JAPANT':SE RICE FIELDS CUTTING RICE. 17 



to the depth of 2^ inches. In live or six days the lico is well start<}d. 

 It is then left dry in the daytime and is Hooded at night. Covering 

 with water at night keeps it warm, and uHowing the bed to l)ecome 

 dry in the daytime admits air and i)revents sun scalding, which fre- 

 quentlv occurs when the rice is young and the covering of water is 

 shallow. 



Early in June, when the rice is 8 or 10 inches high, it is pulled up, 

 tied in bundles of 6 to 10 plants, and transplanted into fields, which 

 have been prepared and flooded to the depth of 1^ to '2 inches. (PI, I, 

 fig. 2.) 



The rice plants are set in rows a])out 1 foot apart and at a distance 

 of ]0 to 12 inches in the row, on the richest lands, making i> bunches 

 to the yard. On poor lands double that numl)er might be set. They 

 are so set that the soil covers the root. Thereafter the flow of water 

 is not continuous. After a few days it is drawn ofl', and if the farmer 

 is al)le to make the investment an application of rape-seed oil cake or 

 tish scraps is made to the surface. As soon as the fertilizer has had 

 time to become incorporated with the soil, water is again applied and 

 withdrawn to allow the crop to be hoed. Every weed is cut out, and 

 in .some cases the roots are slightly pruned. Each field is given the 

 minute attention of a garden. "When the growing period is well 

 advanced the water is allowed to remain permanently upon the field, 

 care being taken to renew it by gentle inflow and escape, till a slight 

 change in color indicates that the period of ripening is approaching. 

 It is then withdrawn. While the slight change of color is given as the 

 guide, the time when the milk in the seed has become dough is more 

 correct, for the Japanese cut their rice when the straw is scarcely 

 turned. Both the straw and the rice are better when the harvest occurs 

 before the grain is dead ripe. 



CUTTING RICE. 



The grain is cut close to the earth, with a small sickle-like knife set 

 in a handle. Four hills or bunches are bound too-ether with two 

 straws, making a bundle 3 or 4 inches in diameter. These are gen- 

 erally laid crosswise in small piles, and are allowed to dry during the 

 da3\ At evening they are hung with heads down on bamboo poles, 

 which, by means of cross sticks, are made into a structure like a fence. 

 The lower pole is high enough to allow a space of about a foot between 

 the suspended bundles and the ground. The upper pole is 18 to 20 

 inches above this, the rice bundles on the upper pole overlapping the 

 bundles below. After the bundles hang upon the poles long enough 

 to become dry they are taken down by women and the grain removed 

 b}' drawing the heads through a hatchel. 



The grain is then placed upon mats and exposed to the sun till thor- 

 oughly dry. Before it is sent to market the hulls are removed b}^ 

 11084— No. 35—03 2 



