All the botanical parts of the rice plant also contain a gradu- 

 ally decreasing percentage of water during the plant's life, with the 

 exception that there is a slight increasing percentage in the stem at 

 the time of maturity. This latter fact is. due to the great diminution 

 in the absolute amount of dry matter and the rather less loss of 

 water, that takes place in the stems during maturation. The per- 

 centags of water in the parts of the rice plant, at the different stages 

 in its growth, are tabulated below : 



Table 8. Percentage of Water in the Parts of the 

 Fresh Plant. 



The stems and roots have a larger percentage of water than 

 the grain and leaves, and their percentages do not decrease very 

 greatly throughout the plant's life, varying within 10% only. In the 

 stems the percentage of water is lowest just after the vigorous growth 

 of the vegetative tissues, though a great quantity of water in the 

 stems is found at the same stage, (v. Table 6.). Conseqently it is 

 clear that a much greater amount .of dry matter accumulates in the 

 stem in the period of flowering. The difference between the per- 



