JAM AICA. 



BULLETIN 



OF THE 



BOTANICAL DEPARTMENT. 



Vol. VI 



New Series OCTOBER, 1899, p 



TOBACCO CULTIVATION AND CURING. * 



By J. C. EsPlN: For many years Planter and Manufacturer in Cuba and 

 Jamaica, and late Government Expert for Trinidad. 



PREFACE. 



The clear and ordinary language adopted in writing this Guide will, 

 it is believed, be more within the reach of those who most need it than 

 a more elaborate and scientific phraseology. Unacquainted with science, 

 the writer merely explains the methods of growing and curing the To- 

 bacco plant, without entering into its Natural History, Chemistry, etc., 

 which he deems unnecessary in a purely practical Guide like this. The 

 writer confidently recommends the methods here explained as the} r are 

 based, not on hear say and " theory" but on his own experience as a 

 planter and manufacturer for many years. He assures those who may 

 adopt this article as their guide that if strictly followed out, the 

 Tobacco obtained will be of excellent quality, depending, of course, on 

 the physical conditions of the locality where grown. 



Much has been written on Tobacco, a plant which forms one of the 

 most important factors of national wealth in the countries where it is 

 largely and efficiently cultivated; but the works on the subject, which 

 we have had the opportunity of reading, are either so scientific in the 

 language and style as to be beyond the knowledge of the majority, or so 

 diffuse and full of different and even opposite methods as to be- 

 wilder the cultivator. There are some works which give directions con- 

 trary to our experience, and others again devote more space to the 

 botany, physical and chemical properties of the plant, than to the proper 

 manner of growing and curing it, which latter ought to be the principal 

 aim. 



With a view to supply, as far as our knowledge allows, a thoroughly 

 practical and reliable guide, devoid of the defects above mentioned, it 

 was decided to prepare the present Pamphlet, not that it will be, by 

 any means, absolutely free from errors, but it will be one which we 



•Reprinted from Bulletin, No. 13, May, 1889 (now out of print.) 



