INTRODUCTION

From the earliest days of our country, tobacco and the history of the United States have been intertwined. Accounts of the settlement of Jamestown, VA, credit the production and export of tobacco with saving that early colony by giving it financial resources with which to survive. When John Rolfe and the colonists grew the first crop in 1612, tobacco was already in demand in England with a mild “Spanish” leaf highly valued by London smokers (11). Rolfe found the native tobacco grown by the Indians, N. rustica, to be harsh and not well suited for