CULTIVATIOX or RICE IN MALACCA. 299 



rarefully prepared : that is to say, it must be ploug-hed ove ; 

 ag-ain, harrowed, levelled, ditched, and the soil allowed to settler 

 the embankments must be mended and the surface made smooth. 

 When the germs have sprouted the seed is taken to the nursery 

 plot. Benzoin supplied by the Rawang is burnt and the plot 

 sprinkled with tepoiuj tawar. Then a beginning is made by sowing 

 the " chief of the seed" [/.r/." mother-seed"] in one corner of the 

 nursery, prepared for the purpose and about two yards square ; 

 afterwards the rest of the seed is sown all over the plot. It is 

 well to sow when the plot contains plenty of water, so that 

 all the germs of the seed may be uppermost and the roots may 

 not grow long but may be pulled up easily. The time for sow- 

 ing must be during the dark half of the month, so that the 

 seedlings may be preserved from being eaten by insects. 



Three days after the seed is sown the young shoots begin 

 to rise like needles and at that time all the water should be 

 drawn off the plot ; after seven days they are likened to a 

 sparrow's tail, and about the tenth or fifteenth day they break 

 out into blades. At that period the water is again let into the 

 plot, little by little, in order that the stalks of the seedlings may 

 grow thick. 



The seedlings have to remain in the nursery for at least 

 forty or fortj^-four days from the time of sowing, before they 

 are suiBciently grown : it is best to let them remain till they 

 are about seventy days old. 



6. — While the seedlings are in the nursery, the other plots 

 are beii]g ploughed, one after another : and this is called the 

 first ploughing. Then the embankments are mended and reformed 

 with earth, so that the water in the field may not escape and 

 leave it dry. After the embankments have been mended the 

 harrowing begins : a start is made with the plot that was first 

 ploughed (other than the nursery plot) for there the earth will 

 have become soft and the weeds being rotten after many days of 

 soaking in the water will form a sort of manure. Each plot is so 

 dealt with in its turn. Then all have to be ploughed once more 

 which is called the second ploughing) and harrowed again; for 

 the first harrowing^ merely brejiks up the clods of earth and a 

 second is required to reduce them to a fine state and to kill the 

 weeds. Most people, having first used an iron harrow, use a 



