46 AGRICULTURE IN THE TROPICS [PT. II 



British Guiana is already exporting this grain in considerable 

 quantity. Brazil also grows a large area of rice. 



The yields of rice obtained differ very much from country to 

 country. In Ceylon about 700 Ibs. per acre is probably the 

 average in the more thickly populated districts, in India 

 probably 990 Ibs., while in the Malay Peninsula about 2000 Ibs. 

 is often obtained, and in the Tinnevelli district of southern 

 India even more, so that in 1903 the best rice land there was 

 selling for Rs. 2000 per acre (133). The natives of these 

 countries, however, do not regard rice cultivation from a 

 commercial point of view, and there is not the least likelihood 

 of their giving it up in favour of anything more profitable. 



Rice is a somewhat difficult grain to husk. The common 

 method in Ceylon and elsewhere is by means of a heavy pestle 

 and wooden mortar, while in much of India it is first parboiled 

 and dried, and then husked in the same way. 



Nothing is more striking to the outside observer than the 

 obstinate way in which the natives of each country cling to their 

 own particular methods. In Ceylon they object to trans- 

 planting on the ground of its greater expense, the fact being 

 that though it uses less seed, it costs more in labour. In Java, 

 on the other hand, they transplant the rice most carefully, and 

 treat it with great care and efficiency, but when it comes to the 

 harvesting, they cut each ear separately with what is practically 

 a penknife. Yet, in spite of all effort, this custom is rigidly 

 adhered to, as the harvest time is the great festive season, when 

 all the villagers turn out into each field in turn, well dressed, 

 and engagements are then mostly contracted between the young 

 people. 



One great difficulty in the way of any improvement being 

 introduced by Europeans into this cultivation is the fact that 

 there are literally thousands of varieties, many of which look to 

 the botanist exactly the same, but which the native almost 

 unerringly distinguishes, saying that the one will suit one kind, 

 the other another kind, of soil, or that he can eat the one, but 

 does not like the other. The native understands his own 

 varieties, his own ways of cultivation, his own taste, to a nicety, 

 and resents any interference, in so far as he is not contemptuous 



