NOTES AND QUERIES
203
straw was used mostly as fuel, and in the repairs of the irrigation canal dykes. At second harvest the rice was cut as close to the ground as possible - the sweet potato harvest did not need this fertiliser, and, the ground being dry it would not rot quickly enough. Also straw was more valuable in the winter as it was needed to feed cattle, and to lay along the furrows where vegetable or sweet potato seeds had been planted to protect them from the birds. Just before and after the War the British army would come to Tai Wai in autumn to buy spare straw to feed army horses. Wai H.L. acted as broker and could make 30 cents on a load.
Calculating the harvest
Both at Tai Wai and Wong Chuk Yeung the quality of the harvest was calculated by counting the grains of rice in the heads. In Tai Wai a good harvest was where each head had 120-140 grains, in Wong Chuk Yeung 80-100 grains (120 was also known). In upland fields Tai Wai occasionally had harvests with only 8-10 grains a head. The density of growth was assumed constant - in Wong Chuk Yeung 80-100 grains presumed 2 piculs per tau, in Tai Wai 120-140 presumed 3-4 piculs etc. The estimates were regarded in both villages as reasonably accurate.
Irrigations
The Tai Wai fields were irrigated by means of lateral irrigation canals taking water from main streams. A dyke was built across a main stream (Shing Mun River or Tin Sam Nullah), damming up the waters behind it. These were then led into an irrigation canal running along the river bank, roughly parallel to it, but at a higher level. In order to lead the river waters into the irrigation canal the dyke was built aslant the river. With this method the irrigation canal could provide water efficiently to large areas of land. Where the river had raised its bed above surrounding land levels, a dyke across half the river was adequate. At the end of the irrigation canal it was best to build a fish pond into which any excess waters could be allowed to fall. Water would only flow back into the main river if the pond overflowed. In low water years the water in this pond could be lifted with the shui-ch'e (a hand-operated water wheel) and so the pond could be used as a reservoir, otherwise as a fish pond. Because of the risk of flooding the fields in very heavy rain times the main irrigation canal required sluices to close the flow and force the flow back into the main river above the fields. Tai Wai had 3 such systems. The Tin Sam valley had a similar system; from a dyke at Hin Tin water was led between Tin Sam and Keng Hau to a pond opposite the Che
NOTES AND QUERIES
203
straw was used mostly as fuel, and in the repairs of the irrigation canal dykes. At second harvest the rice was cut as close to the ground as poss- ible - the sweet potato harvest did not need this fertiliser, and, the ground being dry it would not rot quickly enough. Also straw was more valuable in the winter as it was needed to feed cattle, and to lay along the fur- rows awhere vegetable or sweet potato seeds had been plated to protect them from the birds. Just before and after the War the British army would come to Tai Wai in autumn to buy spare straw to feed army horses. Wai H.L. acted as broker and could make 30 cents on a load.
Calculating the harvest
Both at Tai Wai and Wong Chuk Yeung the quality of the harvest was calculated by counting the grains of rice in the heads. In Tai Wai a good harvest was where each head had 120-140 grains, in Wong Chuk Yeung 80-100 grains (120 was also known). In upland fields Tai Wai occasionally had harvests with only 8-10 grains a head. The density of growth was assumed constant - in Wong Chuk Yeung 80-100 grains pre- sumed 2 piculs per tau, in Tai Wai 120-140 presumed 3-4 piculs etc. The estimates were regarded in both villages as reasonably accurate.
Irrigations
The Tai Wai fields were irrigated by means of lateral irrigation canals taking water from main streams. A dyke was built across a main stream (Shing Mun River or Tin Sam Nullah), damming up the waters behind it. These were then led into an irrigation canal running along the river bank, roughly paralled to it, but at a higher level. In order to lead the river waters into the irrigation canal the dyke was built aslant the river. With this method the irrigation canal could provide water efficiently to large areas of land. Where the river had raised its bed above surround- ing land levels, a dyke across half the river was adequate. At the end of the irrigation canal it was best to build a fish pond into which any excess waters could be allowed to fall. Water would only flow back into the main river if the pond overflowed. In low water years the water in this pond could be lifted with the shui-ch'e (a hand-operated water wheel) and so the pond could be used as a reservoir, otherwise as a fish pond. Because of the risk of flooding the fields in very heavy rain times the main irrigation canal required sluices to close the flow and force the flow back into the main river above the fields. Tai Wai had 3 such systems. The Tin Sam valley had a similar system; from a dyke at Hin Tin water was led between Tin Sam and Keng Hau to a pond opposite the Che
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