296 TlMEHRI. 
transplanting. When there were only a few acres in 
rice on Anna Regina, some one had to attend to each 
patch all day to keep off the birds while the grain was 
ripening ; but since the cultivation has been extended, 
this has become unnecessary, as the birds do not 
seem to have increased in numbers — at all events, 
in no proportion to the cultivation. When the rice is 
ripe, the ears are picked with the top of the stalk, the 
straw being left standing. The cost of this operation is 
$2.40 an acre. The yield of the first crop is more 
uncertain than the following ones, but the average may 
be safely put down at 20 bags of paddy, each weighing 
100 lbs. The grain is threshed out on a piece of levelled 
ground covered with hard mud, and it is separated from 
the husk by dropping it slowly from a height of 3 or 4 
feet in a light breeze. This costs 4 cents a bag of paddy. 
Up to this time no rent is paid for the land, and the cost 
of the first levelling is capital which can always be 
recovered by the first occupant of a bed from the next 
one, so I take neither of these items into account in 
estimating the profit of the first crop. 
The value of 20 bags of paddy is ... $ 38 40 
The cost of procuring them, 
Final levelling and puddling ... ... $ 5 00 
Plants ... ... ... ... o 72 
Transplanting ... 
5 12 
Attending to water supply, &c. 
3 00 
Reaping 20 bags at 12 c. 
2 40 
Threshing & winnowing 
80 
1 
$ 17 04 
Shewing a profit, on 3 months' work, of ... $ 21 36 
Sometimes the straw is cut down close to the ground, 
and a second crop allowed to come up from the old 
roots, but it gives a poor yield ; and as a heavy rent 
