Methods of Rice-cultivation.
There are over twenty different kinds of rice-paddy grown in the Philippines. These constitute two groups,—the highland rice, grown in localities where inundation cannot be used, and the lowland, with which inundation is easy. The latter, known as Macan, is of much the finer quality, the most esteemed variety being that of white grain. Paga, or highland rice, is in large proportion of red grain. Its return is but half that of the Macan rice, but only one crop of the latter can be grown annually, while usually three crops of Paga rice are raised. One difficulty in Paga rice-cultivation is the presence of a fly that sucks the flower and prevents seeding. These the planters whisk off morning and evening with a bunch of straw, tied to the end of a stick.
Native Women Hulling Rice.
The Macan grain is sown in June, in a plot set aside for seeding, and saturated with water until it is a mass of mud. Here in six weeks the plants grow to the height of a foot. They are then pulled up by the roots and transplanted in the flooded fields, in which the final growth is to be attained. Around these fields banks of earth are raised to prevent the water from flowing off. The men raise and separate the plants, and the women set them out again, one plant at a time, wading through the soft mud, in which they often sink to the knees. The process seems a tedious one, but I have often been surprised to see the rapidity with which the natives perform it. It is a process in which they are thoroughly trained, and at which they are remarkably quick.
Four months more are needed for the ripening of the grain, during which the fields are kept clear of weeds, the natives wading back and forth through the mud in their task. After cutting and heaping, the paddy is made into stacks. In six weeks more the grain is separated from the straw by treading or by the use of the flail, or by causing ponies to trot over it. It may be said that there is nothing in nature more beautiful than a valley of green ripening rice in the midst of verdant hills. In the flood of rich color beneath my eyes, I have gazed upon such a scene with inexpressible delight.