96 CEREALS 



(cotton), cyanamide, and phosphate as manures for paddy, 

 but their use would depend on their price, which is at 

 present too high. The practice of green manuring has 

 been found to be attended with difficulty, for the reason 

 that the monsoon breaks with great abruptness, so that 

 the soils are either as hard as brick or are soft mud. 

 Hence proper cultivation of green manure plants cannot 

 be effected. There is, however, a very great natural 

 growth of grass and sedges in the early rains of May, 

 June, and July, and this growth is ploughed into the 

 soil in August. Its presence probably tends to main- 

 tain fertility owing to its providing a suitable mechanical 

 texture. 



Burman cultivators usually recognize four main kinds 

 of crop : (i) Kaukyin, or very early maturing varieties, 

 having a growth period of about 75 days; (2) Kauklat, or 

 medium varieties, with a period of 75 to 100 days; (3) 

 Kaukgyi, or long-lived rices, of which the period extends 

 up to 120 days; and (4) Kauknyin, or glutinous rices. 

 The latter are a class apart and are never exported, but 

 used for particular purposes at pagoda festivals and the 

 like. The distinction into the three grades of ordinary 

 rices mentioned above is one that is necessitated by 

 differences in the water supply. The short-lived varieties 

 are grown on the higher fields, which lose their water 

 first, and the long-lived varieties on the lowest lying- 

 fields. 



The ordinary seed rate for paddy is about one basket 

 of seed per acre of transplanted field. This could 

 probably be lessened, as experiment has shown that in 

 certain cases the usual practice of planting two or three 

 plants together is wasteful and unnecessary. Reaping of 

 the main crop is done in December and January, in which 

 two months large contingents of labourers from Madras 

 and Bengal visit the province, returning to their own 

 country when the harvest is over. 



In Lower Burma wages are high, and R. i a day is 

 a usual coolie rate at busy times. 



The yield on these Lower Burma soils varies from 1,500 

 to 4,000 Ib. of unhusked rice per acre. Cropping is con- 

 tinuous, no manure is used except on the nurseries, and 



