THECUBAREVIEW 23 



done at this time is often lost, the ground liaviug to be replowed and replanted, 

 but by the last of October the rains have usually ceased to such an extent as to 

 allow confident work to be carried on. The result is that in all the seed beds of the 

 Island in late October and November groups of men, women and children can be 

 seen pulling the small seedlings, tying them up with a cord made from the leaf of 

 the royal palm into bundles of one hundred plants each, these being gathered together 

 in the ordinary Cuban "seron" or pannier, to be carried horse back or by cart or 

 wagon to the fields where they are to be planted or to the railway station for ship- 

 ment and sale in other localities. In the fields themselves at this time the patient 

 oxen are dragging the native Cuban plow used to make the furrows in which the young 

 seedlings are planted. The furrows are made only as fast as the planters can work, 

 thus conserving the moisture in the soil of the furrow. Fertilizer is then distributed 

 by hand in the bottom of the furrows, after which the plants are distributed along 

 the rows by children, after whom come the planters who with a very rapid motion 

 of their hands mix the fertilizer with the soil, open a small hole, insert the young 

 plant, and cover its roots and the lower part of its stem. In three or four days the 

 plants will indicate which ones are going to survive the transplanting process, and 

 wherever a plant has died a new one is put in, the idea being to obtain as uniform 

 a development of all the plants in the field as possible, this being of special value at 

 the time of the harvest. 



Now come the various attentions required to produce the leaf from which our 

 cigars are made. Practically all the cultivation of tobacco in Cuba is done by hand, 

 the laborers using a short, crooked handled, wide bladed hoe with which both weeding 

 and the drawing of the dirt to the plants are done. Habit has taught them to work 

 vei-y rapidly and very efficiently. The first hoeing is given when the young plants 

 have put out three or four leaves, the dirt at this time being drawn up only par- 

 tially around the plant. Two or three weeks later a second hoeing is given, at 

 which time the planting furrows are completely filled, the dirt drawn well up to the 

 plants and the soil between the rows of seedlings thoroughly loosened and all weeds 

 destroyed. As soon as the plants have developed sufficiently, topping begins, this 

 consisting merely in taking out the center bud of the plant, thus stopping the devel- 

 opment of additional leaves and bringing about the growth and fuller development of 

 those already on the plant. As a result also of the topping, suckers develop at the 

 junction of the leaves and the stem, and these have to be taken off, this work, of 

 course, being done by hand. Tobacco is a crop which is subject to the attack of 

 several varieties of worms, and at times these become so numerous that hand picking 

 is necessary, though ordinarily they are kept in check by the use of a poison which 

 is sprinkled lightly over the plants, this poison usually consisting of Paris Green 

 mixed with corn meal or fine dirt. In some districts, as we have already indicated, 

 irrigation is practiced, on some farms the water being supplied in sufficient quantities 

 so that irrigation is accomplished by the furrow system allowing the water to flow 

 down the furrow between the rows of plants, though in other localities where the soil 

 is especially porous and where the quantity of water that would be required 

 by the above method would be too great, laborers with five gallon cans are used for 

 distributing the water. It is quite evident that this can be done only where a high- 

 grade, high-priced leaf is produced. 



When the tobacco has developed sufficiently and just as the leaves commence to 

 show signs of ripening, harvesting commences. Very probably 90% of the tobacco 

 grown in the Island of Cuba is harvested by cutting the stalk into short lengths to 

 each of which are attached two or three leaves. The thoughtful reader will, of 

 course, realize that when harvesting is done in this way a unifoi'm degree of ripeness 

 cannot be attained by all the leaves of the plant, the lower leaves of which ripen first, 

 so that if harvesting is commenced when the lower leaves are in their best stage, the 

 middle and upper leaves will be slightly green. Therefore the attempt is made to cut 



