Not until 1492 was the use of tobacco known to the Europeans, when Columbus found the natives of Cuba and Santo Domingo both chewing and smoking it. Subsequent Spanish explorers of the mainland found its use almost universal both in North and South America. It had apparently been used there for countless ages, as smoking it formed part of the most solemn ceremonial rites both of the natives’ religion and their political gatherings. Brought to England in 1586 by Ralph Lane and Sir Francis Drake, the smoking of tobacco spread with the great speed that such a comfortable habit might be expected to exhibit. Notwithstanding violent opposition by certain priests and physicians and other more intolerant opponents of the weed, its use increased throughout the world. To-day, in spite of our modern anti-tobacco fanatics, over two billion pounds are produced annually, and in the United States there is a per capita consumption of over five pounds per year, greater than any country in the world, save Belgium. All of the many different forms in which tobacco is used are derived from the leaves of _Nicotiana tabacum_, or perhaps one or two other species of the genus _Nicotiana_, which belongs to the _Solanaceæ_ or potato family. There are many other species, all natives of the New World, but the actual home of the tobacco plant is in some doubt. As in so many cultivated plants, which have been grown for countless ages, wild specimens are practically unknown. The plant seeds freely and consequently frequently escapes from cultivation, so that in many parts of America apparently wild plants are to be found that [Illustration: TEMPERATE FOREST ON GARDINER’S ISLAND, LONG ISLAND, N. Y. Note the open vista through the trees, and lack of undergrowth, due to the forest canopy, and contrast with the profusion of the under vegetation in the rain forest (_Courtesy of Brooklyn Botanic Garden._)] [Illustration: RAIN FOREST. Root-climbing lianas on a tree stem in the south Mexican rain forest (State of Chiapas). Below: _Sarcinanthus utilis_, with bipartite leaves. Farther up: _Araceæ_. Highest of all: epiphytic shrubs are visible near leaves of _Araceæ_. Around the stem, the cord-like aerial roots of _Araceæ_ on the branches of the tree. (_A photograph by G. Karsten._) (_After Schimper. Courtesy of Brooklyn Botanic Garden._)] trace their origin to cultivated plants. The antiquity of its culture may be gauged by the fact that in the most ancient Aztec tombs elaborately carved tobacco pipes have been found. The plant is grown as a field crop in rows from one and one-half to three feet apart and set about fifteen inches apart in the row. From the time the seed is sown until the harvesting of the leaves is usually three or four months, during which the plants demand the best of culture. In the United States thousands of acres of tobacco are now grown under cheesecloth shades, an expensive process which is more than compensated for by the improved flavor.