October, 1W1.] 



501 



Edible Products. 



to time, it has been decided that the 

 best results are likely to accrue from 

 selection in the different varieties that 

 give satisfactory results. In 1909, a large 

 number of variants have been chosen 

 out from the Creole, No, 75, No. 3, and 

 No. 6, as well as from other varieties. 

 These will be submitted to careful trial, 

 in order tc obtain, if possible, better 

 varieties than are on hand at present. 



Selection of Seed. 



The local market demands a long- 

 grained type of rice, and cultivators 

 should be careful to select only such 

 varieties as meet with ready favour with 

 the millers. 



The paddy distributed by the Board 

 of Agriculture is practically pure to 

 type, but unless great care is taken in 

 the selection of seed, a rapid deterior- 

 ation in quality may take place. A 

 large number of growers so to the mills 

 for their seed paddy. They pay but 

 little attention to the quality of the seed 

 selected, and naturally the results are 

 not as satisfactory as they should be. 

 Others keep back paddy for planting 

 purposes, and here again little or no 

 thought is taken as to selecting only the 

 very best. The grower should always 

 use the best possible seed for planting 

 purposes. It should be a clean uniform 

 sample, and the individual grains should 

 be well filled. Careful selection of seed 

 paddy is a matter of the utmost import- 

 ance. Not, however, is it of importance 

 to the grower alone, but also to the 

 miller and the consumer. Mills can work 

 a uniform sample of rice much cheaper 

 than a mixed one, the product is more 

 saleable, and as competition becomes 

 keener, the millers will naturally look 

 to the most careful cultivator. Grow- 

 ers should commence to select their 

 seed, and the millers should see that 

 their selection is along the right 

 lines. The seed which is supplied by 

 the Board of Agriculture is distributed 

 expressly for seed purposes. That 

 which was distributed this year is intend- 

 ed to be increased sufficiently to be 

 spread over a wider area next year, All 

 growers that receive seed from the 

 Board should reserve what they obtain 

 from it for seed next year, and if they 

 obtain more than they require, they 

 should offer it to the mills expressly 

 for seed purposes. Seed selection is of 

 paramount importance for the success- 

 ful furtherance of the industry, and 

 the sooner the present suicidal policy 

 of using almost any sample of paddy, no 

 matter how inferior, for seed purposes 

 is completely suppressed, the sooner will 

 the general returns be increased and the 



quality of the paddy improved. One of 

 the most promising signs of progress in 

 the rice industry will be when growers 

 obtain their seed paddy from others who 

 make a speciality of growing rice of the 

 best quality purely for sale for seed 

 purposes. 



Sowing op Seed in the Nursery. 



Practically no rice is sown broadcast 

 for the several crops in this colony. 

 Seed is sown in the nurseries and the 

 general crop is transferred therefrom. 

 Seed selected for sowing should prefer- 

 ably be placed in a bag and soaked in 

 a trench for 24 hours. The bag should 

 then be taken out and placed on dry laud 

 in the shade and covered down. The 

 heat of the germination of the seed 

 causes them to burst, and even to sprout 

 slightly. This soaking is advantageous 

 because it makes it possible to see what 

 proportion of seed germinates, and 

 thereby assists the grower in sowing 

 a sufficient, but not wasteful, quantity 

 of seed for his Crop. It is also generally 

 accepted that ducks prefer hard paddy 

 and do not very often trouble that 

 which has been soaked. 



The seed beds in the nursery must be 

 carefully prepared. They must be per- 

 fectly level. The levelling can best be 

 accomplished by dragging a weighted 

 board over the surface. They must 

 be moist, and no water should be on the 

 surface, or otherwise the seed will rot. 

 Sprouted seeds should then be thinly 

 broadcasted and the surface of the 

 beds keot moist by allowing a small 

 quantity of water to gently flow over 

 them or by watering with cans. On no 

 account must water be allowed to re- 

 main over the surface, or the seeds will 

 rot. When the seeds commence to grow 

 and take root the water is allowed to 

 remain, and the larger the seedlings 

 grow the deeper may be the water 

 lemaining on the surface. 



Time op Sowing. 

 Sowing of seed in the nursery should 

 commence at the end of March or early 

 in April if the best results are to be 

 expected. There can be no doubt what- 

 ever that the best crops are only to be 

 expected when attention is given to the 

 time of sowing the seeds. Growers 

 seem to have recently attempted to sow 

 rice all the year round, with the result 

 that many of their crops have not paid 

 for the labour expended upon them. 

 Low returns are largely the result of 

 planting at the torong time of the year. 

 If seeds were planted in the nurseries in 

 March or April, and the seedlings trans- 

 planted in April or May, higher general 

 returns would be obtained, and the con- 



