INTRODUCTION 
The quality of a tobacco and the price that it commands 
in the world’s market depends upon a number of factors, 
some of which are known and can be controlled by the plan- 
ter and others that are yet imperfectly known. The cured 
tobacco leaf has a fine or coarse texture, a desirable or 
undesirable aroma, a good or poor burning quality, a light 
or dark color and stained or not according to the variety, 
the soil, the climate, the plant food present and the curing 
and fermenting process. 
‘These questions have all been studied, both from a scien- 
tific and a practical standpoint and we have tried to set 
forth in a concise form all that is known about the subject 
at the present date. The writer of this pamphlet has made 
a thorough study of tobacco growing in Cuba and Porto 
Rico and the practical methods described are those used 
by the more progressive planters. We take this opportu- 
nity of thanking all of the planters who have kindly fur- 
nished us data for several of the paragraphs and invite 
any planter to ask questions on points that are not entire- 
ly clear. 
