally built where this kind of culture prevails, are what are called forty-feet, and sixty-feet tobacco houses; that is, of these lengths respectively, and of a proportionate width; and the plate of the wall, or part which supports the eaves of the roof, is generally elevated from the groundsel about the pitch of twelve feet. About twelve feet pitch is indeed a good height for the larger crops; because this will allow four pitch each to three successive tiers of tobacco, besides those which are hung in the roof; and this distance admits a free circulation of air, and is a good space apart for the process of curing the plant. There are various methods in use in respect to the construction of tobacco houses, and various materials of which they are constructed; but such are generally found upon the premises as suffice for the occasion. And although these sizes are most prevalent, yet tobacco houses are in many instances built larger or smaller according to the circumstances of the proprietor, or the size of the spot of ground under cultivation.

"The most ordinary kinds consist of two square pens built out of logs of six or eight inches thick, and from sixteen to twenty feet long. Out of this material the two pens are formed by notching the logs near their extremities with an axe; so that they are alternately fitted one upon another, until they rise to a competent height; taking care to fit joists in at the respective tiers of four feet space, so that scaffolds may be formed by them similar to those heretofore described to have been erected in the open field, for the purpose of hanging the sticks of tobacco upon, that they may be open to a free circulation of air during this stage of the process. These pens are placed on a line with each other, at the opposite extremes of an oblong square, formed of such a length as to admit of a space between the two pens wide enough for the reception of a cart or wagon. This space, together with the two pens, is covered over with one and the same roof, the frame of which is formed in the same way as the walls by notching the logs aforesaid, and narrowing up the gable ends to a point at the upper extremity of the house, termed the ridge pole. The remaining part of the fabric consists of a rough cover of thin slabs of wood, split first with a mall and wedges, and afterwards riven with an instrument or tool termed a froe. The only thing which then remains to be done, is to cut a door into each of the pens, which is done by putting blocks or wedges in betwixt the logs which are to be cut out, and securing the jambs with side pieces pinned on with an anger and wooden pins. The roof is secured by weighing it down with logs; so that neither hammer, nails, brick, or stone, is concerned in the structure; and locks and keys are very rarely deemed necessary.

"The second kind of tobacco houses differ somewhat from these, with a view to longer duration. The logs are to this end more choicely selected. The foundation consists of four well hewn groundsels, of about eight by ten inches, leveled and laid upon cross sawed blocks of a larger tree, or upon large stones. The corners are truly measured, and squared diamond-wise, by which means they are more nicely notched in upon each other; the roof is fitted with rafters, footed upon wall plates, and covered with clap-boards nailed upon the rafters in the manner of slating. In all other respects this is the same with the last mentioned method; and both are left open for the passage of the air between the logs.

"The third kind is laid upon a foundation similar to the second; but instead of logs, the walls are composed of posts and studs, tenoned into the sells, and braced; the top of these are mounted with a wall-plate and joists; upon these come the rafters; and the whole is covered with clap-boards and nails, so as to form one uninterrupted oblong square, with doors, etc., termed, as heretofore, a forty, sixty, or one hundred feet tobacco house, etc.

"The fourth species of these differs from the third only in the covering, which is generally of good sawed feather-edged plank; in the roof, which is now composed of shingles; and in the doors and finishing, which consist of good sawed plank, hinged, &c. Sometimes this kind are underpinned with a brick or stone wall beneath the groundsels; but they have no floors or windows, except a plank or two along the sides to raise upon hinges for sake of air, and occasional light: indeed, if these were constructed with sides similar to the brewery tops in London, I think it would be found advantageous. In respect to the inside framing of a tobacco house, one description may serve for every kind: they are so contrived as to admit poles in the nature of a scaffold through every part of them, ranging four feet from centre to centre, which is the length of the tobacco stick, as heretofore described; and the lower ties should be so contrived as to remove away occasionally, in order to pursue other employments at different stages in the process of curing the crop."

In Ohio, the tobacco barns are built in a manner similar to those in Virginia; constructed of logs and provided with trenches for fires in curing the tobacco. The tobacco sheds for hanging the tobacco cured by air-drying, are built of the same material without trenches, as smoke is not employed in curing "seed-leaf" tobacco. The sheds for both kinds of curing tobacco are large structures, varying in size according to the area of tobacco planted. Sometimes the sheds are built near the woods where fuel can be procured, and in the immediate vicinity of the tobacco field. The tobacco houses are built in the strongest manner and of the most durable material, and are well fitted for the purpose designed. In the counties bordering the Ohio River, where a large quantity of tobacco is raised, the tobacco sheds are to be seen on every hand, the smoke issuing from the sides of the building, giving a stranger the idea of a burning building rather than the curing of a great staple.

The following account of constructing tobacco barns in Missouri, is from a St. Louis paper:

"We believe in small barns for any kind of curing. A house built 16 feet inside and divided into four rooms and six tier high in the body is the preferable size for flue or coal curing. For flues they should be built on a very slightly sloping place; just enough to make the flues draw well. Flues four inches lower at the eye than the chimney will be slope enough. The door should always be between the flues and in the end of the house, to prevent the drip from falling before the door and the eye of the flues. The tiers should begin eight feet above the ground and be placed two feet above each other to the top. They should be placed across the house so that the roof tier can conveniently be placed above them. The door, three feet wide and six feet high, furnished with a good, close shutter. A barn of this size will cure 800 sticks of common size tobacco, which will weigh about 1200 lbs. The proper construction of flues is of great importance; they should be built of any stone that will stand fire without bursting. White sand-stone, bastard soap-stone, or any other that does not contain flint. The size of a flue for a sixteen foot barn, is generally about 12 inches wide by 14 inches high inside. Not much care need be taken to have them smooth on the outside. If stone can be had to make the inside smooth so as not to obstruct the putting on of wood, it is all that is necessary. They should be run just far enough from the house-side not to set the house on fire, and there is not as much danger of this as may be supposed. Run the walls of the house-side all around, running the stem out at the middle of the upper side. The stem should be run far enough above the wall of the house to avoid danger of sparks from the chimney. The height of the inside of the flue should be preserved its whole length. The width may be slightly decreased from the elbow to the chimney. The inner wall is carried all around. But too much explanation bewilders; we think we have said enough. As before said, we like small barns; where too much tobacco is together, it all can not receive the heat alike, which is our main objection to large barns. As to the number of barns necessary, we would say that there ought to be enough to receive all the crop without moving any. Say one sixteen-foot barn to every 8,000 hills of tobacco planted. As a general rule, plant one thousand hills for every hundred sticks house-room. That is, if you have three barns plant 24,000 hills, and if it is common tobacco, they will receive it. A much larger quantity may be saved in this number of barns by curing and moving out, but it is very troublesome."

TOBACCO CULTURE.

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