78 ON THE TOBACCO TRADE AND CULTIVATION 



of shipping ports. To effect this, advantage is taken of the first change 

 from the dry frosty atmosphere of winter to the moist air which accom- 

 panies the return of spring, when the leaves, losing their crispness, are 

 removed from the strings and made up into little bundles of ten or 

 fifteen leaves, called " manoks," or " hands." The " bashi-baghli ' are 

 tied together by the foot-stalks ; the " bassma," having no petioles, are 

 simply laid on each other. The sheds are not boarded, and as any pro- 

 longed contact with the air imparts a bad flavour to the produce, loose 

 boards are temporarily laid down, and on these a double row of 

 " manoks " is disposed, the tips of the leaves facing, or overlapping, and 

 the stalks outwards. Other layers of " manoks " are successively laid 

 on in like order, with such pressure as the labourer's muscles merely 

 can apply, until the heap of " manoks " becomes a bale, two feet and a 

 half or hree feet long, by two feet high and a foot and a half thick. It 

 is then wrapped in strong hair-cloth and matting, and tightly corded. 

 In this state the bale is ready for carriage. The Drama tobaccos are 

 packed in the above way ; the Yenidgeh are made up originally in some- 

 what larger packages, and the bale is secured by a board at top and 

 bottom, and bound with cords. Mechanical pressure is not applied to 

 the tobacco until it arrives in the merchant's store, where it undergoes 

 its preparation for shipment. 



The production of a given area varies according to the mode of 

 planting practised in the different localities. In the Drama district, 

 where close setting is preferred, the yield is from 700 lbs. to 900 lbs. per 

 acre. In the " golden-leafed " plantations the maximum return is 400 

 lbs. to an acre. The cost of production and the profit vary considerably. 



The produce is carried to the shipping ports chiefly during the months 

 . between April and September. The tobacco shipped at Cavalla having 

 to cross a mountain ridge, can only be transported on horse or mule's 

 back, in bales of one hundred weight or one and a half hundred weight 

 each. The ' Yenidgeh ' being the produce of a plain bordering on the 

 sea, with easy access throughout to Port Lagos, is carried in waggons. 



Until recently, the only storeroom at Cavalla for the large trade 

 carried on was to be found in the numerous ' Khans,' or native inns, in 

 whose large stables the tobaccos used to be warehoused. Less appro- 

 priate stores for the preservation and seasoning of such a delicate article 

 could scarcely be selected, for the floors are unboarded and the roofs by 

 no means impervious to rain. And for such wretched accommodation 

 the owners used to exact an exorbitant rent. New stores have recently 

 been erected ; amongst others a very extensive and handsome range 

 of warehouses, on the construction of which Messrs. Abbott, Brothers, of 

 Salonica, the principal exporters to England, have expended 15,000Z. 



When the bales reach the stores at the shipping ports, they are 

 arranged in two tiers on the ground floor, which ought properly to be, 



