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441 - - rice-field farming

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"Okay, let's make some rice, Vargas."

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"What's rice, chief?　I don't understand what you're getting at with your sudden appearance."

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"Rice is food. Just as you plant wheat in the field, you let the peasants grow rice and harvest it from the ears.

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"So it's a substitute for wheat. But why not grow them in Vulcania?　Why go to all this trouble to grow it in this swampy area?"

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"I think some types of rice can be grown on land, but the one we've got seems to be better for water cropping," he said. But it's difficult to do that unless there is an abundance of water. I thought it would be better to do it in the Nelson swamps in Vargas' territory, rather than in Vulcania."

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"Wow, that's unusual. Planting them in the water. ...... are you sure you're going to make it?"

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"...... I'm actually not sure. I've never grown rice."

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"Oh, come on, you can't be serious. Then wouldn't it be better to grow wheat instead of doing that?"

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"Well, I'm sure you'd be better off with wheat, which I'm used to. In agriculture, there are times of good harvests and times of bad harvests due to the natural environment. It is definitely better to be able to grow various kinds of crops. It's not a bad thing to experiment in case of emergencies.

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"Hmmm, is that how it's done?　Well, you never know until you try. But you have to know how to do it, even if it's rough."

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"That's all right in a way. In the East, there was a farmer among the guards in the village of Atmos who grew rice. I asked him about rice farming in detail and wrote it down on a piece of paper. Let's take a look at it."

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　Grow rice.

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　I decided to do so and came from Vulcania to the Valles territory where Vargas is located.

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　There is a place called the Nelson Marshes, where there is an abundance of water.

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　If I wanted to grow rice in the Kingdom of Fontana, this would be the best place to do it.

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　The Nelson Wetlands is also one of the least developed areas in the Arbalest region.

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　If we can develop this area, we can expand the area for human habitation, and it should be worth a try.

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　Besides, to produce rice, we need to build rice fields.

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　The waterways are managed so that the fields are flooded when rice is planted and drained when rice is not planted.

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　The creation of these rice paddies would probably also serve as a countermeasure against mud dolls.

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　The Nelson wetlands have been a problem for the past few years, as Vargas has been using his ice-flame sword to defeat the mud puppets, but they have continued to appear as long as the wetlands have existed.

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　We hope that if we can manage the wetlands as rice paddies, the incidence of mud dolls in the wetlands will be reduced.

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"For now, I think I'll just make rice paddies to grow rice. It takes time to actually grow rice. It might be a good idea to have some of the guys in Sula's place in the east learn rice farming skills."

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"What's a rice field, General?　Is it different from a field?"

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"Well, the rice field is going to be watered, so you need to raise it up a little bit around it, and you need to have a channel to feed the water out of it."

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"Hmmm . So you're going to raise up the area around the field and create an entrance for water to flow in from the outside. And then what?"

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Well, rice is grown separately in a nursery before sowing, and then the seedlings are planted in the watered rice paddies. The seedlings should have been planted evenly spaced so that they would not be crowded together.

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"Huh?　Why not just sow the seeds?　You don't have to plant every single seedling."

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"It must be hard, planting rice. Well, after that, we wait for the harvest, taking care not to let the rice fall over and get soaked in the water. Then, when the harvest time comes, the rice is harvested, dried, and milled for eating. That's it in a nutshell.

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"......That's a lot of work. I'm getting a little overwhelmed before I even get started."

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"I don't know if I'm allowed to say that, Mr. Vargas. This rice is good for eating, but it's also good for making sake. Sake made from rice is good too.

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"What, you can make sake? That's great. Okay, okay. I'll have those rice paddies built right away, boss.

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That's the spirit. Good luck, Vargas. Well, let's start by leveling the ground. Let those who can't use magic dig the canals and then we'll have to build a dam upstream. We're going to be busy.

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"All right, I'll help you as much as I can if I can get a drink. I'm looking forward to it.

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　Vargas has taken to the booze more than I expected.

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　But I have no idea when I'll be able to drink it.

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　I mean, I'm not even sure if we'll succeed in growing rice.

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　Should I check to see if there is koji or something?

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　Well, okay.

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　Let's just assume it won't happen right away and get on with it.

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　We need to have enough time to evaluate the results over a 10-year span.

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　And the rest is just that.

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　We should think about something like duck farming as a substitute for pesticides.

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　It would eat pests and other insects, and also agitate the water to make it easier for the rice to absorb nutrients.

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　Maybe I should ask Billy to do this.

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　Let's consider using a bird-like beast in a flooded rice field.

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　I think it would be quite easy to use, since the beast listens to what we say.

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　Thus, an experimental rice cultivation project was started in the Nelson wetlands as a means of flood control and agricultural land development.

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