8 REMAKKS OK AGRICULTURE 



retain the water after the end of the periodical rains^ 

 This rice is usually sown at the end of May, or the be- 

 ginning of June, in small beds, as thick as it can pos- 

 sibly grow. The plants come up in three or four 

 days after the seed is sown, till which time the 

 ground is kept barely moist ; after the plants appear 

 it should be kept quite moist, but not flooded. As 

 soon as the rains commence and the earth is well wa- 

 tered, this rice is planted out in beds, (or compart- 

 ments) each of which is surrounded with a balk, or 

 border, about ten inches high, and a foot wide, to 

 prevent the water from running off. 



When a field is first formed, these mounds or bor- 

 ders are thrown up with the Kodali. The earth is 

 then repeatedly ploughed, till it is completely mixed 

 with the water, and reduced to a. soft mud. Five, 

 six, and sometimes eight ploughings are necessary, 

 to destroy the weeds and completely dissolve the 

 clods, after which it is smoothed by drawing the 

 Mai over it, till the surface is so level that the water 

 stands at an equal height in every part. When the 

 field is thus prepared, the young plants are trans- 

 planted from the seed-bed by the hand ; eight or ten 

 of them being usually planted in one hole. These 

 holes, which are about nine inches asunder, are made 

 by forcing the hand with the young plant into the 

 mud ; the plants are left there m an erect position, 

 after which the admission of water settles the roots. 

 When the whole spot is planted, water is admitted 

 from a neighbouring compartment, or from a ditch, 

 a trench or some other reservoir, and if possible con- 

 stantly kept at the height of at least three (or four) 

 inches. If there be too much water in the field, 

 it is allowed to run off, by cutting a passage for it 

 through the border, and when a sufficient quantity 



