On the Number of Rice Shoots. 



BY 



I. Inagaki, A'oga/aishi. 

 Professor of Agricttlliirc iti the Higher A'ormal School, Tokyo. 



The number of shoots that spring from a single rice seedling 

 varies greatly according to varieties : — thus with Shinriki lo — 25 

 are the commonest numbers, while with Shiratama they are only 

 5 — 12. The number also depends to a great extent, on climate, 

 soil, manure, the temperature of the water witli which the fields are 

 irrigated, the mode of cultivation, etc. The number of tlie seedlings 

 planted together in a batch has also, without doubt, an important 

 effect upon the number of shoots produced by each. Eor example 

 the experiments made with " Shiratama " by the Tokyo Agricultural 

 Station gave on the average of 12 trials, the following results : — 



from a single isolated seedling 11.3 shoots 



2 seedlings planted together I2.<S ,, 



M 3 14.2 

 5 16.5 



19-4 



,, 10 ,, ,, ,, 20.7 ,, 



Although these figures show a gradual increase in the number 

 of shoots, yet the increase is not proportionate to the number of 

 seedlings planted. There is seen, on the contrary, rather a relative 

 diminution in the number of shoots with the increased number of 

 seedlings contained in a batch. This relative diminution must arise 

 from the inefficiency of the assimilation process, since the more seeds 

 a single batch contains the greater must be the deficiency of manure, 

 air, and light for a single seed. On these data, I propose to develop 

 a method of calculating the number of shoots that grow from a given 

 number of seedlings planted in a batch. 



