98 



TBINIDAD AND TOBAGO BULLETIN. IXVIIL 2.. 



RICE EXPERIMENTS 1915-1918. 



By Joseph de Yerteuil, F.I.C, F.C.S., 



Superintendent of Field Experiments, and 



L. A. Brunton, 



Assistant Superintendent of Field Experiments. 



Experiments on the cultivation of rice were started in 1914. During 

 the first two years the experiments were limited to the determination of 

 the comparative yield of four varieties which had been procured, three 

 from British Guiana and the fourth a local variety. The results of the 

 1914 experiments have already been published, (i) These four varieties 

 have been cultivated yearly and have given the foUowin g results : — 



These results were obtained from approximately half-acre plots 

 under adverse conditions ; at times the plots suffered considerably from 

 floods or from drought due to the lack of a proper control of the water 

 supply. Although there is very little difference in the average yield for 

 the five years, Creole Variant 2 and Jerrahan are better rices and may 

 be depended to give a yield of 20 barrels of paddy per acre in normal 

 seasons. Jerrahan is a late variety ; that is it takes from 4 to 5 months 

 to come to maturity. 



In 1917 the following experiments were planned with the object of 

 ascertaining in which direction the yield might be improved : — 



1. Early versus late preparation of the land. 



2. Distance of planting. 



3. Number of plants to a hole. 



EARLY VERSUS LATE PREPARATION OF THE SOIL. 



This experiment was made with the above four standard varieties 

 in 1917 on duplicate plots of approximately 1-16 of an acre and in 1918 

 with the Jerrahan variety on duplicate plots of about 1-7 of an acre. 

 The experiment consists in forking and preparing the land in February 

 and June respectively, but the nurseries are transplanted as much as 



(1.) Bulletin, Dcpt. Afjr. XI \ . 1915. 102-1G3. 



