The use of cover, of course, entails additional expenses, but it also produces greater results and larger profits. The cloth awning, which is stretched over the field at a height of six or eight feet, has the effect of tempering the strength of the sun’s rays, moderating the force of the wind and diminishing its detrimental action on the leaves, keeping the soil moist, and excluding the insects that prey upon the plant. Thus, aside from the improvement in the product produced by the use of cover, there is a substantial saving in labor secured. According to an official statement relating to cultivation under cover in Pinar del Rio, 212 hectares (a hectare is 2.47 acres), in which [Illustration: HUNDREDS OF ACRES OF TOBACCO UNDER COVER.] 6,776,000 seedlings were set, gave plants, according as they were budded or not, varying in height from 1.78 to 2.10 meters, with 14 to 18 leaves on each plant, with a yield of 14 per cent. for plants weighing 40 pounds and 60 per cent. of first-class wrapper leaves. The average cost per hectare in the Province was $736.44. On the other hand, two well-known and experienced planters of that Province state that tobacco grown under cover will yield 330 bales to the _caballeria_, instead of 150 produced by the ordinary method, giving leaves from 28 to 32 inches long by 14 to 16 inches wide in the proportion of 7 per cent. This is an enormous increase in yield over that ordinarily obtained, but it may not be accepted as representative of the results generally secured. The average annual exports of Cuban tobacco are valued at about $27,000,000. This sum is less than half the value of the average sugar output. The relative importance of the two industries must not be gauged by these figures. Although tobacco culture and manufacture are mainly carried on in a comparatively small section of the Island, their beneficial influence upon the community is widespread and greater than the Cubans in general suspect it to be. The prospects for the development of the tobacco industry and the possibilities of its economic improvement are much better than in the case of sugar. The former entails fewer hazards and larger profits than the latter. There is greatly less possibility of concentrated control in the production of tobacco than there is in the growing of sugar-cane. More than in all this, however, the beneficial character of the tobacco industry lies in its especial availability to the small capitalist and the individual planter; its demand for skilled and intelligent labor; and its extensive employment of artisans. The _vegueros_ of Cuba and the employes of the Habana cigar factories are the most intelligent and best paid classes among the working people of the Island.