270 



TROPICAL AGRICULTURE 



CHAP 



Manuring. 



High culti- 

 vation in 

 China. 



When rice is cultivated on the same land for successive 

 years manuring is necessary, compost and animal manures 

 giving the best results. The Chinese, who are very skilful 

 cultivators, manure their fields with all kinds of animal and 

 other refuse, in fact they destroy nothing that can in any 

 way add to the fertility of the soil, thereby teaching a lesson 

 that should be taken to heart by Western nations. Human 

 hair is considered by the Chinese to be of extreme value in 

 rice cultivation ; and, as these people shave the greater part 

 of their heads, immense quantities are collected by the 

 barbers who sell it to the farmers at a penny a pound. 



Climate. 



Fodder 



Large crops. 



Sowing the 

 seed. 



Mountain Rice. 



Upland or mountain rice, though producing a similar 

 grain to the common or aquatic kind, differs greatly in its 

 habit and cultivation. It thrives at elevations of from 3,000 

 to 6,000 feet above the sea in the mountainous regions of 

 northern India ; and it will grow in temperate climates, 

 although it will not yield crops of grain in such latitudes, 

 Irrigation is not practical in its cultivation, the treatment 

 of the plant being similar to that of the common cereals 

 It makes excellent fodder, and it will pay to grow as a green 

 crop, two cuttings being obtainable during the year. It 

 may be cut and made into hay ; sheep, cattle, and horses 

 being extremely fond of it. The crops yielded are larger than 

 those of common rice, but only one harvest can be gathered 

 in the year. Aquatic rice is said to yield from twenty-five 

 up to eighty-fold of grain, whilst mountain rice returns a 

 hundred-fold and even a hundred and twenty-fold. 



Cultivation. — The land is ploughed and manured in 

 March, and in May it is again ploughed and then harrowed, 

 and the seed is sown in drills, or it may be sowed broadcast. 

 Another plan is to make small holes with the finger at a 

 span's distance from each other, and then to drop a few 

 seeds in each hole, and cover them lightly with mould. The 



