The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1889-08-22
on this most appropriate occasion. We


read that
The generic name of this plant is Nico-
| tianna tabacum, which name it takes from
Jean Nicot, French ambassador to Portu-
gal. who in 1860 sent the seeds from Lisbon
to France as those OF highly valuable
medicinal plant
The common name tobacco, we learn
from the same authority, comes from to-
bago or Tobacco, the native term used in
Santo Domingo. for the pipe through which
| the smoke OF the burning leaves is inhaled.
1t is interesting to know that the name
| ny which this great narcotic is known to
the millions who use it comes from the
name OF the pipe through which it is
smoked. There are about fifty species of
tobacco, and it may interest some here,
VINO are SO we'll acquainted with yellow
tobacco: to know that there is a species
their green color, and hence it is called
green tobacco. This species is said to be
earlier and more hardy than the yellow
kind, and is cultivated in Canada, North
ern Germany, Sweden, Russia and various
Eastern countries the Turkish, Hungarian
ana Latakla tObaccOs are of this kind.
Tobacco is grown very largely in China,
Japan, Persia and other countries of the
East, and has become naturalized to such
an extent that it has been said to be of
Eastern origin, but Alphonse de Candolle.
after studying the whole subject, declares
discovery of America
'' 1t was first cultivated in Europe i'm the
early part Of the sixteenth century. 1t was
raised in France in 1872 a box full of the
powdered leaves having been sent to Cath
erlne de Medici, who acquired taste for
It, and it was for long time called the
Queens plant-'herbe de la reine.'"
We read that there is a mighty river
flowing through the ocean whose waters
are warm, and in color an indigo blue,
that SO distinctly are they marked that
their line of junction with the common sea
water may be distinguished by the eye"
AS the Gulf stream may be distinguished
from the waters through which it flows
from its fountain head in the Gulf of Mex
leo. even unto its mouth in tho Arctic seas,
Golden Tobacco Belt of North Carolina,
may be distinguished by those who are ac-
quainted with it, from the immenSity of
tobacco by which it is surrounded and of
which it forms part.
In regard to the effect of tobacco upon
the system, there can be no doubt, but that
the weight of scientific and medical Opin.
ion is, that it is not injurious, but very ben
efcial in many surgical and medical treat
! mentS.
To the majOrity of mankind tobacco has
become as much necessity as tea, coffee
and any one OF an hundred articles that
might be named, and which are deemed
neceSSaries.
1t will not do to say it is not necessity
because men can do without it. Man can do
without everything except bread and water
l read not long since that Thomas De
Quincy in his Confessions Of an Opium
Eater eulogized the effects of his favOrite
drug. opium, while as yet he felt not its
woes, and spoke of ecstacies having become
portable, that they might be corked in a
pint bottle; that happiness might be
bought for penny and carried in the
I oScf0n bot
might be sent down by the mail coach"
All lovers of tobacco, and especially
those who have suffered for the want of it,
De Quincy
The sailor sits on the deck of the gallant
ship as she plOughs her way through the
dark blue sea-" and in the billowy
clouds of smoke that curl upward from his
pipe (Which if he is wise is of course filled
with Durham smoking tObacco) forgets for
awhile the tolls and terrOrs of the mighty
deep" and in sweetest dreams clasps again
to his heart the loved ones far away i'm the
vine clad cottage on the shore. The war
rlOr, the scholar, the artist, the mechanic,
the agriculturist and the professional man,
all draw from tobacco much quieting of
racked and weary nerves, much sweet OBJ
liviOn, much SurceaSe of sorrow.
The dominion of this king is coextensive
with the habitation of civilized man. 1t
preSideS with the same supreme power
amid its witnesses of South Africa and on
Asia's fiery plains, as in Europe and in
North and South America. Says DR..
Chapman:
Everywhere its powers are felt and its
destinations acknowledged. The Arab cul-
tivates it in his burning desert and the lap
lander risks his life to procure it amid his
eternal SHOWS.
No privation is too severe for the sea
man or soldier while he commands this
luxury, and but few dangers too great for
him to brave in order to obtain it"
TOBACCO VETERANS PRESENT.
What splendid division of the army of
those who are struggling to supply part of
the worlds demand for tobacco, I see
gathered here to-day.
We have represented here more labor
more experience, more capital, and more
than could be shown by any other territory
in the world perhaps, though double the
area of the Golden Belt
l congratulate myself that l have the
honor of addressing such veterans in the
tobacco cause, as see here, many of whom
by pluck and endurance and heroic effort
have arisen from the ranks and have be-
come generals, while others wear upon
their bOsoms the star of the Legion of Sue
cess.
l salute w. Duke, Sons & Co., whose
cigarette standard floats over the world
unequalled and supreme and j. S. Carr,
President of the Blackwell Tobacco Com
pany, the largest smoking tobacco factory
upon which the suns rays fall in his course
around the globe then as the Planet Mer-
curry attracted the attention of the astro-
nomic world, notwithstanding his close
proximity to the dazzling brilliancy of the
suns disk. so the r. L. Faucet Tobacco
Company, the Whitfield Tobacco Company,
the Corbett- Christian Tobacco Company
and the Z. l. Lyon Tobacco Company will
soon, if they have not already, attract the
attention of the tobacco world notwith-
standing their proximity to the mammoth
factories of Duke and Carr. We see here
also the owners Of the gigantic warehouses
of Durham and Henderson, Parrish, Lock
hart, D. Y. Cooper, E. Il. Butler, W. II.
jenkins, Owen Davis, John ID. Cooper, the
gentlemanly and efficient manager of the
mammoth stemmery of Allen & Ginter,
and Harris, GOoch & Company, and the
dealers whose name Is legion. l salute
them one and all Truly it is good sight
for the eye to rest upon.
THANK GOD THAT HE MADE OUR SOIL TO
PRODUCE THE GOLDEN TOBACCO.
1t is said that "when Linnaeus the IA
nous bOtanist first saw the gOrse in bloom,
he kissed and embraced it, and was trans
ported with JOY"
And we read that "when a certain gre at
traveller and explorer in Africa first saw the
gOya lily in flower, 1t was SO inexpreSs-
IDLY sweet, so indescribably beautiful-a
single dazzling arch of white, fourteen
inches in diameter, enclosing another cup
| of richest velvetry crimson, from the heart
of which rises a golden stamen-he fell on
his knees and thanked God for having
created such sweet and surprisingly
lovely flower"
! My friends, may we not tn nix God too
| for having made our soil ca nabie of pro-