bacco Plant:"--

"Although snuff is still extensively consumed in this
country (Great Britain), the mode of its manufacture is very
little known to those who use it; and there are very few
persons of even the most inquisitive turn of mind who can
say they have ever penetrated into the mysterious precincts
of a snuff-mill. Even those who have been privileged, and
have had the courage to inspect the interior of such an
establishment, have come away with very vague notions of
what they saw. The hollow whirr of the revolving pestles,
the hazy atmosphere closely resembling a London fog in
November, a phenomenon which is produced by the innumerable
particles of tobacco floating about, and causing the gas to
flicker and sparkle in a mysterious way, and producing a
lively irritation of the mucous membrane, all combine in
placing the visitor in a state of amusing bewilderment, and
he is compelled to make a speedy exit, having only had just
a running peep at the interesting process of snuff-making.
It is therefore our duty to give a description of a process
which will be new to a large number of people, and will help
to clear up some of the obscure theories that a great many
more entertain of it.

"Those persons who have travelled on the Continent, and who
have noticed on tobacconists' counters a small machine,
somewhat like a coffee-mill, which a man works with one
hand, while he holds a hard-pressed plug of tobacco about a
pound weight against the revolving grater, and produces
snuff while the snuff-taker waits for it, may imagine that
snuff in England is produced on a somewhat similar small
scale. But this, like many kindred theories, is quite a
mistake. In this country there exist large snuff-mills
worked by steam power, and in Scotland there is one
water-mill which is driven by a water-power of the strength
of thirty horses. The grinding of snuff is at present
carried on much as it was one hundred years ago. The
apparatus, although effective, is very primitive, and would
lead one to suppose that mechanical ingenuity had wholly
neglected to trouble itself about improving that branch of
machinery.

[Illustration: Snuff-mill a century ago.]

"All kinds of snuff are made from tobacco leaves, or tobacco
stalks, either separat