Dec. t, 1894]. THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
373 
transplanting, or having 2 inches or 3 inches of water 
covering them, ami during the whole period of their 
growth having more or less water lying on the fields. 
The "boro," or big-grained, the poor man's crop, 
for valu- ranks third. This is a c ar er variety of 
r ce than the others, is grown on swamps sutiect to 
inundation, sown either broadcast or trauspl-mte'', 
and is depended on the rapidity or otherwise of the 
the rise of water. Owing to the lengih of time the 
water submerges the land, the stiaw of this crop is 
useless and is usually burnt. 
Of the abcve-men ioned three, the " aman," or wet 
land'riee, is by fa- the most profitable, and is advocated 
iu pieference to the others, where a good table rice, 
nourishing, pa'atable, and having a heavy crop is 
desired. Before entering inio rice growing, the in- 
tending grower should satisfy himse f first what crop 
he iutends to grow. If a table rice, for stock feed, 
or for starch, he shou d get seed accordingly, fcr it 
is very certain that a coarse, rark-co oured rice 
suitable for stock feed, although very nourishing and 
pa'atable, will not suit the present demand for a 
short, pump, pearly v hite table rice, at.d wee versa. 
The rice Ci nsumed most extensively in Queensland 
at the present day is that known as " Japan " rice, 
a short, plump, blight yellow grain, which when 
hu led gives a pear.y-white grain; at-d rice-growers 
are earnestly advised to grow this, ani this only, for 
the present. For the last two years a variety of 
rices has been grown, the principal features of he 
majority of them be ng a thin, long giain, which 
has teen practically unsahable, to the great dis- 
courage meut of the growers. Farmers must study the 
public taste for rice, for the present, at all events, 
ti 1 the indutry has assumed bigger dimensions, by 
Which time the pub ic will have teen educated to 
appreciate some of the finer varieties of Indian rice, 
when a change of variety will be found profitable. 
Iu the meantime the demand for this short, plump, 
pearly rice exists and vari ties, be they from Japan 
or India, having this characteristic, should only be 
cultivated, iu v e\v of which f>ct, the Department 
for Agriculture has ordeivda quantity of this Japan 
variety for dis ribution. 
Black Burmese Rice. — A notice of this rice has lately 
appeared in the proceedings of the Agri-Horticultural 
Society cf India, wherein it is meatione! thit the 
black Burmese " Jooma Ohoul " is gr,wn by Mugha 
in Chittagotig and the hill tracts, in the Jhooms, 
or uevvly cl ared jungle land. Thia paddy is sown 
in April and cut in October, and is more glutinous 
and nutritious thau 01 dinary lie >. This rice iudeed 
is described as getting qu te glutiuous when cocked, 
and for this te^s.n it is f n qu ntly stemmed instead 
of being boiled in the ordinary manner. Besides 
bii'g used as a food in th« regular way, it is ma:e 
into a short of pudding fl ivoured with scraped coco- 
nut. The black rice is not procurable in any large 
quant'ti s on the Arrac .n coast, but is more plentiful 
on the Ma'taban coast at M. uhuein, Ranguon, &c, 
end is only used for swee' meats. Piofessor Church, 
reporting to the Royri Gardens, Kew, ou Burmese 
Rico, stat s that the results amply confirm the 
opinion entertained cf its high dietetic value, and 
that flesh forming substance, in oil, and in mineral 
matter this black rice shows a m irked superiority 
over all semples of other varieties hitherto examined. 
The most noticeable Leculi*rity of this rice is its 
unusual richness in albumiuoides and in oil. Some 
01 1 he most highly este.med of the Japanese glutinous 
rices have indeed be< n found to contain fr. m lh to 
2 pel ctnt. o( oil, instead of the 0'4 or 0 f> per cent, 
commonly present iu Carolina rice, tut thou they 
no comparatively poor iu albuminoides. In the 
b.i tuple now under discussion it was found 'hat the 
i- agulable nlhuminoides, as detennim d by the phenol 
in bod, amounted to 8"ii P'r cent. — a figure which 
computed favourably with the average — name'y, 7'3 
percent, pies nt in other Indian ric s. And it must 
Die remember d hut a sinii ar reduction (say 0 6 per 
>• ■•nt.) mils', bo made in the latter figure, in order 
that i\ Eat: oompiriaon between the two precentagts 
may to made. The numbers will then bd — truj 
albuminoides in 100 par's if black Bu'ineuo rico, 85. 
other Indian rices, C - 7. Ona of the results of this 
richness in albuminoides, according to Professor 
Church, is brought out on calculating the nu'rient 
ra'io of this Burmeee rice, which is much nearer 
to that of a comp'ete food than is the case with the 
common kinds of Indian rice. These latter are like- 
wise poorer in phosphoric acid than the Burmese 
variety. 
SEED. 
Too much atten'ion cannot be prid to a choice of 
seed; only good seed from vigorous plants shou d te 
selected. Age has to be considered as well in selecting 
seed. Both new and old seed have to be avoided. 
Seed about twelve months old is reckoned the best. 
New se*d will ccnie up soon, and grow rapidly, but 
will give a very light crop; old seed will either not 
germiuate or give a very straggly crop and weak 
plants. Good seed not onlv gives an increased yield 
per acre tut produces a hardier p'ant — one less liab'e 
to the attacks of rarasi'ic or other diseases. Another 
matter not to be loet sight of in selectirg seed {is 
to se° that it is pure, cf one variety only, not mixed, 
otherwise an unsatisfa' tory crop is the result. Most 
of the seed r'ce used in ih-> C I ny was originally 
imported from China, and the product sown again 
and again ; the original rice was by no means the best, 
and the practice cf replanting the same year after year 
cannot bi too strona'y cond-mmd. An enti e chmge 
of seed is want'd. Rice growers would do well, if they 
have not got the seed through this office, to submit 
a sample of it to the Department ere p'anting. By 
this means they will avoid growing a variety fop 
which there might p ssibly be no demand. 
( To he concluded.) 
LIME FOR SUGARCANE SOILS. 
(Translated from the French by Hubert Dyer 
for the Planters' Monthly.) 
Lime is always met within plants in varying 
amounts, but its principal action is upon the physical 
and chemical properties of a soil. It forms part of 
the mineralogical composition of almost all arable 
soils, wherein it ia present (in considerably larger 
amounts than is any other of the fertile elements. 
Its action is most pronounced upin soils deficient 
in lime, in which case it acts both as a fertiHser 
and as an amendment, this being specially the case in 
the French colonies. At Guadeloupe it exists in cane 
soils in very small amounts; this is an indication 
that its use would produce most excellent results. 
Many commercial manures contain lime in cmbina. 
tion with sulphuric or phosphoric acid ; in soils it 
is present as carbonate of lime or as the silicate- 
Quicklime is obtained by obtaining carbonate of lime 
which is thus broken up into caustic lime and carbon 
dioxide. In Guadeloupe there are large strata of 
limerock, and it is also found along the sea shore 
as coral ; these two are almost exclusive'y used for 
making lime. They contain only two or three per 
cent, of impurities and produce a very pure lime, 
if the burning has been well conducted. 
Besides iis important action as a plant food, lime 
exerts a most considerable action on the organic and 
mineral constituents of a soil. Under the influence of 
air and warmth humid organic substances all decom- 
posed with absorption of atmospheric oxygen and 
liberation of water and carbon dioxide. There is 
thus operating a slow combustion which transform* 
the vegetable matter into humus, the importance 
and usefulness of which is so well known. Lime, as 
well as the alkalies, possesses in a high degree the 
property of hastening this decomposition and render- 
ing assimilable a number of organic substances which 
are difficult and shnv of decomposition, and which 
without its intervention would remain in the soil 
powerless to help to feed the plant. 
This disorganizing influence of lime is often made 
use of to transform the woody matter of weeds into 
vegetable mould ; it suffices to mix alternate layers 
of weeds and quicklime iu ordor to obtain in several 
