36 The World's Commercial Products 



HARROWING IN JAVA TO GET RID OF THE WEEDS 



five holy plants : millet, rice, wheat, barley, and beans, the Emperor himself sowing rice. 

 The crop is gathered under the supervision of a high official, and used on particular 

 occasions, as, for instance, for offerings to the ghosts of the Emperor's ancestors. In the 

 provinces this same rite is observed by the viceroys, indicating how highly agriculture 

 is esteemed in China. Yet agriculture in the European sense is but little practised in China ; 

 the country is too densely populated, and the land too much cut up into small holdings. 

 Agriculture has been changed, so to speak, into horticulture, and in most cases the plough 

 has had to give way to the spade. Notwithstanding, China is probably the country in which 

 the largest quantity of rice is grown, although not enough to supply home demands, so that 

 an additional amount has still to be imported. The export of rice from China has been 

 prohibited for centuries. 



i Cultivation. Although the methods employed in different countries vary in detail, the 

 object sought is the same in each case, the formation of fields to which water can be admitted 

 and retained at will, so as to provide the rice plants with the most favourable conditions for 

 their growth. - 



Throughout the East the mode of cultivation is essentially similar, and as the growth 

 of rice in other lands, such as British Guiana, Mauritius, etc., has been taken up by Indian 

 coolies, a general account of Eastern methods will suffice to indicate how rice is grown over a 

 large area of the world. Then having described in a general way this more primitive method, 

 we can turn to rice cultivation in the United States, where, as in the case of other crops, 

 science has been called in, with successful results, to aid man's labour. 



The small fields, each with its surrounding earth bank to retain the water, are carefully 

 worked with primitive implements — hoes, spades, or mattocks — sometimes simple ploughs are 

 used drawn by men, by buffaloes, or even by elephants (pp. 29 and 30). It is often urged against 

 ' ' these primitive tools that they are ineffectual compared with modern agricultural implements. 

 It is true they often do little more than stir the surface soil, but in some cases where, 

 on European advice, ordinary ploughs have been used, the result has been to go too deep 

 and break through the " pan," which prevents the water from draining away through the soil, 

 so that the field has been spoilt. Improvements can, of course, be made, but the problem 

 is not so simple as often appears at first sight, and the true method of advance in the East 

 and elsewhere is probably to be attained rather by gradual modification of native 

 tools than by radical alterations. Moreover, the conservatism, often well justified, of 

 the agricultural labourer is well known throughout the world, and is developed to the 

 greatest extent in the Oriental. 



The seed is sometimes sown broadcast in the fields, but frequently special seed 

 beds are prepared. In these the soil is tended as carefully as in a garden bed. 



