■5 



sion and then allowed to lie fallow for the same period, though in cultivated 

 some few cases cultivation is carried on every alternate year. annually. 



10. The land is prepared by ploughing and cross-ploughing it Method of 

 three times over with a light wooden plough shod with iron and ^^^j™^ 

 drawn by buffaloes; the seed is sown broadcast, about a bushel y^f of an 

 to the acre, and cross-ploughed in, a harrow being sometimes used, plough land. 

 The crop ripens in from 5 to 7 months producing from 25 to 35 



bushels per acre. 



11. Hill padi is generally grown along the sides of low hills Hill^/land 

 but often on flat land above flood level and nearly always in or ^dang. 

 secondary jungle. 



The land is prepared by first clearing the undergrowth ; after Cultivation of 

 which the larger trees are felled and left lying until sufficiently ladan 8- 

 dry, when they are fired. The branches that escape the first burn- 

 ing are collected in heaps and burned, the larger tree trunks, 

 which are not consumed, lying where they fell. Another clearing 

 up and burning of the smaller twigs and rubbish then takes place, 

 after which the land is marked out with stakes and the seeds sown 

 several at a time in holes made with a pointed stick about a foot 

 apart. 



1'he crop ripens in 5 or 6 months, the yield being about the Yield of 

 same as that from plough lands, namely from 25 to 35 bushels ladang. 

 per acre. 



12. The reaping and harvesting of rice crops of all kinds is Reaping and 

 conducted in the same manner. harvesting. 



The ears of ripe grain are snipped off, one by one, with a small 

 circular knife held between the fingers. They are generally tied 

 in bunches and the grain separated from the ear by treading it 

 under foot. The corn is exposed for a while to the sun and the 

 chaff is then got rid of by throwing the grain into the air out of a 

 flat three cornered basket work dish made of rattan; the heavy 

 grains fall back into the dish while the chaff is carried awav by 

 the wind. In some cases the grain is dropped on to a mat placed 

 on the ground under a high open platform erected 011 poles, when 

 the chaff is carried away, the full grains falling on to the mat. 



The padi is then stored and when required for use is turned 

 into rice with a heavy wooden pestle and mortar, an article to be 

 seen outside any well appointed Malay house, and the grain parted 

 from the husks by throwing it into the air from a dish in the man- 

 ner alreadv described above. 



one 

 omen. 



13. The work of cultivation is shared by men and women, the Labour d 

 latter planting out the young padi grown in the swamps and reap- b y w 

 ing the crop and preparing it for use. 



14. In some parts of Ulu Pahang the crops are reaped by Reaping 

 means of a sabit or reaping hook, said to have been introduced by hook - 

 Sumatran Settlers. This is a more expeditious method than that 



in common use; but the latter has the advantage of leaving longer 

 straw, which manures the fields for the next crop. 



