channels; while with the two latter they are not cultivated until they have been well soaked. The two former methods are very similar, the only noteworthy difference between them apparently being that in the karédáku system an inch of water is let in directly the grain is sown and is drained off an hour later, while in the mettapadunu method the seed is sown after rain and the land allowed to get quite dry again before any water is let on to it. Similarly the mokkáku and dúkáku systems closely resemble one another except that with the former the seed is soaked and allowed to sprout before being sown. The cultivation of the seed-beds when dry is far more popular than the rival method, and the dúkáku system seems to be confined to Cocanada taluk and the mokkáku chiefly to Nagaram and Amalápuram.
The fields are first levelled with a crowbar (geddapára) or a pickaxe (guddali), various kinds of manure (chiefly the dung of sheep and cattle penned on the field, village sweepings, ashes, and oil-cake — green manuring is rare) are next applied, and then the field is irrigated and ploughed. On heavy soils (as near Rámachandrapuram) the ploughing is done after rain and before flooding, lest the plough-cattle should sink too deeply into the soil. Ploughing is always done at intervals, so that the soil gets thoroughly aerated, but as it does not begin until floods come down the river, the intervals are short. The parts of the fields near the ridges, which the plough cannot get at properly, are dug up with mamuttis. The field is levelled with a plank called the patti, drawn by hand or by bullocks. In Bhadráchalam a log of wood with iron teeth (búruda gorru) is used.
The seedlings are transplanted in July or August. The usual rule governing the irrigation of them is to give them a span's depth of water until the ears are formed and then to allow the field to dry up. The water is changed periodically in order to obtain a fresh supply of silt and to wash away alkaline matter. In Amalápuram, however, as much as a foot of water is let in after the first fortnight, while in the middle of September the field is drained and left dry for the fortnight known as the uttara kárti because it is believed that worms which eat the stalks are generated in the water during that period.
Weeding is done one or two months after transplantation. In Amalápuram taluk manures of various kinds, such as gingelly, cocoanut and castor cake and a kind of fish called chengudi royyi are powdered and thrown broadcast over the fields three weeks after transplantation.
