is usually subject to attacks of insects, diseases and other 

 calamities. 



In some regions seed-plots are not made, but the 

 seed is immediately deposited in the „sawahs"; in that 

 case it is necessary for the upper surface to be very level 

 and 'everywhere equally muddy, otherwise many grains 

 would be lost and would not germinate. Because this way 

 of cultivating the plots involves much labour^ it is but 

 seldom adopted. 



There are also regions where rice is sown in well 

 tilled plots, but in a drj^ condition. Moreover, in certain 

 regions, deprived of springwater, where the „sawahs" are 

 only watered by rain, rice is cultivated as follows : 



The seed is sown without repairing the dikes before- 

 hand over their entire length. The water, if too abundant, 

 can then escape; when, on the contrary, there is no rain- 

 fall or it is very slight, the dikes are repaired over a more 

 or less considerable length and shut completely if there 

 is a scarcity of water. If later on the rain should fall more 

 abundantly, the dikes are partly destroyed to let the su- 

 perfluous water escape. 



§ 4. "When the young plants have to be transported, 

 they are plucked out of the seed-plots, then they are bound 

 up in little bundles, the tops are cut, and they are 

 conveyed to the „sawahs". There they are laid — one, 

 two or three at a time — in the muddy soil, the number 

 depending on the size of the j^oung plants, as much as 



