1 May, 1902.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 383 
Particulars for Both. 
“Raised from seedlings; requiring water at its roots from time of trans- 
planting to time of flowering ; period of growth, about six months.” 
From Rangoon, Burmah, the following information has been received :— 
“TI have the honour to forward you eleven packets of paddy seed from the 
Hanthawaddy, Prome, and Mandalay districts.” 
Particulars of Rice Seed. 
The seed from Hanthawaddy and Prome, where the rainfall averages 100 
inches and 50 inches respectively, is not irrigated, as a sufficient water supply 
is obtained from the rainfall. The seed is sown in July ina nursery, which in 
this country (Burmah) is neither manured nor irrigated, and the paddy (rice 
plants) is transplanted in August, when the plants are 14 to 2 feet high. The 
plants are planted out about 10 inches to 1 foot apart in a clay soil. The crop 
ripens in December. 
The seed marked ‘‘ Ngaseingyi,” and also the seed marked “Toungdeik- 
pan,” is from Mandalay, aes the rainfall is about 30 inches; this is sown in 
irrigated nurseries, manured every two or three years. About the middle or 
third week of August, it is transplanted, when the plants are about 18 inches 
high, into a clay soil. A distance of 9 inches is preserved between the plants, 
and the crop is reaped in the middle of December. 
The seed marked “Lé” comes from the Maymyo district (about 4,000 
feet above sea-level) ; this is sown in May or June, transplanted in July, when 
the plants are 1 foot high, and the plants are planted 6 inches apart. The crop 
isirrigated. The rainfall is about 60 inches. 
The seed marked “Ta,” which comes from the same neighbourhood as the 
variety marked “‘Lé,” is sown in cleared spaces of jungle (the scrub lands of 
Queensland being somewhat similar), the vegetation of which is burnt off in 
April and planted in May or June, and reaped in November. It is not 
irrigated. It is generally planted on hill slopes. The cultivation is of a 
temporary nature, the seed being of an inferior kind. 
The system of irrigation is by dividing the patches, or areas, of cultivation 
into sections of about 30 feet in width, with ridged sides banked up to keep 
the water in. 
A sample of seed received from A. Sanzier, Esq., British Consul, Tamatave, 
Madagascar, of the upland variety, and good large grain, was accompanied with 
a description of the primitive methods employed by the natives in cultivating 
this cereal in that dependency, as follows :—Mr. Sanzier says: “There are two 
kinds of rice cultivated here—the upland and swamp varieties. The methods 
employed and the implements used are of the most primitive and simple kind. 
The rice is generally planted about the end of October or in the first days of 
November, when the wet season sets in. 
“The natives first clear the ground of all weeds and bushes, which soon 
dry up in the scorching sun, and are burnt off. They then, with a long pole of 
hardwood, sharpened at one end, make holes in the ground, about 6 inches apart, 
in which two or three grains of rice are dropped, which, as they move on, are 
coyered by their feet with a slight quantity of earth. 
Another method is to drive a herd of oxen into the drained swamp land 
they intend to cultivate, leaving them there until they have trampled down the 
weeds, and have turned over the soft mud or ooze. 
The marsh (or swamp) is then quickly planted broadcast with the rice 
seeds, which, with the first rains, begin to shoot up. This ground is always 
kept moist, either by the rain or by small streams of water, which the natives 
direct into it. The crop (upland) ripens in from four to five months, being all 
harvested by the end of May. 
You will thus see that the methods employed are very rudimentary, but 
still excellent results are obtained as regards the crop. The sample of seed to 
hand is similar to Japan seed in shape of grain and colour. 
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