Foreign tobacco is obtained through contract with private parties, after published proposals by the Minister of Finance through the French Consular Corps abroad, and through a special government agency established at Havana. At present a little over one-third of the tobacco purchased by the Régie is of French growth; over one-half consists of foreign leaf, mostly obtained from the United States, and the remainder is made up by importations of cigars from Havana and Manilla, and by cigarettes and miscellaneous productions of various countries, and by custom-house seizures. The magazines distributed throughout the country are of two sorts, “magasins de transit” for foreign tobacco, and “magasins de culture” for indigenous tobacco. In the “magasins de transit” the foreign leaves have not to submit to any other manipulation than the sampling of packages, after which they are forwarded to the factories in such quantities as may be demanded. With the indigenous tobacco the course is different; this when received from the hands of the French grower is usually very imperfectly dried, and has to be subjected to a curing process. After the bundles are thoroughly thrashed, they are put in heaps according to maturity, and fermented in a temperature as high as 30° to 40° Centigrade. This maturation lasts from six to nine months, depending upon the locality, and the condition of the leaves as received, and is interrupted from time to time by the operation of shaking and turning in order to prevent too great fermentation. When this fermentation is concluded, those leaves containing less than twenty per cent. of water are ready to be packed. At this point certain of the leaves undergo a stemming process; they are then packed by hydraulic pressure in bales and hogsheads weighing from 400 to 500 _kilo._ each, and in this state they remain stored in the magazine for some months to acquire further ripeness. It is usually 15–18 months after they are gathered that the leaves are considered to be in a fit condition to be sent to the manufactory. Upon arrival at the manufactory, the packages are sorted and emptied; the leaves are spread out in large bins or receive a preparatory wetting with water containing 10 per cent. of sea salt, in order to produce flexibility and prevent powdering. This process occupies 24 hours. Then follows the sorting according to quality, and the distribution to the various workrooms for composition.