this misfortune happens so frequently that
rarely does the Cagayan Valley tobacco contain (in the total crop of
the season) more than 10 per cent. of perfect, undamaged leaves. In
the aerating-sheds another kind of worm appears in the leaf; and,
again, after the leaves are baled or the cigars boxed, an insect
drills little holes through them--locally, it is said to be "picado."

Often in the dry season (the winter months) the tobacco-leaf,
for want of a little moisture, matures narrow, thick and gummy,
and contains an excess of nicotine, in which case it can only be
used after several years' storage. Too much rain entirely spoils
the leaf. Another obstacle to Philippine cigar manufacture is the
increasing universal demand for cigars with light-coloured wrappers,
for which hardly two per cent. of the Philippine leaf is suitable in
world competition, whilst the operative cannot handle with economy the
delicate light-coloured Sumatra wrapper. The difficulties of transport
are so great that it costs more to bring the finest tobacco-leaf from
the field to the Manila factory than it would to send it from Manila
to Europe in large parcels. The labour question is also an important
consideration, for it takes several years of daily practice for a
Filipino to turn out a first-class marketable cigar; the most skilful
operatives can earn up to P50 a month.

The best quality of Philippine tobacco is produced in the northern
provinces of Luzon Island, the choicest selections coming from Cagayan
and La Isabela. The Provinces of Nueva Vizcaya, Ilocos Sur y Norte,
La Union, Nueva Ecija, and even Pampanga, yield tobacco.

In the Visayas, tobacco is cultivated in Panay Island and on the east
coast of Negros Island (district of Escalante) and Cebu Island--also to
a limited extent in Mindanao. The Visaya leaf generally is inferior
in quality, particularly that of Yloilo Province, some of which,
in fact, is such rubbish that it is difficult to understand how a
profit can be expected from its cultivation. The Escalante (Negros,
E. coast) and the Barili (Cebu W. coast) tobacco seemed to me to be
the fullest flavoured and most agreeable leaf in all the Visayas.

A tobacco plantation is about as pretty as a cabbage-field.

In 1883 a company, styled The General Philippine Tobacco Company
("Compania General de Tabacos de Filipinas"), formed in Spain and
financially supported by French capitalists, was established in
this Colony with a capita