JULV I, 1886.} 



THE TROPICAL AGRICUI^TURIST. 



25 



CUEING OF TOBACCO. 



At the close of Mr. Tackson's very iuteresting article 

 ou this subject he takes exceptiou to my recommeud- 

 ation as to allowing the plants to he a short time on 

 the ground before removal to the drying-shed. He 

 also appears to deny the necessity of any fermentative 

 action at all. In my own practice I found it u.se.ful 

 to let the plants lie for an hour or two, for this 

 reason— that the leaves, especially the lower ones,, 

 which stand out from the stem, are succulent and 

 brittle to handle when freshly cut, and so liable to 

 become bruised or broken when placed on the carter 

 wheelbarrow. "When slightly wilted this does not occur. 

 In one of the notices which I have read this is carried 

 to excess, as the crop is directed to be laid in heaps 

 at once, under cover, and kept there for some time ; 

 this is there called "the first sweating." I made 

 some experiments in this direction, but found the 

 process did not suit our climate. From the various 

 accounts I have read it is evident that there are " more 

 ways than one " in " killing the cat." The artificial 

 heating process for producing the fashionable yellow 

 colour is new to me; but, in fact, the same thing is 

 effected in my simple way under the ripeniiig vine 

 leaves in a warm September. In none of the descrip- 

 tions I have read can I find anything like perfect 

 information as to the physicial changes which take 

 place in the plant between the cutting of the crop 

 at the beginning, and the " perfect cure ' at the end. 

 I hfiive watched these closely, and will try to describe 

 them. There are, in fact, two yellows concerned, which 

 seem to be confused together la the description. A 

 plant in proper condition for harvesting will have the 

 lower leaf perhaps quite yellow, and the next ones, 

 counting upwards, more or less tinged, the topmost 

 ones remaining without apparent change. When such 

 a plant is hung up as I have directed the whole plant 

 will turn yeUow in a few days — sometimes in forty- 

 eight hours. Now this is yellow No. 1, and is, in 

 fact, the " sere and yellow leaf " of normal, seasonal 

 decadence, in which life still faintly lingers. After 

 this, and extending over a much longer interval, comes 

 the next grand changa — the change from life to death. 

 Then appears yellow No 2 : that is the tint of tobacco- 

 paper, minus the ripening or ferment, which is the 

 result of any tight packing. I use the term " yellow " 

 here, but, in fact, you can never tell what colour, 

 differing somewhat in which individual plant, will 

 turn up. I am familiar with every gradation, from 

 true yellow, through varying shades of chestnut-brown 

 to nearly black. Another example of yellow Tobacco 

 making was described a year or two since in an ad- 

 mirable article in the Times by Mr. Hamilton Lang. 

 Here the changes I have described seem to have been 

 effected in the full sua. I tried this system also, but 

 found it impracticable in our uncertain climate. I 

 believe, however, that the col.*ur of the ultimate 

 product is due to soil and conditions of cultivtttion. 

 This would appear from Mr. Jackson's quoted pamph- 

 let to be either virgin or unmanured soil, and in 

 my remarks on this subject I deprecated the use of 

 manure as hkely to encoui-age a rank vegetation 

 antagonistic to the development of the aromatic and 

 other organic products peculiar to the plant. 



The phenomenon of colour is a very curious and 

 interesting subject, and well worth investigation. I 

 have .seen a beautiful bale of yellow from China, and 

 the Japanese I am told will produce any colour to 

 order, from plain black shag to imperial Lebanon. 

 Why is Turkish yellow as gold, and Latakaia as black 

 as your hat? In all the processes I have read of, and 

 thty are many, a fermentative process is indicated, 

 notablj' so in Mr. H. Lang's article, where it is de- 

 scribed as going on for several mouths. Doubtless the 

 treatment varies in different countries, and according 

 to the purpose to which the article is destined, whether 

 for cigars or cut Tobacco for instance. In the former 

 instance I believe the material takes a heat after its 

 formation into cigars. I think if Mr. Jackson were 

 t } taLo a pipe, before and after a ripening or fer- 

 4 



meutativo process he would find the difference very 

 remarkable indeed. 



Finally, the subject is new to us here in England 

 and we should be cautious in criticising eacli other's 

 work. I have only had it in hand four or five years 

 and I begin to suspect that neither I nor anybody 

 else "knows everything."— R. T, Clarke, — Gardeners, 

 Chronicle, 



DELI TOBACCO PLANTATIONS, 



Deli tobacco owes its good quality mainly to the 

 seasonable rainfall. The soil is not so good as in Java, 

 but there, the weather has to be struggled against, 

 whereas planters in Deli do not trouble themselves about 

 it. Tho longest drought lasts generally 20 to 25 days 

 at the outset of the planting season. It is by no naeans 

 easy to get nowadays suitable land sure to yield satis- 

 factory results as is too evident from the heavy losses 

 suffered by growers from neglect, wastefulness or ig- 

 norance, owing to most of them lacking experience. A 

 few lucky enough to pitch upon good land at the 

 start gained enormous profits. Others took up land at 

 a venture, only to abandon it on finding that they could 

 never make the enterprize pay. All the laud fit for 

 tobacco growing has been taken up throughout Deli and 

 Serdang. Even land formerly abandoned has been again 

 brought under cultivation generally with saccess. The 

 terms for leasing are 75 years at a quit rent amount- 

 ing to one guilder per houw, besides the purchase money 

 which varies from 2 to 6 dollars per bouw. Seeking 

 and demarcating land is no trifling matter owing to 

 diSiculties arising from jungle swarming with leeches, 

 ants, &c. Should the land prove to he of doubtful quality 

 •the safest course is to be always prepared for failure 

 at a slight loss rather than to sink capital sure to be gone 

 beyond recovery in that case. Tobacco is gr^wn by 

 means of Chinese coolies from Penang or Singapore. 

 To bring out singkehs or coolies direct from China costs 

 S50 each. Experienced coolies may be had for $30 

 each. Large companies always work with singkehs. 

 Pioneers and small land owners get on better with the 

 other class of coolies from their being cheaper, more 

 fully acquainted with the details of cultivation, and 

 stiin ding the climate better. Planters deserving of con- 

 fidence say that singkehs are preferable chiefly from 

 their being less troublesome to manage. Ou starting an 

 estate 60 to 100 Chinese are engaged. In clearing, 

 roadraaking, and housebuilding operations 100 Chinese 

 are made use of on a plantation of large size together 

 with 30 to 40 .Javanese. The wage of the latter is 

 from 6 to 8 dollars a month. They have to work 10 

 hours per day and set their hands to anything handy 

 besides the planting of tobacco. Felling jungle is under- 

 taken by Malays and Battaks, the Chinese bearing 

 part of the expense. After it is over, burning the felled 

 timber, &c., is set about when the dry season sets 

 in, generally in December. In January the Chinese 

 set to work planting, fifteen thousand plants being set 

 out on the average every season. They receive 5 to 8 

 dollars per 1,000 plants delivered into the stctjhouses 

 according to quality. These houses are built of jungle 

 timber and roofed with thatch. To every 10 Chinese, 

 there is usually one storehouse 150 feet lone, 60 broad, 

 and .30 hij:h. In Deli sometimes the yield becomes 

 higher than usual when the plants admit of a second 

 cut. The planters being almost the owners of their 

 holdings, can manage better than their fellows on (tOv- 

 vernment land in Java, besides having Chinese labourers 

 who are simply invaluable when compared with Jav- 

 anese. Safety of life and property is sufficiently en- 

 sured. The Chiuese are generally well treated. Alost 

 of the difficulties \\ith them arise out of ignorance of 

 their language. There is medical aid ut iiand on every 

 estate. I never saw any Deli planter ill-treating his 

 coohes. The planters are first-rate fellows, hardy, 

 muscular, hospitable, open hearted, and helpful. On 

 the East Coast, the most unbounded hospitality is met 

 with. Visitors are wt^lcomed everywhere and readily 

 supplied with information. The planters bein.; good- 

 humoured and enterprizing get ou very well with on« 



