ENG-1948 — Page 67

the water supply being the limiting factor. The straw is short, and the grains are small and narrow, and of an excellent quality. It is estimated that some 20,000 short tons of milled rice are pro- duced annually, but this quantity is sufficient to supply the Colony's needs for only a little over a month.

The farmers save their own seeds from year to year both for the first and second sowings, for different kinds of seeds are used for each sowing. Annually they select their best paddy for seed, and a consequence of this selection is that from district to district, even from farm to farm, the varieties grown differ noticeably from one another. In July and again in October-November when the farmers spread out their paddy to dry on the smooth tarred sur- face of the roads, the different colours and shapes of the varieties can be noticed even from a passing car.

Fertilisers used in the rice field are groundnut cake mixed perhaps with ashes from burnt rice-husk or from the home, nightsoil and sulphate of ammonia. Groundnut cake, the residue from the groundnut after the oil has been expressed, is rich in pro- teins which gradually decompose when the cake is soaked in water, yielding nitrogen, phosphorus and sulphur; but it is also a valuable source of vitamins of the B Complex which have an effect, at present largely unexplained, on the vigour of growth of roots. There is much to be said, therefore, for the traditional use of this valuable fertiliser. But the last word has not been said. The main reason why the remarkably infertile soil of the New Terri- tories produces such excellent crops of rice is that with the first heavy rains of summer thousands of tons of worm-casts which have accumulated on the mountain slopes since the end of the pre- vious rainy seasons are washed down to the rice fields. Consider- able areas of land are almost completely covered with these worm- casts which are often inches high. In this manner very fine silt, enriched with salts of potassium and nitrogen, is deposited annually in the rice fields. Another factor which affects the fertility of these fields is the annual period of winter fallow which is the nor- mal practice, but this practice is being upset by the needs of the city for vegetables.

On land unsuited to rice, other crops may be grown including sugar cane and groundnuts. Vegetables are also cultivated sparing- ly in the summer for the needs of the pigs and of the family, but more plentifully in winter. Fruit trees are grown, not so much by the farmer, as by the more wealthy landlord or returned emi- grant. These include lichee, lungan, wong pei, carambola, Chin- ese olive, guava, loquat and citrus fruits such as oranges, lemons and pomelos. The lichees are of excellent quality but lichee and lungan timber is valuable, being used in junk building, and many

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