The picture here shows the reordering of nature that was carried out to cultivate tobacco commercially. This was done at great expense to both nature and human life. Tobacco plants not only took up space but also quickly exhausted the nutrients in the soil. To satisfy their need for large tracts of land, the tobacco planters cleared the rich primeval forests. In the upland estates, this caused tremendous erosion of the top fertile layer that was filled with volcanic substances. Even terracing as shown here did not help, and after a couple of harvests, such lands were abandoned.
