ORYZA 



SATIVA 



Assam 



Seasons. 

 Harvest. 



Boro. 



Soils. 

 Seed. 



Harvest. 



Lepi. 



Assam. 



Summer and 

 Winter Eices. 



Ahu. 



Boo. 



THE RICE PLANT 



of the pulses or mustard during the cold weather. As soon as the rabi 

 crop is off the field, it is ploughed and harrowed as rapidly as possible. 

 Preparation must be hastened, especially on char lands, for here a late 

 crop is sure to be lost by the. rise of the rivers. Sowing time, therefore, 

 varies. In the chars of Meghna, it may be sown as early as the middle of 

 February ; in the highlands of North Manikgunge it may be delayed till 

 the middle of April. As soon as the plants appear the field is rolled with 

 the ladder, and a week after harrowed with the rake. After this it 

 must be carefully weeded. Harvest extends from the middle of July to 

 the middle of August. 



Bono. The places in Dacca where this class of paddy is most extensively 

 grown are (1) the sides of the jhils and streams of the Madhapur jungle ; 

 (2) the chars and edges of the Meghna and its branches ; (3) in some 

 of the chars of the Padma. The soil best suited is a mixture of clay and 

 vegetable matter. As soon as the rains are over, a plot, from which the 

 inundation water has just receded, is chosen for a nursery, aquatic grasses, 

 etc., are removed, and the place worked into a soft mud. The seed is made 

 to germinate and then sown broadcast. Thirty seers of paddy sown on 

 a quarter bigha of land give seedlings sufficient for transplanting two 

 bighas. The time for sowing is usually about the middle of October, and 

 for transplanting, December-January. No tillage is generally needed for 

 boro paddy. The harvest time is April-May and the yield per bigha 

 5 to 12 maunds. 



In some of the islands of the Padma, large areas of land may be seen on 

 the same level with the water at low tide covered by a soft and deep mud. 

 The raiyats have discovered a method of cultivating paddy on these known 

 as lepi. All that is done is to sow the seed broadcast and plaster (lepa) 

 the mud over it. Before sowing the seed, it receives the same treatment 

 as described above for boro and rowa paddy. [Of. C. B. Clarke, Kew Bull., 

 1888, 284-91 ; Sen, Rept. Agri. Stat. Dacca, 1889, 28-33 ; Cult, and Prep, 

 of RiceinBeng., Journ.Agri.-Hort.Soc.Ind., 1890, viii., 397-405 ; Bam, Agri. 

 Lohardoga, 1890, pt. 1, 54-63 ; 1890, pt. 2, 26-8 ; Banerjei, Agri. Cuttack, 

 1893, 64-74 ; Admin. Rept. Beng., 1901-2, 12-4 ; Roy, Crops of Beng., 1906, 

 1-29 ; Maxwell-Lefroy, Rice Bug, Mem. Dept. Agri. Ind., 1908, ii., 1-13.] 



Assam. By way of affording a comparison with the particulars already 

 given regarding Bengal as a whole, the following brief statement of the 

 Assam Valley may be furnished. Darrah (Ann. Rept., 1887-8) discussed 

 the Assam rices under two sections which practically correspond with 

 the chief Bengal crops, viz. early or summer, and late or winter rices. 

 He subdivided these into the two great sections of the province, the 

 Brahmaputra valley Assam and the Surma valley Sylhet and Cachar. 

 Of the rices of the Brahmaputra valley, he enumerates three soli, 

 ahu, bao. Sali is the general term applied to all transplanted rice grown 

 on land lower than that required for ahu and higher than needed for bao. 

 It is sown about May and June, transplanted in July and August, and 

 reaped in December and January. Ahu is the name given to the numerous 

 kinds of rice which grow on high lands, require little rain, and are sown 

 from March to June and reaped June to September. It is usually sown 

 broadcast, but sometimes transplanted. Bao comprises the varieties 

 grown on the lowest land which will support rice. It is sown in March- 

 April, cut in November-December. When transplanted, the operation 

 is performed in July and August. Of the Sylhet or Surma valley, there are 



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