METHOD OF WORKING. 347 
‘the ocean, Pinar del Rio being the principal point in 
district. These vegas are fone eenelly mt itis me oe 
rivers, or in low, moist localities, their ordinary size being 
not more than a coballeria, which amounts to about thirty- 
three acres of our measurement. The half of this is also 
most frequently devoted to the raising of the vegetable known 
as the platano (banana), which may be said to be the bread of 
the lower classes. A few other small vegetables are raised. 
The usual buildings upon such places are a dwelling house, a 
ye ease a few sheds for cattle, and perhaps a small 
bohio (hut),or two, made in the rudest manner, for the shelter 
of the hands, who, upon some of the very largest places 
number twenty or thirty, though not always negroes—for this 
portion of the labor of the island seems to be performed by 
the lower classes of whites. Some of the places that are 
large have a mayoral, as he is called, a man whose business it 
is to look after the negroes, and direct the agricultural 
labors; but, as a general thing, the planter, who is not 
always the owner of the property, but simply the lessee, lives 
upon, directs, and governs the place. 
“Guided by the results of a long experience transmitted 
from his ancestors (says a Spanish author), the farmer knows, 
without being able to explain himself, the means of augment- 
ing or diminishing the strength or the mildness of the 
tobacco. His right hand, as if guided by an instinct, foresees 
what buds it is necessary to take off in order to put a limit to 
the increase or height, and what amount of trimming is 
necessary to give a chance to the proper quantity of leaves. 
But the principal care, and that which occupies him in his 
waking hours, is the extermination of the voracious insects 
that persecute the plant. One called cachaga domesticates 
itself at the foot of the leaves; the verde, on the under side 
of the leaves; the rosquzila, in the heart of the plant; all of 
them doing more or less damage. The planter passes entire 
nights, provided with lights, clearing the buds just opening, 
of these destructive insects. He has even to carry on a war 
With still worse enemies,—the vinijagnas, a species of large, 
native ants, that are to the tobacco what the locust is to the 
wheat. This plague is so great, at times, that prayers and 
special adoration are offered up to San Marcial to intercede 
against the plague of ants. 
_ © The plant, whose original name was cohzba, seems to have 
been cultivated first by Europeans on the island in the 
vicinity of Havana. The island of Cuba is without doubt 
