9 



dard marks of Adelaide ground. If shipments of chopped be made it should on no account be shot loose 

 in the ship's hold." 



Barks are sent into commercial in one or more of^four forms : — 



1. In the bundle. 



2. Chopped, i.e., into pieces a few inches in length. 



3. Ground, forming a substance something like " tow ;" and 



4. Powdered, that is of course, if the bark is not too fibrous to permit of this being done. 



It is not desirable to push the process of grinding too far, as wattle-bark is no exception to the 

 generality of powders, in forming " balls" when thrown into water when too finely gronnd. 



A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE METHODS OF CULTIVATION AND PREPA- 

 RATION OF RICE IN BENGAL. 



Reprinted from the Journal of Agri- Horticultural Society of India, Vol. VIII, Part 



IV, Neio Series. 



In November last an application was received from Mr. A. C. Stewart, Acting Emigration Agent 

 for British Guiana, asking, on behalf of the Honble the Immigration Agent, George Town, for infor- 

 mation as to the culture of rice in India, and more particularly as to the preparation it undergoes before 

 being shipped, and for copies of any pamphlet dealing with the subject. A search was accordingly made 

 for such a paper, but, sofar as the writer knows, no complete general account has been published in a form 

 now accessible. Concise accounts of the cultural methods in different parts of the country, and also of 

 special local methods have been published in the Society's Journal and elsewhere, including a summary 

 prefixed by Mr. Leotard to his memorandum regarding the introduction of Carolina rice into India, and 

 Messrs. Duthie and Fuller's Field and Garden crops of North India ; but a more detailed account, such 

 as is here given, does not fall within the lines of these works, and other writers dealing with the sub- 

 ject have found it unnecessary to go into such particulars. It has therefore been requisite to prepare 

 a separate memorandum, and the writer is indebted to the Honble ^ajah Pary Mohan Mookerjee, C.S.I., 

 and to Mr. T. N. Mukerjee of the Economic Department, Indian Museum, for the assistance they favored 

 him with. 



The varieties of rice cultivated in India are so numerous, and are further so complicated by having 

 different names in different localities, that no attempt can here be made to deal with this portion of the 

 subject. In passing it may be mentioned that there are 1,400 samples of this grain in the economic 

 portion of the Indian Museum, all of which are said to differ from each other. 



The whole of the innumerable varieties of rice can be classed under three heads, viz., Aus, Ainan 

 and Boro.* 



Aus rice is in Bengal sown in April and May, at which time there is usually enough rain to admit 

 of the land being ploughed and sown. The crop is sown in higher lands than are selected for other 

 kinds of rice, and is grown in rotation with sugarcane, jute, potatoes, &c. The field is ploughed and 

 thoroughly cultivated and the grain sown broadcast, but in districts where the rainfall is deficient the 

 seed is sown in beds, and transplanted by hand when the favorable season arrives, as in the case of the 

 Aman crop hereafter referred to. The Am does not, however, require the land to have water lodging 

 on it, and hence is known by Europeans as " dry rice" in contradistinction to " wet rice," i. e., that 

 grown on wet land. There are indeed certain varieties of this rice which grow best in dry soils such 

 as the Jetka and Chally cultivated in Bankura. 



The Aus rice ripens very quickly, some varieties in only sixty days, hence the name Sathi, and it 

 brings an early supply of food to the peasantry, as also to the cattle in the shape of straw. 



The Aman Paddy is the staple crop of the Province. The soil in which it is grown must have at 

 least an inch or two of water lodging on it. This class of paddy is usually grown in nurseries and 

 transplanted. In marshy lands it is sown broadcast. 



The Boro Paddy is sown on low lands subject to high inundation, on the edges of rivers after the 

 high inundations have retired, and in similar situations. It is sown either broadcast or transplanted. 

 It is cultivated in parts of the districts of Hooghly, Nuddea, and the 24-Pergunnahs, but principally 

 in Jessore. 



Cultivation of the land and treatment of the crop. — As mentioned above, the paddy is either sown 

 broad( asi or transplanted. In the former case the low land in which it is grown is generally baked 

 hard bt the hot weather sun, and cracked and fissured in all directions, so no cultivation ca be at- 

 tempted till rain has fallen in sufficient quantities to moisten it thoroughly, it is then at once ploughed, 

 the furrows being left open till another shower admits of further operations. In this'manner the land 

 is ploughed several times till the surface is thoroughly broken to a depth of several inches. The im- 

 plement used being more a cultivator than a plough, making but small shallow furrows. 



When rain falls sufficiently to give enough moisture for the seed to germinate it is sown broadcast 

 on the plough, and the surface roughly harrowed either with a wooden beam, slightly hollowed so as 

 to catch and break clods, or with an implement resembling a light ladder made of bamboos ; either of 

 which are drawn crosswise across the furrows. The quantity of seeds sown varies in different locali- 

 ties, but may average about 10 lbs. to a Bengal bigga of 14,409 square feet, or say 30 lbs. to an acre. 



° There is also a variety of wild rice which is self sown and cannot be harvested in the ordinary way, 

 as the grain is shed as soon as it ripens. The grain is collected by poorer classes. In Bengal, wild rice is of 

 fine quality to look at, but when cooked it becomes very coarse, and would not be recognised as the cooked 

 state of such a fine rice. Koxburgh describes the wild rice found in the Circars as " remarkably white, palatable 

 and reckoned very wholesome, so that it sells dear. The rich esteem it a dainty, and to make it still mom 

 delicate they boil it only in steam." 



