Abstract

In Malabar for autumn rice, occupying about three lakh acres in double-crop lands, broadcast sowing is the rule in more than 75 per cent of the area. Preparation of the land begins immediately after the harvest of second-crop paddy in January and repeated ploughings are given with the receipt of every summer shower thereafter. The soil is thus brought into a fine tilth before the seeds are sown in April-May, following a soaking rain. This practice precludes raising of a green manure crop on the lands. Other bulky organic manures are also not applied usually, for fear of wash of the added manurial ingredients in the torrential rains of the South-West monsoon. The good tilth that is produced by bringing the soil into a fine state of division by a scrupulous attention to preparatory cultivation, brings in a normal yield, provided the distribution of pre-monsoon showers remains normal. Increased yields are also obtained by top dressing with ammonium sulphate; this practice having come into vogue in recent times.

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