Dr. Covell, in Silliman's Araerimi Journal, volume vii., showed the components of the fresh leaves of tobacco to be-1. gum; 2. a viscid slime, equally soluble in water and alcohol, and precipit able from both by subacetate of lead; 3. tannin ; 4. gallic acid ; 5. chlorophyle (leaf green); G. 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 quantity of a pale-yellow resin ; 9. nicotine ; 10. whito substance analogous to morphia, sol uble in hot, but Lirdly in cold alcohol ; 11. a beautiful orange red dye-stuff, soluble only in acids--it deflagmtes in the fire, and seems to possess neutral properties; 12. nicotianine. Ac cording to Buchner, the seeds of to.bacco yie.k.1 a pale-yellow extract to alcohol, which contain. s a compound of nicotine and sugar. Analysis of five samples of tobacco :— Argillaccous soil. Calcareous soil. No. 1. No. 2. No. 3. No. 4. No. 3.
Potash, , . 29'08 30.67 9'68 9'36 10'37 '36 Sods, . . , Lime, . • . 27'67 24'79 49'28 49'44 39'53 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 potassium, ... 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 The important mineral substances present in Havannah tobacco, examined by Hertung, are, in 100 parts of ashes— Salts of potash, . 34'15 Magnesia, . . . . 4.09 Salts of lime, . . 51'38 I Phosphates, . . . 9'04 These substances being for the most part ins.ol uble in earth, must have been dissolved dunng the growth of the crop.
Analysis by Professor Johnston (Lectures, 2d edition) of the ash of the tobacco leaf, and the composition of a special manure for tobacco :— Potash, , . . 12'14 Phosphate of iron, 5'48 Soda, 0'07 Phosphate of lime, 1'49 Lime, 45'90 Sulphate of lime, 6'35 Magnesia, . . 13'09 Silica, 8'01 Chloride of sodium, 3'49 Chloride of potassium, 3'98 100'00 All the ingredients which are necessary to replace 100 lbs. of the ash of tobacco leaves are present in 144 lbs. of 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 „ A compost similar to the saltpetre beds which Napoleon employed so extensively in France, would be a good manure for tobacco lauds, namely, calcareous matter, such as old mortar, dung, and the ashes of weeds or wood.
Growers in Cuba, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and the Philippine Islands select a high and dry piece of land of a siliceous nature, and combined with iron if possible. Tobacco will even lose its natural quality and degenerate by transplanting from one soil to another, although of the same temperature, and vice versa.
Throughout the East Indies the farmers grow the tobacco (each for his own use) upon the heap of rubbish at his own door, consisting of ashes, cow-dung, and offal of all kinds, a soil as fertile and as well manured as for the production of the poppy or opium. It is therefore often planted in the spaces enriched by animal and vegetable exuvim, among the huts of the natives.
Several efforts have been made to extend and. unprove the tobacco industry of British India, In 1829, under the orders of the Court of Directors, samples of Maryland and Virginia seed were sent, accompanied by a, paper by Captain Basil Hall on the Virginian method of cultivation and preparation. The tobacco grown from this seed wa.s pronounced by dealers and manufac turers in London the best sample of Indian tobacco they had ever seen. In flavour and general .appearance of the leaf it approached the descriptions usually selected in the London market for cigars and pipes, viz. Havannah, San Domingo, and Amersfoort, which commanded high prices in comparison with other tobaccos ; and in 1831 a select committee of the House of Commons reported that a bale of tobacco from Gujerat had fetched 6d. a pound in the open market, being a penny a pound higher than the best American tobacco. But this excellence was far from general, and a considerable quantity of private growth, which was sent to England for sale, was pronounced worthless through defective curing,— beino. either mouldy and fit for nothing, or brittle and 'broken, and suited only for snuff. Still no fault was found with the quality of the leaf ; and the possibility of growing really saleable tobacco having been demonstrated, repeated experiments have since been made to discover the most suit able soils and the best modes of preparation.
About the year 1876, the Indian Government established an experimental farm at Ghazipur, on the Ganges, 800 acres, and a planter from Virginia WM employed to superintend the curing of the leaf, and Ghazipur tobacco is now well known over the North-West as beino. as good as, if not better than, most of the importe'd descriptions.