203 



ecjual fio'd liTtilitv, eciual seasonal coiKlitioiis, e<|ual fai'ilities of 

 irrigation. Thus we may take it that, whereas the Malay wins 150 

 gautano-s, (say), from one acre, tlie Burmese wins 24:) gantang.s 

 i.e. Do gantanti~s more, or just about enouo-]i to feed, under present 

 conditions of shortage, two peo])le for one year. 



^^ hen we read tliis, we naturally seek an e.\])lanatiun in one ot: 

 the two following reasons, or in both: — 



No. 1 Faulty cultivation. 

 ., 2 l*oor seed. 



The writer lays no claim to expert knowledge in the cultivation' 

 of rice, having had lint a passing acquaintance with it, until a few 

 months ago. Having, moreover, never been to Burmah. he is un- 

 able to compare the two modes of cultivation of the Burmese and the 

 Malays, the only comparison be is able to make 'is with the little 

 he Iras seen of it in Java, and in ("ochin china, and judging by these 

 standards, he cannot but be of opinion that the Malay paddy 

 planter is the less efficient of the two. Perhaps it is due to the 

 scarcity of buffaloes that the land is less thoroughly puddled, less 

 plowed and rolled : to the scarcity of Kampong population, that the 

 prej^aration of the land is so scanty, the maintenance of its fertility 

 so little thought of, the enil)ankments so inefficiently made. Dur- 

 ing a recent trip of the writer through the Malay ^States, as late as 

 last Xovember, Malays could be seen in the Krian District, still 

 preparing their land for the planting of the paddy crop — that is, 

 if such work as he saw can ])ass a.s preparing the land. This con- 

 sisted in cutting the stubl)le ami rank grasses with the " Tajak " 

 and piling it in straight lines, in sqnares, actually to form the 

 banks. That stubble which should liave gone back to the soil for 

 the sustenance of the cro]), was made simply to serve as pathways 

 through the fields. iSucli treatment of the land not only tends to 

 starve it, but it must also foul it, as these piled u\) grasses will 

 surely, hye and bye, serve as harbours for rats and vermins, and 

 then what of the crops? 



Eegarding the amelioration of the seed, that is a matter in 

 which the individual planter can do but little. He may, and does, 

 in countries where husbandry is highly developed, like Japan, ob- 

 tain by rough methods of selection, a certain degree of uniformity 

 in his crops, but the estahlishing of improved strains of a per- 

 manent character is a work of slow processes, which Governments 

 alone are competent to carry through. 



Such work is now being eagerly pursued in regard to wheat in 

 all wheat-growing countries and, now, following the methods of 

 pedigree cultures from single seeds initiated by the Slavof Station 

 in Sweeden, Japan, Java and India have also 0])ened stations for 

 the close study of the cultivation and improvement of rice. , High 

 yielding varieties have already been obtained and Buitenzorg was 

 credited, a few years ago, with having raised on its trial fields a 

 variety yielding 76 pickcls of rice per bouw (2^ tons per acre). 



