Item number: X52

Year: AD 1945-present-day (2026)

Material: Brass

Size: 99 x 32 x 23.4 mm

Weight: 30.6 g

Provenance: Private Collector, Taiwan, 2026

This is a rice transplanter tube, a type of agricultural implement. It is also known as a yang-inserting tube or paddy-planting tube. In Taiwanese Hokkien, it is called pò͘ chhân-kóng (播田管), and in Hakka it is known as shi+ tien gong (蒔田管) or shi+ tien gong (蒔田笐). Historically, such implements were made of bamboo and wood; in the modern period, they came to be made instead of metal, which is less prone to decay.

The outer body of the transplanter is chiefly formed from a sheet of copper bent into a tubular shape. One end of the copper tube is relatively pointed and sharpened, while the other end is slightly expanded into a rounded curve resembling a sphere. On the inner side, another copper sheet appears to have been soldered in place; near the pointed end, this inner sheet is folded upwards so as to block the tube, though a narrow gap is still left.

Once the rice seedlings have grown to a height of approximately 9 cm, farmers transplant them from the carefully prepared seedling bed into the more spacious paddy field. This stage is known as ‘raising and transplanting seedlings’, abbreviated simply as ‘rice transplanting’. By contrast, the more extensive method of direct seeding does not involve this step. Before transplanting, farmers first mark out the field with such tools as transplanting ropes, transplanting wheels, and seedling markers, so as to ensure that each seedling has sufficient space for planting. During transplanting, the farmer takes from the seedling tray or seedling boat a clump of seedlings about the size of the palm, supports it in the non-dominant hand, and then, using the transplanter worn on the thumb of the dominant hand, cuts off three to five seedlings from the clump. Thereafter, using the sharpened pointed end of the transplanter, the seedlings are inserted together into the field mud to a depth of about half a thumb-joint. The transplanter enables the farmer’s fingers to divide the seedling clump more easily, to penetrate the mud with less effort, and at the same time to avoid abrasion and injury to the fingers. Following the mechanisation of rural agriculture, the function of the transplanter was largely replaced by the seedling-separating and seedling-planting devices of mechanical rice transplanters.

物件編號: X52

年代: 公元 1945 年至今 (公元 2026 年)

材質: 黃銅

尺寸: 99 x 32 x 23.4 mm

重量: 30.6 g

來源: 台灣私人收藏 2026

這是一個插秧器，為農具的一種。又稱為插秧管、植田管，臺語中稱為「播田管」(pò͘ chhân-kóng)，客語中稱為「蒔田管」或「蒔田笐」(shi+ tien gong)。歷史上曾為竹木所製，近代改以較不易腐朽的金屬所製。

插秧器外側主要由一銅片彎曲為管狀而製成，銅管一端較尖並磨銳，一端稍微擴張成近似球體的圓弧。內側似焊貼另一銅片，近尖端一側折起封堵圓管，但仍留有縫隙。

秧苗長約九公分高後，農人會將其自精耕的秧田移植進寬敞的水田，這個步驟稱為「育秧移植」，簡稱為「插秧」。與之相對地，較為粗放的「直播法」，則無此步驟。插秧前，農人會先以秧繩、插秧輪、秧標等工具畫田，確保每一秧苗有足夠的栽種空間。插秧時，農人會自運來的秧盆或秧船內，取出手掌大小的秧片，托於非利手，再以利手大拇指上戴著的插秧器，從秧片上截取三至五株秧苗。而後，利用插秧器尖端銳部，帶著秧苗，一起插入田泥中約半拇指深處。插秧器可以使農人手指便於分斷秧片，輕鬆深入田泥，同時避免磨挫對手指產生的傷害。在農村機械化後，插秧器的功能多改由插秧機的分苗器和插苗器所取代。