8 



centagcs of water in the leaves of May 10 and July 4 is about 20%. 

 This is twice as great as in the case of the stems and roots. 

 However, it should be borne in mind that the percentage of water 

 in the leaves at maturity* does not actually represent the water- 

 content of the live leaves, because many of the old leaves begin to 

 wither towards maturity. The mature grain has a lower percentage 

 of water, owing to the great accumulation of dry matter during 

 maturation. 



Dry Matter Content. 



The continuous increase in the absolute amount of dry matter, 

 and also the rate of increase, are shown in the following table : 



Table 9. Dry Matter of the Rice Plant. 



A perusal of the above table shows that the increasing rate of 

 dry matter in the rice plant from the unmanured plat C> is very 

 different from those of the well developed crops cultivated on plat 

 A and B, which were treated with fertilizers. For instance, it is 

 found that the dry matter in the rice plant raised on the nearly 

 exhausted soil of plat C increases only a very little during the early 

 part of its life, because the plant tillers very poorly. Consequently 

 it is clear that the fertility of the soil affects the rate of the accum- 

 ulation of dry mattar during the plant's life. 



Climatic conditions may exert influence on the rate of increase 



