@estherschindler: I heard an historian on a state public radio history show discussing that years ago. (I believe the show was Walter Edgar's Journal, but I'm not certain.) She said the practice fell out of favor in many quarters because the practice came to be seen as "rural" and/or something that the poors did. It came to be seen as a sign of low social class/caste and non-wealth. (There were other cultural factors as well.)