The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-12-08

mIral Drake and by Sir Walter Raleigh to
England, where It did not Immediately meet
with such favor as it did In France. -.
There 1t soon became fashionable 70. use
snuff tobacco, and from the court OF
France the fashion soon spread all over
Europe.
The use Of tobacco, reduced to Its powdered
form. was altogether due to accident. AS the
leaves were very dry when received from
America and crumbling to powder. those
who first got possession OF 1t tested it's much
Wanted aroma by smelling the powder.
WAR AGAINST TOBACCO.
The first persons who used tobacco were
bitterly rdiculed, and as soon as it's use had
become pretty general it was the occasion and
pretext of the most stringent edicts and bitter
prosecutions on the part Of various HlOnarchs
and princes
James l Of England. established heavy i'm
posts on the plant, which was then Tia 1Gg4) ex-
tensvely imported from Virginia aud the
West Indies. These restrictions did not
prove quite efficient enough to the monarch,
who publicly declared that the tobacco plant
ought to be weeded out OF all soils as most
noxious weed" Perceiving that his subjects
were Indifferent to the royal prohibitions, rs
| well as deaf to his circumstances, he pub
lished, In 1919, his book, the Uisorapnos,
against smokers.
| IN ITALY.
Pope Urban VIII issued, In 1924, a. bull OF
accommodation against all those who used
tobacco within the church. In 1850 Pope In
nocent XII likewise re-edited the eame ex-
communication against all those who should
| take snuff or use tobacco while at church. In
order to better understand the prohibition as
applying to churches it is necessary to state
that the amateurs OF tobacco In Those days
were not provided with the article ready
ground as Il Is sold at present.
Every one carried his tobacco In small tin
or precious metal box and tube to which
was attached small rasp. When DESTROYS
| OF using his tobacco the amateur would draw
out OF his pocket the box. tube and rasp, and
rasp his tobacco from one end OF the tube In
which It protuded into the box. Hence q
noise which must have been quite detrimental
to the pious attention Of deuotees was pro-
duced by the operation, and this brought
upon the perpetrators the Illuminating pro-
| hibitiOns and enjoinmentS OF Church and
State.
| IN RUSSIA.
The Empress Elizabeth forbade the use Of
tobacco, under heavy penalties, anil an edct
| Of hers authorized all headles throughout the
Muscovite realm to seize from the offenders
| Even to this date the Raskoiniks. or "Old
| Believers OF Russia do not use tobacco and
are adverse to its use by any others: In fact,
decree Of the Cars previous to Elizabeth 8
used tobacco with the abrasion Of his nasal
appendage, the monarch judging that the
brutal suppression of the Offending organ, was
the best means to root ont the bad Aaba!
IN PERSIA
the Shah followed the example OF his mpe-
rial neighbor, and issued prohibitory de-
cree with the same penalty attached. And
IN TURKEY
Amurat Nv was not more lenient in his pro-
| hibitionary measures. 1t was upon his orders
that an unfortunate amateur wlts led through
the streets OF Constantinopls with q pipe
thrust through his nose.
IN AUSTRIA
the use of tobacco was introduced by the
troopers of the Swedish hero and conqueror,
prohibited by Piccolomini among his army !;
and In PENNSYLVANIA ducal ordinance, dated
1859, threatened with the loss Of all property
and chattels those who would plant tobacco
In their fields, and levied fine OF 300 flOrins
on all persons convicted OF having used to-
bacco.
IN HOLLAND AND GERMANY
tobacco was not subjected to the same bitter
prohibitions, and as early as in 1915 its Guilt
walton was begun by the Dutch, and about at
the same period In Germany.
IN SPAIN
tobacco was used In all its forms soon after
the first voyages OF columbus. In 1896 Dom
Romanus Panco, a Spanish monk who had
| accompanied Columbus In his voyages, pub
lished an account on the cultivation and uses
Of tobacco, which he desigIates under the
name OF Cohoba; but as his work fell into the
hands OF Dom BartOlomeO de la Camara,
Bishop OF Salamanca, Its reading was pro-
hibited in 1880, and an order was posted In the
churches forbidding the priests OF the diocese
from using any tobacco previous to mass
hours, and not any sooner than two hours
thereafter.
IN FRANCE
tobacco was not prohibited at all, and its cul-
tivation began in 1926, after the expedition Of
Nb,t n t<,t Ar,Ail
les, under the administration Of Cardinal dc
Richelieu.
DEFENsES OF TOBACCO.
With SO many enemies against it, 1t Is not
to be supposed that tobacco was left without
advocates Of its cause. The Jesuits Of Po
land, for instance. made o very exhaustive
and elaborate answer to the royal satires OF
James / Of England, which they published
under the title OF the -Misocdpnos, and
which was extensively circulated among the
adopts of TOBACCO, all over Europe. In 1923,
one Raphael Thaurus published a lengthy
poem in eulogy OF the prosecuted plant, and
dedicated his work, the Hym,sus TObaci to all
those who had suffered on its account. And
In 1915 Andrew Theret published his cosmo-
graphy of the plant; while Olivier de Series,
In his Theatre dApicalture, ranks 1t among
one of the most valuable plants known, and
this to the great satisfaction Of his King,
Henry Nv, and OF the Prime Minister Sully,
who had already taken measures to derive
OF the Kingdoms revenues.
DESCRIPTION.
The tobacco plant, Tdbdcum Nicotidnd, Is,
therefore, q proven native OF America whence
1t was imported, under It's actual name, to
Asia, Europe. Africa and Oeeanica, for cul-
tivation.
As If nature had foreseen its important
destinies, 1t has gifted it with extraordinarily
abundant resources to multiply and to pro-
pagate.
There Is no plant whose seeds are 50 album
dant as those OF the tobacco plant, on single
specimen Of which LinnRus counted Us many
as 40, 800 seeds. The seeds will moreover pre-
serve their terminating capacities for three
and four years, and the plant is susceptible Of
cultivation In the most varied OF soils and
climates, thriving as well almost In Canada
and Sweden as it does in our sunny South or
In the torrid zones.
The plant belongs to the order Of SoldnaceT,
and Is remarkable for It's wide green leaves
and their manner of spreading, from soil to
top, in an almost perfect conical progression.
VARIETIES.