CHAPTER X 



DIVISION OF ESTATES 



ESTATES should be well divided into equal-sized blocks 

 of, say, 50 acres each. This is generally found to be a 

 convenient size for working. Blocks of 10 or 15 acres are too 

 small, and blocks of 100 acres rather large. On the roadsides 

 at each corner of the block a board should be erected on a post 

 and should bear the number of the block in large, plain figures. 



An arrow should be painted on the 

 board showing the direction in which 

 the block runs. On some estates the 

 age of the trees is indicated, and, if 

 heavily supplied, the date at which 

 the supplies were planted is also 

 given. The number of the trees on 

 the block is added on some Java 

 estates. 



This system of marking out 

 blocks is a very great convenience 

 in estate-working. The manager 

 can give clear instructions exactly 

 where work for the day, such as 

 weeding, cultivation, pruning or 

 drain-digging, is to be done. Where 

 new assistants are on an estate 

 this saves much trouble. It also 

 is a help to correct book-keeping, and it enables boards of 

 directors at home to follow operations more easily. Reduced 

 copies of a complete plan of the estate ought to be multiplied 

 by lithography or other means. All assistants ought to have 

 copies. Every month, along with the monthly reports, a copy 

 should be dispatched to the board at home showing, in colours, 

 areas in tapping, areas weeded during the month, and other 



56 



FIG. ii. 



