Edible Products. 



224 



[September, 1911. 



The manure was applied at the rate 

 of 5 cwt. per acre. The mixture costs 

 Rs. 5-72 less 5 per cent, discount F. 0. R. 

 Colombo, and the freight from Colombo 

 to Peradeniya is 56 cents per 100 lb. If 

 we put the cost of application at only 

 Re. 1*50 an acre, the total cost of the 

 manure works out at Rs. 32 per acre. 

 This represents a nett loss of" Rs. 20 per 

 acre, due solely to the application of the 

 manure. From the result of this experi- 

 ment I should think it in the highest 

 degree unlikely that the use of this 

 manure can ever be made profitable, no 

 matter what the quantity applied may 

 be. 



4. Selection. 



My own transplanted plots were intend- 

 ed in the first instance to provide mate- 



rial tor the selection of seed. As a 

 second generation has not yet been 

 grown, I can give no information at 

 present regarding the result of selec- 

 tion. But it may be worth while to 

 give a brief statement of the range of 

 differences which have been found be- 

 tween different plants, thus affording 

 some idea of the material upon which 

 selection may be based. 



From each of the transplanted plots 

 100 plants were separately gathered, the 

 number of tillers or fruiting stalks sent 

 up by each plant was separately count- 

 ed, and the grain from each plant was 

 separately weighed. I have therefore 500 

 definite observations of weight to select 

 from. The result of these operations 

 were as follows : — 



Plot. Number of Plants having different Weights of Grain in Grammes. 



... 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 



4 x 4 ...21 24 25 15 10 4 1 



6 x 6 ... 5 18 22 20 24 5 5 . 1 



8 x 8 .... 3 9 10 12 20 16 15 7 4 1 1 . 1 



10 x 10 2 9 a 9 14 16 14 7 6 5 6 2 4 . . . . . 1 



12 x 12 ... 3 16 16 21 8 10 8 10 6 . . 2 . . . 



Total...29 61 74 75 59 48 44 41 28 11 7 8 6 3 4 . . . . . 1 



The weights in the above table are given, as they were recorded, in grammes. 



28 of which go to an ounce. 



Plot. 



4x4 



6x6 



8x8 

 10 x 10 

 12 x 12 



2 19 



6 19 



. 4 



. 1 



2 13 



Total 



Number of Tillers. 



3 4 5 

 S3 18 20 

 35 24 11 



6 



10 11 12 13 14 15 16 



9 28 21 14 18 5 

 8 6 14 13 18 20 

 15 20 21 6 9 9 



10 56 100 96 87 42 48 34 10 6 5 4 1 



It will be seen at once that both the 

 number of tillers and the weight of grain 

 depend a good deal on the distance of 

 transplanting. Each plot, however, 

 generally contains one or two plants 

 which are notably superior to the 

 remainder, and by sowing separately the 

 seed gathered from these we may hope 

 to see some definite improvement in 

 future generations. A similar result 

 may be obtained with considerably less 

 trouble if the best plants are simply 

 selected by eye, and this could readily 

 be done by the cultivator, whose object 

 is simply improvement and not demon- 

 stration of improvement. 



5. Conclusions. 



Whilst there can be no question as to 

 the value of transplanting in paddy 



cultivation, a process which invariably 

 yields a large return in comparison with 

 the labour expended, there is, on the 

 other hand, no evidence that the use of 

 artificial manures can be rendered pro- 

 fitable to the cultivator. There is a 

 strong probability that green manuring 

 would be found to pay, but at present 

 we have no direct evidence bearing upon 

 this process in Ceylon. The use of cattle 

 manure, where it is available, may also 

 yield a profit. 



The range of variation in the weight 

 of grain obtained from transplanted 

 paddy plants makes it probable that 

 selection will lead to improvement. 



R. H. LOCK. 



Royal Botanic Gardens, 

 Peradeniya, June 15, 1911. 



