NOTES FROM A RICE PADDY

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We have some cows and calves, plus chickens and ducks, a productive apiary, a fine garden, a developing orchard, and a lovely creek. Some of the numerous wild animals share our produce, but they, in turn, are kept in check or at bay by our dogs and cats and by various ad hoc strategies. There is plenty of work, but we get some important help from a friendly neighbor. We take much pleasure in our animals and get much satisfaction from farm life. And we are learning.

For example, after tree seasons of experimentation, I have developed a system (A rice cultivation that produces a good yield with very little labor and no commercial fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides. My paddy is a 734-square-foot oblong plot in which water normally stands after heavy rains, making it unsuitable for common garden crops. The topsoil is a dark loam, underlain by a slightly pervious clay. An irrigation system provides water from Finn Creek, made perennial by an upstream water-retention and flood-control project built in 1965 by the Soil Conservation Service.

In late winter or early spring I spread about 200 pounds of old cow manure on the paddy and plow it into the soil with the residue from the previous rice crop. For uniform distribution of water to the new crop, I level the paddy with a rake, boards, and a level indicator. Planting sprouts instead of ungerminated seed gives the rice a start over ungerminated weed seeds. So I place wet rough rice from the previous crop in a covered can on top of a hot-water heater. The seed sprouts very rapidly and is ready to plant in a few days. About two pounds of seed corresponds to the usual planting rate of a little more than one hundred pounds per acre. I use a rototiller just before planting ... this eliminates started weeds and provides an appropriate seedbed. The slightly sprouted rice is broadcast carefully by hand, raked gently to hide it from birds, and then watered to provide a shallow cover. Planting time in central Oklahoma is from May 1 to May 10.

I have heard that the planting of germinated seed is practiced in the Philippines, but the traditional Oriental method of rice growing involves cultivating the seedlings in separate beds and then transplanting them. With the transplanting method, two or sometimes three crops a year can be grown in the same rice paddy if the climate is suitably warm. Transplanting established plants gives the rice a strong advantage over weeds, which then grow only poorly in the shade of the larger rice plants.

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