Part 5

The cultivation of tobacco is carried on to great extent in several parts of North America. The seed, mixed with ashes on account of its smallness, is sown a little before the beginning of the rainy season; and, in order the better to cover it, the beds are raked over or trampled upon. In about a fortnight the young plants begin to appear, and, as soon as they have four leaves, they are drawn up and transplanted in lines, and about three feet asunder, into the tobacco field. Here they are kept clear of weeds; and, as soon as they have eight or nine leaves each, the tops are nipped off to make the leaves grow thicker and longer. When the plants are full grown, and the leaves are become somewhat brittle, they are cut with a knife close to the ground. They are suffered to lie upon the ground for a little while, after which they are carried to the drying shed, where they are hung by pairs upon lines or ropes. When perfectly dry, the leaves are stripped from the stalks, and made into small bundles tied round with another leaf. These bundles are laid in heaps, and covered with blankets for about seven days to heat; after which they are closely stowed in casks for exportation.

The name of tobacco was given to this article from its having been originally brought into Europe from Tobago, or Tabago, an island in the Bay of Panama, near the coast of America.

To the American Indians the use of tobacco has been known for many centuries; and the practice of _smoking_ it is common to almost all the tribes. Tobacco forms a part of every entertainment; and, in the intervals of hunting, sleeping, and eating, it occupies no small portion of their time. In many of their religious ceremonies tobacco is used; and instances have occurred in which they have taken it in such quantity that death has ensued.

The custom of smoking is understood to have been first introduced into England, by Sir Walter Raleigh, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and a ludicrous story has often been told respecting it: that Sir Walter having directed a servant to bring him a jug of water, the man, at his return into the room, found him smoking, and, alarmed at seeing his master apparently on fire, threw the whole contents of the jug into his face to quench it.

So extensive has this nauseous practice now become, especially in Holland and Germany, that it constitutes a daily luxury with nearly all the peasantry of those countries, as well as with the more indolent and wealthy classes of the inhabitants. To many constitutions it is very injurious. When first begun, it occasions vomiting, intoxication, and other unpleasant effects. These however, by repetition, are discontinued, though its stupifying qualities are never entirely overcome.

Another form under which tobacco is used, is that of _snuff_. The basis of snuff is tobacco powdered; but many other matters are added, to give it a peculiar smell, or to impart pungency to it. When first applied to the nose, snuff excites sneezing, but, by repetition, this entirely ceases. The practice of taking snuff has, in some instances, been found injurious to the smell and the voice; it has been attended with loss of memory, and by symptoms of a weakened or debilitated state of the nervous system.

But there is no mode of using tobacco so disgusting, to persons unaccustomed to it, as chewing. By the labouring classes, and particularly by mariners, this practice is chiefly followed, from a notion, though apparently a very erroneous one, that it will prevent the return of hunger, and, in some degree, supply a lack of food.

Though all these are disgusting as practices, there is no doubt, but, medicinally, they may be attended with good effects. By smoking and chewing, tooth-ach has often been relieved; and some persons consider the former a means of guarding against contagion. The occasional and moderate use of snuff has, in several cases, been found beneficial, particularly in head-achs, and in diseases of the eyes and ears. Infusions of tobacco are sometimes administered in medicine, but this drug is principally given in the form of a vinous or watery infusion. Tobacco is a powerful medicine, and requires to be used with great caution. The smoke of this herb, when blown against noxious insects, destroys them, and is the means which gardeners adopt for ridding hot-houses and green-houses of such as infest their plants.

The tobacco plant is sufficiently hardy to sustain the rigour of an European climate, and is cultivated in several parts of Spain and Portugal. As however, on importation, it pays a heavy tax to government, the culture of it in this country is restricted, by the legislature, to half a rod of ground in _physic gardens_; and if this be exceeded the cultivator is liable to a penalty of ten pounds for every rod.

The different kinds of tobacco and snuff are attributable rather to the difference of climate and soil in which the plants have been grown, and to the different modes of management and manufacture, than to any essential distinction in the plants from which they are manufactured.

66. _DEADLY NIGHTSHADE_ (Atropa belladonna) _is an extremely poisonous plant, which grows in hedges and waste grounds, in several parts of England, and has somewhat oval leaves of dull green colour, purple bell-shaped flowers, and shining black berries, each about the size of a small cherry._

There is no British plant so injurious in its effects on the human frame as this; and the alluring appearance and sweetish taste of the _berries_ have, in many instances, particularly with children, been succeeded by the most fatal consequences. It is true that some persons have been known to eat three or four of them without injury; but in others a single berry, and even the half of one, has occasioned death. The _leaves_ are more powerful than the berries. The usual symptoms of this poison are a deep and deadly stupor, giddiness, delirium, great thirst, retching, and convulsions. A draught of vinegar, and keeping the patient constantly in motion, are said to be the best means of cure.

Some writers have supposed it was the deadly nightshade which produced those strange and dreadful effects that are described by Plutarch to have been experienced by the Roman soldiers, under the command of Antony, during their retreat from the Parthians:--"Their distress for provisions was so great that they were compelled to eat of plants unknown to them. Among others, they found an herb of which many ate; these, shortly afterwards, lost their memory and their senses, and wholly employed themselves in turning over all the stones they could find; then, being seized with vomiting, they fell down dead."

The _leaves_ of the deadly nightshade have sometimes been used externally, and with good effect, in cases of cancer; and in ulcers and tumours of different kinds. They are likewise given, internally, in infusion; but the sufferings of the patient, however small the dose may be, are so dreadful that few practitioners like to resort to them.

67. _POTATOE_ (Solanum tuberosum) _is a well known edible root, which was originally imported into this country from America._

No root with which we are acquainted is so valuable to mankind in temperate climates, as the potatoe. In some countries, particularly in Ireland, it forms a most important article of food to the lower classes of inhabitants. By the English peasantry the potatoe is by no means esteemed as it deserves. In addition to its value for culinary uses, it might, in a very essential degree, be made to serve as a substitute for bread. If duly prepared, and mixed with a nearly equal portion of wheat flour, it may even be made into loaves. A kind of cheese may be made, by reducing potatoes to the consistence of paste, adding an equal quantity of the curd from which cheese is made, with a little salt and some other ingredients, mixing the whole together, and forming them in moulds. The Germans prepare a favourite dish by slicing boiled potatoes and pouring over them the same kind of sauce which is used for salads, and mixing anchovies with them.

These roots afford an excellent food for horses and cattle; and it is said that bullocks will fatten on them more speedily than on cabbages or turnips. Potatoes are likewise serviceable for the fattening of hogs; but, for a little while before these are killed, it is requisite to use barley meal in addition, as otherwise the fat of the bacon is liable to boil away in the cooking. In the use of potatoes as food, it is requisite to prepare them in some manner by heat, as otherwise they are both unpalatable and poisonous.

A kind of brandy was formerly distilled from potatoes; but this has been forbidden by the legislature. Starch may be made from potatoes, by the simple process of scraping them in water, and well washing the pulp: the starch settles to the bottom of the vessel, in a heavy and closely connected sediment. This starch is of use for the same purposes as starch prepared from wheat: it is also valuable as a size; which, unlike the size produced from animal substances, does not easily putrefy, and has no disagreeable smell. Bakers in Germany, by the addition of calcined oyster shells and burnt hartshorn, convert the pulp of potatoes into yeast. The _stalks_ or haulm of potatoes are capable of being made into paper. They are also of considerable utility as manure. The _apples_, or seed-vessels, may be usefully employed as a pickle: and, if properly prepared, they are said to be even more palatable than cucumbers.

There are numerous varieties of the potatoe. Of these the most remarkable are the different kinds of _kidney potatoes_, the _Aylesbury white_, and _Altringham early white_, which are chiefly grown for the table; the _ox noble_, _Irish purple_, and _red potatoes_, which are adapted for fodder.

This valuable root was originally imported from America, about the beginning of the seventeenth century. The inhabitants of Ireland assert that it was first introduced into that country, by the accidental wreck, upon their coast, of a vessel which was laden with potatoes and freighted for England.

The usual mode of planting potatoes is by cutting the roots into pieces, reserving one eye or bud to each division, and setting these in the earth. They will succeed in any tolerable soil; but they flourish most luxuriantly in light sandy loams. The proper time for digging them up is during dry weather in autumn, when the leaves and stems begin to decay. When cultivated on a small scale, they are usually dug with a three pronged fork; but when raised in fields, where this process would be too tedious, they are turned up by a plough.

68. _CAPSICUMS are South American and Indian plants easily known by their hollow pods, of shining red or yellow colour, which contain many small, flat, and kidney-shaped seeds._

_The principal species are, Heart or Bell pepper_ (_Capsicum grossum_), _Guinea pepper_ (_Capsicum annuum_, Fig. 12), _and Bird pepper_ (_Capsicum baccatum_).

All the species of capsicum possess the same general qualities. In hot climates, but particularly in the East and West Indies, and some parts of Spanish America, the fruit of these plants is much used for culinary purposes. It is eaten in large quantities, both with animal and vegetable food; and is mixed, in greater or less proportion, with almost all kinds of sauces.

_Cayenne pepper_ is made from the fruit of different species of capsicum. This fruit, when ripe, is gathered, dried in the sun, and then pounded; and the powder is mixed with a certain portion of salt, and kept, for use, in closely stopped bottles. Of late years Cayenne pepper has been introduced into most of the countries of Europe; and it is now very generally used as a poignant ingredient in soups and highly seasoned dishes. Its taste is extremely acrid, and it leaves a durable sensation of heat on the palate, which is best removed by butter or oil. When taken in small quantity, cayenne pepper is a grateful stimulant; and, in medicine it is used, both externally and internally, to promote the action of the bodily organs when languid or torpid; and it is said to be found efficacious in many gouty and paralytic cases.

69. _The GUINEA PEPPER, or ANNUAL CAPSICUM_ (Fig. 12), _is a slender herbaceous plant, with smooth leaves, white flowers, single flower stalks, and smooth, shining fruit of oblong shape, and usually of red and yellow colour._

This plant is a native both of the East and West Indies, and is considered the most hardy of the whole tribe of capsicum. In many parts of the South of Europe, its _fruit_ is eaten green by the peasants at their breakfasts, and is preferred by them to onions or garlic. The fruit of all the species may be rendered useful in domestic economy, either as a pickle, or as cayenne pepper. For the latter, it may be dried before a fire, and ground to powder in a common pepper-mill.

70. _The BUCK-THORN_ (Rhamnus catharticus) _is a spinous shrub, which grows in thickets and hedges, and has clusters of small green flowers, globular black berries, and somewhat oval leaves, serrated at the edge._

About the month of September the berries of the buck-thorn begin to ripen; and, if these are bruised when perfectly ripe, they yield a green tint. They are made into the _sap-green_ which is used by painters in water-colours, by evaporating their juice to the consistence of a gum. From the juice of the unripe berries, mixed with alum, a yellow dye is obtained, which is employed by dyers, and also for staining maps or paper. If the fruit be gathered late in the autumn the juice is purple. The _syrup_ of buck-thorn berries is sometimes used in dropsies and other complaints, though there are objections to it from its occasioning sickness and griping. The berries have a faint disagreeable smell, and a nauseous bitter taste. It is not unusual to mix with, or substitute for them, the fruit of the berry-bearing alder, and of the dog-berry tree. The fraud is, however, easily detected on examination; for the buck-thorn berries have each four seeds, which the others have not.

The _inner bark_ of the buck-thorn is said to yield a medicine preferable to that afforded by the berries, but it is an extremely powerful one.

71. _NUX VOMICA, or VOMIC NUT, is a round, flat seed, about an inch in diameter, of greyish brown colour, and horny consistence, the produce of a tree_ (Strychnos nux vomica) _which grows in the East Indies._

_The tree is of large size, and has somewhat oval leaves, in pairs, each marked with three or five strong ribs. The young branches have swelled joints. The flowers are in a kind of umbels at the extremity of the branches._

The _fruit_ which produces the vomic nut is a species of berry, about the size of a small apple, and covered with a hard substance somewhat resembling that of the pomegranate (154), and of beautiful orange colour when ripe. This fruit is filled with a pulp which contains the seeds.

There is so great a consumption of nux vomica, that the quantity vended at the East India Company's sales, in 1808, was about five tons' weight, and its price about nineteen shillings per hundred weight, exclusive of the duty. It is imagined that public brewers sometimes use this drug in the adulteration of ale and porter, for the purpose of rendering it more intoxicating than it otherwise would be.

It is employed for the destruction of vermin; and is said to be quickly fatal to dogs, foxes, wolves, and most other quadrupeds. When pounded and mixed with oatmeal, it is used for the killing of rats. Yet deleterious as this drug is, it has lately been employed on the Continent, as a medicine of great efficacy, in spasmodic affections of the bowels, and some other complaints; but its administration ought only to be attempted by medical men.

An extract of nux vomica has lately been imported from India; but it is not generally known for what purpose.

72. _The TEAK-TREE_ (Tectonia grandis) _is a valuable species of timber, which grows in the forests of the East Indies._

_This tree attains the height of fifty feet and upwards. Its leaves are somewhat oval, slightly scalloped, rough on the upper side, and clad with a white down beneath; and its flowers are in bunches, small, white, and fragrant._

For the building of ships, teak-wood is esteemed superior to every kind of timber except oak. It is said to be almost incorruptible in water; and its bitterness preserves it from the attack of worms. For all the purposes of carpentry, teak is the most useful timber that is produced in Asia. It is easily wrought, and is peculiarly strong and durable. That which grows on the coast of Malabar is considered the best; but the greatest quantity is obtained from Pegu. The former is nearly all hill timber, whereas the latter is the produce of a low and flat country. In India much of the furniture is made of teak wood.

The attention of government has of late been called to the cultivation of this timber; and great encouragement is now given to an extensive propagation of it. In the present scarcity of oak timber in England, the increase of teak in the East is become an object of importance to the prosperity of our navy. Its culture has also been recommended in our West Indian islands, the climate and soil of which are considered nearly similar to those of its native country.

73. _MANGOS, as they are imported into this country, are the unripe fruit of an East Indian tree_ (Mangifera Indica) _pickled in vinegar._

_The mango tree grows to a great size, and has spear-shaped leaves, each eight or nine inches long, and two inches wide. The flowers spring, in a loose kind of bunch, from the extremity of the stems._

The _fruit_ of this tree, when ripe, is as large as a goose's egg, and is much esteemed in India, on account of its invigorating odour; which, it is imagined, will restore health to persons in a declining state. Beneath its rough shell there is a kernel, similar to that of the almond, which may be eaten either fresh or preserved. From the expressed juice of this fruit the Indians prepare a kind of wine. When intended for pickling, the fruit is gathered in an unripe state. An imitation of mangos is made in our own country with a particular sort of melon. A small square piece is cut from the side of the melon, through which the seeds are taken out. It is then filled with mustard seeds and shred garlic, and afterwards pickled with vinegar and spices. Large cucumbers are sometimes prepared as mangos.

74. _RED CURRANTS are the fruit of a well known shrub_ (Ribes rubum), _which is cultivated, in gardens; and which also grows wild in woods or thickets of some of the northern parts of England. Its bunches are smooth and pendant; and its flowers are flattish._

The utility of this fruit in domestic economy has long been established. Its _juice_, if boiled with an equal weight of loaf sugar, forms an agreeable substance, called _currant jelly_, which is much employed in sauces and for other culinary purposes; and also in the cure of sore throats and colds. The French frequently mix currant jelly with sugar and water, as a beverage; and, by many persons, this mixture is preferred to orgeat or lemonade. The juice of currants is a valuable remedy in obstructions of the bowels; and, in febrile complaints, it is useful on account of its readily quenching thirst, and for its cooling effect on the stomach. This juice, fermented with a proper quantity of sugar, becomes a palatable wine, which is much improved by keeping; and which, with care, may be kept for twenty years and upwards. Modes of making this, as well as other British wines, are to be found in all the domestic receipt books.

The _inner bark_, boiled with water, is a popular remedy in jaundice; and, by some medical men, it has been administered in dropsical complaints.

_White_ and _flesh-coloured currants_ have, in every respect, the same qualities as the red species.

75. _BLACK CURRANTS are the fruit of a garden shrub_ (Ribes nigrum) _which is distinguished by having its bunches hairy and its flowers oblong._

The berries of the black currant shrub are larger than those of the red; and, in some parts of Siberia, are said to attain the size of a hazel nut. They are occasionally made into wine, jelly, and rob or syrup. The two latter are frequently employed in the cure of sore throats; and, from the great use of black currants in quinsies, they have sometimes been denominated _squinancy_ or _quincy berries_.

The leaves are fragrant, and have been recommended for their medicinal virtues. An infusion of them, in the manner of tea, is very grateful, and, by many persons, is preferred to tea. The tender leaves tinge common spirits so as to resemble brandy; and an infusion of the young _roots_ is useful in fevers of the eruptive kind.

Black currant trees grow wild in wet hedges, and near the banks of rivers, in several parts of Norfolk. The _dried currants_ of the shops do not belong to this family, but are a small kind of grape (79).

76. _GOOSEBERRIES are the fruit of a prickly shrub_ (Ribes grossularia) _which grows wild in Cheshire, Lancashire, and several parts of Yorkshire._

Few of the garden fruits are more esteemed for the table than gooseberries. For culinary purposes, gooseberries are generally employed before they are ripe; but this is founded on erroneous notions of their chemical properties, since, either for sauces or wine, though they are more cool and refreshing, they do not possess the delicate flavour and rich saccharine qualities which are inherent in the ripe fruit. Wine made of gooseberries has great resemblance to Champaigne. In the making of wine, after the juice has been expressed, it is customary to throw away the _skins_ of the fruit. These, however, may with advantage be employed in distillation, as they afford an agreeable spirit somewhat resembling brandy. When kept a few months, this spirit is said to be little inferior, either in strength or flavour, to the best Cogniac brandy. Vinegar may be made from gooseberries. Some of the kinds are bottled while green, and kept for winter use; and others are, for the same purpose, preserved with sugar.

Gooseberries vary much in colour, size, and quality. Some are smooth, and others hairy. Some are red, others green, and others yellow or amber coloured. Wild gooseberries are greatly inferior, in size, to those which are cultivated in gardens.

77. _IPECACUANHA_ (Viola ipecacuanha) _is a medicinal root, small, wrinkled, bent, and contorted into a great variety of shapes; which is imported from the West Indies and South America, and is given as an emetic._

There are three kinds of ipecacuanha: ash-coloured or grey, brown, and white. Of these, the ash-coloured is usually preferred for medicinal use, from its being more efficacious than the white, and less violent than the brown. Ipecacuanha was first brought into Europe towards the middle of the seventeenth century; but it was not admitted into general use until about the year 1686, when it was introduced into practice under the patronage of Louis the Fourteenth of France. Its taste is bitterish and somewhat acrid; and it seems to cover the tongue with a kind of mucilage. It is one of the mildest and safest emetics with which we are acquainted; and is administered in powder, as a wine, and as a tincture. It has this peculiar advantage, that, if it do not operate as an emetic, it passes off without injury by the skin or bowels. In very small doses it is efficacious in obstinate coughs, and in several other complaints. The roots of a kind of dogsbane (_Apocynum_) are not unfrequently substituted for those of ipecacuanha; but, in some instances, this substitution has been attended with fatal consequences.