17 



An inspection of the samples at the time they were taken showed 

 that, as a rule, the texture was too heavy, as compared with the 

 standard of typical tobacco soils in the United States, for the produc- 

 tion of high-grade cigar tobacco and cigar wrappers. A study of the 

 above table brings out this fact even more strongly than did the mere 

 inspection. It will be seen that, with but two exceptions, the per- 

 centages of clay and silt are quite high. 



Under the old regime of tobacco production in Porto Rico, the fact 

 that the tobaccos produced were as a rule rather coarse, dark in color, 

 and too heavy to meet the market demands in the United States, is 

 attributable largely to the heavy texture of the soil. 



The sample of soil from Caguas shows about half as much silt and 

 clay combined as those from most of the other districts, and it was 

 observed that in this district as a rule the tobacco is lighter in struc- 

 ture, texture, and color than in the other districts. This tobacco, 

 however, is inferior in flavor and aroma to that from Cayey and 

 Comerio, and it is therefore thought that the district might be largely 

 devoted to the production of a wrapper and binder leaf. By improved 

 methods of topping, harvesting, curing, and fermenting it is believed 

 that this could be accomplished in the Caguas district, even without 

 the use of shade. 



The Arecibo soil, which contains a comparatively low percentage 

 of silt and clay, has a texture which would designate it as an excellent 

 tobacco soil, especially for the production of a wrapper leaf. As a 

 matter of fact, the tobacco from this district has no aroma, a poor 

 taste, and does not burn so well. This poor quality is probably 

 attributable to the fact that the district is located near the seacoast 

 and swept during the greater part of the time by the trade winds, 

 and also that the soil contains very little organic matter, which it 

 would be important to increase by the use of green manures. 



The trade winds coming from across the ocean are laden with mois- 

 ture containing traces of chlorin, which in time possibly causes an 

 increase in the chlorin content of the soil. It is well known that the 

 presence of very small amounts of this element has a detrimental 

 effect on the burning qualities of the tobacco. 



Experiments at Aibonito on soils that contained 31.98 and 33.70 

 per cent of cla}^ have shown that it is possible, through the shading 

 of the tobacco with cheese cloth and by the application of improved 

 methods of harvesting, curing, and fermenting, to produce tobacco 

 yielding a high percentage of excellent wrapper leaves, possessing 

 the qualities of fair combustibility, good elasticity, uniform color, etc. 



It was noticed in the first experiments, however, that some of the 

 leaves of this tobacco were too thin and would not keep long in the 

 warehouse without more or less deterioration. The veins of the leaf 

 in this case were rather too heavy, especiall} 7 in those leaves with 



