Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1899-07-15
TOBACCO RAISING IN CUBA
Where the Finest Grades of
the Fragrant Weed on
Earth Are Grown.
THE "VUELTA ABAJO."
PecuIiarities of the Soil Which the
Most Expert Chemists Have
Failed to Penetrate.

Great Profits to he Realized Planters
borrow Money Upon Their Growing
Crops, Paying Enormous Rates of Inter-
est-A Multitude of People Employed
In the Industry.
American capital to the amount OF
S1O0,000,000 stands pledged TO the en-
terprise of uniting under one manage
ment If not ownership, the great TO-
bacco producing plantations OF the
"yuelta Abajo" district ia Havana and
pinar del Rio provinces. In this DIS
trlct is grown the finest grade OF to-
bacco TO be found in the world, the ex-
cellence of the weed being due un-
doubtedly to peculiaritles OF the soil
Samples of Cuban soil have been
submitted to the most expert chemists,
none Of whom has been able 10 pene-
frate natures secret. So eaprietouS ~
the combination Of soil and plant that
thorough agricultural experiment Is
necessary to separate the good from
the bad tobacco land. In apparently
the same soil, but with a few feet
dividing them, will be found tobacco
plants growing, one producing leaf
that is cheap at SO per pound, the
other dear at an equal price per hun
dred weight. And more, the right
kind Of soil never wears out, while the
ordinary soil can be improved by no
known method of treatment. In Nuelta
Abaio are plantations of thirteen thou
sand acres, a scant seven hundred OF
which will grow tobacco, but this com
paratively small tract gives great
value to the entire plantation. Plants
brought from other districts or foreign
countries to Vuelta Abajo require only
careful cultivation to give them rank
with the native tobacco, while a re-
versal of the process invariably results
in the plant transferred from Vuelta
Abajo to any other district deteriorat-
ing into the commonplace weed of
"Pittsburg" or Wheeling commerce.
Under slipshod Spanish methods no
attempt was ever made at agricultural
classification in Cuba, for which rea-
son there are few official statistics
concerning the growth of tobacco, and
absolutely no figures upon which to
base an estimate of the acreage of to-
bacco growing lands. Undoubtedly
there are a few men who know within
a hundred "caballcries'--cab alleria is
the unit in measuring land, being
equal to 1915 acres-just how much
frst-class tobacco land there is in Ha-
vana and Pinar del Rio, but as they
are interested in the latest movement
to form a mighty trust they cannot be
betrayed into haZarding a guess. In
deed. men who have been experts in
tobacco for two generations have sud
denly forgotten all they ever knew
about the business.
That there are great profits to be
realized is apparent when it is known
that the small planters borrow money
upon their growing crops, paying
about twenty per cent for d six
months loan, and yet in normal times
are prosperous. The wealthy planters
count that poor year which does not
realize for them fifty per cent. upon
their entire investment, including the
price of the plantation. AS the United
States has always been the one great
market for Cuban tobacco and, in
deed. all other products of the island.
the closer relations which have been
and are to be established should in
crease even the enormous profits of the
past.
Twenty-siX thousand men and about
ten thousand women and children
have been directly employed in the
production of tobacco in Vuelta Abajo
Within three years it is believed that
district will give employment to fully
sixty thousand men. The rate
wages has been high compared
that of nthar amnloVmaut in o., a