RICE CULTIVATION IN INDIA. 27 



which useful phmt food is libonitod. Therefoiv inanuro should be 

 well rotted and applied long enough liefore planting to have some 

 effect; better still, in case of a winter crop on the same field the 

 manure should be applied to the winter crops. It is a common prac- 

 tice after plowing to burn trash on all seed beds from which rice 

 plants are to be transplanted. Coarse grass, dead leaves, brush, rice 

 husks, straw tramped under the feet of the oxen, dust piles, and occa- 

 sionally some cattle dung are piled on the plowed land, and on top of 

 this a thin layer of soil is spread to prevent rapid burning. The trash is 

 then fired. The effect of this on the seed bed is the production of an 

 ash for the support of the young plants and the destruction of weed 

 seeds and injurious roots near the surface. The action of the heat on 

 the surface soil also tends to liberate potash and phosphoric acid and 

 to make the soil more po-rous. 



PLOWING AND FERTILIZING. 



Plowino- and other heavy field work are generally done })y bullocks, 

 water buffaloes, or camels. Great emphasis is placed on repeated 

 plowing. In India most of the rice lands receive no manure and 

 have not received any for centuries, yet they continue productive, and 

 when well tilled yield fair crops. One writer states: "All that is 

 necessary to produce a ])umper crop is timely and a])undant rain." 

 Some writers seem to think that the fertility of the rice lands of Ben- 

 gal is due to the overflowing of the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers. 

 But these streams do not overflow and deposit silt to the same extent 

 that this is done by the Nile. Moreover, this would not explain the 

 fertility of the terraced rice land. The continuous fertility can not 

 be due to the use of manure, for practically no commercial fertilizers 

 are used, and almost all the droppings of cattle are used for fuel. It 

 is mainly due to great natural strength of soil, good tillage, and 

 rotation of crops. 



METHODS OF CULTIVATION. 



In December the old straw and trash are raked into pil md burned 

 on the land. The field is then plowed, and at intei-vals it is given two 

 more plowings, after which it is left until the latter part of March or 

 early part of April, when the clods are crushed, and advantage is taken 

 of the first rains to plow it twice more. The field is harrowed after 

 each of the later plowings. Harrowing is done with a ladder having 

 pins on the under side. The cultivator rides on t>he ladder, which 

 also serves in a measure to break the clods. When the rice is up a 

 few inches it is raked. This stirs the soil and to some extent thins the 

 plants. The average product of a field sown and cultivated in this 

 way is 6^ barrels per acre. 



Where rice is sown in a bed or nursery and transplanted into the 

 field, the field is first plowed three or four times in water, thoroughly 



