33 



SORTING. 



The ragged leaves are usually assorted first of all when the coolie 

 first comes in from the field, as there is little else for hiin to do at that 

 time. The sorters sit ou matting near the windows on both sides of 

 the fermenting shed. They have in front of them wooden pins stuck 

 on the ground in the shape of a half circle. These are for the difierent 

 kinds of tobacco. The tobacco is usually divided, with infinite care 

 and judgment, into the following kinds: Brown, dark gray, light gray, 

 yellow, multicolored, coarse not speckled, slightly speckled, dark and 

 brown slightly speckled, gray and light speckled all colors, little-broken 

 dark and brown, little-broken gray and light, much-broken all colors, 

 sweepings, and trash. Some of the estates have other divisions, and 

 some of the kinds here mentioned are again subdivided, but these are 

 about the most important. 



The experienced sorter opens the bundle which he gets from the stick 

 in front of him and commences to divide it, independently of lengths, 

 into different kinds. Two or more coolies, that work in partnership 

 with him, but who are not experienced enough to do the sorting, take 

 the leaves out of the compartments between the Avooden pins, and lay 

 them down in such a way that the leaves of the same length come 

 together. These leaves of the same length are then made up into 

 bundles of from 35 to 40 leaves in each bundle, bound together with a 

 piece of string, usually made of the inner bark of a tree. These bun- 

 dles are kept together until they are inspected and received by one of 

 the assistants. The inspection is very thorough, both as to color and 

 length of leaf, and any leaves which should not be in the bundle are 

 taken out. Tiie coolie is then credited in the bundle book and paid at 

 the rate of about 3 doewits for each bundle. He therefore has to sort 

 out about 333 bundles to make a Mexican dollar. This money is divided 

 by the sorter between himself and his helpers as they mutually agree. 



All of the different kinds of tobacco are now put into separate piles, 

 each i^ile having its mark on a little label. After this, the bundles in 

 each pile are carefully sorted by lengths, and each kind is separately 

 divided into bundles having leaves of the same length to be baled 

 together. As each bundle already contains only leaves of uniform 

 length, all the coolie has to do is to measure the whole bundle, and 

 then keep the four different lengths together. These lengths are as 

 follows: (1) From 10 inches up to 20 inches? (2) from 12 to 16 inches; 

 (3) from 9 to 12 inches; and (4) from G to 9 inches. Before the tobacco 

 is sorted into lengths it is occasionally put through a second fermenta- 

 tion, and in this case the temperature occasionally runs up as high as 

 150° F., and even higher, but this is not advisable in the production of 

 light-colored wrappers. 



In sorting as to length the Sumatra planter is inclined to be very 

 liberal; that is, when a bundle is just long enough to go for second 

 2G05 3 



