mysterious.  Nor does the plant of this region appear to be susceptible of improvement through any modern, scientific systems of cultivation.  The quality deteriorates rather than improves as a result of artificial fertilizers.  The people of the region, cultivating this special product through generation after generation, seem to have developed a peculiar instinct for its treatment.  It is not impossible that a time may come when scientific soil selection, seed selection, special cultivation, irrigation, and other systems, singly or in combination, will make possible the production of a standardized high-grade leaf in much greater quantity than heretofore, but it seems little probable that anything so produced will excel or even equal the best produced by these expert vegueros by their indefinable but thorough knowledge of the minutest peculiarities of this peculiar plant.  Thus far, it has not even been possible to produce it elsewhere in the island.  It has been tried outside of the fairly defined area of its production, tried by men who knew it thoroughly within that area, tried from the same seed, from soils that seem quite the same.  But all failed.  Science may some day definitely locate the reasons, just as it may find the reason for deterioration in the quality of Cuban tobacco eastward from that area.  The tobacco of Havana Province is excellent, but inferior to that of Pinar del Rio.  The growth of Santa Clara Province is of good quality, but inferior to that of Havana Province, while the tobacco of eastern Cuba is little short of an offence to a discriminating taste.

Tobacco is grown from seeds, planted in specially prepared seed beds.  Seeding is begun in the early autumn.  When the young plant has attained a proper height, about eight or ten inches, it is removed to, and planted in, the field of its final growth.  This preliminary process demands skill, knowledge, and careful attention equal, perhaps, to the requirements of the later stages.  Experiments have been made with mechanical appliances, but most of the work is still done by hand, particularly in the area producing the better qualities of leaf.  From the time of transplanting, it is watched with the greatest care.  A constant battle is waged with weeds and insect life, and water must be brought if the season is too dry.  If rains are excessive, as they sometimes are, the crop may be partly or wholly destroyed, as it was in the autumn of 1914.  The plant matures in January, after four months of constant watchfulness and labor, in cultivation, pruning, and protection from worms and insects.  When the leaves are properly ripened, the stalks are cut in sections, two leaves to a section.  These are hung on poles and taken to the drying sheds where they are suspended for three or more weeks.  The time of this process, and its results, depend upon moisture, temperature, and treatment.  All this is again an operation demanding expert knowledge and constant care.  When properly cured, the leaves