34 



JOURNAL R. A. S. (CEYLON). [VoL, II., PART L 



Kuru-vi are three months upon the ground, and are sown, if 

 the season is favorable, in May or June. The kind called Bdlla 

 Md-vi requires the long period of five months before reaping, 

 and is generally put in the ground in November. Dassanel, 

 a kind grown in the low-country, is of very rapid growth, two 

 months being sufficient to bring it to maturity ; it is chiefly 

 sown in June. 



The periods of sowing paddy differ with the district and 

 description to be sown. The growth so entirely depending 

 upon the irrigation, the seasons for sowing must always be 

 chosen when the streams are full, and at the time of year when 

 a continuance of rain, either in the locality itself or in the 

 higher ranges in which the streams take their rise, will insure 

 an adequate supply throughout the period of growth. In these 

 respects, locality with reference to the entire mountain district^ 

 or proximity to or distance from high ranges of hills, make the 

 alternation of seasons and prevalence of wet or dry weather to 

 differ over the whole face of the country, and consequently the 

 periods of agricultural operations. 



The cultivation of paddy is of two kinds : sowing upon cleared 

 land upon the hill-side, and sowing in swamps where the 

 land has been prepared by irrigation. The latter is the kind 

 of cultivation more generally employed, and the lands used for 

 the purpose can be sown from season to season and year to 

 year, whereas the hill-paddy, as it is called, will only grow upon 

 a soil which has been many years undisturbed, and upon which 

 the exuberant vegetation must be allowed to spring up and 

 grow for a lengthened period before it can be again used for 

 this cultivation. 



The paddy swamps of the low-country and the mountain® 

 are very different. 



In the low-country, with very little variety of level, they are 

 generally formed' out of natural swamps, and the irrigation is 

 performed with much labour by baling the water with large 



