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 (pali-id), [189] 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. [190] 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. [191]

Within a few days after the plowing, the soil is further broken by dragging it with a harrow, made by driving wooden pegs into a heavy board, or into large bamboo tubes (Fig. 15, No. 4).  A worker stands on this, and is dragged about the field, leveling it, and at the same time pulling out sticks, roots, and any other matter of sufficient bulk to interfere with the planting.

Two types of sleds (Fig. 15, Nos. 5-6) are used in connection with the rice culture, as well as in general transportation.  The first consists of rude wooden runners on which a bamboo flooring is laid.  The second has narrow runners, which are hewn with considerable care, while sides of flattened bamboo convert the sled into an open box.  The first type (pasagad) is used principally during the wet season for the transportation of plows, harrows, and the like, the wide runners slipping through the mud without becoming mired.  The use of the latter (kalison) is restricted to the dry-season, when it is of particular advantage in moving the rice.  Wheeled vehicles are not employed in any part of the Tinguian belt, although their use is now fairly common among the Ilocano.

It requires a month or six weeks to make ready the fields, and in the meantime the rice in the seed beds has grown to a height of twelve or fourteen inches.  The shoots are then pulled up by the roots, are tied into bundles, and the tops are cut off (Plate LI).  The bundles are distributed about the fields at convenient distances, and the workers then transplant the young rice—­three or four together—­in the soft ooze, using the thumb and fore-finger of the right hand for that purpose (Plate LII).  The preparation of the field is looked after by the men and boys, and oftentimes they aid in transplanting, but the latter is considered to be women’s work, and is generally left to them.

The rice is set so thickly that when a plot is planted it presents to the eye a solid mass of green.  It is hard to imagine a more beautiful sight than to look down on these fields, which rise in wave above wave of brilliant green, until at last they give way to the yellower billows of cogon grass which cover the mountain slopes.