Note 96 — XIII.

Owing to the universal interest felt in tobacco, the use of which has spread over the globe, till it has become a necessary of life to the civilized man as well as the half-savage races of mankind, we subjoin by way of completing the information above attained, the following remarks upon the tobacco culture in other possessions of Spain, extracted from an unpublished journal, kept by a member of the Expedition, during a visit previously paid to the West Indies.

"The best sites for growing tobacco in Cuba lie to the westward of the capital in what is called the Vuelta abajo, between Rio Hondo and San Juan de Martinez, and is about ten English miles in circumference; the tobacco grown on the Vuelta arriba is usually of inferior quality. In 1856 there were in Cuba 10,000 plantations or Vegas, with a superficial area of 8000 Caballerias, (about 414 square miles, 1 Caballeria being equal to 160,371,041 English square yards, or 33,134 acres), cultivated by from 14,000 to 16,000 negro slaves. The total value of the capital employed in this branch of culture (including manual labour, building utensils, draught animals, &c.) may be estimated at 13,000,000 piasters (£2,730,000), and the average weight of tobacco produced at a million and a half arrobas, or 37,500,000 lbs. annually. Of this quantity 400,000 arrobas, or 10,000,000 lbs., are consumed in Cuba itself, while the rest is exported partly in the leaf, partly in the manufactured state. One Caballeria of ground can produce on the average about 360 arrobas, or 9000 lbs., of which however only ¹⁄₂₀th will be of superior quality.

"A 'vega' usually consists of three Caballerias, which are in regular succession devoted to the tobacco cultivation, so that while two are devoted to maize and other vegetables for human subsistence, only the remaining third is under tobacco. The season for sowing is in October or November, and the crop is got in in January or February. On one Caballeria there are usually found under favourable circumstances 500,000 plants or Matas. Hence it results, that as the tobacco culture of Cuba extends over 8000 Caballerias, there are throughout the island 4,000,000,000 plants. Each plant has from 8 to 10 suitable leaves. They are collected together in bundles, called manojos (handfuls), of from 120 to 130 leaves each, and 80 manojos make one tercio, or 150 lbs. of tobacco. One manojo weighs about 1 ¹⁄₄ lbs., and when prepared makes into about 400 cigars. There are in Cuba altogether 600 cigar-manufactories, of which above 400 are in the capital alone. A workman can make about 150 cigars a day; the rate of pay is about 10 Spanish piasters or duros for 1000. The manufacture of cigars gives employment to about 20,000 workmen, chiefly males. Under the designation of Tabagueros, they constitute almost an exclusive class, and owing to their improvidence are usually in wretched plight. In Cuba (as in Luzon) there is but one species of tobacco raised, but more attention seems to be paid to its cultivation in the former island. The leaves are sorted in Cuba according to colour and 'vein' (venas), and their quality fixed accordingly. In commerce there are three sorts, viz.—

The number of cigars annually exported from the Havanna averages from 200,000,000 to 250,000,000, without including the ramos, or tobacco exported in the leaf. The cedar-tree (Cedrela odorata), of which the cigar-boxes are chiefly made, is occasionally prejudicial to the contents, in consequence of the slight dampness still remaining in the wood bringing out white spots of decay upon the tips of the cigars."