June, 1912.] 



511 



Edible Products. 



where through a fair fall of 22 inches in 

 the previous November led to a con- 

 siderable area (07,000 acres) being culti- 

 vated and sown, the drought in Decem- 

 ber and following four months almost 

 entirely destroyed the growing crop. In 

 1907, though the Batticaloa crops were 

 much injured by the Cyclone which did 

 so much damage in the East coast, there 

 was a good N.E. which was favourable, 

 especially in the North-West Province, 

 where the crops produced 2'3 M.B.P. 

 largely owing it is reported to the 

 restoration of the village tanks in the 

 Seven Korales. The gross production was 

 thus raised once more to over 115. 

 M.B.P. though the entire rainfall was 

 only 66", while in 1909 when the Rainfall 

 sank to 56 inches, it was still above the 

 11. M.B.P. . 



The average for these four years of 

 short water supply and drought (68") is 

 109 M.B.P. off 656,000 acres, figures 

 nevertheless are only 11 % below the 

 maximum period and contrast favorably 

 with those of former years, thanks to 

 "irrigation " as will be more detailed 

 presently. 



But before doing so it will be in- 

 teresting to review shortly the contri- 

 bution of each Province to the develop- 

 ment set out above. 



(To be continued.) 



THE 'RAB ' SYSTEM OP RICE 

 CULTIVATION IN WESTERN INDIA. 



(Extracts.) 

 By Harold H. Mann, D.Sc, 

 Principal, Agricultural College, Poona; 

 N. V. Joshi, B.A., B.Sc, L.Ag., and 

 N, V. Kanitkar, B. Ag. 



(Prom the Memoirs of the Department of 

 Agriculture in India, Vol. II., No. 3, 

 February, 1912.) 



Very early in the study of agricultural 

 conditions in Western India, attention 

 was called to the peculiar system of 

 preparing the seedbed in which rice is 

 grown for transplanting, which was and 

 is very widespread, indeed almost uni- 

 versal, iu the country from the Ner- 

 budda on the north to Kanara in the 



south. This system consists in burning 

 cowdung, the branches of trees and 

 shrubs, straw, dried grass, or other com- 

 bustible materials on the ground on 

 which the seed is to be sown, and from 

 which the seedlings are afterwards to be 

 transplanted. This process is called rab- 



By all the agricultural population who 

 grow rice within the limits we have 

 mentioned, this operation is considered 

 of great importance, and many go so 

 far as to say that unless it is done it is 

 impossible to obtain rice seedlings fit to 

 transplant It is, however, a very 

 troublesome system to work. The cow- 

 dung required is very large in amount, 

 and the quantity required precludes its 

 use as a manure in other directions. The 

 branches required have now frequently 

 to be brought from long distances, as 

 the trees which furnish them have often 

 been destroyed in the neighbourhood 

 of the rice tracts, so that a very large 

 amouut of trouble is required to get and 

 burn the materials on the rice seedbed. 

 But, in spite of this it is continued, and 

 very generally continued, iu the area 

 indicated until the present day. 



In the present account of this process, 

 and the experiments we have made in 

 connection with it, we will divide the 

 subject as follows :— 

 I. The methods of rab as at present 

 carried out, with a consideration 

 of analogous process elsewhere. 

 II. Historical account of experiments 

 hitherto made to investigate the 

 nature and value of the rab 

 system. 



'ill. Details of our own experiments on 



the subject. 

 IV. Conclusions and recommendations. 



IV. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOM- 

 MENDATIONS. 



What then are the general conclusions 

 to which the whole of the foregoing 

 results lead. It must be recognised that 

 the present is a first study, and being 

 this, we may consider the results as pro- 

 visional. Particularly, the short section 

 which deals with the biological effect of 



