The effort of the
countrymen to produce quantity rather than quality has prevented the
development of the finer grades and the price paid for Dominican
tobacco is low. While the tobacco grown is of inferior quality, there
is no reason why it should not be susceptible of improvement as the
climatic and soil conditions of the interior valleys are very similar
to those of the tobacco regions of Cuba and Porto Rico.
Tobacco is grown mostly by small planters and sold to the large
commercial houses of Santiago and Puerto Plata. Practically the entire
crop is exported through Puerto Plata. Before the European war the
great market for Dominican tobacco was Hamburg. Up to 1907 tobacco was
exported only in leaf, but since then a small cigarette industry has
developed.
Coffee is another native crop the development of which has been
checked by the popularity of cacao. It is also a crop which can be
grown with profit on small tracts of land. The coffee bushes flourish
in the mountains and are grown under the shade of larger trees. A
clearing having been made in the forest, the small coffee trees are
planted in rows or irregularly and near each a banana or plantain
tree.
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