22 



These slieds are only expected to last for two years, after which time 

 they are abandoned and new ones built in other fields that have been 

 taken up. They are therefore not very substantially put together. 

 They are not covered with planks, but with rough wood from the 

 jungle. The roof is covered with attap. This is made of a sort of 

 palm called nipa-palm. The leaves of the palm are bent around a 

 bamboo about 6 feet long. The width of the whole when finished is 

 about H feet, so that a surface of about 9 square feet can be covered 

 with each bundle. These are attached to the laths on the roof by rattan 

 strings in such a way that each attap covers the next one by about 5 

 inches, in order to prevent leakage. This makes a very substantial and 

 durable covering for the purpose for which it is intended. When the 

 shed is abandoned this attap is removed and stored away until needed 

 for another shed. It shrinks somewhat on drying, and when it is put 

 on a new building it must be crowded somewhat closer. The doors and 

 windows are made to give very thorough ventilation when open. The 

 doors are small, as carts are never drawn into the shed, the tobacco all 

 being brought in by hand. 



The supports on which the tobacco is hung are usually set at the 

 following distances : The first one is 5^ to 6 feet from the ground, the 

 next one is 2^ feet higher, while the next four usually have a distance 

 between them of 5 feet. Of the six compartments into which the shed 

 is divided lengthwise by the rows of posts only five are used for hang- 

 ing ux) tobacco; the sixth one — that is the one on the end of which are 

 the two doors — is not used to hang tobacco, as there would be danger of 

 damage by the coolies bringing in the fresh tobacco. There is a small 

 platform called the "lantih," about 12 feet square, upon which the 

 tobacco is stripped from the stem when it is cured. 



PLANTING AND CULTIVATING. 



As a rule, each coolie makes and keeps his own plant bed in the front 

 part of the field near the road. Occasionally a fine piece of land is 

 picked out where all the beds are made together, but in this case every 

 coolie has his own bed. The usual size of the beds for each coolie 

 is about 3 by 18 feet, or 54 square feet, upon which is put rather 

 less than half of a cartridge-shell measure of seed. As it is difficult to 

 give a definite measure of the seed required on account of the change 

 in its vitality and the change in seasons, a number of trial beds are 

 usually sown, so that the manager can know what is the best measure 

 of seed to sow. It is important that the beds be not too thickly sown. 

 The bed is about 1 foot high with a ditch all around it. The seed is 

 kept by the manager in quart bottles, and this seed bottle is never 

 given to the Chinaman. Each coolie gets a paper package with enough 

 seed for one bed at a time. He mixes the seed well with dry wood 

 ashes, about 2 or 3 quarts of ashes for each bed. Affcer the bed has 

 been thoroughly prepared, cleared of all roots and carefully raked over 



