Page:Life in Java Volume 1.djvu/249

Rh the pointed leaves of which are of a bright green. In most parts of Java it flourishes remarkably well, but it was thought the climate of Malang would be too chilly, until on trial they found to the contrary.

Opposite the grounds of the count's house are his tobacco fields, which we walked through on our way to the drying-sheds. The tobacco plant is cultivated in rows, two or three feet apart, on flat ground. When it has attained the height of from four to five feet, it is cut down and defoliated. The leaves are then tied up in bundles of fifteen, twenty, or thirty, and suspended from bamboo poles running across the interior of the shed, where they are left to dry for twenty days or more, according to the state of the atmosphere. In wet or damp weather they naturally dry less quickly; but artificial heat is seldom, if ever, resorted to, as the premature drying is apt to render the leaves too brittle and flavourless. When the leaves assume