The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Part 86

These substances were for the most part insoluble in earth, and must have been dissolved during the growth of the crop.

a.n.a.lYSIS OF FIVE SAMPLES OF TOBACCO.

No. 1. No. 2. No. 3. No. 4. No. 5.

Grown on argillaceous soil Grown in calcareous soil.

Potash 29.08 30.67 9.68 9.36 10.37 Soda 2.26 -- -- -- .36 Lime 27.67 24.79 49.28 49.44 39.58 Magnesia 7.22 8.57 14.58 15.59 15.04 Chloride of sodium .91 5.95 4.61 3.20 6.39 Chloride of pota.s.sium -- -- 4.44 3.27 2.99 Phosphate of iron 8.78 6.03 5.19 6.72 7.56 Sulphate of lime 6.43 5.60 6.68 6.14 9.42 Silica 17.65 18.39 5.54 6.28 8.34 ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

From the above it will be seen that on the argillaceous soil the tobacco contained a large quant.i.ty of alkalies and silica, while on the other hand, the lime, magnesia and chlorides were high in proportion, in the tobacco grown on calcareous soil.

There is no doubt that the manure which contains the largest proportion of alkaline carbonate, magnesia, lime and gypsum, is that best adapted for tobacco.

I give an a.n.a.lysis taken from Prof. Johnston's "Lectures," (2nd edition) of the ash of the tobacco leaf and the composition of a special manure for tobacco:--

Potash 12.14 Soda 0.07 Lime 45.90 Magnesia 13.09 Chloride of sodium 3.49 Chloride of pota.s.sium 3.98 Phosphate of iron 5.48 Phosphate of lime 1.49 Sulphate of lime 6.35 Silica 8.01 ------ 100.00

All the ingredients which are necessary to replace 100 lbs. of the ash of tobacco leaves are present in the following mixture:--

Bone dust, sulphuric acid 23 lbs.

Carbonate of potash (dry) 31 "

Carbonate of soda (dry) 5 "

Carbonate of Magnesia 25 "

Carbonate of lime (chalk) 60 "

------ 144 "

The following is the result of an a.n.a.lysis of the fresh leaves of tobacco, by Posselt and Reimann ("Mag. Pharm." xxiv. xxv.):--

Nicotine 0.06 Nicotianine 0.01 Extractive matter, slightly bitter 2.37 Gum, with a little malate of lime 1.74 Green resin 0.26 Vegetable alb.u.men 0.26 Substance a.n.a.logous to gluten 1.04 Malic acid 0.51 Malate of ammonia 0.12 Sulphate of potash 0.04 Chloride of pota.s.sium 0.06 Potash combined with malic and nitric acids 0.90 Phosphate of lime 0.16 Lime in union with malic acid 0.24 Silica 0.08 Woody fibre 4.96 Water (traces of starch) 87.21 ------ 100.10

Dr. Covell, in "Silliman's American Journal," vol. vii., shows its components to have been but imperfectly represented in the above German a.n.a.lysis. He found in tobacco by chemical examination--1, gum; 2, a viscid slime, equally soluble in water and alcohol, and precipitable from both by subacetate of lead; 3, tannin; 4, gallic acid; 5, chlorophyle (leaf green); 6, a green pulverulent matter, which dissolves in boiling water, but falls down again when the water cools; 7, a yellow oil, possessing the smell, taste and poisonous qualities of tobacco; 8, a large quant.i.ty of a pale yellow resin; 9, nicotine; 10, a white substance, a.n.a.logous to morphia, soluble in hot, but hardly in cold alcohol; 11, a beautiful orange red dye stuff, soluble only in acids; it deflagrates in the fire, and seems to possess neutral properties; 12, nicotianine. According to Buchner, the seeds of tobacco yield a pale yellow extract to alcohol, which contains a compound of nicotine and sugar.

M.M. Henry and Boutron Charlard found in 100 parts of

Cuba tobacco 8.64 of nicotine.

Maryland 5.28 Virginia 10.00 Ile et Vilaine 11.20 Lot et Garonne 8.20

quant.i.ties from 12 to 19 times more than were obtained by Posselt and Reimann.--"Ure's Dictionary of Arts and Manufactures."

The following are the results of a series of experiments made by Messrs. Cooper and Brande, for the purpose of ascertaining the quant.i.ty of soluble matter in eight samples of tobacco, of detecting the presence and quant.i.ty of sugar contained in them, and the nature and relative proportions of their inorganic const.i.tuents. An important paper on the state in which _Nicotine_ exists in tobacco, and on the relative proportion of it furnished by different varieties of the plant, has been furnished by Schloessing ("Ann. Ch. et Ph." 3ieme Ser.

XIX. 230).

__________________________________________________________________ |P s |P & |P t o |P s a|P s a|P m t|P o i|P m o| |e o |e c |e r f |e o s|e o c|e a h|e b n|e a b| |r l |r . |r e |r l h|r l i|r t e|r t f|r t t| | u | | a a | u .| u d| t | a u| t a| |c b |c i |c t m |c b |c b |c e a|c i s|c e i| |e l |e n |e m o |e l |e l i|e r s|e e i|e r n| |n e |n s |n e n |n e |n e n|n , h|n n o|n e| |t |t o |t n i |t |t |t .|t e n|t d d| |. i |. l |. t a |. i |. i t|. a |. d .|. e | | n | u | . | n | n h| s | | d a| Tobacco dried |o |o b |o w |o |o e|o |o f |o u l| at 212 degs. |f w |f l |f i |f w |f h |f s |f r |f c c| | a | e | t | a | y a| i | o | e o| |e t |w |a h |m t |m d s|i l |a m |s d h| |x e |o i |s |a e |a r h|n i |l |a o| |t r |o n |h c |t r |t o .|s c |c f |c f l| |r . |d | a |t |t c |o a |o e |c r .| |a |y w |a r |e i |e h |l , |h r |h o | |c | a |f b |r n |r l |u |o m |a m | |t |f t |t n | | o |b & |l e |r | |, |i e |e a | t | r |l c | n |i t | | |b r |r t | h | i |e . | t |n h | |& |r . | e | e | c | | e |e e | |c |e | | | | i | d | | |. | | | | | n | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ------------------|----|----|------|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 1. Light Missouri}|49 |54.9|20.97 |2.17 |11.73| 5.9 | -- | -- | leaf and stalk}| | |white | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 2. Light Missouri}|50 |47.7|19.7 |1.77 |12.83| 5.1 |0.75 |1.50 | leaf only }| | |white | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 3. Dark Missouri }|50 |52.4|16.47 |4.2 |10.14| 2.13| -- | -- | leaf and stalk}| | |white | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 4. Dark Missouri} |51 |50.6|13.8 |2.17 | 8.73| 2.9 |0.35 |0.71 | leaf only } | | |white | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 5. Light Virginia}|51.5|53.1|16.4 |2.53 | 8.54| 5.33| -- | -- | leaf and stalk}| | |gray- | | | | | | | | |white | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 6. Light Virginia}|54 |46.1|11.97 |2.0 | 6.86| 3.11|1.045|2.09 | leaf only }| | |green-| | | | | | | | |gray | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 7. Dark Virginia }|48.5|51.8|14.7 |4.8 |8.40 | 1.5 | -- | -- | leaf and stalk}| | |gray | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 8. Dark Virginia} |52 |49.8|12.53 |2.63 |8.20 | 1.7 |1.46 |2.93 | leaf only } | | |gray | | | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------

1. The samples were dried and the woody fibre and extract were also dried at 212 degs. The watery infusions of all contained ammoniacal salts. The salts from the ash, which were soluble in water, consisted of sulphates, carbonates, phosphates, and chlorides; the bases being pota.s.sa and lime. The solution by hydrochloric acid contained lime, alumina, phosphate of lime, and oxide of iron.

3. Contained oxide of manganese in small quant.i.ty; sulphates in watery solution of ash abundant. Hydrochloric solution contained an abundance of lime.

4. A trace of manganese; a trace only of phosphoric acid in watery solution.

5. Contained abundance of oxide of manganese.

6. Abundance of oxide of manganese.

7. A mere trace of oxide of manganese, and a trace of oxide of iron; only a trace of alumina.

8. A trace of oxide of manganese; quant.i.ty of oxide of iron very great; only a trace of alumina.

In rich loams, where the solution of the minerals of the soil is rapid, and where 10 to 20 per cent, of vegetable matter is incorporated in the earth, tobacco may be obtained for many years, but it is always an exhausting crop. It has been stated that 170 Lbs. of mineral matter are removed in less than three months from one acre of land, by a crop of tobacco. This is very much more than wheat or other grains abstract from the soil in eight or nine months.

Tobacco is now very extensively cultivated in France and other European countries, in the Levant, the East and West Indies; and a little is grown at the Cape and in the Australian Settlements.

A good deal of tobacco is raised in Mexico, but only for home consumption, as its export is prohibited. It forms an article of culture in Brazil and some of the South American republics, and is grown to a small extent along the Western sh.o.r.es of Africa. It is from North America, however, that we derive the bulk of our supplies of this great article of commerce, which, with cotton, forms the chief agricultural wealth of the United States.

In 1821, the tobacco exported from the Brazils amounted to 29,192,000 Lbs., but its cultivation was greatly injured by the siege of the capital in 1822-23. Fresh seed was subsequently obtained from Cuba, and in 1835 the exports were 6,051,040 Lbs.

131 cases of Princeza snuff were s.h.i.+pped from Bahia to Lisbon, in 1835; about 60,000 Lbs. per annum of this snuff being now manufactured at Bahia, with the aid of two steam-engines. The exports of tobacco from Bahia increased from 2,048,000 Lbs. in 1833, to 6,051,040 Lbs. in 1835. The average s.h.i.+pments are about 21,000 bales and rolls.

The army of smokers in Great Britain and Ireland consume yearly about six millions of pounds worth of tobacco. The duty alone paid upon snuff and tobacco for the people of Great Britain, averages four-and-a-half millions sterling a year! The quant.i.ty consumed--smoked, snuffed, or chewed--during the same period, is about 28 millions of pounds weight, or about four pounds weight per annum for every male adult. Ireland annually pays not less than 800,000 of duty on tobacco and snuff, and only about 30,000 on coffee. For every pound of coffee that the Irish people use, they smoke away about _four pounds of tobacco_.

North America produces annually upwards of 200 million pounds. The combustion of the ma.s.s of vegetable material used in this kingdom would yield about 340 million pounds of carbonic acid gas; so that the yearly produce of carbonic acid gas from tobacco smoking alone cannot be less than 1,000,000,000 lbs.--a large contribution to the annual demand for this gas made upon the atmosphere for the vegetation of the world. Henceforth let no one twit the smoker with idleness and unimportance. Every pipe is an agricultural furnace,--every smoker a manufacturer of vegetation,--the consumer of a weed that he may rear more largely his own provisions.

In the year 1842, 605,000,000 of cigars were made in the German Commercial Union.

In 1839, the revenue on tobacco in this country was about 3,600,000.

Of this it has been estimated eleven-twelfths are drawn from the working cla.s.ses, and one-twelfth from the richer cla.s.ses. The following is a calculation of the consumption of tobacco per head of the population, estimated from the number of pounds on which duty was paid:--

Consumption per head.

Rate of duty. ozs.

1801 {1s. 7 3-10d. England } 17 {1s. 0 7-10d. Ireland.} 1811 2s. 2 13-20d. 19 1821 4s. 0d. 11 45 1831 3s. 0d. 12 35 1841 3s. 1 8-10d. 12 4-5 1851 3s. 1 4-5d. 21

Thus it will be seen the consumption is materially affected by the rate of duty.

A memorial presented to the First Lord of the Treasury a few years ago, by the American Chamber of Commerce, and signed by Mr. Thomas Todd, the chairman, furnishes some valuable information, and I am therefore tempted to give it entire:--

The American Chamber of Commerce of Liverpool desire respectfully to bring under the consideration of her Majesty's Government the impolicy of the present high rate of duty on foreign tobacco, and the benefit to commerce, as well as to the revenue, which would arise from such a reduction as would remove the temptation now held out to the smuggler.

The cost of tobacco, including freight and all charges, is from 3d.

to 4d. per lb., and the duty is 3s. per lb., being 900 per cent, on the value. A duty so enormously disproportioned to the cost offers an irresistible premium to the illicit trader; for the expense of smuggling tobacco by the cargo, including the first cost, does not exceed 9d. per lb., and it has been ascertained that the smuggler receives 6d. per lb. less than the duty, or 2s. 6d. per lb., which yields him a clear profit of 1s. 8d. per lb., to the injury not only of the revenue, but of the fair trader.

The effect of this heavy duty in diminis.h.i.+ng the consumption of duty-paid tobacco is further exemplified by the fact that, while all other articles of general consumption have progressively increased with the increase of the population, tobacco alone forms an exception, as will appear from the following:--

COMPARATIVE SCALE OF POPULATION AND CONSUMPTION OF TEA, COFFEE, AND TOBACCO, IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, COMPILED FROM PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS.

Population Tea Coffee Tobacco 1801 16,338,102 Duty, 65 a 95 per ct 19d. per lb. 19d. per lb.

& 12 per ct. & 12 per ct.

Lbs., 23,163,999 871,846 16,895,752 1811 18,547,720 Duty 96 per cent. 8d. per lb. 26d. per lb.

Lbs., 24,461,308 6,895,619 21,376,370 1821 21,193,458 Duty, 96 a 100 per ct. 12d. per lb. 4s. per lb.

Lbs., 26,043,257 7,593,001 1,823,365 1831 24,271,763 Duty 96a 100 per ct. 6d. per lb. 3s. per lb.

Lbs., 30,648,348 22,740,627 19,418,941 1841 26,855,928 Duty, 26d. per lb. 6d. per lb. 3s. per lb.

Lbs., 36,396,073 28,420,980 22,094,772