ern portion of the island is not
capable of producing tobacco of the best quality. The region of superior
tobacco is comprised within a parallelogram of twenty-nine degrees by
seven. Beyond this, up to the meridian of Havana, the tobacco is of fine
color, but inferior aroma (the Countess Merlin calls this aroma the
vilest of smells); and the former circumstance secures it the preference
of foreigners. From Consolacion to San Christoval, the tobacco is very
hot, in the language of the growers, but harsh and strong, and from San
Christoval to Guanajay, with the exception of the district of Las
Virtudes, the tobacco is inferior, and continues so up to Holguin y
Cuba, where we find a better quality. The fertile valley of Los Guines
produces poor smoking tobacco, but an article excellent for the
manufacture of snuff. On the banks of the Rio San Sebastian are also
some lands which yield the best tobacco in the whole island. From this
it may be inferred how great an influence the soil produces on the good
quality of Cuban tobacco; and this circumstance operates more strongly
and directly than the slight differences of climate and position
produced by immediate localities. Perhaps a chemical analysis of the
soils of the Vuelta de Abajo would enable the intelligent cultivator to
supply to other lands in the island the ingredients wanting to produce
equally good tobacco. The cultivators in the Vuelta de Abajo are
extremely skilful, though not scientific. The culture of tobacco yields
about seven per cent. on the capital invested, and is not considered to
be so profitable on the island as of yore.

Cacao, rice, plantains, indigo, cotton, sago, yuca (a farinaceous plant,
eaten like potatoes), Indian corn, and many other vegetable productions,
might be cultivated to a much greater extent and with larger profit than
they yield. We are astonished to find that with the inexhaustible
fertility of the soil, with an endless summer, that gives the laborer
two and three crops of some articles a year, agriculture generally
yields a lower per centage than in our stern northern latitudes. The
yield of a _caballeria_ (thirty-two and seven-tenths acres) is as
follows:

Sugar, $2,500
Coffee, 750
Tobacco, 3,000
Cacao, 5,000
Indigo, 2,000
Indian corn, 2 crops, 1,500
Rice, 1,000
Sago, 1,500