Any November day the visitor to Lanchow may see fields upon fields of gaunt frozen tobacco plants in the ground. But the frost and exposure are said only to increase the flavour of the tobacco, which is not brought in till winter is well commenced. Then it is cut, and the leaves separated from the stalks. (These leaves by the way are quite different from the leaves of the "Dry Pipe tobacco" seen in other parts of China, being much larger and narrower and are further divided into "Green" and "Yellow" varieties.)
The leaves are dried and sprinkled with mustard oil, a great deal of oil being used in' this process, and then the leaves are ready to be pressed. The "press" consists of a great tree stem, one end of which is fixed to the ground, and from the other end as it hangs in mid-air a great weight of stones is attached. The tobacco is put in a frame under the tree, and of course the com-hined weight of the tree and the stems exercises very considerable pressure upon the leaves, which are pressed together in this way into a dense mass which a knife can make but little impression upon.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.