28 RECENT FOREIGN EXPLORATIONS. 



mixing the soil into thin mud. After the mud has settled the ground 

 remains covered by about 2 inches of water. Where the fields depend 

 on rainfall for moisture the plants are transplanted during a shower. 

 The plants are set in hills 6 inches apart each way, two or three plants 

 being set in each hill. In this way about 28,000 plants are set per 

 acre. Transplanting for the main or aman crop is done in Ma3% and 

 for the spring or boro crop in December and January. It is possible 

 in some parts of India to raise five crops of rice in one year. The first 

 crop is called aus and is the summer harvest from July to August; 

 the second crop, or kaida, from September to October; the third, 

 chatan aman, from October to November; the fourth, called boran 

 aman, from December to Januar3\ and the fifth or l)oro crop from 

 April to May. 



In the sub-Himalayan districts labor is verj^ cheap, and it is cus- 

 tomary to dig over the fields for rice with the mattock to the depth of 

 6 inches. This costs 80 cents per acre. 



PRODl'CT PER ACRE. 



It is difiicult to arrive at anj^ correct estimate of the yield per acre from 

 direct statements by native farmers. By dividing the total product in 

 a given season bv the total number of acres planted it has been ascer- 

 tained that the average yield of rice per acre for all India is 823 pounds 

 for the principal crop and .558 pounds for the spring or boro crop, making 

 1,.381 pounds, or about 8^ barrels, for the year, as only two crops in one 

 year are generally raised. This is not a large showing for two crops, 

 and it is quite evident that if one crop should be raised and the land 

 devoted to green-manuring crops the remainder of the season, the one 

 rice crop for the j-ear would exceed the amount at present secured 

 from two crops. 



HARVESTING. 



Rice is cut with a small sickle or hook knife and bound at first in 

 bundles about 3 inches in diameter. After it has cured a while, the 

 small bundles are made into larger ones and drawn to the thrashing 

 place, where they are placed in hollow stacks, one tier of straw deep, 

 with the heads on the inside. Twenty women can on an average har- 

 vest 1 acre in a day. One binder, four horses, and two men in the 

 United States daily do the work of two hundred women in India. 



THRASHIXCi. 



The usual mode of thrashing is to clear and level a small space of 

 ground, wash it with cow dung until hard, and to pile on this circular 

 form the rice to be thrashed. Five bullocks are tied to a rope tandem, 

 and driven around on this pile of unthrashed grain. Sometimes, to 

 expedite the work, a second line of bullocks is used. Two men drive 

 the two lines of bullocks and two men sift the straw with forks. In 

 this way four men and ten bullocks will thrash the grain from an acre 



