X, C, 6 
Rundles: Studies in Rice 
373 
The soil is stirred to a depth seldom exceeding 15 centimeters, 
its fineness depending upon the condition of the weather. 
The ground planted to upland rice is used to a limited extent 
for tobacco, corn, and mongo or other legumes. 
When land covered with cogon grass ( Imperata exaltata ) is 
required for rice culture, the grass is burned during the dry 
season, the ground being prepared in the usual manner not much 
in advance of the time for sowing. 
SPECIAL METHOD OF SOIL PREPARATION 
Caingin . — In general, rotation of crops is seldom practiced 
and no effort is made to maintain either the fertility or the 
productivity of the soil. Crop remains are either burned or 
permanently removed. When the soil fails to bring favorable 
returns, it is abandoned and new land is used. In this way 
the land rests about eight out of twelve years and is subjected 
to nature’s method of rebuilding. Trees, brush, and cogon or 
other grasses growing on the soil are cut and burned and the 
rubbish is removed. Most of the stumps and roots are left in 
place. The soil is stirred to a depth of about 4 centimeters. 
The entire farming operations are done with crude tools. 
TIME OF SOWING RICE 
The optimum time for sowing rice necessarily varies in dif- 
ferent regions according to the distribution of the rainfall. 
The crop must be sown at the most opportune time to insure 
its greatest growth during the excessive rains. 
In Luzon most upland rice should be sown during the last of 
May and all of June. 
METHODS OF SOWING 
Broadcasting or scattering the seed by hand is the most usual 
method of sowing upland rice. The farmer carries a small 
amount of seed in a bag or basket. As he walks across the field 
he either tosses the grain before him or scatters it with a swing- 
ing motion of his arm and sows a swath from 2 to 4 meters in 
width as he goes. The seed cannot be uniformly sown, and the 
amount used per hectare varies between 1 and 3 cavanes. 
The seed is covered by means of either a bamboo harrow or 
native plow. Seed sown on freshly plowed ground and covered 
in this way cannot be covered to a uniform depth. 
Among the hill farmers, who use the caingin system of farming 
to a great extent, broadcasting is seldom practiced, as the ground 
is not in good enough tilth to permit it. The bacal or sabug 
is the commonest practice. It is here described as practiced in 
Laguna Province. A tool known as pang bacal is used to make 
