142 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [August i, 1889. 
continuous supply of it is necessary tojpreserve health 
in animals. Salt spread on the ground aids in the 
solution of mineral matter used in stiffening the stems 
of plants. Salt is efficacious in soils abounding in 
organic matter. It is not a direct food for cereals, 
but by stiffening the straw keeps it from " lodging." 
Wherever it is needed it often pays its cost many 
times. Salt is useful for application to the manure 
heap to supply it with chlorine. Salt has been in 
use for ages as a fertilizer, and its great value cannot 
be disputed, it operates on the soil with an influence 
not produced by any other stimulant, mineral or 
vegetable." I have summarised the foregoing from 
the different volumes of the Tropical Agriculturist 
at much trouble, and hope it will help to awaken an 
interest in this substance. I find that Mr. Hughes 
too has contributed to the literature on salt. He says 
that "there is no doubt that salt is a most useful 
and cheap source of manure." I am glad to find that 
he too is of the same opinion as myself, that if it 
be mixed with an odorous substance, Natives, with 
their peculiar prejudices, will ' refuse to handle it, 
"much less bring the same in contact with their 
food." He suggests admixture with fish manure, dried 
blood or Peruvian guano. The latter will be best as 
being most odoriferous. Government should not harp 
on the same string, and say that it is possible to purify 
salt so denaturalized ; they ought to be practical aud 
consider whether it is probable it will be done. Let 
the experiment be tried for one year, of selling at 
reduced rates, not the salt used for food, but the 
refuse salt destroyed at so high an expenditure of 
money, with proper restrictions of course. If the re- 
venue be affected, it will be time enough to withdraw 
the concession. — Local "Examiner." 
THE HAVANA TOBACCO TEADE. 
The importance of the tobacco cultivation as a profit- 
able industry of Ouba is a well-known fact, but the 
extent of the trade, and the great money value of 
the produce in that single country are not so gene- 
rally known. " The Tobacco Industries of Cuba" has 
recently been the subject of a carefully drawn up re- 
port to the Foreign Office, of which the following is 
a summary of the most interesting points: — 
Cuban Tobacco has, it is stated, no rival in the world, 
and it is curious to note that this supremacy is con- 
fined to the western portion of the island, the Tobacco 
grown to the east of Havana having a distinctly 
different character. The leaf there is good — better 
than most foreign kinds— but is wanting in aroma and 
delicacy of flavour, when compared with the former. 
That of the eastern districts goes under the general 
name of " Vuelta Arriba," in contradistinction to 
that from the west, which is called " Vuelta Abajo," 
and this, again, is divided into " Medio Vuelta Abajo" 
and " Partido," the latter name being applied to the 
Tobacco grown in the districts near and about 
Havana. It will thus be seen that as regards To- 
bacco, Nature has placed Cuba above competition. 
It is this which has made her Tobacco trade a 
certainty — a natural monopoly, which is only a uni- 
versal abstention from smoking or extraordinary 
climatic changes can break up. This valuable natural 
privilege has been a mainstay for the Cubans in their 
commercial disaster, for large fortunes have been made 
already in this trade, and want of (capital is the only 
drawback to the attainment of greater successes. Very 
large profits have in good years been realised, averag- 
ing from 10 to 35 per ceDt on invested capital. In spite 
of these encouraging facts, foreigners, with the ex- 
ception of a few Germans, have not hitherto invested 
in this branch of Cuban trade, probably owing to an 
inpression that the handling of tobacco in all its 
stages was a speciality which only the natives could 
successfully manipulate, and this, to a great extent, is 
the case. The Spaniards have almost exclusively es- 
tablished and managed tho factories, while the Creoles 
have supplied the skilled labour. The successful 
factory owners are nearly all from Asturias, Galicia, 
and Catalonia, and it is an exception to find other 
provincials ongagod in thin trado. This year, howeve 
it is stated, will see a revolution in this direction, 
for these manufactories with world-known brands have 
for the first time passed into English hands and are 
already working for English account. 
The Parta^as Company CLimted) has been formed 
in London with a share capital of £295,000, and 
has purchased the cigar and cigarette manufactories 
working under the brand of the " Flor de Tobacco," 
with 18,000 acres of Tobacco land in the best part of 
the Vuelta Abajo lor £200,000. This factory, which 
has a well merited reputation for high class aromatic 
goods, turn out between 30,000 and 35,000 cigars, and 
2,000,000 cigarettes daily. Of this new experiment, it is 
said: — "If our countrymen do not hastily and im- 
prudently replace tri-id native labour and management 
by foreign and inexperienced hands, there is no ap- 
parent reason why this undertaking should not give a 
good return on capital." 
A second company has also been formed in London 
with a large capital, and now that the attention of 
Englishmen has been called to this branch or culture, 
it is expected that similar companies will soon follow. 
Companies have also been formed in Melbourne, Australia, 
for the purpose of securing a steady and direct supply 
of the best brands of cigars to our Australian colonies. 
It will thus be seen that not only is the British public 
becoming materially interested iu this industry, but 
that our kinsmen in Australia are also alive to the chance 
of sharing in the profits and pleasure of the choice 
Havana leaf, the demand for which, as smokers' tastes 
become developed, ever increases. 
Besides the cigar and cigarette trade, a large and 
lucrative business is now done in leaf Tobacco, of wuicb 
thousands of bales are shipped to the United States 
and to Germany, some to be rolled there so as to 
avoid import duties, but the greater part to be mixed 
with, and so render saleable, the nati.e aud in- 
ferior product. 
To reach and maintain the level of an eager and 
constant demand, it is necessary to know both how 
to select the leaf in the field, and how to cure and 
manipulate it in the factory. All the rest is simple 
enough for an intelligent man, but for these operations 
experience and instinct, developed by long practice, 
are indispensable conditions of success, the want of them 
and insufficient capital have been the rum of numerous 
factories. It is by these qualities that the plodding 
and industrious Asturians have shown their strengta and 
made their fortunes from small beginnings. It is stated 
that " the sudden irruption of nearly one million ster- 
ling of British capital into the Tobacco field lias caused 
some alarm both iu and out of the is'and on the 
ground that we are about to obtain command of the 
whole Havana trade." — Gardeners' 1 Chronie'e. 
— ♦ 
AGEI-HOETICULTUBAL SHOWS. 
The success of District aud Provincial Agri-Horti- 
cultural Shows from one point of view, should not 
blind us to their failure from another. There are 
few things that can earn success all round, and these 
Shows are not among the limited number. Their chief 
professed object is to improve Native Agriculture, by 
offering a prize for special excellence iu garden and 
field produce, and affording the Native agriculturist 
an opportunity of seeing in the products of others 
the excellence he has himself not been able to attain. 
It is to be feared that, so far as this object is con- 
cerned, the measure of success attained has been very 
small, if indeed Sbows have not been uumitigateu 
failures. Not only have those whom it is specially ne- 
cessary to instruct not availed themselves to any ap- 
preciable extent of the opportunity of entering the 
lists as competitors, but they have not been as numerous 
as they might have been even as spectators. Without 
going so far as to say that they may not have be- 
nefited indirectly, it is as well honestly to poiut out 
the very limited direct influence exercised by Shows 
over them, in order that change of system, may be de- 
vised which would be more fruitful of results. The 
important end in view justifies some effort. Even the 
most enthusiastic admirer of the Natives or their most 
earnest apologist does not question the need of improve- 
