IN DINAjrUR. 9 



is rviti off, the rest is retained, by shutting the pas- 

 sage with a clod of soft earth. This crop requires 

 no weeding, or at most but a very trifling one, the 

 water being sufficient to destroy tiie noxious weeds. 

 If the season be very dry, the field must be supplied 

 with water from some neigiibouring pond or reser- 

 voir, as the only means of preserving the crop: at- 

 tention to this is peculiarly necessary while the 

 plants are young, for if the earth be permitted to 

 grow hard, the plants seldom thrive afterwards; 

 when they have acquired a size sufficient to over- 

 shadow the ground, the moisture is retained for a 

 long time, and the crop suffers less, but water is 

 absolutely necessary to the perfection of a crop of 

 rice. In November this crop begins to ripen, and 

 the harvest is usually finished by the end of Decem- 

 ber. As there is little fear of rain at this season, the 

 crop is housed and stacked, without any loss or dif- 

 ficulty. 



The Bund rice is usually sown in April or May, in 

 low lands, where a flood of several feet deep may be 

 expected ; if the floods come suddenly while the 

 plants are young, the water rises above them and the 

 crop is lost; but if the ])lants are strong and Jthe 

 water increases gradually, the rice will grow as fast as 

 the water rises. This crop will answer tolerably well, 

 if the water be four, six, or even eight feet in depth, 

 the stalks sometimes acquiring the length of ten or 

 even fifteen feet; but as they are weak and lie in 

 an oblique position, they do not easily rise above 

 eight feet of watef. This crop ripens in November. 

 The upper part of the plants on one man's land being 

 drawn by a gentle stream, or by some other cause, 

 often fill on his neighbour's field and occasion quar- 

 rels at the time of reaping. 



