OF THE RICE AFTER IT HAS BEEN TRANSPLANTED
“8. Ten days after the young rice has been transplanted it recovers its fresh green
colour; in thirty days the young shoots come out; in the second month it
increases more and more, and in the third it becomes even all over. After three
months and a half its growth is stayed, and in the fourth month it is styled
bunting kĕchil.
“At that stage the stalk has only five joints, and from that period it must be
fumigated daily till the grain appears.
“About the time when the stalk has six joints it is called bunting bĕsar; in forty
days more the grain is visible here and there, and twenty days later it spreads
everywhere. At this time all the water in the field must be drawn off so that the
grain may ripen quickly. After five or six days it ripens in patches, and a few
days later the rice is altogether ripe.
“From the time of transplanting to the time when it is ripe is reckoned six
months, not counting the days spent in ploughing and in growing it in the
nursery, which may be a month or two, or even (if there are many plots) as much
as three months to the end of the ploughing.