Rice Cultivation. 297 
has to be met after the first crop, this second crop is 
seldom taken. Instead of that, the straw is cut off, and the 
roots hoed up and puddled with the feet, the operation 
costing about the same sum as the final levelling for the 
first crop. The ground is now ready for the reception of 
fresh plants which have been grown in the nursery in anti- 
cipation ; and the transplanting and following operations 
are the same as were those for the first crop. The 
monotony of these operations is never varied, and one 
crop succeeds another, as the years roll on. The return 
from an acre is about 20 bags of paddy from each crop ; 
while three crops can be grown comfortably in a year. As 
the rent for each crop w r ould therefore be eight dollars, 
this would still leave a profit of $13.36 a crop. 
These calculations are made on the assumption that 
the land is worked by hired labour, whereas it is usually 
done by the lessee in his spare time. A good man can 
thoroughly cultivate half an acre of rice in 100 days a 
year. The work is very congenial to East Indian immi- 
grants, and the regular supply of water is a great charm 
after their experience in this respect in India. For com- 
parison with what I have written about their constant 
supply of water, I will quote what H. B. PROCTOR writes 
in a pamphlet on rice, reprinted from The Miller, 1882, 
with reference to the crop in Burmah : — 
" Where so much depends upon rainfall it is no exaggeration to say 
" that an inch or so of water, more or less, determines whether the 
" receding flood shall leave a bright fertile plain full of promise, or a 
11 ruined waste of drowned and rotted crops. With a late and heavy 
11 monsoon, thousands of acres are sometimes submerged and the crops 
" ruined; should the floods, however, not be too late in the season, the 
11 ground is replanted a second time, and sometimes a third time, and 
11 the cultivator possibly saves his harvest. In 1876-7 the crops were 
11 ruined by floods over no less than 171,000 acres, entailing great suffer- 
11 ing on the people". • 
