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continuous and heavy rains of our monsoons, is 

 for the most part inundated. 



The general mode of rice -cultivation in the vici- 

 nity of Bombay is as follows : Before the approach 

 of the rains, the remaining stubble of the previous 

 crop is burnt, as also leaves, grass, and other vege- 

 table products of the like description, the ashes of 

 which serve as manure for the coming crop. The 

 ploughing of the land is generally deferred till the 

 first burst of the monsoon has moistened the earth; 

 the plough used is a most primitive instrument, 

 doubtless familiar to most of my readers ; the soil 

 is stirred up by this to the depth of three or four 

 inches ; and as this procedure of ploughing (or, 

 more properly speaking, of scraping) the earth takes 

 place very often when the fields are inundated, 

 the soil is left in an irregular, uneven state, 

 which is anything but advantageous for the 

 coming crop. 



In the meantime, paddy, as the rice in husk is 

 called, is sown thickly in nurseries, and, when the 

 plants have attained a height of four or five inches, 

 they are transplanted out into the fields in small 

 bunches of three or four. One hundred pounds of 

 paddy are generally used up as seed for one acre of 

 land, and the yield is on the average seven to eight 

 fold rarely exceeding, in fact, 900 Ibs. per acre. 

 The crop takes from four-and-a-half to five months 

 to ripen. 



