15 



strip about 60 feet wide is left at eacli eud of the tract to insure sun- 

 light to the plants. 



Oil a lle^y estate the administrator usually commences with from 80 

 to 100 lields; occasionally an estate is started with GO fields, but never 

 with less. The second year 200 fields will be under cultivation, the 

 third year 300, the fourth year about 350, while about the fifth year the 

 full number of 400 fields will be reached. With this maximum number 

 of 400 fields the administrator has enough ground to keep exchanging 

 in order to let the land, after having been planted in tobacco for one 

 year, lie idle, for a few years at any rate, to recuperate. This is con- 

 sidered an imperative necessity in Sumatra in order to maintain a 

 superior quality of wrapper leaf. 



INITIAL KXPENDITURES. 



One of the most striking facts about the cultivation of tobacco in 

 Sumatra, and a fact which will seem astonishing to the American 

 l)lanter, is the magnitude of the operations and the large amount of 

 capital invested in the enterprise. The following list gives the princi- 

 pal items of j^ermanent expense in obtaining a concession of 1,000 

 bouws, suitable for 200 fields, and for the equii)ment of the same with 

 buildings, implements, and laborers.^ 



Traveling expenses, presents to native princes, surveying land, etc $1, 800 



Clearing land for drainage, bridges, etc 400 



Drainage, ditches, etc 1, 200 



Construction of main plant road 800 



Manager's house 400 



Two assistants' house 400 



House for Chinese coolies 160 



House for Javanese and Boyan coolies 120 



Hospital, store, tool house, etc 160 



Fermenting shed 640 



Ox carts, 6 at $40 each, and 6 pair of oxeu at $60 each 600 



Horses, harness, carriage, etc 400 



Expense of getting 60 laborers from Java 800 



Expense of getting 250 Chinese coolies 2, 400 



Incidental expenses 1, 600 



Total 14,880 



These are average prices, be it said, for an estate situated about 5 

 miles from the ocean. For places farther inland the expense of trans- 

 X)ortatlon will make the cost somewhat greater. The item for clearing 

 the land is not the cost of clearing the fields, but simply for roads and 

 ditches. The money paid for preliminary traveling expenses and pres- 

 ents to native i)rinces is, of course, sunk; also the exj)ense of getting 

 the coolies. 



'The values in this bulletin, with the exception of the tables in the Appendix, are 

 m United States money, based upon figures of some years ago, when the ^lexican 

 dollar was worth 80 cents and the guilder was worth 40 cents. On April 1, 1898, the 

 Mexican dollar was worth only 44 cents. — M. W. 



