In December, or in January, the grain is ready for the sickle, and in general repays his cares and labour by the most abundant harvest. There is no culture more easy and simple; nor any which gives such positive good results in less time, as only four months pass between the times of sowing and reaping the rice crop. In some places the mode of reaping differs from the customs of others. At some places they merely cut the ears from off the stalks, which are allowed to remain on the fields to decay, and fertilize the soil as a manure; and in other provinces the straw is all reaped, and bound in the same way as wheat is at home, being then piled up in ricks and stacks to dry in the sun, after which the grain is separated by the treading of ponies, the horses of the country, upon it, or by other means, when the grain is again cleared of another outer husk, by being thrown into a mortar, generally formed out of the trunk of some large tree, where the men, women, and children of the farm are occupied in pounding it with a heavy wooden pestle, which removes the husk, but leaves the grain still covered by a delicate skin. When in this state it is known as pinagua; but after that is taken off, the rice is clean. For blowing away the chaff from the grain, they employ an implement worked by a handle and a wheel in a box, which is very similar to the old-fashioned fanners used in Scotland by the smaller farmers for the same purpose. In the neighbourhood of Manilla, there is a steam-mill for the purpose of cleaning rice; and there are several machines worked by horse-power throughout the country. But although there are many facilities for the employment of water-power for the same purpose, I am not acquainted with any mill moved on that principle. The qualities of rice produced in the different provinces, varies a good deal in quality. That of Ylocos is the heaviest, a cavan of it weighing about 140 lbs. English, while Camarines rice weighs only about 132 lbs., and some of the other provinces not over 126 lbs. per cavan. Although in all the provinces rice is grown to a considerable extent, yet those which produce it best, and in greatest abundance, and form what may be called granaries for the others, which are not so suitable for that cultivation, may be considered to be Ylocos, Pangasinan, Bulacan, Capiz, Camarines, and Antique.