26 RECENT FOREIGN EXPLORATIONS. 



In some cases where the farmers were planting wheat they used a 

 wood scraper to prepare wide, flat furrows for the seed. This scraper 

 consists of a board 1 by 6 inches and 3 feet long, with a handle 4 feet 

 long attached to one edge at the center. The lower edge of the board 

 is sharpened. It requires two men to operate it— one holding it on 

 the ground by means of the handle and the second standing about 8 

 feet in front and pulling it from the holder by means of a rope. In 

 this slow way a shallow furrow is formed for the water of irrigation. 

 (Pl.y, tig. 1.) It must not be inferred from the inferior implements 

 used that Indian lands are not well tilled; the farmers make up for 

 the defects of tools by additional labor. 



SEEDING AND HARVESTING. 



Seeding is done in a variety of ways, one method being for the 

 dropper to follow the plow and drop the seed into the drill-like fur- 

 row through a tube behind the plow, the next furrow covering it. 

 Or the seed may be sown broadcast and harrowed. Or, in case of 

 rice, the plants may be set into the flooded field from a seed bed pre- 

 viously prepared. The grain is all hand cut, and when dry, thrashed 

 by tramping with oxen. 



RICE FARMING. 



The experience of the practical and scientific farmers of India has 

 shown that rice does best on a deep clay or clay-loam soil, but the sub- 

 soil should not be so stiff as to prevent all natural drainage and cause 

 stagnation of water, since rice is more luxuriant where fresh water is 

 constantly added. Sandy -loam soils, if manured, produce an excellent 

 quality of rice; the more manure the better the rice. More seed per 

 acre should be used on sandy -loam soils than on clay loams. 



Rice sown late in the spring when the weather is hot requires more 

 seed than if sown in the early spring. If sown in a seed bed and 

 transplanted the least seed is required— about 35 pounds per acre. 

 Drilled rice requires about double this quantity, and if broadcasted 15 

 to 20 pounds more per acre are needed than when drilled. 



While there are many hundred varieties of rice, for practical pur- 

 poses only three general classes need be recognized, i. e., early, 

 medium, and late ripening. 



TREATMENT OF THE SEED BED AND MANURING. 



The site for the seed bed is usually selected on land more or less ele- 

 vated to insure drainage. If water is allowed to stand on the field 

 between crops it produces a ferment which is unfavorable to the future 

 production of the plants. 



The use of green stable manure on rice fields just before planting is 

 not recommended. It is of little value, due to the fact that where ordi- 

 nary manure is kept very wet it undergoes no chemical changes by 



