356 The Philippine Journal of Science ms 
The small grower may well cater to the local demand for 
starchy rice, but the extensive grower will find it more profitable 
to keep to the varieties most generally demanded. 
MATURITY 
High production does not depend upon the length of time 
required for maturing a crop. Early-maturing varieties, varie- 
ties which mature in from one hundred twenty to one hundred 
fifty days, often yield as well as, or even better than, late ones. 
According to the experience of the Bureau of Agriculture varie- 
ties maturing in one hundred twenty, one hundred fifty, one 
hundred eighty, two hundred ten, and two hundred forty days 
were very similar in yield. Varieties maturing in less than 
one hundred twenty days do not, as a rule, yield as well. 
The advantages generally given in favor of the early varieties 
are: They give the quickest returns; the crop is exposed for a 
minimum time to the ravages of insects or to destruction by 
storms or animals ; the optimum conditions for growth are more 
frequently met ; and the growth of a second crop the same year — 
rice, legume, or vegetable — is possible and consequently the 
ground is more economically used. 
When transplanting is done at the beginning of a long rainy 
season, conditions may warrant the use of late-maturing varie- 
ties. In this case varieties which would ripen about the end of 
the wet weather may be used. The later transplantings need 
not, however, be late-maturing varieties. 
CHARACTER OF PLANT 
Varieties of rice vary in the stooling tendency. The fact that 
high production is correlated to some extent with the size of the 
stool is self-evident. There has not been sufficient experimen- 
tation with rice thus far to determine the most productive size 
of stool, but a stool of about ten stems is considered the most 
practical. An extremely large stool is undesirable, as it tends 
to cause nonuniformity in ripening, the later stems maturing 
later. If a variety has a tendency to stool excessively, the size 
can be controlled by increasing the number of plants per given 
area. 
As rice is grown chiefly for the grain — the straw having 
very little value — rankness of growth is undesirable. Rank- 
growing varieties fall down easily, thus involving greater work 
in harvesting as well as in the proper care of the straw. Pref- 
