Mav I, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



785 



PAPER BT ME. S. WEERAKODY UPON PADDY 

 CULTIVATION. 



The Secretary of tlie Ceylon Agiicultural Association, 

 Colombo. 



Kurunegala. 

 Herewith I beg to forward an account of experiments 

 made by me in a field cultivated with paddy during the 

 last maha harvest, and shall thank you to lay tlie same 

 before the Association for the information of those who 

 are interested in the cultivation of our staple food. 



These experiments were made with the following ob- 

 jects in view: — (1) To see whether sowing broadcast in 

 the ordinary way or transplanting is the better mode of 

 cultivation. (2) The effect of manure. (3) Whether the 

 cultiv.ition of fields by cooly labour for daily wages, in- 

 stead of giving Old. the .same to goyas for shares as it 

 is generally done in this country, pays better. 



The field in which the experiments were made is one 

 amunam or two acres in extent. The soil is the com- 

 mon red coloured soil of this district composed of about 

 equal parts of clay and coarse sand. There is a small 

 stream of water which flows into the top bed of the 

 field, and, although the water of this stream becomes less 

 during the dry weather, it does not altogether fail, and this 

 helps to introduce water into many of the beds when- 

 ever required, which is a great advantage. This field was 

 bought by me late in the season, and, as all were busy 

 with their cattle in other fields, I had no time to plough 

 it, but was obliged to get it dug u]» with mammoties by 

 coulifs. Owing to the careless mauner in which the field 

 had been kept by its late owners, many of the ridges 

 were out of order, and the soil was so very hard that a 

 great deal of trouble was experienced in turning it up. 

 For this purpose 14 men were employed at o3 cents each 

 per day. After this, water was logged in the plots for four 

 days, in order that the upturned grass may rot. But, 

 owing to the heavy rains that set in just then and the 

 rush of water from a drain, five ridges broke up and a 

 large quantity of the loose soil was washed away. To 

 make ihese necessary repairs and to open up a large 

 drain above the field to prevent the ru.shiug in of super- 

 Huous water, and also to dig up the suil once more, 15 

 men were employed. Afler this water was logged for 

 two days and when the grass was wi-Il-rotted the whole 

 field was again thoroughly dug up, drained and bedded, 

 for which 21 men were employed. The field was sown 

 from the 12th to 14th November in the ordinary way 

 with six bushels of lottii/tinnt paddy which takes three 

 mouths to ripen, "When the paddy plants were aboat 

 four weeks old, some were rooted out from 'the place 

 where they grew rather thickly and were transplanted 

 in a dift'erei.i bed which had been reserved; and when 

 Ih-' other plants which grew by sowing wire about two 

 monllis old, a bed was manured with the refuse offish 

 {hdlmexso). Three equal plots of these were carefully 

 reaped, and the results were as follows : — The transplanted 

 plot had double, and the manured plot a little more 

 than treble tlie quantity of paddy (hat was four.d iu the 

 broadcasted plot which had no manure. 



I shall now .submit some observations on this cultiv- 

 ation. 



Season. — As everything else, paddy-cultivation should 

 be done at the proper season and there is uo 

 doubt that a great deal of success depends on its strict 

 observance. Fields cultivated at the begining of the season 

 give as a rule better crops than those that are cultiv- 

 ated later, and, if this practice were followed, the corn 

 could he saved from many pests, such as flies which suck 

 away the milk from the ears before they are hardeiu'd, 

 and from euquii-y I am convinced that these flics are 

 more to be lound iu the latter part of the season. This 

 practice will also enable the cultivators to gi'ow various 

 kinds of paddy of long duration which usually give bet- 

 ter retiirns and also enable them to gather their crops in 

 the early part of the reaping season and thus escape 

 from a deal of inconvenience, such as rain which comes 

 down in torrents just after the harvest. 



Pkepaeation of the Soil. — This is the most importnut 

 ponit that should be observed in paddy-cultivation, and it is 

 also the only work that can ho satisfactorily done by the 

 cultivator if he wishes to do so. Ju,st as a child gets sickly 

 and continues to be so till the cud of its life wheu at 

 100 



its infancy it gets no nourishing food and is not cared for 

 in the proper manner, it is almost impossible to improve 

 a paddy plant in its advanced state of growth if it is not 

 treated jiroperly when it is a seedhng. Cultivators should 

 therefore spare no pains on this head. The first thing 

 that should be done is to loosen the soil. This is done 

 in two ways: ploughing by means of our common plough, 

 — and digging up the soil by mammoties. Of these 

 two methods, ploughing is easier, but I am sorry to say 

 that our present plough does not at all answer the purpose 

 It only scratches the soil to a depth at the most of four, 

 inches, and even this is done by many of the cultivators in a 

 perfunctory manner. Ploughing, even as it is done now should 

 be carried on at least four times at intervals till all the 

 weeds are uprooted and destroyed and the soil well disturbed. 

 Digging up the soil with mammoties is undoubtedly 

 preferable, but it takes a longer time and entails a greater 

 cost. It is my opinion, however, that it is a vcfy ' good 

 practice to dig up the soil well once after ploughing the . 

 land about three times, and this I consider indispensable till, 

 at least a superior plough is introduced. 



The next matter of importance is the total destruction 

 of all kinds of weeds. This can be di ae in two ways: 

 first, rooting them up and allowing them to be dried in 

 tho sun ; secondly by water-logging. This can better 

 and quicker be done by both these mrthods combined. 

 However this is not possible to be ilone iu all fields 

 owing to mud or want of water at the proi)er time : but 

 uidess grass and other weeds are somehow exterminated, 

 they not only exhaust the substance of the soil,whicb should 

 only go to nourish the paddy plants, but also choke them. 

 The preparation of the beds is also of great importance 

 They should be narrowly made so that a man may reach 

 his Inand easily to the middle of each of them in order to 

 root up any weeds that may be growing. The small .sur- 

 face drains .should be made in a sloping manner so that the 

 water may not be stagnant. Care should be taken not to 

 sow any seed in these drains or allow any plants lo grow 

 on them, in order that the cultivator may walk in theni 

 freely, and also for the free circulation 1 f light and air 

 which are essentials to the healthy growth of plants. 



Pkepakation of Seeu Paddy. — This is done in two 

 ways, sprouting and without sprouting. The fornier is 

 fit for muddy lauds. And even in this point the opinions 

 of cultivators are divided : some say that to sow the paddy 

 when their roots arc long is good, and others say it should 

 be done as soon as the roots sprout out. This is a 

 matter deserving of a trial. The second method of sow- 

 ing the seed without sprouting is only done when the 

 ground is dry. But I have invariably seen that iields 

 sown in this way always give bitter returns than in 

 the other way, and on enquiry I have ascertained from 

 the cultivators that this success is due to the roots of 

 jhe paddy going deeper into the ground in search of food. 

 Tbansplaktlng. — This practice is undoubtedly far 

 superior to that of broadcasting, and it is hoped that 

 it will be carried on extensively before long. This is not 

 altogether uukuown in this country. Many of the fields 

 in the Kandy district are transplanted. But this is not 

 carried on in a systematic way. At present transplant- 

 ing is resorted to only for the purpose of filling up 

 vacancies in places where the paddy when sown is 

 either wasted away or rotted by too much of stagnant 

 water, without laying any importance to the condition of 

 the plants. I have often seen plants transplanted when 

 they were very near putting on their ears, this 

 is a bad practice and should always be avoided 

 It will be found from the experiment under notice 

 that the yield of the transplanted portion was double 

 that of the broadcasted ouis. I must, however, confess 

 that even in this instauce it has not been done as it 

 ought, for the tranplanted plants were only rooted out 

 from the plots where the plants growiiiL,' rather thickly. 

 This undoubtedly had a deteriorating effect on the plants 

 at the first stage of their growth. If trans|.laiiling is cou- 

 ducted strictly in the proper way, I have 1 o doubt that it 

 will give four times as much as broadcasting. A bed should 

 he prepared well and the seed should be sown on it sparsely 

 ami the age for tran.splantiug should be regida ted according to 

 the duration of the paddy-plants. For instauce, the plants 

 may be from four to six weeks in the nursery if the paddy 

 takes six mouths to ripen the crop ; live to lour weeks if it 



