Rice Cultivation, 295 
trenches are supplied with water from the Tapacooma 
lake, and the supply has never failed. The fields w T ere 
formerly in cane cultivation, but the land was not suit- 
able for it, as the canes used to suffer from the slightest 
drought. The preparation of the land for rice necessitated 
the filling up of the old drains, and the formation of lit- 
tle ridges or smouses, about 18 inches wide and 6 inches 
high, separating each man's lot from his neighbour's. 
This is done by agricultural forks and shovels, and costs 
about $15 an acre. When a plot has been roughly 
levelled, water is let on to it from the navigation trench, 
and the whole surface is then thoroughly levelled and 
puddled, at a further cost of $5 an acre. It is then allowed 
to remain covered with a few inches of water until all 
the grass and weeds are killed out. In some convenient 
corner, a patch of about 10 feet square is raised a few 
inches above the water level, and the ground is thoroughly 
pulverized ; and to give plants for an acre, this patch is 
thickly sewn with 6 gallons of paddy, costing 72 cents. 
In 4 weeks it gives a thick growth of young rice-plants 
about 12 inches high, having been carefully watered 
every day. The plants are then pulled up by the roots 
and tied into bundles. The seedlings from these bundles 
are stuck by hand into the mud in the levelled plots, two 
or three together, about 10 inches apart, with won- 
derful regularity, and they present the appearance of 
corn sewn with machines in other countries. It takes a 
man 16 days to plant an acre, and a day's pay for this 
work is 32 cents. After the transplanting, no further 
care is given beyond attending to the supply of water 
which should cover the ground an inch in depth, until 
the grain ripens. This happens about 3 months after 
p p 2 
