14 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



SOME FACTS ON TOBACCO CULTURE IN 

 WESTERN CUBA 



By Ahin Fox, Agric. B.S. 



Tobacco is usually grown on the same land for several years in succession and it is custo- 

 mary to let the field lay without culitvation from the time of harvesting to the time of plant- 

 ing the next crop. As this time is during the rainy season, the weeds naturally grow rank and 

 leave a great deal of vegetable matter to be plowed under. This is of great benefit because it 

 supplies humus, which is very necessary in a tobacco soil. It would be much better, however, 

 to plant a crop of legumes for plowing under, and the work connected with this would be 

 amply repaid by the better quality of tobacco and the saving of fertilizer. 



Immediately after harvesting the crop, the land should be plowed and cow-peas, velvet 

 beans, sword beans or some suitable legume should be planted in rows from three to four feet 

 apart. Through the summer these legumes will entirely cover the ground and should be plowed 

 under with a turn-plow a month or six weeks before the tobacco seedlings are ready to set out. 

 After plowing the land, it should be stirred at least once a week until planting time, because 

 at that time of the year drought is the one thing to guard against and by stirring the surface 

 layer, the moisture in the underlying soil is prevented from escaping. The "Culte Packer" is 

 the most desirable cultivation for this purpose— why? because it prevents the moisture from 

 rising, and the cracks cause the moisture to dry out rapidly, and at the same time the field 

 can be cultivated without injuring the young tobacco plants. 



Fertilization 



The food requirements of the tobacco plant have been known in a general way for many 

 years, but owing to the widely different purposes for which tobacco is used the general informa- 



Field of Young Tobacco Plants. 



