THIS 



TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 



AND 



MAGAZINE OF THE 



CEYLON AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Vol. XXXV, COLOMBO, DECEMBER 15th, 1910, No. 6. 



THE TRANSPLANTATION OF RICE. 



Nearly all the rice-growing countries 

 of the world, with the exception of 

 Ceylon, transplant (or drill) their rice. 

 Ceylon and a few other places broadcast 

 it, and efforts to bring about a change 

 have so far been almost without result. 

 There are signs, however, that the most 

 recent attack on this problem will not 

 be without effect, A number of natives 

 have in different places imitated those 

 who are transplanting, aud are appar- 

 ently getting satisfactory results. If 

 once a few people can get such results 

 independently of any direct stimulus of 

 the Agricultural Society, the movement 

 will spread. 



Those who see that broadcasting uses 

 2 to 2| bushels of seed to the acre, while 

 transplanting only wants 1/5 bushel, and 

 that the crop from the latter method is 

 usually larger, while less water is used, 

 wonder that it is not taken up at once. 

 They forget the question of labour, and 

 labour of an unfamiliar kind. The 

 nursery work is simple, and like ordin- 



ary field sowing. But there follows 

 the new operation of transplanting, 

 which is fairly hard work, and work to 

 which the women (who do it elsewhere) 

 are as a rule unaccustomed, though they 

 do it to some extent about Kandy. 



Now the general opinion of most 

 natives to whom we have spoken about 

 the subject is that this extra labour is 

 not repaid by the extra crop and the 

 saving of seed. Prom personal expe- 

 rience of the very slow and clumsy 

 manner in which many of our people 

 transplant rice, we are inclined to think 

 that at present this contention is often 

 just. But people will not always be so 

 slow and unhandy. The Javanese 

 women transplant rice in regular rows 

 with great rapidity, at a labour cost 

 which must be far less than that at 

 present necessary in Ceylon, 



The saving of seed, and the greater 

 crop, are two important gains, but the 

 saving of water must not be forgotten. 

 Water is at first only required for the 

 nursery, and need not be admitted to 

 the fields till later. 



