Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Achehnese - tr. Arthur Warren Swete O'Sullivan (1906).djvu/297

 The following reasons are given for the more general popularity of this method. The crop being entirely dependent on the rain, there



would be the danger of the seedlings in the nursery dying just as they were ready to be planted out, if the rain delayed too long. The continued absence of rain is less fatal to seedlings which do not require transplantation. It is further said that the padi in the tabu fields thrives as a rule much better than that which is first sown in the nursery even under favourable circumstances. In regard to this however we must not forget that where the Achehnese employ the nursery system, they plough the fields in a much more slovenly manner than they do in the case of the tabu lands.

Under the tabu system more seed is required than in the nursery process; the proportion is according to the Achehnese 16–20: 12.

Tabu literally means to 'strew', "scatter abroad," and refers to the sowing of the crop, which takes place immediately after the ploughing.