May, 1909,] 



433 



Edible Products, 



or abart and lonbyu). (2) Kyaukkyin 

 (red and white), (3) Mayin (red and 

 white), (1) (lawthut, (5) yahaing, (6) 

 akrtre, (7) sliangale, (8) lonbu, and (9) 



Clay soils which may be easily flooded 

 are best adapted to paddy : practically, 

 however, nearly every kind of land will 

 produce fair crops of paddy if in good 

 coudition, unless when the climate is 

 really unfavourable for the purpose. 

 H.iuthawadd, Thongwa, Pyapon, Am- 

 herst, Thaton, Pegu and the delta 

 Districts in Lower Burma and Kyaukse 

 in Upper Burma are the best districts 

 f ir paddy. Comparatively little paddy 

 is grown in some districts of Upper 

 Burma. 



The time of sowing is very much a 

 matter of local experience and is more 

 or less regulated by the weather and 

 the fitness of the ground. In the 

 Kyaukse district of Upper Burma the 

 Kyaukkyi crop is usually sown in 

 Nayon or Wazo (about June), the Ky- 

 aukkyin in Tabaung or Tagu (about 

 March), and the Mayin in Thadinggut 

 or Tazaungmon (about October). 



In the Amherst and Thaton Districts 

 of Lower Burma paddy is usually sown 

 iu Nayon, except yahaing. The quan- 

 tity of seed to he sown to the acre 

 varies greatly. That quantity is best 

 which yields the largest crop, and the 

 solution ot that point rests on the 

 experience of the individual cultivator. 

 The answer depends on many consider- 

 ations : the quality and condition of the 

 land, the climate, the goodness of the 

 seed, and the mode ot sowing. One 

 basket of seed per acre may suffice where 

 the conditions are all favourable, as is 

 the case in the localities of Bilugyun 

 and Zaya in the Amherst District of 

 Lower Burma ; and even 2£ baskets of 

 seed may not be too much per acre, under 

 the circumstances, as is the case in some 

 parts of the Kyaukse district of Upper 

 Burma. Whatever be the quantity, it 

 is desirable that the ground be fairly 

 occupied by plants when the growth 

 commences. More seed will be required 

 when the broadcasting method is adopt- 

 ed, and less seed when the seedlings are 

 to be transplanted from a nursery. 



To economize the quantity of seed 

 required, cultivators are advised to sow 

 the seed in lines at regular intervals, 

 say, at 2 or 3 inch intervals, and set the 

 seed with a measure just big enough 

 to sufficiently set seeds on each line. 

 An ordinary cultivator who is used to 

 the prevailing method of scattering seed 

 in broadcast may perhaps imagine that 

 this method of sowing in lines would 

 not pay so well, for the reason that the 



55 



entire surface of the land selected for 

 the seed-bed would not be covered by 

 plants ; but then it should be remem- 

 bered that all seeds do not germinate 

 when broadcasted. The principles of 

 scientific theory show that the method 

 suggested would give a better result, 

 for the simple reason that the seed is 

 equally distributed, and thus, after 

 germination, each plant has a sufficient 

 space of ground for expansion and can 

 draw nourishment from the soil with 

 greater facility, with the result that it 

 becomes a good plant for transplanting. 



In the best districts of the country 

 a quarter of the entire holding is re- 

 served for sowing seed at the rate of 1 

 to 2h baskets per acre of the holding. 

 The cost of sowing seed may be roughly 

 calculated at from Rs. 5 to Rs. 0-4-0 per 

 acre in Upper Burma, and Rs. 3 to Rs. 

 3-8-0 per acre in Lower Burma, includ- 

 ing the market value of the seed at the 

 time of sowing and the cost of plough- 

 ing. 



When seeds are sown in the districts 

 of Upper Burma where rainfall is scanty 

 and where lands are usually irrigated 

 the cultivator should take care that he 

 maintains a depth of 3 inches of water 

 iu his seed-bed, drawing out the stale 

 water and irrigating with fresh water 

 once in 10 or 15 days if the water is 

 allowed to remain too long in the seed- 

 bed, the rise of temperature will cause 

 the young plants to perish ; but in Lower 

 Burma since sowing takes place at the 

 proper time of the rainy season this 

 precaution is not always necessary. 



The quality of the seed should be 

 another consideration in sowing ; for 

 choice grain, if a change has been got 

 from a different soil, will produce plenty 

 of plants with less seed than in other 

 circumstances. Every cultivator should 

 prefer bright, sound, plump, aud well 

 cleaned seed ; and certain varieties have 

 hereditary qualities which it is well to 

 respect. A great deal more than the 

 usual care should be taken in the selec- 

 tion of proper seed. Cultivators should 

 always select the ripest aud best seeds 

 of the best ears of the best plants at 

 hand, aud cultivate them with extreme 

 attention to every circumstance that can 

 improve their productiveness. Practi- 

 cally speaking there is no 'pedigree' 

 paddy in Burma, but a 'pedigree' wheat 

 is well-known in England. In order to 

 establish a ' pedigree' paddy cultivators 

 should endeavour to follow the afore- 

 said hints which are based on the various 

 experiments made by the leading scienti- 

 fic men of Great Britain. It is a well- 

 known fact that the byat variety of 

 Kyaukkyi paddy from the neighbour- 

 hood of Sluvelekwin in the Myittha 



