Miscellaneous. 



56 



[Jan. 1908. 



represented. It is reckoned that 15 baskets of seed are sown to an acre of nursery. 

 This produces 1,500 bundles of seedlings which suffice to plant five acres of paddy 

 land. Mayin paddy is planted more thickly than other paddy crops. The seedlings 

 are gathered thirty days after the seed was sown and the'crop is ripe 90 or 120 days 

 after the seedlings have been planted. Naylongyi and nayan are 90 days crops, but 

 thibon takes 120 days to ripen. From the time the crop is transplanted until it is 

 reaped it has to be always supplied with water, and the irrigation is performed by 

 means of scoops (kanwe) suring on tripods, and (ku) see-saw scoops. The labour of 

 irrigation is very heavy. The crop yields from 35 to 60 baskets an acre, and 35 

 baskets is considered a low estimate- The value of Mayin paddy is always 20 per 

 cent, below that of Kankyin and Kankgyi, as it is pronounced to be coarse 

 and tasteless. 



Kanyin. — Our Kankyin paddy season commences at the end of June when 

 the ground is broken with the four-toothed harrow. Three days later the three- 

 toothed harrow is run over it, and the nursery is sown. As in the case of Mayin : 

 15 baskets are sown to the acre and give 1,500 seedlings which, however, will plant 

 six acres of land. The favourite seed used is naylongyi (red) but eikbon (white) is 

 also found and also byatgale and longbyee. The eikbon paddy always demands 

 Rs. 5 per 100 baskets more than nalongyi, but it has the great disadvantage of 

 requiring 150 days between transplanting and harvest, whilst naylongyi takes but 

 90 days. The byatgale is found chiefly in the Kyankpadung. From sowing till 

 transplanting both kinds are in the nursery about 30 days. The transplanting 

 commences in the waxing of Wagaun (August). The current rate for uprooting 

 100 bundles of seedlings in the taze tract is four annas per diem per man and two 

 meals. The samehix-e for uprooting half the quantity on upland maguang paddy 

 nurseries is given, as here the soil is more resisting. The paddy field is prepared 

 to receive the seedlings by ploughing it with the four-toothed harrow whilst deep 

 water stands on it. After three days' interval the field is again ploughed with the 

 three-toothed harrow. Then the harrow used as such, and not as a plough, is run 

 over it. After this the Kyandon (clod crusher) is used. (Tnis is a log of wood about 

 12 feet long and 6 inches in diamecer which is fastened to the harrow stock.) 

 Women are usually employed in transplanting the paddy, and they receive three 

 annas per diem and two meals as their wage. The crop is reaped about November > 

 It takes four men to reap an acre in a day, and their pay is either half a basket each 

 of the new paddy, or four annas and two meals. The paddy is threshed on the 

 ground, and by means of bullocks which trample out the grain whilst the sheaves 

 are stirred up with the threshing stick (Kankseva). The grain is winnowed at once 

 and then spread out on the mats in the sun to dry. The outturn is very variable. 

 Soil, the regularity of the water supply, and the cloudness of the weather all have 

 a voicR in the matter. I consider thirty baskets per acre a low estimate. 



Benet Paddy.— In this district there is a distinct crop known as the benet 

 paddy crop, and the name of the seed is the same as the crop. This is only found 

 in the taze tract. The grain is coarse and inferior to all other paddy except mayin 

 as regards taste and flavour, and it commands a similar price. No nurseries are 

 made and the seed is sown broadcast on the field and is not transplanted. Four 

 baskets of seed are sown per acre, and thirty baskets is a normal crop. The seed is 

 usually sown in August and is reaped ninety days later. 



Kankgyi.— The Kankgyi crop is later than the Kanky in crop. The method 

 of cultivation is precisely the same as that of the Kankyin crop, and it is very 

 difficult to say in this district which group a crop belongs to, as the late 

 planting of the one overlaps the early planting of the other. In the regular 

 mogaung paddy tract of Natogyi and in the large tract of Myingyan and 

 Taungthee, there is a reliable crop except in such a year as 1896-97 when 



