August i, 1887.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
123 
about one foot and a half high ; thu higher the eart 
is heaped, the stronger the eartk is heaped, the stronger 
the plant and the better the quality of the laf, 
and the deeper the earth has oeen hoed, the higher 
will be the banking. Every morning each plaut has 
to be carefully inspected, and all worms taken off. 
Upon the plaut reaching a curtain height the topping 
operation begins, which process consists of nipping 
otf the head of the plant. 
The height for topping is one of most important 
parts of tobacco culture, and I will therefore say a 
tew words about it. It is the duty of the European 
overseer to decide at what number of leaves the 
ooole iihall top ; the usual way of judging is by the 
soil ian 1 the appearance of the plant. On a light 
poor soil, fourteen to sixteen leaves is the most a 
plant, however healthy looking, will stand, aud even 
with only that number I have seen the bottom 
leaves dropping before the tops were ripe. Upon the 
white, stiff clayey soil, an average o; eighteen leaves 
produces the best crop, on red soil very often, no 
matter how low you top, the plants do not ripen 
properly, aud should there be a scarcity of rain nothing 
will save the crop ; on rich, deep coloured laud, 
twenty-two aud twenty-four leaves are retained. It 
is usual in the trees first planted to top a few leaves 
higher than iu later tobacco, the reasou for this is 
that towards the end of the crjp a great risk is run 
of being overtaken by the rainy season, and there- 
fore it is advantageous to get the tobacco in as rapidly 
as possible. In about eighty or ninety days from trans- 
pi luting the seedlings, the tobacco will be ripe. Tobacco 
in this condition can never be mistaken; the first 
sign of ripeness is a slight yellow at the tip of the 
leaf, and iu a few days after the leaves have a thick 
appearance and stand well down from the plaut, and 
shortly after this the leaf assumes a frosted appaarauce, 
and the tree is then ready for cutting. The coolie 
cuts the tree close to the ground and places it with 
great care in a long basket, avoiding over-packing 
ai th e weight of the upper trees will crush and quite 
spoil the lower ones, causing the leaf to be bruised, 
aud all bruises in the green leaf make nasty black 
lines in in the cure 1 leaf. The tobacco is now hung 
upon sticks by means of small ties of Manila hemp, 
ten tress being put upou each stick. The next morniug, 
after the Europeau has examiued the tobacco and taxed 
it, the plants are hoisted to the highest part of the 
drying-shed, tior after tier, there to remaiu about 
fourteen-days, the plants being then taken clown and 
stripped off their leaves, which are made up into 
bundles; broken tobacco aud ground leaves in one 
bundle, good tobacco by itself. These bundles are 
taken down in bullock carts to the fermenting shed, 
and placed in large or small heaps according to the 
amount of oil aud the thickness of the leaf, these 
heaps are turned over until it. is considered that th* 
leaf will stand a greater heat when two or three 
heaps are mado into one, a bamboo being placed in 
the centre of the heap in which sticks are placed; 
by thts I sticks the heat of the heap is ascertained 
from time to time, and for this purpose on some 
estatei thermometers are used. In course of time these 
heaps are again made larger, while the tobacco has 
acquired what is considered will be fixed colour of 
th>i leaf. As soon as the tobacco is at this stage, the 
sortiig oommeuces. Bich coolie has before him many 
pirtitious made by small sticks being placed in the 
mau woioh cover the whole of the door of the shed 
and the following is the usual order of sorting. Java 
leaf, dark luaf brown with oil, brow.i, fallow, light 
coloured uud yellowish-red, dark and browu with spots 
very spotted, all colours uneven, coloured dark and 
brown slightly hard or dry, broken dark and lirowu, 
broken a nt light, spuilod tobacco, broken spotted, very 
much broken spotted, rotten tobacco. All th* Europ- 
ean assistants have to know the^o uames iu Uhinesi-, 
so as to be able at any time t > assist, uupmc i , i 
hands. Opposue the sorters sit the bun Hers, wao 
have to sort the different classes into le Us aud 
tie tlic It iv,., neatly into bundles, thirty-live; leaves 
b ing p' :ted in oni bundle. These bundles are again 
put into heaps, u ni the heaps increased gradually iu 
size until scarcely any heat is left in the largest heaps. 
The tobacco is then ready for shipment. It is baled 
under a press; in some places hydraulic power is used, 
in others a screw press worked by relays of coolies. 
During the time the coolies are in the shade they are 
paid extra for their work ; and their food is supplied 
uuder the supervision of a European. 
THE EUROPEAN STAFF. 
According to the number of coolies employed, so is 
the staff of whites, in the portion of about 100 to 
150 coolies to every European. Nice roomy houses 
are supplied to the Europeans, and they are provided 
with a pony and have medical advice free. The 
salaries vary from $60 to $175 per month, and on 
some estates commission is given to experienced men. 
These are not large amounts, when the cost of living 
in Deli, which is miserable aud perfectly dear is con- 
sidered. The duties of an assistant are to see that the 
coolies do their work properly, to look after the sick, 
to direct and overlook the field work, to superintend 
the making of roads and ditches, and the erection of 
necessary buildings in his division, to contract 
for work with the coolies or natives, aud to tax an I 
receive tobacco, in fact the whole working of a divi- 
sion is in the hands of the assistants. An assistant 
who looks well after his work will find his hands full 
for at least nine hours a day; and hard work it is, 
sometimes working in water with the fierce raoe of 
the sun pouring down almost burning one's life out, 
at other times toiling through acre after aore of land 
like ploughed fields. After the planting has com- 
menced, his work is never finished until the sun goes 
down, then comes the taxing of the tobacco, no easy 
task, opening stick after stick of tobacco, judging not 
only the quality so as to fix the price, but also bear- 
ing iu mind the work the coolie has done, in order 
to do justice, constantly ou the watch for attempts 
of cheating, for the best coolie thinks it no sin to 
hang trees (already received and entered iu the books), 
amongst new tobacco. The assistant is always liable 
to the coolie objecting to his valuatiou ou the one 
hand, and to the manager's grumbling on the other. 
Tho poor assistant ; his life would be worse than a convict's 
were it not for the festive gatherings held from time 
to time at a friend's house, which come like red-letter 
days in his dreary calendar. At the eud of the crop 
the accouuts are made up, the coolie having beeu 
debited with advances, implements, and expenses in- 
curred including the tax paid for him by the estate 
to the Dutch Government and the price of his field ; 
and he is credited with the amount of tobacoo he 
has cut, and, if he has not been paid before, any 
contract work he may have done. During the season, 
which lasts from January until the first half of October 
the coolie has every fourteen days received an advance 
of $2 or $2.50 as (subsistence money, an 1 if he has 
required assistance in his work this has beeu given 
him, for which he has also to pay. Thus we find the 
Chinese coolie has willingly entered into an agreement 
with a European such agreement having been explained 
to him in his vernacular ; he has entered into this 
contract beneath the eyes of the Government offi- 
cials, he has been allowed to borrow money, he has 
beeu advauced the necessary amounts for food and 
clothing and implements, the seed has beeu supplied 
to him free of cost, his laud has been draiued for 
him his timber felled, for whioh a very moderate 
charge is made, he has beeu provided with a healthy 
and comfortable house, and if he has worker! pr p rly 
has been fairly dealt with and well treated. During 
Ins sickness he has deen cared for, and in return he 
has sold bis tobacco to the manager at a prico he has 
Stipulated for by contract. At the end of his crop 
ho has made a profit and rinds himself at per- 
fect liberty to go or re-engage, and yet we are con- 
stantly hearing the cry tint coolie labour is unmitigated 
slavery. What is freedom, then? Whore commence, 
where end ? With regard to ill-usage, tho rases are 
few ami far between, and for tho best of all reasons, that 
the majority of tho coolies are good men, with tho 
foresight to observe that their own interests 
are bound up iu those of their emyloyers, ond 
the useless, lazy, or vugaboud coolie soon clears out, 
