Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1890-09-19
THE FARMERS OF SIAM.
RAISING RICE AND PEPPER rs
THEIR PRINCIPAL OCCUPATION.
All the Land is Owned by the King
Flooded Farms-Methods of Ir-
Observation-Disclosures Implements.

All the Land is Owned by the King
Flooded Farms-Methods of IT.
rigation-Primitive Implements.
i Siam, says Frank s. Carpenter in the
american Agriculturist, is great wedge
at the lower end of the vast peninsula of
Indo-C China. 1t is bounded on the sides
and at the top by the French possessions
of Tonquin and the English principality
of Burmah. These two nations are cast
ing their covetous eyes upon it. 1t is a
land of some mountains and many val
leys. The mighty Menam River flows
from north to south through it. and the
valley of this is one of the richest agri-
cultural regions of the world. Forty
miles from its mouth lies Bangkok, a
town of about 700, 900 people, 600, 900
of whom live in floating houses fastened
to piles along the banks of the rivers.
These floating houses are found all along
the valley of the Menam, and they line
the rivers of the interior. During the
rainy season a vast part of the country is
flooded, and the farmers go from one part
of it to another in boats. Many farmers
live in floating-houses, and when their
estates lie along the banks of the river
they can float from one end of their little
plantations to the other by simply loos-
ing the bands which bind their houses to
the piles. The country has a system of
land laws, and though the King really
owns ever foot of it, and could confis-
cate estates if he would, the farmers have
a certain right of tenure to their lands,
and as long as they pay their taxes they
can buy and sell them and will them to
their children just as they do in other
countries. The taxes constitute the
Kings rents, and these are very high.
All land is taxed at ten per cent. of its
value. The crops are taxed, and in fact
everything that The farmers own must
pay high rate of taxation. The biggest
tax, however, is that of labor. The big
Farmer King has the right to call upon
every one of his tenants for three months
of hard labor during the year. He dele
gates this right to the governors of his
provinces and the heads of villages, and
the result is that often when the farmers
should be harvesting their own crops
they have to turn in and harvest those of
the King. The women, consequently,
have to do the greater part of the work,
and the men are little better than slaves.
This three months may be increased, as
the necessities of the King demand.
The siamese farmers, like those of all
other Eastern countries, huddle together
in little villages and they go out from
these to work their fields which surround
the towns. The fields are unfenced, and
cattle are herded all the year round. Cat
tie thieves and crop thieves are numer-
Gus, and it is only by eternal vigilance
that the farmers arc able to save their
crops. The principal Siamese crop is
rice, and rice constitutes the food of the
people. There is no better country in
the world for raising it than Siam. The
lowlands are easily irrigated and the
rainy season lasts from May until Octo-
Der. The climate is tropical and the
winters are like our summers. Every
thing grows almost spontaneously, and
two crops year are not uncommon. The
rice fields are laid off in lots of about
one-third of an acre, each surrounded by
an embankment of earth about foot and
half high for the purpose of holding
water when the land is prepared for
planting. The rice is first sprouted in
little patches, and when it is foot high
it is pulled up, tied into punches and
taken to these little fields, which are then
covered with about six inches of water.
1t is there transplanted, the men, women
and children bending over and thrusting
the stalks deep into the soft mud under
the water. A good workman can set
out about third of an acre day, and
the planting season is any time between
June and October. The harvest time
comes along about Christmas, and in
many parts of the country these rich
fields are artiicially irrigated.
The irrigation of Siam increases every
year, and it is chiefly the work of the
Chinese settlers. These Chinese have in
troduced their methods of irrigation, and
there are others which have been in use
from time immemorial. The ordinary
methods are much the same as those of
Eastern countries. Two women or girls
dip up water in basket, pitched within
and without to prevent its leaking. They
stand on the higher bank above the canal
and give the basket swing by four
strings which they have attached to it.
They pull these strings as it dips into the
water and lift from six to eight gallons
to the higher level where it runs off into
the fields. The system of having small
buckets around a great wheel, which is
turned by man or woman walking up
it like the dog on the churn, is also in
use and in some places the old-fashioned
well-sweep is used. Labor is very cheap.
Farm hands get from 81 to $1.50 week
and board themselves, and there is. a
great deal of debt labor.
The farming implements of Siam are
of the rudest description. The cultiva-
tion of the whole country is done with a
plow that an American farmer would not
use. 1t consists of crooked stick with
one handle, and it has a plowshare of
cast iron about as big as mans hand,