ENG-1949 — Page 66

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suitable has already been brought into cultivation. main, gentle slopes of the valleys are intensively cultivated and the lower shoulders of the hills have also been terraced where water is available for irrigation. The terraces and On the irrigation channels may date back many years. higher slopes of mountains such as Tai Mo Shan, one may see remains of terraces for tea cultivation which has now been discontinued, probably owing to the high winds in summer and cold experienced during the winter months.

The Chinese farmer of the New Territories is primarily a rice producer and, generally speaking, any other crop grown is subsidiary to rice except in that area in Tsun Wan which is essentially a vegetable growing area. Practically all rent of farmland is paid in terms of rice which makes it an important crop to the farmer. Except for the lands irrigated with brackish water which yield but one crop, most of the paddy fields of the Territories produce two crops. a year, the water supply being the limiting factor. main area for salt water paddy is the district around Mai Po. The rice straw is short and the grains are small, narrow and of excellent quality. It is difficult to estimate the amount of milled rice produced annually but the figure of 20,000 short tons is considered about the annual production. This of course represents a very small proportion of the total annual consumption.

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Farmers save their own seeds from year to year both for the first and second sowing, as different varieties of seed are used for each crop. Annually they select their best paddy for seed and as a result from district to district, even from farm to farm, the varieties grown differ noticeably from one another. In July, and, again, in October and November, when farmers spread out their paddy to dry on the surface of the roads, the different colours and shades of the varieties can readily be noticed.

Fertilizers used for rice fields are groundnut cake mixed, perhaps, with ashes from burnt rice husks or from the hull, nightsoil and sulphate of ammonia.

On land unsuited to rice other crops may be grown, such as sugar cane and ground-nuts. Vegetables are grown extensively during the winter, particularly as the price of vegetables has been higher in recent years. A great deal of sweet potatoes is also grown during winter for pig food- an essential product of the New Territories. During the summer, vegetables are cultivated sparingly and Hong Kong has to rely to a large extent on imported vegetables during this season. Before the war, there was a certain amount of fruit grown including olives, but large numbers of trees were cut down during the Japanese occupation and have not been replanted. Guava trees are valuable as their

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