The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1874-10-31
Tobacco.

We doubt If there is any country where Tobacco
will grow more luxuriantly and rapidly than in
these j lands, and yet we have not yet learned how
to cure it. Some eighteen months ago. the then
Minister Of the Interior offered a premium OF 81 900
to whoever would produce for export the FIRST ton
Of Tobacco cured by the - Culp (" process, but no
one appears to have thought of competing for the
premium. Why will it not pay? The experience
OF former years has proved that the reason is
simply because we have not learned the secret of
curing, and preparing for market. For some years
the cultivation of the plant in California, where it
throve well, was abandoned, until what is known
as the - Culp " process was introduced, since when
the business has become aourishing and extensive.
We are confident that with the exercise of the
proper enterprise and a moderate outlay. the Guilt
walton of Tobacco might result in adding materi-
ally to our exports. In the United States it is said
to be unquestIOnably the most remunerative crop
grown. The Tobacco crop in Connecticut this year
is said to be very fne-the growth liberal, and the
article of the very best. Fifteen hundred pounds
to the acre is the average yield in that State, and
the average price is said to be about six cents per
pound, in first hands. First quality Tobacco grown
in tropical climates however, brings a far higher
price than that, for we have seen the best Florida
leaf quoted as high as twenty-five cents in Bremen.
Cuba surpasses all other countries in raising the
uTsL QUALITIES OF lODdCCO, anu 10 uOuDJ Iduy val
liable lessons could be borrowed from her expert
ence. Even in Cuba, however, the quantity of
nrst-class Tobacco produced is quite limited. The
best Havana Tobacco farms are confined to an
area about eighty miles long and twenty-one
broad, in the southwestern part of the Island.
This district is bounded on the north by mountains,
on the east and west by the ocean, whilst eastward.
though there is no natural limit, the Tobacco SEN
sibIy degenerates in quality. The best ground for
raising the plant, according to Captain Carver
g. Treatise on culture of Tobacco etc., is a
warm, rich, soil. The soil on which it is grown in
Virginia is inelining to sandy, consequently warm
and light.
But the %insurgent operations in Cuba have inter
fered greatly with the cultivation of Tobacco. The
Vuelta d'Abajo, the finest district in the world for
the growth of Tobacco, has ceased long ago TO
yield a crop equal in quantity or favor to its
ancient reputation. 1t is a welI-known fact that
the importations of American Tobacco into Cuba
for several years past have been very great and
there is more than a suspicion that this product
comes back to the Americans in the shape of
;. genuine Havanas," for which smokers are willing
to pay preposterous prices. The following is a
brief account of the process of production and
curing as followed in Cuba:
1.-The planters commence to plant in August or
September, after the heavy rains are over. and the
nOrthers may be looked for, which generally come
accompanied by a drizzling rain that is favorable
to the plant. In February or March, and as late as
April, the Tobacco is cut and taken to a house or
shed. erected for the purpose Of afording shade,
and ut the same time a free circulation Of air it is
placed on cuyeS (poles,) laid horizontally at some
distance from the ground, where it is allowed to
become perfectly dry until the spring rains COM
mence. when the humidity seizes the leaf, causes it
to swell and to take the silky appearance peculiar
to il. 1t is then taken from the poles and laid in
heaps on the ground, the leaves being slightly
sprinkled with water; in this state it undergoes q
species of fermentation. After this operation is
gone through. the leaves are placed in maHojOS
(hands) afterward it is a very common practice to
take q quantity of refuse leaves and infuse them in
a quantity of water, and, in some instances, wine,
and even alcohol, or rather taia, is used when the
Tobacco is light cOlOred and weak. and it is desired
TO give il increased strength. This infusion under
goes a state Of fermentation, after which the refuse
leaves deposit themselves at the bottom. The To-
baccO is dipped into this preparation before being
hung up in a room almost %air-tight, where it under
goes the sweating to which the name Of caientura
(fever) is given the process Of dipping is per-
formed as many times as the Tobacco may require