Stories from Deli

Gibbs, 1940

During recent years the entire production of Sumatra wrapper leaf has been grown by seven companies, of which four, known as the big four, have produced approximately 95 percent of the total. The companies have large estates, a total of 47 in 1937, which are lands held by long-term leases.

The total acreage of tobacco grown by the separate companies varies from about 200 acres in the case of the smallest company to over 15,000 acres grown by the largest company. All of the companies grow some rubber and certain other plantation crops, but in most cases,  tobacco is the major crop. The matter of land tenure in the district is extremely complicated.

For planting tobacco, the Europeans originally obtained land concessions of various sizes from the Sultan of Deli. Some of these concessions were for 50, some for 75 and some for 100 years. These ‘Sultan’s Grants’, as they have ever since been known, were rather informal transactions and were not drawn up in accordance with the provisions of the Netherlands Indian Civil Code. In the first place, the earliest ones were made at a time when there was practically no civil administration of Deli on the part of the Colonial Government, and in the second place, the Sultans, as natives, were outside the scope of application of the Civil Code. Thus these early grants were (and have remained) witthout any definite status in Netherlands public law.

Various attempts were made to regulate this situation, the most important of which went into effect on May 6, 1915. This law provided;

(1) that when the Sultan issued land to persons to whom the Civil Code applied, the transaction must be registered in conformity with the provisions of the Civil Code, and

(2) that a prior condition of such a transaction must be the issuance of a declaration by the head of the local or provincial administration testifying to the Sultan’s authority to mc.ke such a grant.

But the Civil Code was not (and is now not) applicable to natives and those having the status thereof. Thus there are at present in existence three kinds of Sultan’s Grants;

(1) those made prior to the law of 1915

(2) those made subsequent to and in conformity with the law of 1915 and

(3) those made to persons not subject to the Civil Code. These last grants were not registered vrith the appropriate office of the Netherlands Indian Government but with the Sultan’s own native tribunals.

Extremely few if any of these Sultan’s Grants were actually freehold grants; there are only three of them in the present city of Medan. The very great majority were in the nature of long-term leaseholds.” (From unpublished report by Sidney H. Brown, American Consul at Medan.)

The management of the estates is in the hands of’ Europeans, and a large number of laborers is employed for field operations. In 1937, there were some 400 Europeans employed as, managers and sub-managers, and on December 31, 1937 the total number of laborers employed was 74,405. Of these, 7,735 were contract laborers hired under contract for a period of 5 to 6 years for work on specific plantations, and 66,670 were free laborers employed on a daily, monthly, or piece basis. About 36,000 of the laborers were Javanese men, 27,000 were. Javanese women, and over 10,000 were Chinese men and women. Only a limited number of Sumatra natives are employed, as the intelligence and industry of these people are below those of the Chinese and Javanese. Foremen and supervisors are largely Chinese.

The Chinese also grade most of the crop. Laborers are paid according to wage scales fixed by the Deli Planters’ Association (an Association supported by all companies in the district). Wages consist of a basic amount in cash, either on a day basis or at a piece rate. Slightly higher wages are paid for old hands than for new recruits, and wages for women are lower than for men.

In 1937, the average cash wage for men was about 28 cents per day (0.515 guilder) and for the women about 16 cents per day (0.29 guilder).

Dormitories or barracks are provided as living quarters. for the laborers. In addition, they receive a discount on the purchase of foods and free medical attention. In 1937 these services amounted to an additional 3 cents per day (0.055 guilder). In many cases the laborers are also provided with land to be used as gardens.

The estates are large and well laid out. They vary in size from about 12,000 to over 50,000 acres. The land devoted to tobacco is carefully surveyed and laid off in blocks of fields. The average size of a single field is about 1.6 acres and it accommodates approximately 16,000 plants. The same field or block of fields is used for tobacco only once in 8 years. In most cases they are cleared of timber, the timber being burned off and tobacco immediately planted. Tobacco is grown in the spring months and is followed in the same year with a crop of rice. The planting dates for tobacco in different sections of the district vary in accordance with altitude.

In the upland sections, seedbeds are prepared in December and in lowlands during the second week in January. Transplanting is done from 40 to 45 days after the sowing of seed beds. Harvesting extends from April until June or about 90 days after transplanting. After the rice crop following tobacco is harvested the land is usually allowed to grow back to jungle and is not disturbed for 7 years, when it is again cleared and planted with tobacco.

The only exception to this procedure is on some of the land where Granville wilt is bad. The estates in these sections plant part of their fields to Mimosa invisa , a tropical leguminous plant which has the appearance of vetch. Fields planted with Mimoa for the 7-year period between tobacco crops are found to be free of Granville wilt. Leaf from such fields, however, is considered inferior in quality to that grown on jungle land. It tends to be coarser and many planters believe somewhat darker in color, both of which are objectionable qualities.

Seedbeds are laid out on freshly cleaned land that has been built up to a height of about 1 foot above the original level. Steam treatment of the beds for disease control is a common practice on some estates, but others do, not use any form of seedbed sterilization. The beds are well fertilized and are covered with a light muslin at a height of about 3 feet. This is to prevent damage to young plants by heavy rains and sunshine. When the plants approach the size at which they are transplanted the covers are removed.

The fields to be planted with tobacco are laid off in double rows about 40 inches apart with small ditches between them and large drainage ditches at the end of the rows. The transplanting of a single field of 16,000 plants is done by sections over a period of about 3 weeks so that the leaves will ripen progressively. Practically the entire process of cultivating the’ crop is by hand. Animals or tractors are used for making ditches between fields but all other operations are by hand.

The rows and ditches between them are prepared with heavy hoes or mattocks and cultivation is ivith hoes. Plants in the seedbeds are sprayed about five times with a liquid arsenate of lead spray. Two applications of the same spray are also made within 10 days after transplanting. Following this the plants are dusted about every 4 days with a mixture of soil and 5-percent arsenate of lead powder, or, as has been the practice in the past few seasons, soil and 5.5-percent barium fluosilicate. Worms not destroyed by spraying and dusting are caught by hand. This work is done by women and children who work on a daily wage basis, or are paid about 11 cents for each 100 worms they catch.

Fertilizers are extensively used. A small portion of guano fertilizer is placed in holes in which plants are set. Phosphate is applied in the form of basic slag. The potash requirement is usually supplied in the form of ashes from tobacco stalks; however, sulphate of potash is used in the darker soils that are low in potash. Most of the plants are topped when the flower begins to form; however, the portion of the crop on land that tends to produce a heavier leaf is allowed to bloom and seed.

The crop is harvested by priming and as a rule only two leaves are taken from each stalk every 2 days. Great care is taken to prevent the leaves from being broken. They are carried in baskets by hand to curing barns adjacent to the fields and priming is done only during the morning when the dew is heavy.

Curing : The curing of Sumatra wrapper leaf is accomplished by air-curing followed by a sweating or fermentation process. The curing sheds are constructed of poles with a roof of palm leaves. The sides and ends are formed by continuous rows of doors made of bamboo splints, which can be opened for ventilation. The sheds are constructed so that they can be torn down and rebuilt at various places on the plantation as the blocks of tobacco fields are rotated.

For curing, the tobacco leaves are strung in the morning or late evening on strings of which each end is tied to a bamboo pole. Each leaf is examined before stringing. Worms or insects are picked off and damaged leaves are removed and cured separately. The strings of leaves hang in the sheds from 18 to 22 days or until they have become dry. During this period the ventilating doors are regulated to assure proper ventilation and to prevent excessive dampness and heating. During the damp periods, most of the ventilation is shut off during the night and early morning, and wood or charcoal fires kept going in order to prevent excessive humidity.

When dry, the strings of leaves are removed from the bamboo poles and each string tied into a hand. The hands are then placed in baskets and hauled to the plantation’s fermentation shed. This is only done in the early morning or late afternoon when there is less danger of the leaves being broken.

The fermentation sheds are closed, relatively dark buildings, with little ventilation, but adjacent to them are well-lighted grading and sorting rooms. Tobacco brought to the sheds is weighed, and hands of leaves of uniform quality are assembled to be fermented in a shingle block. This latter process is simplified by the removal of inferior leaves, ‘hen they are strung, and further by the fact that harvesting and curing are so regulated that leaves from the same position on the plant arrive at the fermentation sheds together.

Fermentation of the leaf is accomplished by four sweating processes. For the first sweating of a quantity of tobacco the leaves are piled into eight rectangular bulks with rounded corners, the outside wall being formed by placing the hands with their butts to the outside. The bulks each contain about 4,000 to 6,000 pounds, the size being governed by the quantity of leaves of similar grade arriving from curing barns. The bulks are allowed to stand for about 5 days, during which time the temperature at the center rises to about 129° F. They are then repiled into four larger bulks, each comprised of two of the original small bulks. The sweating or heating process again occurs, but usually requires approximately 3 days longer than the first sweating.

This process is followed by two more sweatings, one in which the tobacco is piled in two bulks, and the. last in which it is piled in one bulk. The last sweating requires about 18 to 20 days. with each repiling, the hands of leaves are shaken out and well aired. In building the next bulk into which they are placed, the hands on the outside of the previous bulk are placed in the center. They are also reversed from top to bottom.

From Gibbs, TOBACCO PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION IN THE NETHERLANDS INDIES, 1940