THECUBAREVIEW 27 



altitudes in the tobacco barn, only the lower portion of the barn being occupied with 

 green tobacco, and when the drying has been entirely finished, provided the crop has 

 not been so heavy as to cause all drying space to be utilized, the poles of dry tobacco 

 will be ix)und only in the upper portion of the barns. 



The tobacco harvest usually begins in the latter portion of December and con- 

 tinues through January, February, March and sometimes even into April, especially 

 if weather conditions during the early part of the tobacco planting period hav«» 

 caused planting to be continued late into the Spring. The tobacco, after it is dry, is, 

 of course, brittle, and it is impossible to handle it, so that it must remain in the 

 drying barns until such time as the commencement of the Spring rains fills the 

 atmosphere with moisture which is absorbed by the tobacco leaves, these then be- 

 coming soft, making handling without damage possible. Usually the tobacco planters 

 will allow one or two rainy spells to pass without beginning to move their crop, but 

 either with the second or the third rains, other conditions being good, they will com- 

 mence to take down the poles of dried tobacco from the ^pper portion of the liarns 

 and remove the leaves from the poles, bundles being formed consisting of the quan- 

 tity of tobacco on one or sometimes two, sometimes even three poles, this bundle 

 being tied together with strips of native fibrous plants. Thin, narrow strips of the 

 boot of the royal palm leaf, strips of the bark of the majagua tree, and the leaflets of 

 the young royal palm leaves, all contribute to the need of the tobacco planter at this 

 time. Previous to taking down any of his tobacco, the tobacco planter has prepared 

 usually in his barn, but sometimes in his house, a platform sheathed with palm 

 boots or palm leaves, surrounding which, except on one side, have been built up walls 

 similarly sheathed. This box, as it were, is intended to receive the bimdles of tobacco 

 as they are made up by the planter. In taking down his tobacco a careful planter 

 keeps separate and places in distinct positions in the pile the product of the different 

 ■cuttings that he has made. The purpose of this is to enable him to tell the prospective 

 buyer the number of bundles of each class of tobacco that he has, and to show the 

 ■buyer as many samples of each class as he may care to see. In many cases, however, 

 the lower grade tobaccos are placed at the bottom and in the rear tiers of the pile, 

 •giving the planter the excuse, when the buyer wishes to examine these grades, that if 

 the pile is opened up so as to permit access to them, the air will enter and the natural 

 •sweating process through which the tobacco goes while in the pile will be inter- 

 rupted to the detriment of the. final quality of the leaf. Many of the more careful 

 ■growers, instead of placing their tobacco in "case"' in the manner just mentioned, 

 place the bundles in palm boots, making up rough bales containing from 50 to GO 

 Trundles each, these bales being then packed within walls similar to the above to 

 prevent the access of air through the exposed ends of the bales. 



The purpose of the above treatment is to cause the tobacco to become uniformly 

 ■soft and to make it go through the preliminary sweat. The buyers find it in this 

 ■condition. Careful examination is made of each grade or cutting made by the planter, 

 a number of the small bundles are Aveighed, and the buyer then offers the planter 

 a certain sum per bundle for each class, this method of purchase being more usual in 

 the high-class wrapper tobacco districts, or a certain price per hundred pounds of 

 tobacco as found in the pile. In the weight is included the weight of the small 

 pieces of stem to which the leaves are attached, and the buyer must make the proper 

 allowance, usually about one-third, for the loss in weight when the stem is removed. 



The next step in the process of preparing the tob'acco for its ultimate market 

 as leaf tobacco consists in the classification in which the leaves are examined one at a 

 time and placed in their proper classes. This is done by the buyer, when his offer 

 lias been accepted by the planter. In this case, the tobacco from many small tobacco 

 fields is gathered together in some central town or village and is classified in buildings 

 specially prepared for this work. In case, however, that the offer of the l>uyer has 

 •not resulted in a purchase, the planter will make his own classification, using as 



