The record-union., 1898-09-19
CUBAN CIGARS.
HOW TOBACCO WAS GROWN
BEFORE THE WAR.
Grown in Havana Province as
Early as 1880 and Ever
Since.

The neighborhood of Havana claims
the honor of being the part of the ISL
and where tobacco was first cultivated
by the Spaniards AS early as 1880
attention was paid to the industry.
which speedily grew to such an extent
that the Government claimed the mo-
nopoly of cigar making. From that
time insurrectiOn in Cuba has developed
from intermittent to chronic In 1716,
and again III 1121 the planters, wear
led Of the restrictions imposed by the
Captain General, gave a reception more
warm than hospitable to the inspector
who came to fix the price of their
crops. On a similar occasion in 1123,
300 tobacco growers having refused
to accept the terms and having de-
stroyed the crops of those who did not
accept, a detachment of cavalry was
sent to quell the insurgents, many OF
whom were killed. In 1161 the Gov
ernment constructed the first Real
Fabrica de Tabacos-now the military
hospital, on the bay of Havana south
of the arsenal. One immediate result
of the Fabrica was the extension of
tobacco farming to the Vuelta Abajo,
where, after 1915, when the restric-
tions and the monopoly We're removed,
the industry rapidly increased. In
1927 there were in the district of which
Pinar del Rio is the center over 5000
Vegas--aS the tobacco farms are
called; in 1916, over 9,000;, in 1870
some II, 900, while before the outbreak
of the present rebellion the tobacco
crop of the Vuelta Abajo gas worth
an annual average of $30O0000O.
MOIST, SANDY SOIL REQUIRED.
The vegas of the Vuelta Abajo lie
generally on the sandy-soiled margins
of rivers, or in other low, moist local
lties. Ten or fifteen years ago, when
sugar planting, though arrived at de-
preston, had not yet gone below zero,
the ordinary size of a vega was a
aballeria-about thirty-three acres.
OF these thirty-three acres half was
devoted to the raising of the banana,
or platano, as the Cubanos name it,
which is the staff of life of the hands, -
and also serves as a screen from the
keen .'northers," known as "los nor
ties" More recently two or three ca
ballerias have been united in one farm
On the vega are the casa de vivienda, -
or dwelling house Of the "veguero,"
who may be the owner or tenant-foT
the last three years almost invariably
the Well-nigh ruined owner; a drying
house some mules and cattle sheds the
'bohois" or huts for the hands, who
may be negroes, mulatoes or the lowest
class of whites, and seldom exceed
forty 10 the caballeria and the Ca
bana" for the ''mayoral,' or overseer.
One reason for the extensive employ
nent on the vegas of white labor-con-
trary to the rule on the "ingenos," or
sugar estates-is that comparatively
little of the work can be done in the
heat of the day.
One of the most extraordinary things
in nature is the Cuban veguero's in
stinct in the augmenting or diminish
ing the mildness or strength of his
tobacco. Cubans claim it to be an
hereditary insight with which no ac-
quired skill can compete. Certain it is
that the Americans, and the occasional
Frenchman or Englishman, who, after
learning tObacco-growing for years
have, without exception, come to grief
over this all-important detail The
fingers of the Cubano seem to divine
the buds he must take off to limit the
increase or hight of the plant the ex-
art touches of trimming that will pro-
duce the proper quantity and quality
of leaves.
ENEMIES OF THE CROP.
The writer who lately mourned a