CROPS AND SEASONS. 
p. XVI. 
torrents. Every hill stream is filled with water, 
and thus the means of irrigating the rice-fields are 
ready to the hands of the husbandman. Such 
excessive moisture would have been fatal to the 
wheat and barley and rape, but it gives life and 
vigour to the paddy and sweet potatoes, and is 
necessary for their health and luxuriance. The 
tea-plant, too, which, at this season, has had its 
first leaves plucked, is revived by the moist air 
and frequent showers, and is enabled to push forth 
with renewed vigour, and to yield fresh supplies. 
And when excessive moisture is no longer neces- 
sary to these summer products, the rain ceases, the 
sky becomes clear, and the air comparatively dry. 
Then the process of ripening begins, and a sunny 
autumn enables the husbandman to gather into his 
barns the fruits of his anxious labours. 
