1357 



of 1916-17, he read an article in a horticultural paper 

 about Rismollan and its phenomenal seed capacity. He 

 became so much interested that he decided to procure 

 some seed for a trial planting. This, however, was found 

 to be easier said than done. In Sweden none was to be 

 had, and the wide-awake Germans had taken the Rismollan 

 in hand and would not spare any of the valuable seed. 

 Finally Mr. Larsson succeeded in obtaining a small 

 amount of seed from the Botanical Garden in Copenhagen. 

 He planted half the seed in the open, April 15; but 

 the soil had not a sufficiently high temperature and 

 the plants were small and weak. The second half was 

 planted May 2 , when the soil was sufficiently warm; the 

 seed sprouted well, and the plants developed during 

 the summer into real bushes, 2 m. (6 ft. 6 in.) tall. 



"For best results , the seed should be planted in 

 hills; when the plants are 10 cm. (4 in.) in height they 

 should be thinned out and the strongest left in each hill. 



"The grain ripened in the middle of September and 

 yielded approximately 100,000 grains which must be 

 considered an extraordinary result. The seeds are very 

 easily threshed out; they fall from the seed stalks 

 when rubbed between the hands. 



"An analysis made at the Central Institute of 

 Stockholm is as follows: 



Water 11.56 g 



Raw protein 14.88 " 



Raw fat 5.84 " 



Starch 52.67 



Other nitrogen-free extracts 8.90 

 Fiber 2.86 



64.43 " 

 Ash 3.29 " 



100.00 f 



Pure protein 12.63 f 



Amido bodies 2.25 " 



Soluble albumen 10.06 " 



"Rismollan comes from the plateaus of South Ameri- 

 ca. Since olden times it has been cultivated in Chile 

 and Peru, where it serves millions of people as food and 

 has as great importance and use as the potato. Like 

 everything else pertaining to agriculture, this plant 

 was the object of religious rites and was cultivated 



