The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1899-05-12
TOBACCO RAISING N CUBA
Where the Finest Grades of
the Fragrant Weed on
Earth Are Grown.
THE VUELTA ABAJO."
PeculiaritieS of the Soil Which the
Most Expert Chemists Have
Failed to enetrate.

borrow Money Upon Their Growing
Crops, Payiu. Enormous Rates ot In err
est-A Multitude OF People Employed
in the Industry.
American capital to the amount OF
S100O00,0OO stands pledged to the en-
terpriSe of uniting under one manage
ment, if not ownership, the great to-
bacco producing plantations of the
"Nuelta AbajO" district i'll Havana and
Pinar del Rio provinces. In this dis
trict is grown the finest grade of to-
bacco to he found in the world. the cX-
cellcncc of the weed being due UNI
doubtcdly to pcculiaritics of the soil.
Samples of Cuban soil have been
submitted to the most expert chemists
none of whom has been able t0 pene-
trate natures secret. So capriciouS is
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 few feet
dividing them, will be found tobacco
plants growing. one producing leaf
that is cheap at $40 per pound the
other dear AT an equal price per hun
drcd weight. Md more, the right
kind of soil never wears out, while the
ordinary soil can be improved hy no
known method of treatment. In NUclta
Abaio are plantations of thirteen thou
sand acres, Il Scant seven hundred of
which will grow tobacco, but this com
paratiVcly small tract gives great
value to the entire plantation. Plants
brought from other districts or foreign
countries to NucltI Abaio require only
careful cultivation to give them rank
with the native tobacco. while Il re-
NerSal of the process invariably results
in the plant transferred from Nuelta
Abaio to any other district dctcriurat
Ing into the commonplace weed of
"pittsburg' or "Nhccling" commerce.
Under slpshod Spanish methods no
attempt was ever made ut 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
laccO growing lands. Undoubtedly
there are few men who know within
q hundred "CahallpripS' cahallUril is
the unit in measuring land. being
equal to 33.lG acres just how much
frst-claSs tobacco land there is in IIa-
vana and pinar del Rio, but as they
are interested in the latest movement
to form Il mighty trust they cannot be
betrayed into haZarding Il 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 six
months loan, and yet in normal times
are prosperous. The wealthy planters
count that a 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 Nuelta Abajo
Within three years it is believed that
district will give employment To fully
sixty thousand men. The rate Of
wages has been SIGH compared witt
that Of other employment in Cuba, o.