Edible Products- 



210 



[March, 1910. 



Necessity of First-Class Supervision. 



When starting a squad of coolies on to 

 plant, only a small number ought to be 

 put on the first day, gradually increas- 

 ing them as they thoroughly get their 

 hands into doing the work well. In this 

 work there can be no question of leaving 

 it to the superintendence of a native. 

 No matter how trustworthy a Babu may 

 be, or how long and faithfully a Sirdar 

 may have served your interests, the work 

 must have constant European superin- 

 tendence, and first class European 

 superintendence at that. . . . A man 

 in charge of a garden may make bad 

 blunders in plucking, pruning, cultiva- 

 tion, or any other work, but the damage 

 done can be remedied in more or less 

 time, according to the nature and length 

 of time of mismanagement. But one 

 season's bad work when planting out can 

 never be made good. 



How to Plant the Tap Root. 

 Returning for a space to the tap root. 

 Every effort ought to be made to plant 

 it straight down and it always ought to 

 be borne in mind that it is better to cut 

 a tap root than to plant it bent in a 

 horizontal position. When the tap root 

 is cut, the stump will send away two or 

 three main roots more or less inclining 

 downwards and sidewise, and, if the 

 planting pit has been made big enough 

 and filled with loose surface soil, these 

 roots will incline further downwards 

 and reach a fair depth and no material 

 harm may ensue ; always bearing in 

 mind that, in the light teelah soils of 

 Sylhet, the deep penetrating tap root is 

 much preferable. But if the pit is made 

 shallow these secondary roots, having 

 the spreading inclination to start with, 

 will take the way of least resistance and 

 establish a spreading habit in the looser 

 surface soil and most likely be cut short 

 at the first deep hoe. Such a plant is 

 forced to become a surface rooter, suffer- 

 ing every cold weather from drought. 

 It has little power of reaping the advant- 

 ages of deep draining, and before it has 

 lived one quarter of its lifetime it has 

 become an eyesore and is called a worn- 

 out, deteriorated tea bush, occupying 

 the ground but giving a small amount of 

 leaf, and that of the very poorest 

 quality. 



COMPOSITION OF INDIAN RICE. 



(From the Indian Trade Journal, 

 Vol. XV., No. 186, October 21, 1909.) 

 A useful enquiry recently carried out 

 by Mr. Hooper, of the Indian Museum, 

 relates to the composition of Indian rice, 

 which, as the staple food of the people, 

 is one of the most important and exten- 



sively grown crops in this country, the 

 area allotted to it exceeding seventy 

 million acres. The subject is not exactly 

 a new one, but Mr. Hooper appears to 

 have collected all the available data in 

 order to present a complete case. From 

 these it appears that Mr, Balland as 

 long ago as 1895 made an enquiry into 

 the composition of the different kinds 

 of rice imported into France. He found 

 that decorticated rices from the princi- 

 pal localities, Carolina, India, Java, 

 Japan, Piedmont and Saigon, showed a 

 percentage composition varying between 

 the extremes quoted below : — 



Water. 



Maximum 16'00 

 Minimum 10*20 



Pro- 

 teids. 



8-82 

 5-50 



Fat. 



•75 

 •15 



Amy- 

 loids. Fibre. Ash. 



81'35 "42 '58 

 75 60 -18 -42 



So far as crude rices are concerned, he 

 ascertained that they contain a higher 

 proportion of nitrogenous and fatty sub- 

 stances and ash, the limits being as 

 follows • — 



Pro- Amy- 

 Water, teicis. Fat. loids. Fibre. Ash. 



Maximum 13-30 9-05 2-50 75-60 2-38 2'20 

 Minimum 11 '20 6 18 1-85 73-85 '93 1'20 



He also found that there was no con- 

 nection between the size of the grain and 

 the proportion of nitrogenous matter; 

 and he demonstrated from his analyses 

 that rice has more value as a food than 

 is commonly supposed. The (Jochin- 

 China rice, for instance, although the 

 grains are small, contain as much nitro- 

 genous matter and phosphatic ash as 

 some wheats and rather more fat. 



In this connection the following ana- 

 lyses may be found of interest : — 



Carolina... 

 India ... 

 Japan ,.. 

 Java 



Piedmont 

 Saigon ... 



Water. 



/ 13-10 

 \ 15-20 

 j 11-70 

 \ 14 00 

 / 12-30 

 1.15-30 

 / 12 20 

 \ 14-80 

 J 13-0 

 1 16-0 

 i 10-2 

 U5-0 



Pro- 

 teids. 



7- 10 



8- 82 



6- 14 



7- 01 



5- 50 



6- 98 

 6-67 



6- 86 



7- 21 



7- 70 

 6-98 



8- 38 



Amy- 

 Fat, loids. 



•30 75 60 

 •45 78-52 

 •15 78-60 

 •45 80-27 

 •25 77 64 

 •50 80-49 

 •35 77 30 

 -55 79-56 

 •35 75-77 

 •45 78-21 

 •30 76-96 

 •70 81;35 



Fibre, Ash. 



•19 -40 



•28 -60 



•21 "34 



•31 -44 



•21 -21 



•36 -46 



•24 '48 



•34 -58 



•20 -40 



•23 '44 



•20 '28 



•42 -56 



Balland concluded his paper by prais- 

 ing rice as an article of food. He insist- 

 ed that it has been used from time 

 immemorial as a basis of nourishment 

 in the East ; that it transports easily, 

 and keeps well as shown by analyses 

 after twelve years, and is, therefore, an 

 advantageous food material iu times of 

 peace and war. 



