568 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



SINGLE PLANTING OF PADDY. 



Useful Information. 

 The following Press Note has just been issued 

 by Mr M E Couchruan, i.c.s., the Director of 

 Agriculture in Madras : — 



So much has been written of late regarding 

 the best method of bringing improved methods 

 of cultivation to the notice of the cultivators, 

 that the following brief note on the attempt 

 which is now being made to popularise the 

 single planting of paddy in the Tanjore District 

 may be of general interest. 



During the past three years the advantages of 

 planting single seedlings of paddy, in place of 

 the customary bunches of twenty or thirty, has 

 been brought to the notice of the educated pub- 

 lic, through the Agricultural Calendar, leaflets, 

 Press communications and tours by officers of 

 the Agricultural Department, supplemented by 

 the efforts of the Kumbakonam Agricultural 

 Association. A.s a consequence, small plots 

 planted on this system may now be seen in many 

 parts of the Delta during the crop season. 



With a view to expedite the spread of the 

 practice among the agricultural population at 

 large, a special leaflet has been prepared by the 

 Deputy Director of Agriculture, Southern Divi- 

 sion, giving simple instructions to those who 

 wish to try it. This has been translated into 

 Tamil, and 1UO,000 copies struck off. Some of 

 these will be distributed by the agency of the 

 Revenue Department, but the greater number 

 will be given direct to the cultivators in the 

 villages by agents of the Agricultural Depart- 

 ment. Three subordinates who have had 

 special training in the subject have been selected 

 to tour through the three Taluqs of Shij'ali, 

 Kumbakonam and Negapatam. At each centre 

 they will assemble the leading cultivators and 

 discuss with them the subject of reducing the 

 present seed rate and adopting the practice of 

 single planting. Each will be supplied with a 

 sufficiently largenumber of the leaflets to enable 

 him to give a free copy to everyone who shows any 

 interest in the subject. The advantage of distri- 

 buting the pamphlets by hand in this manner, 

 by trained men who have made a special study 

 of the subject, is that they will be able to meet 

 the objections raised by the sceptical, and to 

 supplement by personal advice, based on exper- 

 ionce,the instructions contained in the pamphlet. 



It may not be out of place to recapitulate the 

 reason why so much importance is attached to 

 the subject. The first is the waste of seed under 

 the present system. For transplanting one acre 

 of land upwards of 120 to 200 lb of seed is used 

 in Tanjore. Yet in the Kistna District, where 

 single planting has been the custom from time 

 immemorial, 14 lb of seed is found enough for 

 one acre. No one who knows both districts 

 would maintain that the average crops in Tan- 

 jore are as good as those in Kistna, though the 

 soil of the Kaveri Delta is probably better ©n 

 the whole than the soil of the Kistna Delta, as 

 it is more loamy and better drained. The few 

 individuals, who have given single planting a 

 fair trial in Tanjore, have been satisfied that 

 they get better crops than before. It follows, 

 therefore, that at least 100 lb of seed is wasted 

 for every acre of wet land in Tanjore. Accor- 

 ding to the latest satistics, there are 1,043,930 

 acres under paddy cultivation in Tanjore. 



The present system of planting in Tanjore 

 is, therefore, responsible for the annual waste 

 of more than 100,000,000 lb. of paddy. At the 

 present wholesale price of 26 lb. per rupee, the 

 value of this is no less than R35 lakhs, equal to 

 a self-imposed cess of R3-8 per acre on every 

 acre of wet land, and sufficient to feed the popu- 

 lation of the whole district for nearly three 

 weeks. Apart from the saving of seed, better 

 crops are usually obtained from the singly- 

 planted crops than from crops planted in clumps 

 containing from 20 to 30 plants. Many of these 

 plants die at once; others struggle on for a 

 longer or shorter time, and produce no ears, but 

 by competing with the other plants in their 

 clump for food, light and air, they weaken these 

 and reduce theiryieid. The grain produced under 

 these conditions is of inferior quality and weight 

 to that produced by plants which have sufficient 

 space for their full development from the start. 



The subject is of national importance, and it is 

 hoped that the special measures now being taken 

 to advocate a more rational system vvill receive 

 sympathetic consideration from all who are 

 interested in the land. — M. Mail, May 14. 



GROWTH OF PAR A RUBBER. 



South Indian Notes. 



Kutikul Estate, Mundakayam P.O., Travan- 

 core. S. India, April 27th, 1910- 



From observations made after a series of 

 measurements extending from August 1908 to 

 February 1910 I have come to the conclusion 

 that it is possible to determine very closely the 

 approximate growth of Para Rubber, growing 

 under normal condition (Lowcountry), one year 

 in advance, thus giving estate managers an op- 

 portunity of fairly accurately forecasting the 

 amount of crop obtainable, and the number of 

 tappable trees they will have, one year from date 

 of measuring. It was in comparing the circum- 

 ference of trees at the base in August 1908, with 

 the measurements obtained from the same trees 

 at 3 feet from the ground the following August, 

 1909, that a similarity was first noticed. Later 

 on, the basal measurements of other trees were 

 taken and compared with the 3 feet circum- 

 ference measurements a year afterwards, and 

 these too were found to lie similar, showing 

 that, under ordinary conditions, we may assume 

 that the figures of one period's basal measure- 

 ments will approximate the figures of the same 

 trees at 3 feet from the ground one year later. 

 That this discovery is valuable, if proved correct, 

 will be self-evident to every estate manager 

 who has to make an estimate of amount of crop 

 and cost of production a year or 6 months 

 ahead. That this theory holds good on estates 

 at an elevation of more than 1,000 feet is not 

 claimed, and as far as is known it is only appli- 

 cable to estates at a low elevation. The figures 

 given below are taken from measurements of 

 trees on an estate 500 to 750 ft. above sea level. 

 Average basal measure- 3 feet from ground mea- 

 ments Trees Nos. 1 to 20 surements from same 

 August 1908 (Planted 1906) trees August 1909 



Inches 10-33 Inches 10'02 



Same trees February 1909 Same trees February 1910 



Inches 12-07 Inches U'45 



Average basal circumfe- Same trees August 1909 



rence 20 trees August 1908 



^Planted 1907) 5-08 (Planted 1907] 6-16 



Same trees February 19t9 Same trees February 1910 



Inches 7-15 Inches 7 - 13 



(Signed) J. R. Vincent. 

 —Planters' Chronicle, May 14. 



