300 CULTIVATION OF T^ICE IX MALACCA. 



wooden one for the second harrowing- in order that the earth 

 may be broken up quite fine. Their rice is sure to thrive better 

 than that of people who are less careful : for in rice-pianting\ 

 as the saying- g-oes there is " the plig-hted hope of g-ood that is 

 to come," in the way of bodily sustenance 1 mean. So day by 

 day the different plots are treated in the way that has been des- 

 cribed in connection with the nursery plot in paragraph 5 above. 



Of Planting:. 



7. — When the seedling rice has been in the nursery long 

 enough and the fields are clean and ready for planting (which will 

 be about the nonth of Safar or Aug"ust) the seeding-s are pulled 

 up and tied tog-ether with strips of dried palasi leaves into 

 bundles of the size known as sadicL-ah. If the roots and blades 

 are long', the ends can be clipped a little, and the roots are then 

 steeped in manure. This manure is made of buffalo bones burnt 

 with chaff till they are thoroughly calcined, and then pounded 

 fine, passed through a sieve and mixed with mud : that is the 

 best kind of manure for rice-plan tiig- and is known as 

 stock " manure." (Tt can also be applied by merely scattering- it 

 in the fields. In that case, after cuttiig- off the ends of the blades, 

 the seedlings are planted and afterwards, when they are green 

 again and appear to be thriving, the manure is scattered over the 

 whole field. There are some places too where no manure at all 

 is used, because of the perennial richness of the soil.) 



Afterwards the seedlings are allowed to remain exposed to 

 the air for about two nights and then taken to the field to be 

 planted. The bundles are broken up and bunches of four or 

 five plants together are planted at intervals of a span all over 

 the different plots till all are filled up. If there are very many 

 plots, ten or fifteen female labourers can be engaged to assist 

 in planting, and likewise in pulling up the seedlings, at a wage 

 of four cents for every hundred bundles. 



Of the Rice after it has been Transplanted. 



8. — Ten days after the young rice has been transplanted it 

 recovers its fresh green colour ; in thirty days the young shoots 

 come out ; in the second month it increases more and more, and 



