59 ° 
THr TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[February i, 1892. 
“ quality" quoted has always etuok in ray meraory, 
and I do not think it will be denied that the facto- 
riea dcaignated have a low average. If eucu Pekoe 
Bouohoug cells in London at 6id, and this, aa you, 
sir, figure it out, is equivalent to 30 oents looally, 1 
cannot understand why it should only realize Sl- 
id locally, except that at the Oolombo sales there 
is no lair and healthy competition. But as I 
remarked before, neither “ A Buyer's" laboured ex- 
planation nor my growls can throw much more light 
on the subject. There is, however, alter all, not 
much mystery about it; and if I were a buyer I 
should not need to ask WHY 7 
RICE CULTIVATION. 
Jan. 2ad. 
Deab Sib,— There scoms to be a deal of miaapppre- 
hension regarding the syatem of dry plonghing and 
about the yield of paddy and other grains generally. 
When crops are spoken as ‘so mauy fold,’ it always 
bears a relation to the quantity of seed used in 
eowing- As regards paddy in ordinary cultivation, 1 
to 3 bushels are sown per acre. The quantity used 
always depends on the nature of tbs land, tho season 
and the variety of paddy. In rich and fertile lauds 
only a snssll quantity of seed paddy is used, the 
case it espeeitlly so if the season is favourable. On 
the other band when the laud is unfertile aud the 
season is nnfavonrable a larger quantity of grain is 
used for sowing. It has to bn borne in miiid that 
whatever tho quantity of seed bo, which is scattered 
over the land, only a certain proportion of plants do 
come up. An acre of paddy field can never under 
any circnmstances bold a number of plants over the 
number of grains of paddy from say a quarter 
bushel of seed. If an acre of laud is sown with 
one bushel or three bushels, the plants which survive 
cannot count over the number above mentioned. That 
would be the highest possible number, but in the 
majority of oases it is very much less. The test of the 
seed grain is simply wasted. 
Unless any sowing maohine or a teed drill be need 
and until the proper seleotion of seeds is earned ent, 
the necessity of sowing a larger quantity of grain 
than it actnally required must continue to exist. 
Out of the grain lurowu on a well prepared rich 
laud a great number oomes up, while when the laud 
is unfertile and the sf-ason is uofavonrable only a 
smaller number germiustoa. That is the reason why 
a large quantity of seed grain is soattered on inferior 
soils. The shove I believe is the cause of much mis- 
nnderstanding as regards the yield of pa Idy in different 
areas. When mentioned by folds, the quantity always 
depends on the amount of seed psddy used. So tho 
adoption of a yield per acre for catoulation purposes 
would bo much bettor, as Ibiugs stand just uow. 
But it is deplorable that there is such a waste of 
seod paddy, and it was I believe one for Mr. Green’s 
first plans ia the improvement ef rice coltivutiou 
to advocate the use of seed sparingly. Even as matters 
exist the quantity of seed gram could be very materially 
redeced, aud if selection of seed is practised, a 
greater saving could be made, bnt if seed drills and 
sowing machines are introduced the quantity would be 
still mere rsduoed, whilst Ilia trsnspla'itiug system 
wherever it could bo adopted would bring the waste 
to a minimum. 
Tho shove applies with tho same force to kiirrakkan 
aud other giaius. The finer the grains are there woii'd 
be a larger number of seed, measure for mensurv: for 
instance a measure of kiirrakkan vvould oontiin over 
15 limes the number of seed contained in a m' asure 
of • 6 months’ paddy,’ whilst a measure of smiill grained 
•2 months’ paddy.' would coutsiu nbout tw e - the 
number. Hence ouch ot these varieties would produce 
a varying number of plants iu spite ef the quantity 
being the same. The land has almost nothing to do 
with seeds, hut to support the plants. This explains 
why a much smaller quantity of fine grain is used 
in sowing a given extent of land, 
Yoiir oorrespondent " Native Cultivator " does not 
seem to favour dry or deep ploughing, and he naturally 
sticks to the much easier process of stirring up the 
mud when the land is thoroughly soaked. Some of his 
arguments against the sdoptiou of the improved sys- 
tem have been put forward more than once in your 
columns. I remember ihat some years ago alii ost 
tho same arguments were brought forward, 
and Prof. Wallace’s authority was cited iu 
support. But fo far as 1 am aware the Professor 
never wrote ot spoke a.'aiiist tho advisability of dry 
and deeper plonghing. It is raid that dry plongb- 
ing would throw up lumps of clay which it would be 
difficult to pulverize. Lumps of earth would bo turned 
up by the tbaio of au improved plougli no doubt on 
some lands, but if those lumps are not allowed to be 
baked iu the sun, there cannot be any ditUculty iu 
pu'.veriziog the same. In snob lands the clods should 
ho pulverized just after the ploughing end then 
exposed. 
The great drawback in our native system is that 
whilst it prepares a suitable seed-bed, it docs not 
expose the soil to the action of the suu and the at- 
mosphorio ngeuoies, which nctiuii alone could make a 
soil fertile. The weeds buried by the native plough 
might decay but they very seldom form a suitable 
manure ; on the other baud the action of the water 
makes them to decay and stagnate and generate 
ohjectionablo organic acids, whilst in the case of 
dry plonghing the weeds and rnbbish disintegrate aud 
form a manure without generatiug anything objec- 
tionnblo. Yonr cotrespondeut again says iu one place, 
“ that the native plough digs deeper thau tho im- 
proved plough.'’ It might in some imtaiioes, when tho 
land ia soaked, stir np the mud dueper. But aneb 
deep stirring is quite useless and aometimes obji’ction- 
able, when the land is not expose 1 to the act on of 
the suu. What the improved plougli rfoes, so for aa 
I have aeon, ia that it does not /hi) deep, bat exj/onfii 
a larger quantity of aoil, thereby incrcaaiug tho 
quantity of plant-food. 
Aa your covreapoudent montiona, tho villagers alao 
have a syatoiu of dry cultivation whicti they generally 
adopt whenever tliey fail to obtain the water necessary 
for soaking tlie fields. This ia known aa kehuian 
sowing. 
When lands are dry sown according to tho native 
ayatem they at first give voi-y goods ovopa, but iu 
some cases when tho drv svsU ui is continued, aa yonr 
corroapondent obaervea tlio laud yield poorer and poorer 
cropa. But in other instances, such as mentioned by 
Mr. Elliot they continue to yield good crops. Thi.a ia 
very easily explained; in the first place it should bo 
mentioned that in the native system of dry cultivation 
not more than two to tliree incliea of the soil ia stirred. 
At first the land yields a bumpor crop as the soil is 
exposed aud a largo quantity of plantfood ia liberated; 
when the cultivation ia continued if it be an average 
and the fertile constitueuts are gradually wasted, for 
theaamo material (the upper two inches) is used over 
and over again and hence tho poor cropa. If tho land 
is unusually rich in dormant plant conatitueuts the 
fertility ia maintained for a longer time. 
This is not tho caao where the improved plough ia 
uaed, it turns up more soil, four to six inches or 
more, and hence there is not only more feeding growth 
for the planta but a larger store of plant food to fall 
back upon; boaidca tho depth of ploughing could bo 
varied at diilercut seasons. 
Under any system, bo it tlie ordinary wet cultivation, 
dry cultivation or the improved ayatem, the land ia 
found to get poorer year by year niiless manure be 
added to it or niiloas it be fed by a silt-bearing 
Btroain. Bnt one thing is clear; that iathat a land 
worked according to tlie improved system would retain 
its fertility much longer than it would otherwise. 
In Uiis connection 1 may mention that tho paddy soils 
of Ceylon have never boon subjected to any sHrios of 
chemical analyses, and it would be iu the intereatof 
the improvement of paddy cultivation if a series of 
aaniplea of paddy soils be obtained from the dif- 
ferent districts aud subjected to a careful analysis. — 
Yours truly. 
w. A. 1 ). a. 
