238 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Ave., 1901. 
with coffee, will prove of great benefit to this State particularly, and a further 
source of wealth to our producers. ‘The market for rice in Australia is a 
growing one, and it will take years before the supply overtakes the demand. 
Our farmers need not fear to grow the crop and. invest in this industry, which 
will return a fair amount of profit for the labour and outlay required to 
produce an article which only requires care in selecting and planting the 
varieties to suit the market requirements. J am sure the efforts of our pro- 
‘ducers will be crowned with success, and I shall be pleased with the part I 
have taken in assisting the modern development of rice cultivation in 
Queensland. 
REGISTRAR-GENERAL’S STATISTICS OF RICE PRODUCTION AND 
IMPORTATIONS FOR THE YEAR 1900, 
Total area planted in Queensland 5 319 acres 
» quantity produced (paddy) ... 9,275 bushels 
», average would equal of clean rice 320,617 |b. 
The net imports of rice for 1899 were 2-2 93283;933 1b) 
Of the value of ts ts. a .- £50,099 
The above figures represent the position as to production and 
‘consumption, and would therefore be about 3°34 per cent. of the total 
requirements of this State only. 
[The total annual production of rice in the United States of America, 
which, in 1866, was 2,000,000 Ib., has now reached 350,000,000 Ib. It will take 
8,000 large railway cars to handle the crop this season. Rice lands have risen 
from £2 per acre to £8 per acre; hundreds of miles of irrigation canals have 
been constructed. Rice has been the redemption of the prairie lands of Texas 
and Louisiana. In ten years the worthless lands of these two States will produce 
the world’s demand in rice. An acre there produces 20 sacks, worth from 10s. 
to 16s. per sack. Where are the Queensland farmers in the race ?—Hd. 
Q.AS.] 
LOSS OF WEIGHT IN EGGS DURING INCUBATION, 
As the result of experiments conducted at the West Virginia University 
Agricultural Experiment Station by Messrs. J. H. Stewart and Horace 
Atwood, the following conclusions have been arrived at :— 
1. Fertile eggs, when incubated in a normal manner, decrease in weight. 
2. The eggs which hatched lost 4°17 per cent. of their weight during 
the first five days of incubation. During the seven succeeding- 
days they lost 6°35 per cent. of the weight of the eggs at the en 
of the fifth day, and during the next seven days lost 6°98 per cent. 
of their weight at the end of the twelfth day. 
3. One hundred fertile eggs of average size will lose 2349 grams, or 
8:28 oz., during the first five days of incubation ; 341°8 crams, or 
12:05 oz., during the next seven days; and 352°8 grams, or 12°44 oz, 
during the next seven days. 
4, The unfertile eggs lost 3:6 per cent. of their original weight during 
the first five days of incubation. ‘During the seven succeedin 
days they lost 5°6 per cent. of what they weighed at the end o 
the fifth day, and during the next seven days lost 56 per cent. of 
their weight on the twelfth day. 
One hundred unfertile eggs will lose 217-2 grams, or 7°66 oz., during the 
first five days ; 323°3 grams, or 11:40 oz., during the next seven days; 3069 
grams, or 10°82 oz., during the next seven days. 
