2 



TOBACCO. 



In Bulletins 6 and 8, particulars were given of a prize of Fifty Guineas offered by the London c 

 Chamber of Commerce for the best sample of Tobacco of 400 pounds weight grown in the British 

 Colonies. It is now announced that the prize is, by the award of the Judges, divided equally between 

 Jamaica and North Borneo. Messrs. Maohado's Tobacco, grown at Temple Hall, in winning the prize 

 will be even more in demand than at present, ard it is quite probable that Jamaica Tobacco and Cigars 

 will be sought for in European markets. 



It rests with growers and manufacturers of Tobacco in this Island, by scientific cultivation an^ 

 careful curing to maintain and increase the reputation thus gained ; and it is possible for those who 

 now are producing a very inferior kind to take advantage of any increased demand, not by selling 

 worthless Tobacco and ruining the market for all, but by laboriously learning how to improve from 

 the directions given by one who thoroughly understood the whole art. Such directions are given below, 

 drawn up by a worthy Cuban, the late Mr. J. C. Espin, who lived many years in Jamaica, working 

 himself in the fields, and afterwards being engaged in the manufacture of Cigars. This pamphlet, the 

 result of long experience, was promised for use in the Jamaica Bulletin, but on Mr. Espin's appoint- 

 ment to undertake Tobacco culture in Trinidad, he preferred to take his manuscript with him. The 

 Government of Trinidad purchased the copyright, and published the pamphlet as a Botanical Bulletin. 

 By their permission, it is now reproduced in Jamaica, not for those who already understand their 

 business, but to help those who are conscious of a need of improvement. 



TOBACCO CULTURE. 



By J. C. Espin : 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 Tobacco plant, without 

 entering into its Natural History, Chemistry, etc., which be deems unnecessary in a purely practicd Guide 

 like this. The writer confidently recommends the methods here explained as they are based, not on 

 hearsay and " theory," but on his own experience as a planter and manufacturer for many years. He 

 assures those who may adopt this little book 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 effhiently cultivated ; but the works on the 

 subject, which we have had the opportunity of reading, arc cither 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 bewilder the cultivator. There are some works which give directions contrary 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 bo 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 bo one which v. e earnestly believe will be of 

 real and practical assistance to the beginner, as it was written " in the field" whilst actually growing, 

 curing and manufacturing "the weed" for the market, and therefore after every method had been tho- 

 roughly tested. Several manuscript copies of it were given to friends who desired to try the cultivation, 

 and the results of their experiments were most successful. 



As the writer is a native of Cuba and the original was written in Spanish, this is necessarily a 

 translation, but it differs in no way from the Spanish in the arrangement, etc., the writer having care- 

 fully prepared the English as well as the Spanish, but a foreigner by birth, the writer begs the in- 

 dulgence of the English-speaking readers towaids the correctness J or elegance of the English construction, 

 as it is not possible for him always to frame his sentences in a style untainted by his mother tongue, 

 and he begs to be excused for this somewhat lengthy Preface, and leaves to those who might follow 

 this Guide to decide how far he has succeeded in fulfilling his object. 



CHAPTER I. 



The Tobacco plant was not known in Europe till the discovery of America 'in the fifteenth century 

 It is said that Columbus, during his first voyage while off the coast of Cuba, sent eomc explorers to 

 land and obtain information concerning the natural resources of the country, and that on their way 

 back thev, for the first time, witnessed the use of a weed, which the ingenious capiice of man has since 

 converted into a universal luxury. They beheld several of the natives going about with firebrands in 

 their hands and certain dried herbs which they rolled up in a leaf and lighting one end put the other 

 in their mouths and continued inhaling and puffing out the smoke. A roll of this kind they called a 

 *' tobacco," a name since transferred to the plant of which the rolls wero made. 



There arc many species of Tobacco, but the Cuban Tobacco plant is one known to Botanists 

 as Nicotiana Tabacum L. (Cuban variety), and it is to the cultivation of this kind that we will direct our 

 Attention, it being the best Tobacco known and the only one I have cultivated. 



