204 



As an illustration of tlio diiticultios which conl'ront the plant- 

 breeder in the selection and improvement of rice, the cro]) now 

 under review affords an instance. The paddy with awns was 

 found after stripping it of its awns to he lighter than the awnless 

 paddy, but. on the other hand, it was 12 to 15 days earlier in ripen- 

 ing, thus combining the very desirable quality of earlier maturity 

 with the twofold dra.Avl>ack of lighter weight and of a.wns which are 

 a decided disadvantage as, in the sifting ^\^th the " neeru," they 

 have a way of sticking fast to the empty grains, thus liindering the 

 proper sorting of the paddy. 



Without aiming at such severe and necessarily slow methods, 

 it should be possil)le for the ])addy cultivator, if ]iot always to im- 

 prove, at least to maintain the cpiality of his cro]), by a system of 

 simple selections, which shouhl wmmence in the field, by ])lucking 

 separately a few, say a couple of hundred, of the ])est ])anicles, those 

 tliat present the largest numt)er of spikes with well fonned and 

 close-growing grains. If, as in the case here, the crop is a very 

 mixed one, further classification is necessary by separating the 

 samples under their most prcmiinent character of external apjjear- 

 anee, such as shape, colour of the glumes, colour of the awns, and 

 absence of ar\ras. If the ears taken off the field i)resent a general 

 ^ippearance of uniformity, the grain sliould be pif-ked off the uf|)i)cr 

 third of the ears, and amongst those grains the heaviest and brightest 

 <:'Oloured i^hould l)e seleet-ed for seed for the future cro]). There 

 is not a doubt that the grains on the top part of the ear are the l)cst 

 .and heaviest. The Avriter has made several comparative weighings 

 of grains taken from the lower half of the panicles, and of grains 

 from the top, and, for an equal number of grains, the difference 

 of weight has always been in favour of the npper grains ; in one 

 case, 100 full grains of the upper part of the panicle weighed as 

 much as 156 full grains of the lower part. This difference is ob- 

 served in husked as well as in the nn husked grain. Having pro- 

 ceeded so far in his selection the cultivator may iuMuerse his seed 

 in water and throw out any grain which floats, thus eliminating all 

 weaker and damaged seed: lastly, following the Japanese method, 

 he can drop the seeds in salt solutions of varying streiigtlis — thivs 

 securing, for sowing, the denser seeds which arc generally found to 

 germinate and ripen quicker. 



Instead of sowing his seeds straight away in the nursery, they 

 -can be ])reviously made to germinate under wet gunny bags, and 

 so\ni after germination. Here again selection c-an take ])lac(' to 

 some extent. 



In the writer's oi)ini()n the trend of selection should be. after 

 weight of grain and early maturing grain, from the awned to awn- 

 less, and from dark-coloured rice to white, but of course, the 

 cultivator knows best where his interest lies, and it is up to him to 

 answer the demand of his market. 



E. Mathieu. 



