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In summer the farmer turns up the soil with a plough. This is called ploughing. Ploughing helps to loosen the soil. A plough may be made of wood or iron. Nowadays some farmers use a tractor to plough their fields. |
Harrowing is over by the end of May. In June, it begins to rain. After a few showers, the farmer sows seed.
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In regions where it rains heavily, farmers catch the water in small plots which then become muddy. Paddy seedlings previously grown in nursery-beds are then planted in these plots. |
| Grass and weeds grow along with the crop. The farmer removes the grass and the weeds with a hoe. Weeding helps crops to grow sturdily. |  |
Crops do not need rain all the time. They need a break in the weather from time to time. Crops thrive if the sun comes out bright and strong in between showers. The stalks soon grow tall and sway in the breeze. This makes the farmer vary happy. About this stage in the growth of crops, birds flock in to eat the soft grain. He also builds a platform or machan high enough to enable him to view the whole of his field. Standing up on this platform, the farmer slings clouds in every direction. He makes a noise by beating a tin. All this scares birds away. To keep their crop from insects, farmers spray insecticides on the crops. Thus the farmer protects his crops.
When crops are fully grown, they ripen and begin to turn yellow. The grain in the ears becomes full and hard. Then the crops are ready to be harvested. Then they are cut and gathered.
After harvesting, the grain is separated from the ear. The spot on which the threshing is carried out called threshing floor. A small patch of land is levelled and beaten hard. Then it is plastered with cow-dung. A pole is driven firmly at the centre of the threshing floor. This is locally called as medha. The ears of grain are evenly spread all round the pole. A pair of bullocks is tied to the pole and made to walk round and round on the ears. In this process the grain is separated from the ears. The bullocks are muzzled so that they may not eat the ears or the grain. Nowadays a threshing machine is also used for the purpose.
In areas where paddy is cultivated, the stalks are spread out to dry after harvesting. When dry, they are tied up in sheaves which are then tied up in bundles. The bundles are carried to the threshing floor, and stocked. Then the stalks are beaten against a plank of wood. This separates the grain. This is how rice is threshed.
The grain thus threshed is full of chaff and rubbish. to separates these from the grain, the farmer stands on a three-legged stool when a strong breeze is blowing and lets the mixture of husk and grain trickle out of the basket. The wind blows off the husk and rubbish, while the heavy, clean grain falls at the base of the stool. Nowadays, this is done with machines too. The farmer fills up sacks with the clean grain and carries it homes.
Some information about the activities in which the farmer engages himself, so that he should have a good crop. Let us gather some details about the seasons in which particular crops grow. Some crops need hot and humid climate fort their growth, while some others thrive in cold and dry climate. This means that particular crops thrive in particular seasons.
Some crops are sown at the beginning of the rainy season and harvested after its ends. Jowar, bajra, rice, wheat, moong, ground nut, cotton are kharif crops.
Some crops are sown in winter and harvested at the beginning of summer. Wheat, gram, jowar, are rabi crops.
Some crops thrive on rain alone. Crops which thrive on rain alone are called rain-fed or jirayati crops.
Sugarcane, banana, grapes, oranges, vegetables are some of the irrigated crops. They are also known as bagayati crops. The farmer works hard to grow grain and vegetables with which he supplies us.
