10 THE BOOK OF USEFUL PLANTS 



bed is flooded daily to saturate the ground, then 

 the water is allowed to drain off. When the plants 

 reach six inches in height they are transplanted 

 into the mud of the field, thirty times the size of 

 the seed bed. The work is done very rapidly, 

 oftenest by women, the plants being set aj^a 

 distance of six inches apart in rows about eight 

 inches apart. 



The plants are kept under water until they are 

 about fifteen inches high. Then they are drained 

 and weeded, or hoed. The water is then let in 

 again, and remains until the harvest is almost due. 

 The heads droop with the weight of the kernels, 

 and if they ripen before being gathered, much 

 grain is lost. 



The harvester goes to his work with a reaping 

 hook in his hand, lays the handfuls on the stubble 

 to dry. Later the grain is threshed by the slow 

 and wasteful method of treading it out by driving 

 oxen over the straw, spread on a smooth piece of 

 ground, or on a barn floor. Men tread it out 

 often. Much is lost and damaged by this clumsy 

 method. 



Sometimes handfuls of straw are whipped over 

 a sharp stone, or drawn through narrow slits, to 

 comb off the kernels. This is slow, but it saves 

 the rice in good condition. In its snug yellow 



