The Penn's Grove record., 1884-03-29

plantations, every one Of which is like
a province in itself.
Gaunt, half-clad, brown faced men
may be seen creeping like ants about
the edge of the jungle, while on every
side there start up out of the sea Of
vegetation those long, low, barrack-llke
sheds where the tobacco leaves are dried
and pressed, in the nearest of which are
working the 400 Cinnamon who were
Summoned to their labor an hour agoby
the blast of a cows horn.
"Now," said our hospitable host, Myn-
heer Van der Hoeven, with the bright
ness of a genuine Dutch welcome on
his bold brown face, tive must show
you and your lady how we work here.
1t is a pity that you did not come in the
spring time, for then you would have
seen the planting and the growing, and
the packing, and all the rest of it. But
now there is nothing going on except
the drying of leaves, which is being
done in that she'd that you see yonder.
1t is but seldom that you a get two
crops in succession (crops of tobacco.
l mean from n piece of land. Some
of our neighbors have done it, but in
general it is better to plant it with rice
or something of that sort and not try
tobacco on it again for six or seven
years. That what we have done here,
as you see." He points to a wide belt
of padi rice which stretches far away to
the right, its tender green contrasting
very prettily with the dark masses of
wooding behind it. In the edge of the
jungle gapesa deep cash, showing where
fresh ground is being cleared for new
tobacco plantations.
"That's one of the sacred trees of the
Malays," explains our guide, in answer
to my questioning look. ''There are
several which they hold sacred, and
when we begin cutting down the jungle
to clear new soil for our tobacco plant
ing the people come to us and beg us to
spare this tree or that tree, and, of
course, we always do it. Now, here we
are at the drying-shed; shall we go in?''
In we go accordingly. The interior
is very much like a %rick-yard. with
tobacco stacks instead of hay-ricks,
among which a perfect army of half
clad Chinese coolies, 400 strong, are
hard at work sorting, ranging and stow
ing. So overpowsringly strong is the
scent of the half-dried tobacco leaves
that a smoker would have nothing to do
but to take in an empty pipe with him
and enjoy a good hard smoke gratis,
merely by inhaling the air through 1t.
But the Cinnamon, whether habituated
to 1t by,long use, or fortified against 1t
by the superior power of opium, breathe
this perfumed atmosphere as easily as if
it were the purest air of the sea. ''That
is how we measure the heat, you see"
says our host, calling u attention to
the hollow bambOos, thrust through the
heart of each stack, with a stick inside
it, which, when pulled out, is almost too
hot to touch. cit must never be above
or below a certain point, you know. In
stead of stripping off the leaves at once,
we hang up the whole plant to dry, and
do not strip it till it Is quite dried. The
lSumatra tobacco, however, will not do
for cigars. 1t is only used for what we
generally call 'deckblatt' (coyer leaf,
which covers the outside of the cigar.
Last season the United States took a
great deal of our tobacco, and we ex-
pect that they will take more still, in
spite of the duty, which is II guilder
(40 cents) per bale of 100 pounds. The
usual price is two and a half guild.
ers (s1) per pound, and the ordinary
cost of transport to Europe about 81
per bale.
Midway along the grove of tobacco
stacks leach nearly as high as a mans
head), which runs down the centre of
the building, hangs a ponderous iron
steam-punch, all ready to squeeze the
loose leaves into those compact bales
which fit INTO the hold of a merchant
man as neatly as bits of mosaic.
"Do you go much into coffee growing
in these partsg" asked l, suddenly re-
calling the now forgotten Dutch novel
of Max Havelaar" (which l read years
ago in st. Petersburg), and its furious
TRADE against the unparalleled iniquity
of Dutch coffee.growers and Dutch
coffee brokers in the far East. "NO;
Java's more the place for that. Here
in Sumatra we grow very little, for as a
rule it does not even pay its W ex-
penses. l have a small plantation a
few miles from here, but | { don't expect
| shall aver make anything out of it.
Tobacco's the great thing here, and the
profits upon that are very large in spite
of the duty. The Deli company, which
Is the chief tobacco. growing concern in
these parts, paid a dividend of 9S per
cent. this last year, and / think they'll
go.even higher than that before long,
especially if America continues to buy
from us.T
II you 81 oCiuOh Stl IWp lObdASN
crops in succession off the same piece
of ground, and if you have to cleaI
fresh land every year for your planting,
some of the plantations must be of a
very respectable size"
"They are indeed One plantation
belonging to the Deb company, which
you passed on your way up here, extends
straight in one direction for thlrty-slS
miles, and there are some larger even
than this. But when you remember
that in the planting season each mar has
the charge of a piece of ground 300 feet
long by 20 broad, and that there are 40C
or 500 men employed on each pl~ antation
you may think how much space must
be required altogether"
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