'Vol. V. No. 122. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



411 



RICE CULTIVATION. 



Tropical Life, for November, has the following 

 article, entitled ' How to succeed with rice cultivation — 

 transplant your paddj',' which contains much useful 

 information : — 



Having been present at the West India Committee 

 Piooms, -when the Governor of British 'Guiana, Sir Frederic 

 Hodgson, spoke of the important development of the rice 

 industry in that colony, we have much pleasure in calling the 

 attention of our readers in that colony and elsewhere to the 

 following advice on the subject, issued by Mr. C. Dreeberg, 

 Superintendent of School Gardens, at Colombia, Ceylon. 



Ordinarily, Mr. Dreeberg tells us, paddy is sown broad- 

 cast ; sometimes it is dibbled in soon after germijiation ; 

 ■while sometimes transplanting (i.e., first raising seedlings in 

 a nursery and then planting out) is carried on. 



In the experiments initiated by the late Mr. H. W. 

 Green, through his Agricultural Instructors, between 1885 

 and 189-0, the advantages of transplanting in paddy cultiva- 

 tion (which is practised in the Kandyan districts and carried 

 on witli the best results in .lapan) were pretty clearly 

 demonstrated, and these advantages may be summed up as 

 follows : — 



(1) There is an enormous saving in seed-paddy. 



(2) The weeding of the field is much easier. 



(.3) The growth of the crop is more lu.xuriant, and the 

 yield consequently larger. 



Why, then, it will be asked, is not transplanting 

 generally practised I The following are the objections that 

 have been brought forward against the system : — 



(1) It is not suitable for very wet lands. 



(2) It entails an enormous amount of labour in large 

 fields, which it is difficult to command. 



(3) It takes up a great deal of time. 



(4) The nursery is difficult to protect. 



(.5) The plants take a somewhat longer time to ear. 



In transplanting, the number of seedlings put into one 

 place may vary. It is usual to pull up and plant half 

 a dozen or more together, but it has been found that the 

 individual plants develop all the better the less the number 

 put down in one place ; and this we would e.xpect to be the 

 case from analogy — comparing paddy growing with the 

 planting of larger forms of vegetation — whether tea, rubber, 

 or cocoa-nuts. 



The number of single seedlings required to plant an acre, 

 9 inches by 9 inches, is 77,450. oNow, 2 measures of 

 paddy will be found to contain (according to size of grain) 

 from 75,000 to 150,000 seeds, so that, making allowance for 

 failures from various causes, 2 to 2i- measures sown in 

 a nursery ought to suffice to plant out an acre of single 

 seedlings 9 inches by 9 inches. The average number of 

 tillers or shoots from a single transplanted seedling may be as 

 many as thirty to forty (in Japan the number is said to be 

 seventy to eighty), while not more than ten or twelve 

 flowering stems are found to emerge from each 'tuft' or 

 transplanted seedlings. 



Experiments in India have shown that an acre planted 

 9 inches by 9 inches, with single seedlings, may produce 

 practically double the quantity yielded by the usual ' bunch- 

 ing ' method of transplanting. 



These are facts well worth thinking over, and the object 

 of these notes is to induce members of the society, particularly 



those belonging to the rural branches of it, to put this .system 

 of planting out single seedlings to the test and ascertain for 

 themselves its practicability and economy under varying con- 

 ditions. The .saving in seed-paddy is not too insignificant 

 a matter for consideration, while the prospect of a bigger 

 harvest with a smaller sowing— paradoxical though it inay 

 appear— is surely encouraging. As already indicated, the 

 system is founded 0)i a sound agricultural principle, and has 

 proved eminently successful in .lapan, Java, and India ; and 

 one would be justified in advising cultivators to adopt it 

 wherever practicable ; it is its practicability, as regards time, 

 labour, expense, and local conditions generally, that has to be 

 tested. There is no doubt M-hatever that transplanting is 

 particularly well adapted for small fields that are not "too 

 swampy. 



It is pointed out (in the Queensland Aijrkultural. 

 Journal) that rice can be profitably grown on the coast lands 

 of Queensland, yet, despite the profitable nature of the 

 industry, as exemplified at Pirapama in the south and at Cairns 

 in the north, Queensland farmers do not seem to take any 

 interest in rice production. In the United States, however, 

 the farmers grow immense quantities of rice. True, they 

 employ Japanese labourers on the swampy coast lands, but 

 in this state we grew mountain rice by white labour. It sold 

 at 6.S. per bushel, and the average crop was 40 bushels 

 per acre, and,- under favourable circumstances, 60 bushels. 

 Yet Queensland imports all the rice she needs, 'whilst 

 producing maize at 2.s-. M. and 3.s. per bushel. 



His Majesty's Consul at Galveston reports that in 

 the cultivation of rice, the Carolinas and Georgia have of 

 late been completely overshadowed by the newer fields of 

 Louisiana and Texas. The swampy lands on the coast of the 

 Gulf of Mexico in these two states have been found to be 

 peculiarly suited to the growth of rice, and land that was 

 a few years ago thought to be almost valueless is now sold at 

 high prices. Additional impulse has been lent to the industry 

 by the presence of several colonies of Japanese, skilled rice 

 cultivators, and more of them are expected. There are already 

 several hundred of these Japanese. The progress of the 

 rice industry in Te.xas can readily be seen when it is 

 stated that in the report issued by the Secretary of Agri- 

 culture at Washington in December last, out of a total of 

 460,198 acres under rice cultivation in tlie United States in 

 190.5, no less than 432,286 acres were in Loui.siana and 

 Texas ; 237,900 acres in the former and 194,386 acres in the 

 latter. Te.xas produced 6,025,966 bushels, of an average 

 value of .?1 per bushel ; and Louisiana 6,137,820 bushels, of 

 an average value of 89c. per bushel. As yet, however, there 

 is comparatively little rice exported from Te.xas, the bulk 

 being grown for home consumption. 



THOROUGHBRED STALLION FOR 

 ST. VINCENT. 



The Imperial Department of Agriculture has recently 

 imported a fine stud horse, 'Beau IL ' obtained through the 

 Government of Canada. The animal is an English-bred 

 Stallion, dark bay, with black points, standing 1 6 hands, and 

 has an excellent pedigree; he is by ' Orville ' out of 'Flirt' 

 and has ' Ormond,' ' Bend Or,' and ' Hermit ' blood in him. 

 After remaining a short time at Barbados, ' Beau II ' will be 

 shipped to St. Vincent to be attached to the Stud Farm ia 

 that island. As previously mentioned in the Agricultural 

 News, a few months ago a fine donkey stallion and a pedigree 

 Ayrshire bull were obtained by the Department and attached 

 to the same farm. These are likely to be of great service to 

 the i.sland. 



