The record-union., 1898-09-19

lack of invention in expletives cannot
nave tried Spanish. There is no
other language in which a man can ex-
press himself with such emphasis, |
versatility and general relief, and the
verguero may be pardoned if he avalis |
himself of the capabilities of his Cas-
tilian. His life is spent in a warfare
that knows no truce. An authority has
told us to go to the ant" II the
Cuban rebels had emulated the persist
ent perfection in tactics of the vivija-
qua, Cuba Libre" would be an estab-
lished fact. The vivijagua-the huge
native ants to the tobacco what the
locust is to the wheat. In years when
his visitation assumes the proportions
of a plague recourse is had to the IN
terceSsion, with procession and special
alteration, of San Marcial, who is the
patron of the vegueros. So insidiouS
is the method of attack of the vivija-
qua that the only remedy is the rigor
of the game" cremation-unforunate
necessarily of the plant as well as the
parasite, as the eggs in the soil must
be sterilized. The planter sees
flourishing growth droop and fade. He
cuts the stem few inches above the
ground. Instead of healthy cells full
of sap he finds a fragile lacework Of
fiber The perforation is a master
| piece in design. The planter, however,
/ is not in the mood for admiration of
the architectural genius of the vivija-
! qua. AS this plant is, so are all the
! others on his vega. He falls back on
| his Castilian.
| Even should San Marcial deliver him
! from the vivijagua, the veguero still
. has to pass his early morning and ev-
| ening-at certain seasons his entire
| night-in exterminating other voracious
/ insects that persecute his crop. One
pest the "cachaga," domiciles himself
| at the roots of the leaves. He opens
proceedings by feeding upon the part
| of the stalk which forms his selling.
AS he eats, he twists the outer edge
of the stalk which forms his ceiling.
| himself and his family, enlarging both
| family and home as he travels to the
| tip. The lOathsome little verde is an
| unrivaled mimic. His success in col
| oring himself the Identical shade of the
| leaf through all its degrees of ripening
| Is calculated to deceive the keenest
| eye. For thoroughness of work he
| compels respect. He leaves nothing but
| the midrib. The exasperating ''ros-
! quilla" gets into the hearts of the
buds, and SO rapidly does he multiply
| that in twenty-four hours the plant
is like poor Swift, dead at the top
To rid the vega of all these animal
! culae there is nothing for it but to
| pick them off by hand 1t is a pretty
scene, in the tranquil tropical night,
when the hands, each with a little
| safety lamp attached to his hat or
to his shirt front, move with slow reg
ularity, one by one, up and down the
long drills of the field, the master
taking duty at one end of the process
sion, the 'mayoraI'' at the other
| CLASSIFICATION OF RAW LEAVES
The genus nicotiana," whose original
name was 'cohoba, attains, as al
| lowed, a hight of from six to nine
feet. The tobacco is stronger when
| fewer Of the oblong, eXquisitely veined
| leaves are permitted to grow, eight
! to twelve being an average on a good
plant These leaves, when young, are
of a cool, dark green, of a sheeny.
smooth texture, and change, when ma
| ture, into an "arty greenery- -yallery."
| The Cubanos divide them into four
distinct classes. To the first belong
| the "desecho," or "desecho limpo,' the
! pick of the leaves directly at the top
| of the plant, which are the best, for
/ the reason that they have more equally
come under dew by night. OF the sec
| ond class are the "desechito,' which
| grow next to the above. The libra"
| or inferior" which are the small leaves
| about the top of the plant, constitute
| the third. In the fourth class are the
| ''injuriado," the leaves nearest the root,
! which are more apt to be soil-stained
and injured by insects or by chemicals.
The Habanero connOisseurs readily
! distinguish the best quality of dried
| leaves, such as the choice vegas pro-
duce, by their freedom from stains and
| their even tinting of rich brown, ex-
actly, say these people who understand
| Ia galanterid," like the irises of the
| Southern girl These leaves, when
made into cigars, burn freely, with a
brown or white ash, which will some
| times remain as such until the cigar
| is half smoked. In each of the forego-
| ing classes there are, again, several
| grades. OF the ''injuriado' there are
| three qualities, of which the best is
the 'injuriado de reposo,' the repicked,
the other two being ''primeros' and
'segundos." Imperfect leaves OF the
| 'desechito" and the libra" are called
| ''injuriado bueno," while all the unclas-
| sifiable-the poorest quality or broken
| leaves of the fnest-is termed ''injuri-
| ado malo." The trade distinguishes all
| these classes and grades by numbers,
which, to the expert, suggests the
| names.
| THE VOLUME OF PRODUCTION.
vega of thirty-three acres may pro-
duce about ten thousand pounds of to-
! bacco of which five hundred may be
''desecho," or best; two thousand desc
| chito." or seconds; three thousand I'll
| bra" or thirds and four thousand five
hundred pounds of "injuriado." To cs-
! innate the profits of a tobacco farm in