866 



where over a million acres are grown the water is obtaineL| 

 mostly from streams and wells, distributed by canals, the 

 pumping and distribution from the streams being run by private 

 companies. Deep wells and pumping macliinery also form 

 part of the equipment of some farms (Chambb'ss, Lc. p- 6 : 

 see also Cons. Kep. Misc. No, 625, 1905). 



The seed may be drilled in rows a foot to 15 in. apart, sown 

 broadcast or raised in nurseries and planted out 8-9 in. apart. 

 Upwards of 80 lb. of seed is estimated to sow an acre (ll.cc.) 

 a few pounds more or less may be required according to variety 

 and quality and soil. Broadcast or drilled rice in India requires 

 80-120 lb. of seed per acre and to raise seedlings for transplanting 

 30-80 lb. of seed per acre is usual (Watt, Comm, Prod. India, 

 p. 826). It is advisable to have the plants close enough to 

 prevent tillering. In the Federated Malay States " Padi " is 

 grown on wet or swampy land, plough land, and hill land. On 

 the first the rice is planted annually — the seed is sown in a 

 nursery and the seedlings planted out, when about 40 days old, 

 in bunches of 3 or 4 at distances of from 1-2 ft. apart; the 

 crops ripen in from 7-9 months and the yield may be from 

 35-70 bus. per acre. On the second, for 3-5 years in succession 

 followed by a period of about the same lying fallow after the 

 land has been well ploughed, the seed is sown broadcast, the 

 crop ripens in 5-7 months giving a yield of from 25-35 bus, 

 per acre and for " Hill Parii," on freshly cleared land the seed is 

 sow^n several at a time in holes made with a pointed stick, about 

 I ft. apart the crop ripening and yielding approximately tlie 

 same as on plough land (Wise, Agric. Bull. Str. & Fed. Malay 

 St, i. 1902, pp, 13-19). 



The " American " rice in Sierra Leone is grown in wet-land 

 right down to the water side and when 12-15 in. high the women 

 transplant it in little clumps ; this swamp-grown rice comes 

 in early during the dry season, and is carefully stored (in April 

 and May) for local consumption during the rainy season (middle 

 of May until November) when the larger crops on higher ground 

 are gro\\dng, the cultivation of which appears to be much the 

 same as that for cotton and Guinea Corn with which it is some- 

 times sown. After the seed is well above ground, or about a 

 month later, weeding begins and in the second month when the 

 ears are fiUing out for ripening, protection from birds — ^which 

 began in the early seed stage — ^is necessary until the rice is 

 harvested. When the American rice above mentioned, is in 

 the ear it is not attacked by the small rice-birds as the grain 

 is too large and heavily set for their beaks ; but in the fields of 

 native rice when the grain is forming '' these destructive little 

 creatures play havoc \^nth the crops and all over the fields may 

 be seen rough wooden stages on wliich a child, perhaps a small 

 girl in charge of a pickin [baby] scares off the birds with slings and 

 stones " (Alldridge, Sierra Leone, seq, and The Sherbro, seq.). 

 Scott Elliot describes (Col. Rep. Misc. No, 3, 1893, p. 41) much 



