Rice 



33 



vegetation at once takes possession of man's inheritance ; insects and fungi attack the dead 

 trees ; the wild animals, driven away by the fire, return to their old haunts, until after many 

 years, the forest, which has meanwhile grown up again, is once more cleared in the same way. 



In this manner is rice cultivated in countries where the population is scarce, land is 

 abundant, and wood of no value. 



Elsewhere people prefer planting rice in fields, which may be flooded or kept dry at will. 



In Ceylon anyone who travels, even rapidly, through the country cannot fail to notice the 

 wonderful development the rice industry has attained under the care of the Sinhalese. The 

 railway from Colombo, on its way up country, passes first across a great stretch of level land, 

 with, frequently, scarcely anything to be seen on either side but broad expanses of rice. At 



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PLANTING OUT THE YOUNG RICE PLANTS 



the proper seasons of the year when the plants are young, a delicate green tint prevails, more 

 delicate even than a young field of wheat. All these fields are enclosed by low banks of earth, 

 so narrow that it requires a little care for a European in boots to walk along them, but which 

 the native with his bare feet easily traverses. On each side of the earth banks is the mixture 

 of mud and water in which the rice plant thrives. The object of the earth banks is, of course, 

 to allow water to be admitted at will to the fields, and retained there whilst required for the 

 growth of the plant. 



After some miles, the railway begins to ascend the central mountain mass towards Kandy, 

 the ancient capital. It might be thought that the steep sides of the hills would limit the 

 cultivation of rice. But this is not so. With infinite care and skill the natives have cut away and 

 transformed the continuous slopes into terraces, so that sometimes we see a whole hillside of 

 perhaps several hundred feet fashioned into broad steps, each with its raised earth bank to 



4— C.P. 



