24 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



AGRICULTURAL MATTERS.— TOBACCO. 



Tobacco in the Santa Clara District. 



Supplementing his previous report on 

 Cuban tobacco raising,* Consul Max J. 

 Baehr, of Cienfuegos, transmits the fol- 

 lowing information, furnished by Mr. 

 John S. Stanley, of Manicaragua, on the 

 cultivation of tobacco in the Santa Clara 

 district: 



"Cultivation of tobacco, it seems, is 

 almost wholly done on the share system, 

 the workingmen giving to the owner of 

 the plantation one-third of the crop. The 

 owner supplies land, living and tobacco- 

 curing houses, poles, oxen, plows, etc., 

 and all tools necessary, and all monies 

 or groceries advanced are charged up 

 against them. Two or more men work 

 together, and each man cultivates about 

 four acres of tobacco, or about 30,000 

 plants, which in an ordinary year should 

 yield 3,000 pounds of tobacco. Work 

 commences about Oct. 1 and continues 

 to May 1. With 3,000 pounds, and 12^ 

 cents a pound as an average price, the 

 value of the crop would be $375. De- 

 ducting the one-third for the owner of 

 the plantation, would leave for the work- 

 man $250 for seven months' work, or 

 nearly $36 per month for each. A thrifty 

 man can almost feed his family from the 

 extra land he is allowed to cultivate, 

 salt, . sugar, coffee and clothing being 

 about all that he will require from the 

 store. During the other five months he 

 may work in the baling house sorting 

 the tobacco, where he may earn $1.25 to 

 $1.50 a day. A living house made of 

 grass and yagua costs $75; a tobacco 

 house for curing the tobacco raised by 

 two men, costs $300; a yoke of oxen 

 which will prepare land for two men 

 will come to $125; poles for drying the 

 tobacco for two men, $75; plows and 



other necessary tools, about $15; land 

 necessary for two men, at current rate, 

 is worth about $150. 



"It will be seen, therefore, that the 

 owner has exDended $740 and receives 

 $250, or about 34 per cent, on his in- 

 vestment. The depreciation in value may 

 be estimated at 20 per cent, per year, thus 

 leaving about 15 per cent, as the net 

 interest on the invested capital. 



"These figures are correct under nor- 

 mal conditions, but should the year be 

 very dry or too wet, the above-shown 

 profit might be reversed to a like 

 amount of loss." 



♦See Cuba Review for February, 1909. 



Irrigation for Tobacco. 



To judge this year's Vuelta Abajo 

 crop is yet rather premature, and as the 

 hilly districts have been favored by 

 plenty of rain showers, there will be a 

 large quantity, which may offset the 

 shortage in the tierra liana sections. As 

 a rule the lowland tobacco is the finest 

 and most aromatic of the two kinds, 

 but there might be an exception this 

 year. 



The question of irrigation upon a 

 scientific plan, like it has been done in 

 the States of California and Colorado, is 

 being brought forward by influential and 

 thinking men, and doubtless this subject 

 will be ventilated in our Congress, in 

 order to help the poorer farmers thus to 

 promote the welfare and prosperity of 

 our island. Tobacco requires more rains 

 than nature of late has seen fit to bestow 

 and irrigation is essential. 



Results achieved by the rich planters, 

 who could afford to buy enough iron 

 pipes, erect pumping stations and spend 

 money for coal, has been marvelous 

 this year. The raising of sufficient 

 healthy and uniform plants for seeding 

 purposes is one of the objects which our 



Drying Tobacco. La Flora Plantation, Pinar del Rio. 



