Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1890-12-20
THE LAZlEST AGRICULTURISTS
IN THE WORLD
The Irriwaldy Hle,ses Them as the
Nile Does Egypt-Ricc the Prin-
cipai Crop-Piowing With
Demonstrated Buffalo

mighty Irriwaddy River which flows
through it IS 1900 miles long. 1t is the
fourth largest river in the world, aud a
thousand miles inland il is still more
than mile wide, and it is navigablc all
TINS distance for large boats. It flows
from the mountains of Thibet, and car
rlcs with IL q great amount Of fertllZlng
material which is spread over the land
by irrigation, and which, when It comes
oQt into the sea, discolor3 the waters Of
the coast for miles. Sailing up the Irri-
watdy one passes vast rice and banana
fields. The wind whispers through the
palm trees, and all the birds of the
tropics enliven the green with their bril-
liant plumagc and ill the air with their
songs. Twenty nine miles from the sea
| Rangoon 10 reached, a city of 40, 900
people, and which General Grant said
was to be the Chicago Of the East. Five
hundred miles above this is the capital
| Of Upper Burmah, Mandclay, where King
Thcbaw lived, and from whence he was
driven by the English few years ago
The English have owned Lower 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 radical change in the
government, and the laws and the agri-
cultural condition Of the land will stead
lily improve Under Thcbaw there was
no security Of property or person. The
massacre of hundreds was by nc means
uncommon, and there was little incen-
tive to either industry or accumulation
I Rice is the chief product of the country,
and its cultivation is somewhat similar to
that in Siam. The Burmese pillow, how
ever, is different from that used by the
the Siamcse farmer. The Burman stands
on his plow instead of walking behind it,
and the implement is kind of rake with
three long teeth of acacia wood. This
Is fastened to a tongue or shafts, and
bow Of bent wood rises from the bar into
| which these teeth are set, and upon these
the barefooted farmer rides as he drives
his OK or buffalo through the mud The
blowing Is done in June when the floods
have made the whole land semi LIQUID
There is no lazier farmer in the world
than the Burnan, 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 mortar and then drag loo
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 pat in with a dibble
much the same as we plant tomato OF
cabbage plants. This work is done by
the women and children, and the farmer
himself squats on a little ledge that run:
around the field and smokes cigar as big
as an ear of pope and looks on
The Burmese soil is 50 rich that in the
swamp lands nothing is done after thi.
planting until the harvest, and then ths
Burman employs men from the hills t
cut his grain for him, anG he gives then
as their pay part of the crop. The rice
| IS thrashed by being trodden out by
bullocks, and is shipped of to Rangoon
for sale In many cases it is carried some
distance IL the Burmese farm wagon, anl
this is q fair type OF the lazziness of the
people. The Burmese farm wagon IS
cart. 1t usually consists Of two wheel.
made OF roughly rounded slabs of woot
and ftened to curbed floor which rises
at the front and the back like boat II
many cases the cart maker is so lazy tha
he starts with square wheels and trust
| to travel and time TO make them round
The wheels sre never creased, and th
farmer glories in the screech OF hi
wagon. These carts are drawn b.
bulocks, each of which has bell tiet
to his neck, and as they rattle over th
rough fields, or through the half -mad'
roads their noise serves to keep off tn
! tigers and other wild beasts. As TO road
IN the northern part of Burmah, the onl
pretense at making them is clearing ava
the Jungle SO that the cart can plow it
] way through.