The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-12-08
AGRICULTURE.
ruE PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURAL
KNOWLEDGE.
rsbaceo Origin, History, Varieties. etc.
BY r. ARMANT.

There ID no extent OF knowledge, especially
In the science Of agriculture, which as IL pro
rresses will not bear its practical fruits. tx
perience has shown US In Louisiana that the
best farmers after all, and the only succassfu
planters OF the day, are the farmers and
planters who read, who inv stgate, who keep
apace with the advance Of knowledge abroad
n and at home In the branches Of their avoca-
tion.
Besides facts OF immediate practical bear
Ing, there Is much valuable acquisition de-
rived from information on corollary matters.
These tendencies to study the great science
are quite recent, however, and 1t is not with
mt interest TO note the march OF the worlds
knowledge ofplants.
IN THE BIBLE,
for instance, about 100 plants are alluded to;
H,ppocrates mentions 1874, Theophrastus 500,
and Pliny 800. After these authors there was
but scanty addition made to the average
knowledge Of the world in that special field,
not until the fifteenth century Of our era,
when Gesnard enumerated 900 plants. and
when, some few years after him, Bauhin de-
scribed COCO.
In 1894 Tournefort had recognized 10 LAG
species but LinnRus, In the century follow
Ing, and working with more accuracy and
care, defined but 1891
At the beginning OF the
NINETEENTH CENTURY
PERSONS described, In 1905, list OF $4,000
species, comprising numerous minute fungi !;
and, In 1919, De Candolle estimated the
known species at 10000.
Loudon soon followed these and gave his
nomenclature, In 1889, Of 1.731 species, and in
1876 Prof. Lindley had enumerated 6s435 d.
cotyledons and 1882 mono-cotyledons. a total
Of 8O,3s7.
From miscellaneous sources the general in
formation had increased In 1853 to the knowl-
edge Of 92,920 species. and In 1868 Bentley
closes our list Of Investigators with his esti-
mate OF the known species Of plants at $4,000.
OUR TASK.
When we turn from these figures and con-
slider the progress OF both the practical art
and the science of agriculture In the United
States, we can safely assert that 1t pays to
learn, that IL Is remunerative to search, and
that there is no manner form nor extent of
investigation which will not bear Its beneficial
fruits.
The knowledge OF. any one plant and OF its
apparent peculiarities and characteristics
are not the sole subjects that should attract
our attention.
Any information as to It's origin. Its various
uses, adaptabilities, etc, are also essentially
useful to the farmer. who may then better
protect, assimilate or modify the plant to his
uses, to his land, or to his climate and market
facilities.
As we have excessively studied the origin.
etc.. Of the sugar-cane, OF rice, corn and cotton,
we find next In Importance as an American
product
The name OF the plant Is derived from its
designation in the language OF the Indians
who inhabited Mexico at the time Of the'ds-
Covery.
Some authors have ascribed the name to a
different origin, claiming that as the plant
was first found by the Spaniards In Tabago
they gave 1t that name. Others have ad-
yanced that 1t was named after Tabasco,
where Cortez fought his first battle against
the Indians, among whom he found the plant
was extensively used for smoking and medi-
Cinal purposes.
But these assertions are contradcted by
testimony OF a more respectable source, by
Bishop Las Casas.
According to the journal Of Christopher
Columbus, when he first landed in Cuba In
1892 (Octoberl, he sent two men OF his crew to
explore the shore and country In sight. ION
their way to the Interior, these men met great
number OF Indians men and women, many
of whom held kind Of reed one end OF which
was ignited, and from the other end Of which
they breathed q thick smoke, according to
their long established custom, said they"
q m than Guf tn I'm
Cortez was not the first dscoverer Of tobacco,
and that he did not give It's name which was
known among the Spaniards previous TO his
conquest
Now we find In the memoirs Of Bishop Las
Casas the first missionary Of the Christian
faith In America, that the Indians of Mexico
smoked a sort Of tube, or hollow reed which
were stuffed with the dried leaves Of a plant
tube was called a tabaco by these Indians.
The Spaniards continued, as the Indians to
give the article IN its smoking form, the name
OF tabaco, and by extension this was gradu-
ally substituted In lieu OF the Indian word
petun and applied also to the plant itself.
The Spaniards were the first people In
Europe to know anything about the use and
cultivation Of tobacco. In 1913 CorteZ sent
some tobacco seeds to the Emperor Charles
Quint, but 1t was only forty years later that
land. ' ''' 1890 80 80
In the isles of South Seas the natives use
tobacco quite extensively and designate 1t by
that name. but. contrary to. some assertions
made, we do not share the opinion which
would make the plant native Of those re-
gions. AS its more Spanish-lke designa-
ton brought so far implies, 1t must have
been introduced there by the 'early Spanish
navigators Quiros and Magellan, from whom
the natives received the plant and its name.
VARIOUS NAMES OF TOBACCO.
The botanical name nicotiana under which
tobacco is usually mentioned Is derived from
Jean Nic0t, French ambassador to the Court
1860. %
Being In Lisbon, Jean Nicot met a Flemish
merchant who was on his return from America
and who presented him some leaves and seeds
OF the tobacco plant and gave him information
IS TO Its uses and cultivation among the
indians and colonists of the New World
The ambassador sent some of these speci-
mems to the Queen Regent, Catherine de
Medicis, In Paris, where it was thereafter
designated as Nicotiand Tdbdc,tm The other
names given to the plant in various countries,
at that time, were