BURMA 



rain-water runs off too quickly ami irrigation has to be resorted to; (3) 

 on land near the river-bank which is submerged and cannot be planted 

 till after the highest rise ; (4) in hill clearings; (5) a hot- weather crop 



(I l>\ irrigation either by means of dams or by water-wheels. 



For the first three methods, plotiyliim.' commences in June, when the 



have softened the soil and rendered the use of the plough possible. 



M itinie nurseries have been prepared on higher ground and seed sown 



least. By July or August the fields for the first two classes and the 



plants in the nursery are ready and the young plants are dibbled in, two 



together at intervals. In the case of riparian lands, the plants cannot 



be put out till about September ; the harvest begins in November and is 



ov.-r l>\ .January. The hot-weather crop is planted in January-March, 



,i|-i about three months afterwards. The water necessary 



is usually obtained by throwing a dam across a stream, but at Meng-doon 



in the Thayet district a self-acting wheel is used. 



In cultivating rice in hill-clearings, a site is first selected, thickly 

 red with bamboos and forest, which is all felled in April. After two 

 months' drying, the fallen trees and scrub are set on fire, the ashes fertilising 

 the ground. After the first fall of rain, the surface is slightly broken 

 with a hoe, the ashes mixed with the soil, and the seed, usually rice and 

 cotton or sesamum and cotton, sown broadcast. The rice and sesamum 

 are reaped in September or October, and the cotton bolls picked in 

 December to April. After this the hill-clearing is abandoned. [Cf. Ditt. 

 Settl. Oper. Repts. ; Upper Burma Gaz., 1900, ii., pt. 1, 337-41 ; Max and 

 Bertha Ferrars, Burma, 1900, 48-56; Nisbet, Burma under Brit. Rule 

 and Before, 1901, i., 330-43.] 



MANUFACTURE. 



Mills and Milling. An important feature of the Indian rice trade is 

 the rise and present position of the Burma power-mills. These mills had 

 their origin in the very high cost of labour in that province and the dis- 

 inclination of the Burman agriculturist to undertake any work he can 

 avoid. In Bengal the rice crop is as a rule husked by the growers ; in 

 Burma it is conveyed to the market as paddy. It thus soon became 

 evident that if rice was to become an important article of export, it must 

 be husked at Rangoon. This gave rise to the important rice-milling 

 industry of Burma. But these mills were for a long time greatly handi- 

 capped by the cost of coal imported from England. Moreover, the ques- 

 tion of the disposal of the husk became a serious one. The discover}" soon 

 followed that the husk, previously wasted, might be utilised as the fuel 

 to drive the mills. The husk is accordingly conveyed by special con- 

 trivances to the furnaces and there consumed, while a stream of water 

 flowing below carries off the ash. By these and other inventions so 

 great economies were effected that it soon became evident that not only 

 was a great export trade possible, but that it would no longer pay to carry 

 rice in husk to be milled at localities remote from the areas of production. 

 To the skill and energy of the European inventors and owners of these 

 mills, therefore, is due the credit of this great and prosperous industry. 

 According to the Financial an<! <'<'nnercial Statistics, there were 

 lL'7 rice mills in India in 1904 employing 17,814 persons (mostly Madras 

 coolies). The industry, however, is of importance only in Burma, which 

 had of the above totals 114 mills aud 17,016 employees. According 

 to the statistical tables, the remainder were distributed as follows: 



839 



ORYZA 



SATIVA 

 Milling 



Hill 



Cultiva- 

 tion. 



Mills. 



Local 



KtML 



Ric to Ho*. 



NorntMr at Milte. 



