January, 1910.] 



25 



Edible Products) 



allowed to become almost dry between 

 each application of water can with- 

 stand drought for a longer time. Large 

 areas of paddy have been grown in 

 seasons of scarcity on the Home Farm by 

 not letting irrigation water into the 

 plots until the surface of the soil had 

 just begun to crack. Seed is specially 

 selected every year from the local 

 varieties of paddy which prove most 

 profitable and also from the introduced 

 varieties. This is used as Home Farm 

 seed the following year. Some selected 

 seed is also available for sale to ryots. 

 The selection is done by picking out the 

 best ears immediately before or after 

 the crop is cut. These are bundled aud 

 thrashed separately, and the seed is 

 carefully dried in the sun and stored in 

 large earthenware pots. Special atten- 

 tion is paid to picking out ears which 

 are quite true to the variety and 

 quite free from disease. Care is also 

 taken that all the grains in the ear 

 are fully ripe and close-set. An ear is 

 rejected if many of the grains have 

 already been shed from it, and also if 

 the glume or outer skin of the grain is 

 empty. Seed is not usually selected 

 from crops growing on patches of ground 

 which are badly drained, even though 

 the ears thereon are good specimens of 

 their kind, unless it is a variety of paddy 

 which is specially suited for water- 

 logged soils like "Kulavalai" paddy. 

 On the other hand, ears are picked from 

 a crop growing on a plot which has been 

 subjected to drought, even though the 

 ears are not quite so large and good as 

 ears of the same variety growing on a 

 plot which has not been subjected to 

 drought. One of the chief points to be 

 considered in the selection of most 

 varieties of paddy seed is to try aud 

 increase the " drought-resisting " power 

 of the variety, even though the yielding 

 power is slightly decreased. 



CULTIVATION OF TEA IN THE 

 KACHIN HILL TRACTS OF 

 HATHA, BURMA. 



By C. K. Davis, 

 Civil Officer, Kachin Hill Tracts, Burma. 



(From the Agricultural Journal of India, 

 Vol. IV.. Pt. IV., October. 1909.) 



Civil Officer, Kachin Hill Tracts, Burma. 



Kachins are great tea imbibers, and 

 it was not surprising to find in the 

 course of my recent tour in the Kachin 

 Hills of the Katha District that almost 

 every village tract boasted of a number 



of trees varying from 00 to 6,000. The 

 plant is probably the same variety 

 which occurs wild in some parts of 

 Burma. 



The gardens which exist have not 

 been laid out on any system and small 

 patches of from 20 to 60 trees may be 

 encountered in the thick of the jungle, 

 each with its owner. The gardens or 

 claims are not fenced. Each man knows 

 the number of trees he owns. All the 

 care the owner bestows on his claim is 

 to clean the undergrowth, leaving only 

 the young tea plants that have grown 

 of themselves from seeds shed. Too 

 great care, it is said, will kill the trees. 

 No kind of manure is ever used. Efforts 

 to sow seeds are only successful in a 

 measure and things are left very much 

 to Nature, An enterprising Shan of 

 Thayagon, a village at the foot of the 

 hills in the Mawlu Township, has year 

 in year out, failed to grow from seed 

 or transplant young trees to his village. 

 He has now discovered that tenderness 

 and care are wasted on the seed, a 

 handful of which, if thrown into a 

 clump of plantain, gives excellent results. 

 The seeds germinate readily and dis- 

 place the plantain which is cut away. 

 It is noticeable, however, that the tea 

 gardens are only found where the water 

 easily drains away and there is much 

 shade. 



The following method is adopted by 

 the Kachins in raising plants from seed. 

 Seed collected is sown just before the 

 rains commence in circular beds of two 

 feet diameter. The earth is dug up a 

 span or two and in the deeper holes 

 stones are placed at the bottom. The 

 seeds are then thrown in and covered 

 over with the earth which has been 

 excavated. Dried leaves are sometimes 

 thrown in. No further attention i9 

 paid. At the beginning of the follow- 

 ing rains the seedlings have attained 

 a height of from 6 to 10 inches. They 

 are then transplanted. Fair-sized stakes 

 are fixed to the earth to mark the 

 locality of the little plant aud to pro- 

 tect them from being trampled on by 

 cattle. In some cases the seedlings are 

 not transplanted till they are two years 

 old. 



Like teak seeds, tea seeds are said 

 to come up spontaneously after a clear- 

 ing has been fired. Seeds that have 

 been scattered by Nature and buried 

 under dried leaves and twigs have then 

 a chance of springing up. In many 

 places lands devoted to taungya or 

 shifting cultivation have developed into 

 tea plantations. 



Three years after transplanting, the 

 Kachin nips off the tops of the young 



