16 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



tlu- Cliaiiana mill, ()iicnli- I' 



Amei it 



I lu' l.'uijot Migar fstalc in the umlil. \'it ,, ..i ...^ , ,,,,,.u..<i ....... ....^...^ . , ..,,,v>. . >.ii^. .v<... 



ownci'slii|i. General >Iario Menocal, the candidate for President of Cuba on the Conservative ticket at 

 the last election, is the general manager. The output in 1909 was 485,000 bags. 



PRICELESS TOBACCO GROUND. 



.\i.-ci irdiiii;- to a writer in tin- Travel 

 Magazine of New York there are Init 

 two places in the whole world where tlie 

 pronnd is worth so much as in tlie N'lielta 

 A ha jo. 



Those two places are that portion of 

 the valley cf the Rhine where the Jo- 

 hannisberger grape is grown, and the 

 Kiniherlcy diajnond district in South 

 .Africa. In the N'uelta .Ahajo the soil 

 grows tobacco which, vvlien properly 

 cured, rolled and stanijjcd. can be sold 

 in the shape of cigars to the rate of $7.50 

 each. 



What, then, is the marvel of this price- 

 less tobacco ground? To the eye — 

 nothing. Dusty red loam rather thin on 

 rocky hillside and sparingly spread with 



tender concern as a half-bald man dis- 

 perses his hair impartially over his head. 

 Next to each tobacco vega (a farm of an 

 average extent of forty acres) is a hay- 

 field. The hay is not raised for animals, 

 it is cut and spread on the tobacco land 

 and there decomposed and washed into 

 the soil In- the rain. It is the fertilizer. 

 But it is not hay fertilizer alone tiiat 

 !nakes Vuelta Abajo tobacco what it is, 

 nor yet the cheesecloth protection that 

 keeps out the hottest rays of the sun, 

 nor yet the choice seed, nor even yet the 

 mild, equable nature of the climate, nor 

 the chemical composition of the soil. 

 I'or each and every of these conditions is 

 rei)roduced in other places without that 

 Nurjjrising and delicious climax of to- 

 bacco culture that comes alone from the 

 heart of I'inar del Rio. 



View of Chaparra, the city surrounding the mill. The number of employes exceeds 



5.000. 



