46 Geograpbical notes on 



raise in the hot zone, I should mention tobacco, the Mexican tobacco 

 being, in General Grant's estimation, superior to the Havana article. 

 The natural conditions of soil and temperature are the same in Cuba 

 and Mexico, but we had not the superior experience of the Cubans in 

 curing the leaf until the late insurrection broke out in Cuba, in i868 r 

 when a great many Cubans went to Mexico to plant tobacco. As the 

 land has been planted in Cuba with tobacco for nearly four hundred 

 years, and as tobacco is a very exhausting crop, it has become indis- 

 pensable to manure the land with guano, while in Mexico we have 

 virgin land, and tobacco being a comparatively new industry, no guano- 

 needs to be used. General Grant, whom I consider a competent 

 judge, detected the taste of guano in the Havana cigars, of which ours 

 is free, and he, therefore, preferred to smoke the Mexican cigars. 



In Cuba the exhausted soil cannot produce all the leaves that are 

 required for the world's supply of Havana cigars, and the want caa 

 only be filled through the use of Mexico leaf tobacco, the weed 

 produced in other countries having similar conditions. The Marquis 

 de Cabanas sent to Sumatra a quantity of seed when it became obvi- 

 ous that the soil of the tobacco region of Cuba was fast being worn out. 

 He sent seed also to Java and to the United States, but it was found 

 that it was impossible to raise tobacco of the quality of that raised in 

 Havana anywhere but in Mexico. That raised in Java from Havana 

 seed was very coarse and rank, replete with nicotine and meconic 

 acid, and devoid of those delicate essential oils that give the Havana 

 and Mexican tobacco their fine aroma. 



The tobacco plant is a native of the tropics, and thrives best in the 

 hot lands. It is a hardy plant, however, and will grow well in northern 

 latitudes in the summer time. It often happens that the land in the 

 tropics is actually too rich for the successful cultivation of tobacco. 



India- Rubber. The lowlands of Mexico, especially those adjoining; 

 the Pacific Ocean and which have a very warm and moist climate, are 

 very well adapted for the india-rubber tree, which attains a large size 

 and yields a considerable amount of india-rubber. We used to have 

 whole forests of them, which fact shows that they were in their proper 

 conditions of soil and climate, as they could outgrow the rank vegeta- 

 tion of the tropics, and prevent the growth of most of the other large 

 trees in the forests ; but india-rubber gatherers have destroyed most of 

 them, and I imagine that there is a comparatively small number left. 



I have always thought that the production of india-rubber would 

 before long cease to be sufficient to supply the demand, and that, 

 therefore, the value of that article would increase with the lapse of 

 time. Now it is to be expected that the enormous expansion during 

 the last few years of the cycle-tire, electrical motor-car, cab, and 

 kindred industries will lead to the bestowal of increased attention on 



