Feb; 1908.] 



181 



Edible Products. 



The expanded parts of the leaves are, it 

 is true, unaltered and apparently 

 healthy until withering sets in. In the 

 leaf sheaths, however, the signs of 

 disease aie unmistakable." It would 

 appear that the infection is carried to 

 other trees, by the wind, by the knives of 

 the toddy drawers, and by certain 

 insects. Mr. Butler has suggested two 

 remedies — one to arrest the spread of 

 the infection by cutting down and 

 burning the affected trees, and the other 

 to prevent the diseases taking root in 

 the trees by disinfecting all healthy 

 trees with Bordeaux mixture. It has 

 been found in Jamaica and other places 

 that by the use of this mixture the 

 disease may be checked in its earliest 

 stages. Dr. Erwin Smith, who had 

 occasion to study the nature of this 

 disease in Cuba in 1904, believes it to be a 

 bacterial one and has suggested the 

 same remedies. Thus, different pests, 

 coupled with the indifference of the 

 State and the people, have been the 

 cause of the partial ruin of this famous 

 industry in Travancore. — Indian Agri- 

 culturist, Vol. XXXII, No. II, November 

 1, 1907. 



ADVANTAGES OF TRANSPLANTING 

 PADDY. 



The following article on " The Advan- 

 tages of Transplanting Paddy " was con- 

 tributed to the August number of the 

 Agricultural Gazette of the Central Pro- 

 vinces, by Mr. D. Clouston, M.A., B.Sc,, 

 Deputy Director of Agriculture, Central 

 Provinces : — 



The five methods of sowing paddy 

 practised in these Provinces are known 

 as (1) transplanting, (2) biasi, (3) broad- 

 casting without biasi, (4) sowing in lines, 

 and (5) lehi. Where transplanting is 

 followed, the seed is first sown in a well- 

 manured nursery bed, and when the 

 seedlings are about 9" high, they are 

 planted out in the plots where the crop 

 is to be grown. In biasi the seed is first 

 sown broadcast, and the plants are after- 

 wards thinned out by working the 

 country plough in the field. When this 

 thinning process is omitted, the seed is 

 sown broadcast without any subsequent 

 biasi and the method is known as broad- 

 casting. In the process known as lehi, 

 the seed is artificially germinated and 

 then sown. By the fourth method, the 

 sped is sown in lines by means of a light 

 thr e drill. This latter method is but 

 seldom practised in the Provinces, and 

 has not, therefore, been included in the 

 experiments of the Raipur Government 

 Farm. In an article which appeared in 

 the November number of this Gazette in 

 1906, a detailed account was given of the 



method of transplanting ; this article 

 will deal with the results obtained from 

 experiments conducted on the Raipur 

 Farm in which this method is compared 

 with the other three commonly practis- 

 ed. These experiments were carried 

 out in Series A. and B., A. being 

 irrigated and B. unirrigated. Both 

 series of plots were uniformly manured 

 with cattle-dung at the rate of 20 lb. 

 of nitrogen per acre. The plots were 

 each one-tenth of an acre in area. 



The transplanting plot has done best 

 every year, and has yielded a nett profit 

 that is double that of* the second best plot. 

 It is often stated by cultivators who 

 have never tried transplanting that it is 

 suitable for irrigated paddy only, and 

 that even then it is not profitable on 

 account of the additional cost of labour 

 involved. The results of this series of 

 experiments prove that both these state- 

 ments are doubtful, for the plots were 

 not irrigated, and in calculating the 

 profits derived from them the cost of 

 cultivation has been deducted in each 

 case. Transplanted rice grown under 

 irrigation gives a still higher profit, 

 despite the fact that the cost of culti- 

 vation in this case is still increased by a 

 water-rate of Rs. 1*14 per acre. With the 

 exception of broadcasting, transplanting 

 is the cheapest of all the methods ex- 

 perimented with, as it reduces the weed- 

 ing charges very considerably. The 

 weeds are so thoroughly eradicated by 

 the ploughing gi^en to the plot before 

 transplanting that after-weeding is 

 seldom necessary. The figures given 

 above show the actual cost of cultivation 

 by each method on the Raipur Farm, 

 from which it will be seen that the extua 

 cost of transplanting is much less than 

 the extra cost of weeding, entailed 

 by other methods of cultivation. A 

 most important factor in the cost of 

 cultivation is that, whilst biasi requires 

 about 80 to 100 lb. of seed per acre, trans- 

 planting requires only 20 to 30 lb. of seed 

 per acre. 



In the Chhatisgarh Division of these 

 Provinces there are about 28,50,000 acres 

 cropped annually with paddy, out of 

 which only about 37,750 acres are trans- 

 planted, so that this method is seldom 

 practised. The annual monetary loss 

 suffered by the cultivators in consequence 

 must amount to crores of rupees. One 

 of the most important lines of work now 

 being taken up by the Agricultural 

 Department in this tract is to demon- 

 strate the advantages on this method on 

 small Demonstration Farms. By pre- 

 senting this method in all its de- 

 tails on a field scale, it is believed 

 that it will recommend itself to the 

 rice-growers of this tract, and that it 



