The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-08-31
CUBAN CIGARS.

How Tobacco Was Grown Before the
 War-Niceties of Manufacture.
 The neighborhood of Havana claims the honor of being the part of the is- land where tobacco was first cultivated by the Spaniards. As early as 15S0 at- tention was paid to the industry, which speedily grew to such an extent that the government claimed the monopoly of cigar making From that time in- surrection in Cuba has developed from intermittent to chronic. In 1716, and again in 1721, the planters wearied 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 1723, five hundred tobacco growers having refused to ac- cept the terms and having destroyed the crops of those who did accept, a detachment of cavalry was sent to quell the insurgents, many of whom were killed In 1761 the government con- structed the first Real Fabrica de Ta- bacos-now the military hispital, on the Bay of Havana south of the arsenal. oIlS lII1IuGuldlG TeSulI ol IilC T oDllCet was the extension of tobacco farming to the Vuelta Abajo, where, after 1915, when the restrictions and the monopoly were removed, the industry rapidly in creased In 1927 there were in the dis trict of which Pinar del Rio is the cen- ter over five thousand vegas-as the to- bacco farms are called; in 1S46 over nine thousand; in 1870, some fourteen thousand. while before the outbreak of the present rebellion the tobacco crop of the Vuelta Abajo was worth an an nual average of thirty million dollars.
 The vegas of the Vuelta Abajo lie generally on the sandy-soiled margins of rivers, or in other low, moist locali- ties. Ten or fifteen years ago, when sugar-planting, though arrived at de- presson, had not yet gone below zero, the ordinary size of vega was ca balleria-about thirty-three acres. Of these thirty-t three acres half was devo- ted to the raising of the banana, or pla- tano, as the Cubanos name it, which is the staff of life of the hands and also serves as a screen to protect the tobac- co from the keen "northers," known as Clos nortes." More recently two or three caballerias have been united in one farm. On the vega are the ''casa de vivienda," or dwelling-house of the ''veguero," who hay be owner or tenant flor the last three years almost inva- riably the well-nigh ruined owner; a drying-house, some mule and cattle sheds, the "bohios" or huts for the hands, who may be negroes, mulattoes, or the lowest class of whites, and sell om exceed forty to the caballeria, and the "cabanana" for the "mayoral," or overseer One reason for the extensive employment on the vegas of white la bor-contrary to the rule on the 'ingen- ios," or sugar estates-is that compar- atively little of the work can be done in the heat of the day.
 One of the most extraordinary things in nature is the Cuban vegueros in- astinct in the augmenting or diminish ing the mildness or strength of his to- bacco Cubans claim it to be an hered itary insight with which no acquired skill can compete. Certain it is that the Americans, and the occasional Frenchman or Englishman, who, after learning tobacco growing for years, have tried the vega as an investment, 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 height of the plant the ex- act touches of trimming that will pro- duce the proper quantity and quality of leaves.
 The writer who lately mourned lack of invention in explosives cannot have tried Spanish. There is no other lan- ;,, yx-I,i oh himself with such emphasis versatili ty and general relief, and the veguero may be pardoned if he avails himself of the capabilities of his Castilian. His life is spent in warfare that knows no truce. An authority has told us to Ego to the ant" If the Cuban rebels had emulated the persistent perfection in tactics of the vivijagua, Cuba Libre" would be an established fact. The viv- iiagua-the huge native ant-is 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 intercession, with procession and special adoration, of San Marcial, who is the patron of the vegueros. So insidious is the method of attack of the vivijagua that the only remedy Is ''the r1gOr or the game cfe11ldIlOI-unlOr tunately necessarily of the plant as well as the parasite, as the eggs in the soil must be sterilized. The planter sees a f1ourishing growth droop and fade He cuts the stem few inches above the ground Instead of healthy cells full of sap he finds fragile lace work of fibre The perforation is a masterpiece in design. The planter, however, is not in the mood for admi- ration of the architectural genius of the vivijagua 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 even ing-at certain seasons his entire night in exterminatiug other voracious in- sects that persecute his crop One pest, the ''cachaga." domiciles himself at the roots of the leaves He opens proceed ings by feeding upon the part of the