288 Fry in rice fields . A] 



growing rice; and the area of the nursery is meas 

 not by the inch or foot, but by the acre or square 

 In this extensive nursery, therefore, which costs th< 

 ciculturist nothing, the fry thrive admirably, and 

 following their instinct go feeding dawdling downv 

 with the stream. This takes them leisurely from 

 field to rice field, and in the direction of the waste w 

 which of itself not unfrequently runs into the river a, 

 or might almost always be contrived so to run. Bi 

 each drop from rice field to rice field, the cultivator p! 

 a basket made of finely split bamboos, having a 

 mouth, a narrow neck, and a wide bottom. It lets 

 water pass but stops every single fry ; and what wa 

 admirable nursery, becomes one vast trap for des' 

 ing the majority of the fry in the river. So highlj 

 these juicy morsels appreciated that no peasant fai 

 place a basket at every outlet. 



35. The accompanying map of the district showi 

 number and position of the temj 



'' * ry river dams. Omitting dam: 



minor hill streams there are more than 2,000. One s 

 of them diverts for six months a stream 12 feet b 

 and 3 feet deep at the commencement, and irrigate 

 area of 1,700 acres. Many others are but slightly infi 

 to it, and the area irrigated under all- the river dan 

 the district is estimated at 39,962, or in round nun 

 40,000 acres, or more than 60 square miles of nur 

 Calculating from a very low average of the number o 

 contained in 50 acres, this area must contain in all 



