X, C, 6 
Randles: Studies in Rice 
365 
The following facts are deduced from Table III: 
The fertilized drilled seedlings showed an average weight 
18 per cent greater than the average weight of an equal number 
of broadcasted, fertilized seedlings. The nonfertilized drilled 
seedlings showed an average 9 per cent greater than the aver- 
age weight of an equal number of broadcasted nonfertilized 
seedlings. The fertilized drilled seedlings showed an average 
weight which was 2.53 times as great as the average weight of 
an equal number of the nonfertilized drilled seedlings. The 
broadcasted fertilized plants showed an average weight which 
was 2.34 times as great as the average weight of an equal 
number of the nonfertilized broadcasted seedlings. 
Increasing the number of seedlings per given unit of area 
tends to increase the height of the seedlings under fertilized 
conditions, but does not tend to produce a wholesome growth 
(Plate VI, fig. 1). 
The weight of the seedlings shows a decrease as a result of 
less food material. The result was tall, spindling, or “leggy,” 
seedlings with no indication of a stooling tendency. The good, 
stocky seedlings with the stooling tendency well exhibited were 
produced when the seeds were sown not to exceed 4,500 seeds 
per square meter with 1,500 seeds as the optimum amount 
(Plate VI, fig. 2). When the rate was higher than the above, 
inferior seedlings resulted. 
The tendency to increased height in overcrowding was not 
noticeable under the nonfertilized conditions; otherwise the 
seedlings presented the same variation. The moderate rate of 
sowing produced hardier and stockier seedlings. 
The seedling experiment shows results which harmonize with 
the established fact that good seedlings cannot be grown when 
the seed is too thickly sown. Wholesome growth is not possible 
when the plants are crowded or when they have insufficient food. 
Under crowded conditions the plants may grow tall, but they 
will be weak and spindling. When the seedlings are crowded 
it is very difficult at the time of transplanting to remove and 
properly separate the number desired to be set in a place with- 
out injuring the tender seedlings. Under these conditions too 
many plants are often used and overcrowding occurs in the hill. 
This is not only a waste of material and time, but it results in a 
waste of plant food in the field. 
Experiments have not been made as yet to determine the final 
difference in the yield, other conditions being equal, between 
thrifty rice seedlings, well spaced in the seed bed, and seedlings 
