212 TROPICAL AGRICULTURE CHAP. 



Extensively nearly all of them ; but now, unfortunately, its culture is 

 throughout almost wholly confined to the Spanish Islands. It is to be 

 indies C when hoped that the industry, which is a very profitable one, will 

 firsfcof re ^ e revived in the English islands and thus help to increase 

 nised. their wealth and prosperity. Sir William Robinson has 



Thecultiva- striven, with some degree of success, to re-introduce the 

 profitable 7 tobacco industry into the British West Indies. Whilst Gover- 

 nor of Trinidad he wrote a pamphlet on the subject in which 

 he points out that Cuba cannot produce enough tobacco 

 for the great cigar trade of that country, and says " Colonial 

 " Legislatures, Planters, as well as Governors have been 

 "very much to blame in allowing Hayti, San Domingo, and 

 " Germany, to forestall the West Indies in that profitable 

 " trade, which properly should have been theirs, of supply- 

 " ing Cuba with thousands of tons of tobacco annually for 

 " filling purposes." 



Potash, lime SOIL. The best soil for the cultivation of tobacco is a 

 require?!! ^S nt san dy loam, rich in potash, lime and vegetable matter, 

 the sod. f or an analysis of the plant shows that lime, potash, and 

 The soil of nitrogenous compounds exist in it in large proportions. The 

 celebrated Vuelta-abajo district of Cuba, which produces the 

 finest tobacco in the world, possesses a soil of this descrip- 

 tion. Alluvial lands, when light and well drained, are suit- 

 able to the cultivation, but the plant will not thrive on clays 

 A rich soil and calcareous soils. As tobacco requires a very rich soil, 

 required. newly opened forest land should be chosen where possible ; 

 and, if ground that has been long tilled be planted in tobacco, 

 heavy manuring with farm-yard compost is a necessity if 

 good crops be wished for. 



CLIMATE. As the tobacco plant is a native of the tropics 



of America, the climate of most of the West Indian islands 



Heat and is suited for its cultivation. A certain amount of humidity 



eslemiaf to is necessary, and the heat of the lowlands is also essential. 



besuobacco. The P lant > however, is a hardy one, and it grows well in 



northern latitudes in the summer time. In fact a large 



