November I, r88g.] Supplement to the "Tropical Agriculturist." 
principal requisite in the cultivation of this grain, The 
fact whether the aquatic character of the paddy plant 
is inherent in the species or is an acquired one is 
worth while being traced. In plants as well as in 
animals there are natural and acquired traits of character. 
Though they may have had other characteristics ori- 
ginally, a training up in a certain way with an object 
in view makes them acquire quite new characters 
which may be called artificial. When once through 
artificial or other means this character is obtained it 
is rather difficult to lead back a species into its ori- 
ginal habits. To accomplish this the species should 
be allowed to degenerate, and this degeneration will 
not result in bringing the plant into its normal con- 
dition without permanently weakening it. So it is 
almost impossible to bring a plant which has been 
artificially or otherwise changed, to its original con- 
dition, We have these characteristics marked well in 
the cabbage tribe of the order Oruciferae. The same 
species, Brassica Oleraoea, has many varieties, each 
differing in its individual form ; and the seed from 
each produces its own characteristic plants. This is 
an^ instance of a food plant, but the changes brought 
about by the Florist are still greater and strange. All 
these are done by cultivation; and " artificial " characters 
when once established remain tolerably fixed. Now 
coming to consider our paddy plant may we not iofer 
that this aquatic character was given to it by arti- 
ficial means ; by cultivation to suit the condition of 
the cultivator? 
But what causes could have made the paddy-plant 
of an aquatic nature ? The original cultivator of paddy 
need not have had the special object of the culti- 
vating in the paddy plant a taste for aquatic habits, 
yet other aims may have set him to work in 
a direction which favoured this result. May not a 
dosire to loosen the soil, when there were no proper 
tillage implements (not even the native wooden plough) 
have prompted the use of a copious supply of water 
just before cultivation ; again, may not, under the 
same circumstances, another object have been the de- 
struction of weeds ? Still further, keeping the plants 
erect and preventing them from falling down, and 
counting on a preventative in some degree of insect 
attacks in the absence of other and direct remedies. 
All these may have entered into the consideration of 
the agriculturist, and go to show the probable reasons 
why water was used in such large quantities by culti- 
vators. The cultivators who were confined to the 
valleys of the large rivers had every facility for 
obtaining water in any quantity, which was no doubt 
fully availed of, but when the inhabitants spread 
and when they established new homes, they wanted 
their usual cereal as food, and it was cultivated in 
the same fashion as was done in the valleys. Where 
they could not obtain the copious supplies of water 
from natural sources they began to construct arti- 
ficial reservoirs. Thus the tank system of irrigation 
might have come into existence, and the plant and the 
methods of cultivation became closely associated with 
water and continued and still continues so. 
Other evidences are not wanting to trace back our 
paddy plant form the aquatic state to its normal 
state. We have the variety of paddy known as 
Elvi or hill paddy, which is the same plant 
having the same characters as the aquatic one, but 
the only difference being in the conditions of growth. 
Hill paddy could ba taken as a species having nearly 
its original characters, and passing from it we have 
a marked gradation in other varieties, some requir- 
ing less water and others still less. So this clearly 
shows that the character of the paddy plant as it 
exists now is an acquired one. 
Anyhow, whether it be required or not, one thing is 
clear, that for the growth of the paddy as it 
is, water, to a more or less extent, is necessary. At 
the present day there is no regulation of this supply 
except when there is a limited quantity of water. Water 
is used abundantly when obtainable in every season. 
It is quite true that a certain quantity of water is 
required for paddy cultivation, and that quantity only 
for some definite purpose in the process of the cul- 
tivation of tho crops ; but at present this fact is not 
37i 
understood, for when there is plenty it is used abun- 
dantly, and when there is little, sparingly. At one 
period of the growth of the crop the plants may 
have an abundance of water, whilst at another period 
they may suffer from a want of the same. But the 
supplying of fields with water in necessary quan- 
tity is quite possible. I have seen villages where, when 
the goyias get water, they fill up thir fields simply for a 
desire of the thing, but otherwise when it is quite 
useless. 
I shall consider here the different periods 
at, and conditions under, whioh water is required in 
the cultivation of a paddy crop both regarding quality 
and quantity; but it is a matter of regret that desirable 
facts cannot be given under these two important heads, 
as no careful experiments have been oarried out in the 
matter, but which I hope will be undertaken very soon 
in the interest of the paddy cultivators. 
According to the present system of working, the paddy 
cultivator before beginning his cultivation requires water 
for soaking the soil and destroying the weeds, making 
the field suitable to be planted with the native im- 
plement or puddled. This operation done — the water 
should be retained for some time, else the puddled field is 
likely to be baked and the soil hardened. So a necessity 
arises for the water to be left for at least another 
three weeks, or till the time for sowing. Though 
this process facilitates the cultivator in his operation, 
it is faulty in that the proper exposure of the soil to 
the atmostpheric influence is prevented, and thereby the 
improvement which might otherwise arise is retarded. 
Thus when the organic matter in the soils decays 
away from the influence of the air, injurious organic 
acids are often formed ; but no account of this and 
other circumstances are taken into consideration by 
our cultivators, who keep to the old and 
beaten track. In cases where dry cultivation is carried 
out which is a necessity when the supply of water is 
exhausted, the soil is exposed to atmospheric influences. 
This is the main idea kept in view in the improved 
method of cultivation. The land is ploughed and 
allowed to remain exposed till within a few days 
of being sown. The difference in the quantity of 
water required in the two systems of wet and dry 
cultivation is striking. In the former which is the 
common method adopted, the field is kept under water 
for a period of over three weeks before sowing to 
the great disadvantage of the formation of plant food 
in the soil itself ; while in the other system which 
is adopted in cases of short supply of water, and 
where the system of cultivation with 'improved' im- 
plements is adopted, the field requires to be kept 
under water for a few days only just before sowing 
in order to prepare the seed-bed. In the case of 
transplanting a still greater reduction in the supply 
of irrigation water may be made, for the plants are 
put in after they have sprung up in a nursery and 
remained there for a month. The water which would 
otherwise be required during that month in addition 
to the three weeks' supply for soaking in the ordinary 
case of boadcast sowing would be saved. There would 
thus be a saving of a seven weeks' water-supply. 
This is rather a crude manner of estimation, but as 
the measurement of the quantities of water has yet 
to be made, the method I have adopted must answer 
my propose which is merely that of comparison. 
The second period at which water is required is 
from a few days after sowing until the paddy is in 
flower. If we take for example a variety which 
grows 5 months, then water will be required till the 
beginning of the last month, as a month generally 
elapses between the time of flowering and the 
harvesting. Thus for an average crop of paddy 
which lasts 20 weeks, water should be supplied for a 
period, more or less, of 15 weeks. The first week 
and the last 4 weeks not to be taken into account, as 
very little is required at these stages of growth. 
When we add to this the 3 weeks before sowing, the 
time for soaking &c. of the field up to sowing time 
one get an aggregate of 18 weeks' water supply. 
This amount is necessary in the ordinary method 
of cultivation. But in dry cultivation adopted either 
from a want of a proper supply of water or as the 
