Tobacco is an annual plant
of the nightshade family,
nicotiana angusti folio,
which is prepared in various
ways for smoking, chewing, or
used as snuff. The use of
tobacco has a long history as
recorded in the pages of
time. There is documented
evidence that the use of

tobacco has been present in
the history of South America,
but there is no recorded
history when tobacco was
first used in North America
by the First Nations. The
early settlers in
southwestern Ontario,
following the example of the
First Nations people,

cultivated their own tobacco.
Commercial production of
tobacco began in 1800s.
Tobacco was held in such
reverence that at times it
was used for barter in place
of monies.
   Bothwell, known for it
dry-sandy soil, was a perfect
candidate to grow this newly

discovered "green gold". In
the late 1800s, the Bothwell
economy boomed due to the
discovery of "black gold" –
oil. But with the decline in
the oil production,
Bothwell's prosperity was
dwindling at the turn of the
century. In 1937, the first
tobacco farm was established