and Magazine of the Ceylon A c/ricAiltural Society.— May, 1910. 471 



•6. He also reminds us that tho well-known 

 chemists, O Rosenheim and S Kajuira, who 

 recently studied the proteids or albuminoids of 

 rice, found 7 per cent, of total proteid present 

 in rice, of which -14 is a globulin, - 04 an albu- 

 min and the remainder a proteid, which, like 

 the glutenin of wheat, is soluble in dilute alkali. 



The results of the analyses of 159 samples of 

 Indian rice are appended to Mr Hooper's Re- 

 port in tabular form. The average percentage 

 of proteid is highest in those from Eastern 

 Bengal and Assam and Bombay, and lowest in 

 those from Outtack and the Central Provinces ; 

 but the most interesting conclusions are drawn, 

 he says, from the individual analyses, where the 

 percentage varies from 9'8l in a sample from 

 Broach to 5'44 in a sample from Cuttack. One 

 object in conducting these examinations has 

 been to discover what natural circumstances 

 have contributed to the superiority of tho con- 

 position of certain grains, and it has been found 

 that in some cases the local reputation and 

 market value of rice coincides with its high 

 nitrogen content. The examination has re- 

 sulted in giving a prominent place to certain 

 rices which deserve attention at the hands of 

 cultivators as containing over 8 per cent of 

 albumenoids, and among these mentioned are 

 the a.mbemohar of Belgaum and the jecra sala i of 

 South Canara. Of 22 Madras samples two 

 averages of 11 each were taken, and they gave 

 the following results : — 



Water; Protein. Fat. ' Caibo Fibre. Ash. 



Hydrates. 



8-94 7'10 -74 SI '54 "43 125 



11-69 6-81 1"30 79-00 "49 "98 



Mr Hooper's last conclusion, and it is certainly 

 one of the most interesting, is that the rich- 

 ness of the grain appears to be due not so much 

 to the races of the plant or tho appearance of 

 the grain as to the cultivation. The grains of 

 finest composition are found in plants grown 

 in rich virgin soil or inlands liberally manured. 

 Instances of this kind are found in the red rice 

 grown in taungya by the Chins of Burma, in the 

 Kanapur rices of the Carnatic and in the 

 Kasaragod rices of South Canara. And in Mr 

 Hooper's opinion attention to the cultivation 

 of the rice plants m the way of manuring the 

 land appears to be one of the principal means 

 of improving the quality of the grain for com- 

 mercial and edible purposes. — M. Mail, May 3. 



SCALE ON PARA RUBBER. 



Specimens of a shiny black insect on young 

 shoots and leaf stalks of Ilevea have been re- 

 ceived. The same scale has been noticed on the 

 leaves and young shoots of Ceara rubber. This 

 scale has been identified by Mr E E Green, the 

 Entomologist for the Ceylon Government, as 

 Lecanium nigrxim : another species added to the 

 list of Lecanium pests on Southern India Es- 

 tates. Mr Green writes, with reference to this 

 scale, "It occurs not uncommonly on the leaves 

 and young stems of Hevea in Ceylon, but has 

 never shown signs of developing into a serious 

 post." It should, however, be carefully watched 

 and should it show any signs of becoming a pest 

 here it should be promptly sprayed.— (Signed) 

 H. C. Wbstaway, Hon, Secretary, U. P. A. S. I. 

 —Planters' Chronicle, April 30. 



MYCOLOGY AND ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



Two numbers of tho Botanical series of the 

 Memoirs of the Agricultural Department of India 

 which have recently been published are worthy 

 of more than mere passing attention, in that a 

 perusal of their pages seems to indicate some- 

 what clearly the trend of research which is 

 likely to be followed in Economic Botany and 

 its subsection, Mycology, in connection with 

 agriculture. The first paper is by Dr. Butler, 

 the Imperial Mycologist, upon the wilt disease 



of red gram What has now proved to 



be a harmless form in connection with red gram 

 will probably prove to be so also with pepper, 

 and it remains for the newly-appointed Myco- 

 logist in Madras to determine the real offender 

 in the latter plant. A careful perusal of Dr. 

 Butler's paper will be instructive to those 

 intsrested in the subject. It affords an excellent 

 illustration of the extreme care necessary 

 in mycologlcal work, and the many pitfalls 

 which lie in the way of the careless investigator 

 are clearly indicated. But the chief interest 

 in the present Memoir is not confined to this 

 important piece of work. Dr. Butler reviews 

 the various methods hitherto adopted in 

 combating this class of fungus- diseases, such 

 as are caused by organisms which are capable 

 of living for long periods in the soil without 

 the presence of their natural host. And he 

 is driven to the conclusion that, where long 

 rotations of other crops are not possible, no 

 direct method can be adopted with any hope of 

 success, and ho is fain to place his reliance upon 

 the raising of immune varieties. This is not 

 altogether a new note in mycological research, 

 and work in this direction has already been 

 done on various crops in different countries. 

 Rust in wheat, the potato disease, the diseases 

 of cotton and those of sugar-cane, have for the 

 past ten years or more been thus approached, 

 and the success attained has been sufficiently 

 decisive to show that herein lies an important 

 line for future investigation. Preliminary studies 

 have been commenced with red gram, and Dr 

 Butler is collaborating with the Bombay Agri- 

 cultural Department in the endeavour to discover 

 new and disease-resistant strains. Little work 

 has as yet been attempted in this direction in 

 India, but it is not improbable that, in their 

 turn, coffee, pepper, tea, and even such long- 

 lived plants as palms and fruit trees will have 

 ultimately to depend upon this line of work for 

 the continuation of their cultivation. Thus far 

 the Mycologist. The carrying out of his propo- 

 sals lies in the hands of the Economic Botanist, 

 What are the first steps to be taken in this 

 raising of immune varieties ? The answer is given 

 very clearly in the second Memoir before us, 

 Mr. Howard's investigation of the forms of the 



NORTH INDIAN TOBACCOS 



of the rustica type. The first stop in investiga 

 tion of a crop is a careful and scientific study 

 of the forms already existing in the country. 

 The plant breeder must in the first instance 

 collect his material, which is none too easy a 

 task. He must grow the plants collected from 

 all sources side by side for several generations, 

 and note the minutest differences. He must 

 classify and analyse his material, eliminate all 

 -accidental hybrids by the application of Men- 



