Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1890-12-05
BURMAH FARMING.
CHE LAZitSE AGRICULTURIsTs
IN THE WORLD.
The 1rriwaddy Blesses Them as the
Nile Does Egypt-Rice the Prin-
eipaI Crop-PlOwing With
DUUiedicated BaIalO.

Siam along the bay OF b"s18alf anu tne
mighty Irriwaddy River which flows
through it Is 1900 miles long. 1t is the
fourth largest rfsef in thc world, aud a
thousand miles inland il IS still more
than a mile wide, and it is navigaD!G all
this distance for large boats. 1t flows
from the mountains Of Thibet, and car
rjes with it a great amount Of fertilizing
material which is spread oyer the land
by irrigailcri, and which, when Il comes
out into the sea. discolors the waters OF
the coast for miles. Sailing az the Irri-
waddy one passes vast rice and banana
fields. The wind whispers through the
palm trees, and all tie birds Of the
tropics enliven the green with their bril-
liant plumage and fill the air with their
songs. Twenty-niue miles from the sea
Rargoon is reached, city Of l4O, 900
people and which General Grant said
was to be the Chicago Of the East. Five
hundred miles above this ia 'he capital
of Upper Burmah, Mandelay, where King
Thebaw lived, and from whence he was
driven by the English few years ago.
The English have owned Lover Burmah
since 1852. They now control the whole
country, and it takes from thirty to sixty
thousand dollars to keep it in order
They are making a radical change in the
government. and the laws and the agri-
cultural condition OF the land will stead
lily improve. Under Thebaw there was
no security of property or person. The
massacre Of hundreds was by no means
uncommon, and there was little incen-
tive to either industry or accumulation.
Rice is the chief product Of the country,
and its cultivation is somewhat similar to
that in Siam. The Burmese plow, how
ever. is different from that used by the
the Siamese farmer The Burman stands
on his plow instead of walking behind it,
and the implement is a kind Of rake with
three long teeth Of acacia wood. This
is fastened to tongue or shafts, and a
bow Of bent wood rises from the bar into
which these teeth are set, and upon these
the barefoo.cd farmer rides as he drives
his OK or buffalo through the mud. The
plowing is done in June when the floods
have made the whole land semi-liquid.
There is no lazier farmer in the world
than the Burman, and some of the far
mers instead Of blowing their fields have
their children drive cattle back and forth
over them until they have trodden the
mud into a mortar and then drag a log
over the whole to smooth it down. Few
Of the farmers have large holdings, and
the average is about fifteen acres. The
rice is sprOuted in nurseries, and when
the ground has become about half dried
the rice plants are put in with a dib5le
much the same as we plant tomato or
cabbage plants. This work is done by
the women and children, and the farmer
himself s9uats on little ledge that runs
around the field and smokes cigar as big
as an ear Of popcorn, and looks on.
The Burmese SOL is 50 rich that in the
swamp lands nothing is done after this
planting until the harvest, and then the
Burman employs men from the hills to
cut his grain for him, and he gives them
as their pay part of the crop. The rice
is thrashed by being trodden out By
bullocks, and is shipped off to Rangoon
for sale. In many cases it is carried some
distance in the Burmese farm wagon, and
this is a fair type of the lazziness OF the
people. The Burmese farm wagon is "a
cart. 1t usually consists of two wheels
made of roughly-rounded slabs of wood
and fastened to curbed floor which rises
at the front and the back like boat. In
many cases the cart maker is so lazy that
he starts with square wheels and trusts
to travel and time to make them round.
The wheels are never creased, and the
farmer glories in the screech Of his
wagon. These carts are drawn by
bullocks, each of which has bell tied
to his neck, aud as they rattle over the
rough fields, or through the half-made
roads their noise serves to keep off the
tigers and other Wild beasts. As to roads
in the northern part of Burmah, the only
pretense at making them is clearing away
the Jungle so that the cart can plow its
way through.
The Burmese are loaded down with
mortgages, and there is a distinct money
lending class known as Killing Chettys,
who come from Madras in Southern
India, and who make business Of lend
ing money at usurious rates. These
Kings wear the cheapest clothing. A
whols suic for a man or woman would
not cosc twenty-five cents, and a good
white sheet would make the clothes of a
whcie family Lean black men half
NAKED, they have their heads shaved,
wear nothing more than white cotton
cloth about the loins and live on next to
nothing. Still they are worth fortunes.
They control the farmers OF Burmah and
mortgage the rice crops before they are
grown. One street OF Rangoon is lined
With their banks, and / saw Burmese