632 EXPERIMENT STATION RECOKD, 



weeks in October are preferable. As an average of five years' tests, seeding 

 spring oats at tlie rate of 10 and 12 pli. per acre gave tlie best and most econom- 

 ioal returns. 



On the assimilation of soil constituents by oats, J, W. Paterson and P. R. 

 Scott {Jour. Dept. Agr. Victoria, 12 {1914), No. 4, pp. 193-201, fig. l).—ln 

 maliing these determinations the crop was divided into roots; straw, inchiding 

 stems, leaves, floral axes, and chafif ; and grain, including flowers or fruit with 

 the poles. Nitrogen, potash, lime magnesia, phosphoric acid, and silica were 

 determined at three harvestings: (1) Just before flowering, (2) the plants 

 well headed with the lower leaves turning yellow, and (3) the crop ripening. 



The results showed that " the oat crop forms about 95 per cent of its substance 

 from the air. The necessary soil constituents form only a small part of the crop 

 by weight. Seven soil constituents are essential. Each of them is absoi'bed in 

 solution. ' Deficiency ' in any constituent means deficiency in a soluble form. 

 In such a case the crop will also be deficient. With most of the soil constituents 

 the acid reaction of living roots helps in their solution. This solvent action 

 requires time. 



" Nitrogen and potash cease to be absorbed by the oat plant about the time of 

 full bloom. This fact renders a larger available supply of these constituents 

 necessary at seed time than would otherwise be the case. The absorption of 

 phosphoric acid continues to a later stage of vegetation. This fact is in favor 

 of the action of phosphatic manures. Silica is absorbed still later than phos- 

 phoric acid, and as long as the plant is green. Silica is not a plant food. Little 

 or none of the phosphoric acid ab.sorbed is afterwards lost to the plant. 



" These experiments show that a good deal of the absorbed nitrogen and still 

 more of the potash may be lost. It is not clear that the lost substances were 

 useful, although such losses are probably inevitable in oats grown under field 

 conditions. Materials absorbed and excreted by the plant impose no extra drain 

 upon the soil for subsequent crops." 



Paddy cultivation in Ceylon during the nineteenth century, E. Elliott 

 {Trop. Agr. and Mag. Ceylon Agr. 8oc., 37 (1911), Nos. 3, pp. 225-232; 4, pp. 

 305-312; 5, pp. 393-397; 6, pp. 501-507, 559; 38 {1912), Nos. 1, pp. 21-31; 



4, pp. 313-318; 5, pp. 403-408; 6, pp. 506-^11; 39 {1912), Nos: 1, pp. 21-24; 

 2, pp. 118-125; 3, pp. 235-238; 40 {1913), Nos. 2, pp. 115, 116; 3, pp. 100-102; 

 6, pp. 322-326; 41 {1913), Nos. 2, pp. 116-119; 3, pp. 203-205; 4, PP- 286-290; 



5, pp. 393, 394; 6, pp. 465-467; 42 {1914), Nos. 2, pp. 98-100; 4, pp. 286-290; 

 5, pp. 381-383). — This article consists of a study of the rice industrial and 

 cultural conditions, including a statistical review and descriptions of cultural 

 and market conditions of the century in successive periods. 



New varieties of rice imported from Japan in 1913, P. Poli {Qior. RisicoU., 

 4 {1914), No. 8, pp. 115-117, figs. 4). — Two varieties of rice are here described 

 that were introduced into Italy from Japan. 



Preparation of seeds of the sugar beet, S. von Wilkonski {Bl. Zucker- 

 riihenbau, 21 {1914), No. 8, pp. 121-126). — Results of experiments are given in 

 which beet seeds were soaked in a water solution of superphosphate (25^ 

 Brix) for from 7 to 9 days and then planted in comparison with unfertilized 

 and fertilized seeds. In general the treated seeds gave more satisfactory 

 results than the untreated, although not uniformly so. 



Cultural experiments with artificially dried beet seeds in Hungary in 

 1912, B. VON jANcso {Ostsrr. Ungar. Ztschr. Zuckerlndus. u. Landw., 43 {1914), 

 No. 2, pp. 174-188). — This paper reports a continuation of work previously 

 noted (E. S. R., 29, p. 739), showing practically identical result.s, i. e., that 

 while laboratory experiments showed a better percentage of germination of 

 seeds and somewhat more thrifty plants, yet no practical difference could be 

 detected from point of yield in field experiments. 



