80 CUBA AND POETO RIOO 



that the excellenl character which Eavana cigars have 

 maintained is due largely to the remarkable care with which 

 the differenl qualities of Leaf are graded both on the farm 

 ami in the factories of Eavana. 



A vega of average size produces about 9000 pounds of 

 tobacco, in the following proportions: about 450 pounds 

 of the best quality, 1800 of the second, 2250 pounds of the 

 third, and 4500 pounds of the injuriado. This is made up 

 iiOo bales of 100 pounds, which bring an average price of 

 about $20 per bale, although some of the higher qualities 

 bring as much as $400 per bale. 



There are dozens of large cigar-factories in Havana, 

 giving employment to thousands of people of both sexes 

 and all ages. In 1893, 6,160,000 pounds of leaf tobacco 

 and 134,210,000 cigars were exported. Large exports of 

 baled tobacco are also made from the east end of the island, 

 most of which is sent to the United States. 



Coffee was once extensively exported, having been intro- 

 duced by the French from Martinique in 1727; but the 

 trees have been mostly cut down and replaced with sugar- 

 cane, in consequence of the greater profitableness of that 

 product, or destroyed by revolution. The mountain-sides 

 and hill-lands of the east are especially favorable for coffee, 

 and a quality as excellent as that of the famous Blue 

 Mountain coffee of Jamaica can be readily grown. If the 

 island should ever be properly developed, this will become 

 a large and flourishing industry. There is still a consid- 

 erable quantity of coffee grown, but it is nearly all con- 

 sumed locally. 



At the beginning of the present revolution the growing 

 of bananas was a large and important industry, chiefly in 

 the vicinity of Nuevitas and Baracoa, at the eastern end of 

 the island. Many beautiful plantations of this fruit were 

 seen by the writer, in 1895, upon the summits of the cuchil- 

 las of the east end, the products of which were conveyed 

 by extensive wire trolleys down the cliffs to the sea. Dur- 

 ing the season, from February to December, an average of 



