Rice 



37 



Surrounded by its ridge of earth, water is let in until the whole bed is of the 

 consistency of fine mud. The seed is often soaked previously in water for two or 

 three days until it has begun to sprout, and then sown very thickly over the seed bed, now 

 covered with water to a depth of a few inches (p. 28). In a few days the young plants are well 

 established, and then the water is drained off the bed during the day time and run in 

 again at night. This has the effect of keeping the young plants warm at night, and allowing 

 air to reach the plants during the day, at the same time preventing them from being burnt 

 by the sun, which may occur when they are covered by a very shallow layer of water. 



When the plants are nine or ten inches high, they are pulled up and set out in little groups 

 in the fields which have meanwhile been prepared and flooded to a depth of a few inches (p. 33). 

 At first the water is alternately let in and run off, but when the plants are thoroughly 

 well established and actively growing the field is kept continually flooded. The water 

 must not be allowed to become stagnant, so a very gentle circulation is maintained, the 

 water slowly escaping from the lowest point in the field, and more allowed to enter 

 from above to take its place. On terraced lands the overflow from the top little field 

 or step of the terrace runs over on to the second, and from the second to the third, and so 

 on down to the bottom of the valley. As in the case of wheat, the commencement of ripening 

 of the crop is known by an alteration in colour, and at the proper moment the water is drained 

 off, and the field gradually dries until the rice is ripe. 



WINNOWING PADDY IN CEYLON 



