CHAPTER XIV
FIELDS AND GARDENS
Rice. Rice, the ordinary food of all classes, is the chief staple of cultivation. Grown in every district, it absorbs the energies of farmers and peasants in the flat region of
Fig. 57. Irrigation with water scoop.
Lower Burma, converting it into what has been graphically described as "a howling paddy plain." The main crop is sown in nurseries (pyogin) at the beginning of the rains; later, the young shoots are taken up and carefully planted, one by one, at suitable intervals, in the sodden fields which have been ploughed with the aid of buffaloes and bullocks. But often rice is sown broadcast. Each field is separated from its neighbours by a low mound (kazin). Harvest comes at the beginning of the cold weather. Of many varieties of
