TH.E CUBA REVIEW 



41 



The opportunities in tobacco growing lie along two lines ; cheapening the pro- 

 duction and improving the product. All of the operations of the ordinary tobacco 

 grower are too expensive. The stable manure, so universally used in the districts 

 near Havana, costs from one to three hundred dollars per acre, while practically the 

 same result could be obtained by growing velvet beans, and the proper use of com- 

 mercial fertilizer, at one-eighth of the cost. The land is plowed from six to ten times, 

 with the wooden, Cuban plow, drawn by men. With this instrument a man plows less 

 than one-half an acre a day, so that the preparation of the land is unduly expensive. 

 The work could be much better and cheaper done by ploughing twice with a disk 

 plough, and harrowing two or three times. The cultivation of the crop is done entirely 

 with the hoe, this also is immensely expensive. The young plants are another large 

 item of expense. The raising of good seed beds is difficult and uncertain in most of 

 the tobacco districts; this is mostly because they have to be started during the hottest 

 time of the year, late summer or early fall. Heavy losses are occasioned by damping- 

 ofif fungi, and a great opportunity awaits the man who first obviates this difficulty 

 by solving the problem of soil sterilization. The quality of the product depends upon 

 the nature of the soil, the kind of fertilizer used, the exact state of maturity at which 

 the crop is harvested, the skill used in curing and fermenting, and last but not least 

 upon the quality of seed sown. The best quality of tobacco is grown on light, sandy 

 soils. In selecting fertilizers two points are particularly essential. The burning quali- 

 ty and aroma of the leaf depends upon an abundant supply of potash and on the ab- 

 sence of chlorine. Judgment must be used in the amount of nitrogen applied, since 

 too much of this necessary element makes the leaf coarse and unattractive. The 

 quality of the leaf depends very much upon the exact stage of maturity at which it 

 is harvested. If cut too green, when cured it lacks color and aroma; if too ripe it 

 becomes coarse and brittle; but if cut during a certain very short period of only three 



CHOICE TOBACCO LEAVES USED FOR "WRAPPERS." 



