Note 3 — Economic Life
Reading edition
When the seed beds have been planted, the people go to the fields, repair the embankments, and admit the water. The straw remaining from the previous crop is allowed to rot, for a time, and then the ground is gone over with a bamboo harrow (palī-id),3 as shown in Fig. 15, No. 3, to remove weeds, branches, and the like. Wherever it is possible, the soil is broken with a plow, alado (Plate L), but in fields to which animals cannot be taken, the ground is turned by means of sharpened sticks, or poles tipped with iron, which are driven into the soil and forced forward, thus pushing the earth above them into the water.4 As will be seen from the accompanying drawing (Fig. 15, Nos. 2–2a), the plow is constructed entirely of wood except for the iron share, and conforms closely to that used in Java, Celebes, Sumatra, Burma, and Annam.5