12 



mcnt of their vegetative organs, and produce panicles early. 



Assuming that the nature of the short-life varieties is such 

 that their vegetative organs develop more rapidly at a higher temp- 

 erature, as is the case with the Formosan crops when raised at 

 Shidzuoka ; then if the Japanese short-life crops are cultivated at 

 Taihoku, the duration of their vegetative growth should be longer 

 than it is in their original localities. Yet the variety tests conducted 

 in our 'Station with these kinds of Japanese crops show that their 

 panicles come out too early and form practically no seed. This 

 negative result appears to be in contradiction with the characteristics 

 of the Formosan crops considered as short-life varieties. However, 

 we may find an explanation in the increasing rate of temperature 

 at Taihoku. At this latter place, the average temperature in the 

 middle of March, when the young seedlings are usually transplanted, 

 is about I7C., and rises more rapidly than at Shidzuoka. Therefore 

 the Japanese short-life varieties cultivated at Taihoku, must have, at 

 a relatively young stage of growth, met with a higher temperature 

 than that at which, in their original locality, they had become ac- 

 climatized, so as eventually to produce panicles. Thus at Taihoku 

 they had too short a period of vegetative growth to yield grain. 



Various local crops of the southern part of Formosa were 

 cultivated at different places in 1908. The dates of transplantation, 

 heading out, and maturity, are given in the following table : 



