348 FINANCIAL EMBARRASSMENT. 



well adapted for the cultivation of tobacco the soil, climate, 

 and improved methods of culture all tend to the production 

 of a leaf tobacco as celebrated as it is valuable. 



" Between the ' Lower Valley,' in the Nicotian, not the 



KILLING BUGS BY NIGHT. 



geographical, sense of these words, lie the so-called Partidos 

 which produce the tobacco that is sent to Europe as Partido 

 or Cabanas. The leaf often surpasses that of the ' Lower 

 Valley ' in size and fineness, as well as in the beauty of the 

 color; but it is inferior in quality. The tobacco farmers 

 though stalwart fellows are not fond of work, and too often 

 waste their time at the tavern. Many of them from thrift- 

 lessness are plunged into debt ; and scarcely is the harvest 

 ended when they borrow money from the tobacco merchant 

 on the following harvest, who thereby obtains the right to 

 interfere, it may be despotically, with the management of 

 the crop. Continual embarrassments tempt the tobacco 

 planters to be dishonest. To cheat their creditors, they often 

 sell the best part of the crop in underhand fashion. Such of 

 the tobacco farmers as wish to produce a great deal of tobacco, 

 without regard to the excellence of the article, leave the 

 plant to its natural growth, which is both scientifically and 

 otherwise objectionable, for it is on a process of thinning and 

 pruning a due diffusion of sap in the leaves depends, and 

 consequently the quality of the tobacco." 



