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.
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