Cuap. XVI] CULTIVATION OF THE RICE. 297 
buffalo generally employed in the south, is well 
adapted for this work, as he delights to wallow 
amongst the mud, and is often found swimming and 
amusing himself in the canals on the sides of the 
rice fields. But it seems a most disagreeable and 
unhealthy operation for the poor labourer, who 
nevertheless goes along cheerfuland happy. After 
the plough comes the harrow; this is chiefly used 
to break and pulverise the surface of the soil or to 
bury the manure. Hence it has not long perpen- 
dicular teeth like ours; but the labourer stands 
upon the top of it, and presses it down upon the 
muddy soil while it is drawn along. The object 
of both plough and harrow is not only to loosen 
the earth, but to mix up the whole until it forms a 
puddle and its surface becomes smooth and soft. 
In this condition it is ready to receive the young 
rice plants. 
Previously to the preparation of the fields the 
rice seed is sown thickly in small patches of highly 
manured ground, and the young plants in these 
seed-beds are ready for transplanting when the 
fields are in a fit state to receive them. Sometimes 
the Chinese steep the seeds in liquid manure be- 
fore they sow them; but although this practice is 
common in the south, it is not general throughout 
the empire. 
The seedling plants are carefully dug up from 
the bed and removed to the fields. These fields 
are now smooth and overflowed with water to the 
depth of three inches. The plants are put in in 
patches, each containing about a dozen plants, and 
