Edible Products, 



302 



CIOBBR, 1911. 



dition of the rice industry greatly im- 

 proved. It would be interesting to as- 

 certain how much rice was practically 

 thrown away last season by uufc adher- 

 ing to the correct period for planting. 

 A very large quantity was lost by 

 drought shortly after the seedlings were 

 transplanted into the fields, and a still 

 greater quantity was lost by the rice 

 coming to maturity in the wet season. 

 Where irrigation is not under absolute 

 control, there is always a danger ot loss 

 of a crop by drought if planted out of 

 season, and the grower should always 

 bear in mind that rice cannot properly 

 ripen or be satisfactorily gathered in 

 wet weather. Planting should be car- 

 ried out so that ripening takes place in 

 the dry season. 



Quantity op Seed Necessary. 



The quantity of seed necessary to 

 plant an acre is calculated to be from 8 

 to 10 gallons according to variety and 

 to germination, and it should always be 

 remembered that the sowings in the 

 nursery should be ' successive,' i.e., sown 

 in just sufficient quantities as there is 

 labour available for transplanting. For 

 example : — A man intends to cultivate 

 8 acres of rice, and will require say 80 

 gallons of paddy. This should net be 

 all sown at one time, but should be sown 

 in four lots of 20 gallons each, the first 

 lot the last week in March or the first 

 week in April, the second the following 

 week, and so on, so that the first two 

 acres are planted up during the end of 

 April or during the first week in May, 

 the second in the following week, etc. 



The reason for this is obvious. It is 

 the most economical method of distri- 

 buting the work. Seedling rice is ready 

 for transplanting from the nursery 

 in four weeks from the time of sowing, 

 and should be transplanted before it is 

 six weeks old. After six weeks the plants 

 commence to joint at the base, and if 

 then used for transplanting they remain 

 stunted, do not tiller, and consequently 

 give unsatisfactory returns. Sowing 

 larger quantities of seed at any one time 

 than can easily be handled is therefore 

 an utter waste of time, trouble and 

 money. 



Transplanting. 



When the seedlings in the nursery 

 beds are about four weeks old they are 

 ready for transplanting for the general 

 crop. The plants are usually about 12 

 inches high at this time, but no joints 

 should be showing at their bases. The 

 lifting of the plants from the nursery 

 should be carefully carried out. It is 

 not sufficient to simply pull the plants 

 up— only bad results can be obtained if 



this is the practice. Before lifting, the 

 soil around the roots should be loosened. 

 This may be done by sticking the fingers 

 of both hands round a quantity of plants, 

 so that a good ' double-handful ' of 

 plants can be taken up with all the mud 

 adhering to the roots. After this is 

 done the greater portion of the mud 

 should be washed off from the roots 

 and the plants put on one side and 

 gathered into bundles of about 1,000 

 washed plants each. These are now 

 ready to be carried to the fields for the 

 planters, and to save time, they should 

 be distributed at suitable distances over 

 the beds so that the planters can readily 

 obtain them. The planter unties a 

 bundle, takes out a handful of plants, 

 washes off practically all the soil attach- 

 ed to the roots, screws off the top three 

 or four inches of the top portion of the 

 seedlings, and proceeds to dibble them 

 in. The long straggling roots that are 

 often noticed on rice plants ready for 

 use by the planter are in practice always 

 left untouched, but it is thought that 

 it might be beneficial if they were also 

 broken off in the same way as the top 

 portions of the plants are removed. 



The seedlings should be planted two to 

 three plants in a hole at distances of from 

 9 to 12 inches apart. They should simply 

 be pushed in the soft mud to the depth 

 of one to two inches. The planting of 

 three plants in a hole is considered to be 

 the safer, and the distance between the 

 plants depends upon the variety. For 

 the Creole variety and Nos. 75, 3, and 6 

 any distance not less than 9 inches or 

 more than 12 inches will give satisfac- 

 tory results, but it has been found that 

 the finger grained varieties experimented 

 with give better returns if planted 

 about 6 inches apart. A selection of 

 plants as they are taken from the nur- 

 sery, and as they are being planted 

 should be carried out as far as is 

 practicable. Only the strongest plants 

 should be used. 



Experiments have been carried out 

 at the Botanic Gardens in planting 

 single plants to the hole. The results 

 have shown that satisfactory returns 

 can be obtained by this method, and 

 that a considerably less quantity of 

 seed per acre is required, but the 

 extra expense incurred in separating the 

 seedlings and in planting them separ- 

 ately is not usually commensurate with 

 the saving made in the seed paddy, It 

 cannot, therefore, be recommended that 

 the seedlings should be planted out 

 singly, especially where irrigation is 

 either impossible or where it is unsatis- 

 factory. Three plants per hole is our 

 general recommendation for this colony. 



