Edible Products, 



548 



[December, 1908. 



would break eggs. The seed should 

 alway s be handled and kept separate 

 from the regular crop. 



The oftener the seed is handled the 

 greater the danger of decay, and it 

 should not be sorted over until every- 

 thing is ready for bedding. 



The best seed is grown from cuttings 

 taken from the regular plants after 

 they have begun to form vines. These 

 cuttings produce large numbers of 

 medium or small-sized potatoes that are 

 free from diseases and adapted for use 

 as seed the following year. — U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, Farmers' Bulletin, 

 No. 374. 



(To be continued.) 



RICE. 



The importance of rice, whether con- 

 sidered as an article of export or the 

 principal food of the bulk of the popu- 

 lation, cannot be denied. The total 

 amount of rice exported annually is 

 worth 18 or 19 crores of rupees, which is 

 about one-tenth of the total output of 

 this cereal in India. Even this enormous 

 output, gigantic as it is, is capable of 

 considerable expansion. It is hardly 

 possible to discuss within the space of an 

 article the many directions in which 

 improvement is possible. We shall 

 simply, therefore, try to indicate gener- 

 ally some possibilities of this great agri- 

 cultural industry ot India. 



It is scarcely necessary to point out 

 that, if impruved agricultural methods 

 can increase the output of this grain in 

 India by five or ten per cent., the effect 

 will be considerable. For, assuming that 

 the export trade of rice consists of the 

 surplus produce, it will bring in about 

 18 or 19 crores of rupees more into the 

 pockets of the ryots every year. If, on 

 the other hand, the increased output is 

 consumed within the country, the prices 

 of food stuffs will be lowered appreci- 

 ably, bringing relief to millions of 

 people. 



The success or failure of crops depend' 

 to a great extent, on the manure used' 

 and rice is not an exception to this rule- 

 Careful experiments carried out in 

 America have shown that, whereas the 

 yield ner acre on unmanured lands was 

 about~9U0 lbs., it was doubled with the 

 aid of potash, acid phosphate and cotton 

 seed meal manures. On lands where 

 the last two manures only were used, 

 the output was 1,320 lb. But the use of 

 suitable manures not only increases the 

 output, but also makes the grain heavier 

 and hence more valuable. It has been 



found that the product of well-manured 

 fields is heavier by about 4 lb. more to the 

 bushel than the ordinary product. 



It is hardly possible to understand 

 properly the subject of rice fertilization 

 without knowing the chemical composi- 

 tion of this grain. It is also essential to 

 keep this in mind before employing 

 manures or taking any steps to prevent 

 soil exhaustion. One thousand pounds 

 of rice contain about 12 lb. of nitrogen, 

 about 1*6 lb. of potash, and 32 lb. of 

 phosphoric acid. Besides this, the same 

 weight of rice straw contains about 7'5 

 lb. of nitrogen, i - 25 lb. of potash, and 

 2'5 lb. of phosphoric acid. From this 

 basis we can calculate what the total 

 yield per acre of rice and straw would 

 remove the soil foods in the form of 

 nitrogen, etc. Hence the necessary 

 quantity of manures could be estimated 

 scientifically, provided we also take into 

 consideration the use made of the straw. 

 If the straw is used as a food for the 

 cattle on the farm and returned to the 

 soil in the form of farmyard manure, 

 a correspondingly lesser quantity of 

 chemical manures would be required. 



The second point to be considered is 

 the proportion of straw to the rice. 

 Careful observations have shown that 

 the amount for every 100 lb. of rice 

 varies from 150 to 2501b. This, of course, 

 depends on the height at which it is cut. 

 Tne disadvantage of having a large 

 proportion of straw is, that it exhausts 

 the soil without paying a sufficient 

 return to the cultivator. It has also 

 been found possible to lower the pro- 

 portion of husk to the grain with the 

 help of scientific methods and improved 

 machines. Statistics indicate that in 

 America, during milling, about 1 lb. of 

 husk is removed from 5 lb. of paddy, 

 whereas in India the corresponding 

 figures are about 2 lb. out of 6 lb. 



The considerations mentioned above 

 are merely general and do not involve 

 any highly scientific training in agri- 

 culture. But the crude methods of our 

 cultivators, in spite of the fact that this 

 industry is being carried on in this 

 country from immemorial ages, are 

 capable of considerable improvement. 

 An elementary knowledge of scientific 

 agriculture, if it becomes general in 

 India, will soon be followed by wonder- 

 ful results. 



So far we have discussed this question 

 simply from the point of view of the 

 cultivator. But rice also bulks largely 

 in our foreign exports. In 1904-5 about 

 forty-nine and a half million hundred- 

 weights of rice were exported, bringing 

 in .about nineteen and a half crores , of 



