The System Of Control

At the time of my visit, the royal factories could not turn out a supply of cigars commensurate with the requirements of commerce.

This brought about a peculiar condition of things; the wholesale dealer, who purchased cigars in very considerable quantities at the Government auctions, paying higher than the retail rates at which he could buy them singly in the estancia.

In order, therefore, to prevent the merchants drawing their stocks from the estancias, it was determined that only a certain quantity should be purchased, which limit no merchant dared exceed.

A very intricate system of control, assisted by espionage, had to be employed in seeing that no one, through different agents and different estancias, collected more than the authorised supply ; and violation of this rule, when discovered, was punished by confiscation of the offender’s stock.

Everybody was free to purchase cigars in the estancia, but nobody was permitted to sell a chest of cigars to an acquaintance at cost price. Several Spaniards with whom I have spoken concerning these strange regulations maintained them to be perfectly just, as otherwise all the cigars would be carried off by foreigners, and they would not be able themselves in their own colony to smoke a decent cigar.

• From December 1853 to November 1854 the colony possessed four captainsgeneral (two eff-ctive and two provisional).

In 1850 a new nominee, Oidor (member of the Supreme Court of Judicature) who with his family voyaged to Manila by the Cape, found, upon his arrival, his successor already in office, the latter having travelled by way of Suez. Such circumstances need not occasion surprise when it is remembered how such operations are repeated in Spain itself.

According to an essay in the Revue Nationale, April, 1867, Spain has had, from 1834 to 1862, i.e. since the accession of Isabella, 4 Constitutions, 28 Parliaments, 47 Chief Ministers, 529 Cabinet Ministers, and 68 Ministers of the Interior; of which last class of officials each, on an average, was in power only six months.

For ten years past the Minister of Finance has not remained in office longer than two months; and since that time, particularly since 1868, the changes have followed one another with still greater rapidity.

There was, as I afterwards learnt, a still more urgent reason for the existence of these decrees. The Government valued their own gold at sixteen dollars per ounce, while in commerce it fetched less, and the premium on silver had, at one time, risen to 33%.

Moreover, on account of the insufficient quantity of copper money for minor currency, the small change frequently gained a premium on the silver dollar, so much so that by every purchaser not less than half a dollar was realised.

In exchanging the dollar from 5-15% discount was charged. It was profitable, therefore, to purchase cigars in the estancias with the gold ounce, and then to retail them in smaller quantities nominally at the rate of the estancias. Both premiums together might in an extreme case amount to as much as 43%*

The reason of this premium on silver was, that the Chinese bought up all the Spanish and Mexican dollars, in order to send them to China, where they are worth more than other dollars, being knowu from the voyage of Nao thither in olden times, and being current in the inland provinces. (The highest price there can be obtained for a Carlos III.)

A mint erected in Manila since that time, which at least supports itself, if the Government has derived no other advantage from it, has removed this difficulty. The Chinese are accustomed to bring gold and silver as currency, mixed also with foreign coinage, to Manila for the purpose of buying the produce of the country; and all this the native merchants had recoined. At first only silver ounces were usually obtainable in Manila, gold ounces very rarely. This occasioned such a steady importation that the conditions were completely reversed. In the Government Exchequer the gold and silver dollar are always reckoned at the same value.

Not being able to give a description of the cultivation of tobacco from personal knowledge and experience, I refer the reader to the following short extract from the “ Cartilla Agricola" :

Directions for preparing anul laying out the seed beds.—A suitable piece of land is to be enclosed quadrilaterally by boundaries, ploughed two or three times, cleared of all weeds and roots, made somewhat sloping, and surrounded by a shallow ditch, the bed of which is to be divided by drains about 2 feet wide.

The soil of the same must be very fine, must be ground almost as fine as powder, otherwise it will not mix freely and thoroughly with the extremely fine tobacco seed. The seed is to be washed, and then suspended in cloths during the day, in order to allow the water to run off; after which it is to be mixed with a similar quantity of ashes, and strewn carefully over the bed.

The subsequent successful results depend entirely upon the careful performance of this work. From the time the seed first begins to sprout, the beds must be kept very clean, in dry weather sprinkled daily, and protected from birds and animals by brambles strewn over, and by means of light mats from storms and heavy rains. After two months the plants will be between five and six inches high, and generally have from four to six leaves; they must then be replanted. This occurs, supposing the seed-beds to have been prepared in September, about the beginning or the middle of November. A second sowing takes place on the 15th of October, as much as a precaution against possible failure, as for obtaining plants for the lowlands.

Concerning the land most adrantageous to the tobacco and its cultivation. Replanting of the seedlings.—Land must be chosen of middling grain ; somewhat difficult, calciferous soil is particularly recommended, when it is richly manured with the remains of decayed plants, and not less than two feet deep; and the deeper the roots are inserted the higher will the plant grow. Of all the CULTIVATION OF TOBACCO.

land adapted to the tobacco cultivation, that in Cagayan is the best, as from the overflowing of the large streams, which occurs every year, it is laid under water, and annually receives a new stratum of mud, which renders the soil particularly productive. Plantations prepared upon such soil differ very materially from those less favoured and situated on a higher level. In the former the plants shoot up quickly as soon as the roots strike; in the latter they grow slowly and only reach a middling height. Again, in the fertile soil the plants produce quantities of large,

strong, juicy leaves, giving promise of a splendid harvest. In the other case the plants remain considerably smaller and grow sparsely. Sometimes, however, even the lowlands are flooded in January and February, and also in March, when the tobacco has already been transplanted, and grown to some little height.

In that event everything is irreparably lost, particularly if the flood should occur at a time when it is too late to lay out new plantations. High-lying land also must, therefore, be cultivated, which perhaps by very careful attention might yield a similar return. In October these fields must be ploughed three or four times, and harrowed twice or thrice. On account of the floods, the lowlands cannot be ploughed until the end of December, or the middle of January; when the work is light and simple. The strongest plants in the seed-beds are chosen, and set in the prepared ground at a distance of three feet from each other, care being taken that the earth clinging to the roots is not shaken off.

Of the care necessary to be bestowed upon the plants. In the east a little screen, formed by two clods, is to be erected, with a view to protecting the plant from the morning sun, and retaining the dew for a longer time.

The weeds to be carefully exterminated, and the wild shoots removed. A grub which occasionally appears in great numbers is particularly dangerous. Rain is very injurious immediately before the ripening, when the plants are no longer in a condition to secrete the gummy substance so essential to the tobacco, which, being soluble in water, would be drawn off by the action of the rain. Tobacco which has been exposed to bad weather is always deficient in juice and flavour, and is full of white spots, a certain sign of its bad quality.

The injury is all the greater the nearer the tobacco is to its ripening period; the leaves hanging down to the ground then decay, and must be removed. If the subsoil is not deep enough, a carefully tended plant will turn yellow, and nearly wither away. In wet years this does not occur so generally, as the roots in insufficient depth are enabled to find enough moisture.

Cutting and manipulation of the leaves in the drying shed. The topmost leaves ripen first; they are then of a dark yellow colour, and inflexible. They must be cut off as they ripen, collected into bundles, and brought to the shed in covered carts. In wet or cloudy weather, when the nightly dews have not been thoroughly evaporated by the sun, they must not be cut. In the shed the leaves are to hang upon cords or split Spanish cane, with sufficient room between them for ventilation and drying. The dried leaves are then laid in piles, which must not be too big, and frequently turned over.

Extreme care must be taken that they do not become overheated and ferment too strongly. This operation, which is of the utmost importance to the quality of the tobacco, demands great attention and skill, and must be continued until nothing but an aromatic smell of tobacco can be noticed coming from the leaves : but the necessary skill for this manipulation is only to be acquired by long practice, and not from any written instructions.