EICE CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA 
31 
nursery was grown on fallow land and a good seed bed was prepared 
before seeding each year. From the several hundred varieties and 
selections tested at the station only three have been increased for 
commercial use: Colusa (C. I. No. 1600), Butte (C. I. No. 1564), and 
Caloro (C. I. No. 1561-1). A view of the rice nursery at the station 
is shown in Figure 8. 
It is comparatively easy to obtain varieties or selections that have 
one or more desirable qualities, but it is more difficult to find one that 
possesses all the desirable qualities that would make it a popular vari- 
ety with growers, millers, and consumers. From the standpoint of 
the growers earliness, high yield, stiff straw, and freedom from shat- 
tering are the important qualifications. Although freedom from shat- 
tering is essential, the variety must not be too hard to thresh. The 
miller desires a rice that mills well and is in demand on the market. 
Fio. 8.— Rice nursery at the Biggs Rice Field Station 
HEAD ROWS 
Table 18 shows the annual and average yields, in pounds per row, 
of 63 varieties and selections grown in head rows during the six-year 
period from 1918 to 1923, inclusive. The rod rows were 3 feet apart, 
and the plants were spaced about 6 inches apart in the row. When 
the stand was perfect there were 33 plants in each row. Each row 
was a pure line, all seed having come from one plant or panicle. 
In 1918, 1919, and 1920 Wataribune was used as a check, and in 
1921, 1922, and 1923 the Caloro variety was used as a check. 
Of the earty short-grain varieties grown during the five-year period 
from 1918 to 1922, inclusive, an unnamed variety (C. I. No. 2116) 
produced an average yield distinctly higher than that of the nearest 
Wataribune check. For the six-year period from 1918 to 1923, inclu- 
sive, C. I. No. 2351, Colusa (C. I. No. 1600) a commercial variety, 
and C. I. No. 15S7 all practically equaled the check in yield. 
