South America, the cultivation of tobacco took its rise in
Venezuela, Brazil and Colombia. The varieties there produced had
acquired an established reputation as early as 1600, together with St.
Lucia, Philippine and Margarita tobaccos. Early in the Seventeenth
Century, the Dutch became the great producers and importers into
Europe, and the growths of their colonies continued to furnish a large
proportion of the quantity used until English colonial tobacco made
its appearance from Virginia.

The Plymouth and London companies from its first appearance in their
markets, saw its vast importance as an article of agriculture and
commerce, and in twenty years after the first planting of it, began to
reap rich returns from its sale and production. From this time
forward, not only in America, but in Europe and Asia, its cultivation
spread among other nations until at length it has become one of the
great sources of revenue of almost every country, and a leading
product of nearly every clime. The islands of St. Domingo, Trinidad,
St. Lucia and Martinique, do not produce as large quantities of
tobacco as formerly; its cultivation in the West Indies being now
confined chiefly to the island of Cuba.

This island produces at the present time the finest cigar leaf of the
West Indies, which is considered by many as the best grown. The value
of the annual product of Cuba is estimated at $20,000,000, nearly as
much as that of the entire United States. Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela,
and Paraguay, which are the tobacco-producing countries of South
America, furnish Europe with a large amount of leaf tobacco. In
Brazil according to Scully it "occupies the fourth place in the
exports" and is extensively cultivated in various parts of the empire.
In Venezuela it is an important article of agriculture, and the
product is of fine quality and in good repute in Europe. Colombia has
long been noted for the amount and excellence of its tobacco; its
various growths are fine in all respects and are among the finest
cigar tobaccos grown. In Paraguay large quantities of excellent cigar
tobacco are raised, much of which is used in various parts of South
America, the remainder going to Europe.

All of the tobacco of South America is unrivaled in flavor and is well
adapted for the manufacture of cigars. In Mexico, tobacco is raised to
some extent, particularly in the Gulf States, where it develops
remarkably and is of excellent quality both in texture an