NOTES AND QUERIES
169
plant. In Hong Kong four general groups are recognised comprising about thirteen different varieties, all of which but one, the upland rice, need to grow in standing water.
The first crop of kuk ripens in mid-summer during the typhoon season of blue skies and huge white mountains of cumulus cloud. Sudden and devastating rain storms and periods of low pressure at this time may ruin a crop not yet ripe. Rice is a particularly difficult grain to grow as right up to the last few days before harvesting there is no hard grain in the heads but only a milky white fluid, which, unless it has a few days of very strong sunshine, will not harden into grain. Typhoon winds at this period can completely ruin a crop by flattening the standing grain into the padi water. However, assuming that all is well, the first crop is harvested from the water in which it grows.
Being harvested from wet fields the grain from this first crop is unsuitable for keeping in store for lengthy periods as it tends to mildew. This crop therefore sells at a lower value than the second crop, which is harvested in the Autumn.
As the water in the fields is no longer required after the second crop the fields are drained off, the rice left standing in the drying fields, ripens and turns into a grain that will keep in store for years if necessary. This crop fetches a higher price than the first crop.
By tying his rent return to kuk instead of to a fixed cash rent the landowner ensures that his return is commensurate with the local market price at the time of harvesting. Should bad weather make a poor harvest local prices for kuk rise in sympathy with shortages. If a glut of rice ensues then prices will fall in sympathy with the economy.
Rentals
Yield should be an important factor when considering tenant rentals, but figures based on statistics collected for use at arbitration board hearings, indicate a pattern which is against yield as a factor in deciding rents in some localities. As a corollary to a technical soil survey of arable lands carried out by Dr. C. J. Grant of the University of Hong Kong, the author made enquiries and collected statistics of prices paid by tenant farmers in those areas mentioned under the heading "Soil Associations".
NOTES AND QUERIES
169
plant. In Hong Kong four general groups are recognised com- prising about thirteen different varieties, all of which but one, the upland rice, need to grow in standing water.
The first crop of kuk ripens in mid-summer during the typhoon season of blue skies and huge white mountains of cumulus cloud. Sudden and devastating rain storms and periods of low pressure at this time may ruin a crop not yet ripe. Rice is a particularly difficult grain to grow as right up to the last few days before harvesting there is no hard grain in the heads but only a milky white fluid, which, unless it has a few days of very strong sun- shine, will not harden into grain. Typhoon winds at this period can completely ruin a crop by flattening the standing grain into the padi water. However, assuming that all is well, the first crop is harvested from the water in which it grows.
Being harvested from wet fields the grain from this first crop is unsuitable for keeping in store for lengthy periods as it tends to mildew. This crop therefore sells at a lower value than the second crop, which is harvested in the Autumn.
As the water in the fields is no longer required after the second crop the fields are drained off, the rice left standing in the drying fields, ripens and turns into a grain that will keep in store for years if necessary. This crop fetches a higher price than the first crop.
By tying his rent return to kuk instead of to a fixed cash rent the landowner ensures that his return is commensurate with the local market price at the time of harvesting. Should bad weather make a poor harvest local prices for kuk rise in sympathy with shortages. If a glut of rice ensues then prices will fall in sympathy with the economy.
Rentals
Yield should be an important factor when considering tenant rentals, but figures based on statistics collected for use at arbitra- tion board hearings, indicate a pattern which is against yield as a factor in deciding rents in some localities. As a corollary to a technical soil survey of arable lands carried out by Dr. C. J. Grant of the University of Hong Kong, the author made enquiries and collected statistics of prices paid by tenant farmers in those areas mentioned under the heading "Soil Associations".
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