44 



OPERATIONS 



Modes of Tillage. The different methods employed for tilling 

 the land vary considerably in different countries, according 

 to the means available, though the principle underlying all is the 

 same. From the wooden spikes or flint spears which in early 

 times served the purpose of stirring the soil, as they do even at the 

 present day in some primitive countries, to the modern steam 

 plough used on large farms is a great stride in evolution. Digging 



BUFFALOES PLOUGHING KICK FIELD 



by means of spade, fork, or mam noty (the latter implement being 

 that which is commonly used in Eastern tropics), is adapted to 

 certain confined areas, as gardens, etc., but ploughing, followed by 

 harrowing or similar means of levelling the surface, is the most 

 economical and practical method for preparing the ground for 

 general field crops. Ploughing as carried out in Ceylon, India, 

 Malaya, etc., with buffaloes or oxen as draught animals, is usually 

 performed in a very primitive fashion, the object being to stir up or 

 fork the soil rather than turn it over as a furrow. In some districts 

 in Ceylon, the ground is only puddled or churned by means of 

 wading buffaloes or bullocks, the land being first softened by 

 being Hooded with water. The type of plough generally used by 



