CEREALS 95 



is not likely to dimmish much in volume in the near 

 future. The diminution when it does occur will probably 

 be slow. 



Cultivation in the Deltaic Region. 



Burma may be divided into three great climatic tracts : 

 (i) A southern tract of high rainfall ranging from 70 to 

 200 in., including the Arakan and Tenasserim, Pegu, and 

 Irrawaddy Divisions; (2) a central tract of low rainfall 

 averaging from 25 to 35 in., and including the Mag we, 

 Meiktila, and part of the Sagaing and Mandalay Divisions; 

 and (3) a northern high rainfall tract, embracing mainly 

 the Districts of Katha, Ruby Mines, Myitkyina, and 

 Bhamo, where the rainfall ranges from 60 to 100 in. 



In the first of these tracts, the deltaic region, the main 

 rice crop of the province is grown. Except for the 

 Arakan and Pegu Yomas and their off-shoots, the country 

 presents the appearance of a gTeat flat plain of alluvial 

 origin and watered by the Irrawaddy, Rangoon, and 

 Salween rivers. The soil of the region is lateritic in 

 origin, and varies from a sandy loam to a darkish clay. 

 The surface soil is in all cases characterized by the 

 extreme rapidity with which it loses water as soon as 

 the rains are over, so that attempts at cultivation without 

 irrigation can only end in failure. On this great plain 

 paddy cultivation begins in June, when the nurseries are 

 made, for the great bulk of the paddy grown is trans- 

 planted. Cattle manure is usually applied to the nurseries 

 in May before the rains break, but hardly ever to the 

 transplanted fields. Manuring of the latter is a much 

 to be desired improvement as experiments at the Govern- 

 ment Agricultural Station of Hmawbi have shown that a 

 very considerable increase in yield can be got by manuring 

 poor soils in this way. At present cattle manure is 

 neither economically stored nor applied to the soil, and 

 the whole system of cultivation is to be considered exten- 

 sive rather than intensive. It is at present in the same 

 stage as wheat cultivation in Canada, where the rough 

 cultivation of large areas rather than the careful culti- 

 vation of small is the practice in vogue. On these same 

 soils experiment has also shown the efficacy of oil cake 



