The Ely miner., 1909-09-03
.ICE E/XD ZlRO ALZAS

growth. An increase of 25 per cent.
produced from only the second selec.
tions from individual plants. The ad-
vantage of this use of pedigree stock
of seed derived from a single parent
is greater uniformity in the size of
grain, the yield, and the time of rip
ening The substitution of such pedi-
gree stock will tend tc decrease the
very large milling losses which have
been characteristic of the Hawaiian
rice industry The ordinary Ha-
waiian rice, while largely of the gold
seed type, is really mixture of q
great many different types, so that to
get the best results in harvesting
some of the rice will be so ripe that
the grain skaters, while portion OF
the plants in the field have perhaps
barely attained a sufficient degree OF
ripeness to warrant their being cut.
The losses in milling are due to the
varying sizes and types of grain and
their varying stages of maturity. The
miller sets his burrs to accommodate
the average size of grain in the run,
so that grains which are too large are
broken and those which are smaller
than the average are insufficiently
milled, causing bad color in the prod
uct.
The uniformity of grain will un-
doubtedly prove of greater impor
tance than any other single factor in
the production of this crop. This un-
iformity can be produced only by the
production of pedigree stock; that is,
stock derived originally from a single
parent plant.
Three varieties of dry-land rice have
been selected from the original va
riety collection. An interesting point
about these dry-land rices is that they
produce better crop without irriga-
tion than with it. The value of dry
land rice is going to be not so much
the production Of grain, because
dry-land rices tend toward the starchy
type of grain rather than the flinty,
but the production of forage. The
culm and LEAKAGE of the dry-land types
of rices are soft and pliable, lacking
the silica that causes the harshness
of irrigated sorts. These strains pro-
duce quality of hay which is greedily
eaten by horses and cattle. The pres
ent outlook is that dry-land rices will
fill very important need in Hawaii
in the production of hay and forage.
Fertilizer experiments have been
conducted for two crops in pot, plat,
and field experiments. While it Is
perhaps too early to draw conclusions,
the indications are that an increase Of
from Is to 20 per cent. of grain per
acre can be induced by use of COM
mercial fertilizers of suitable compost.
tion.
Early in the year orders were placed
for number of types of agricultural
machinery not hitherto used in the
rice industry in Hawaii. These in
cluded disk tillage implements and
the twine binder. Disk tillage is
promising, provided machinery can be
secured which will give a penetration
of from six to eight inches. The type
of cut-away, or disk plows and disk
harrows, which the station has Sc
cured, would only penetrate about
four inches, although the manufactur-
ers claimed much greater penetra-
tion. 1t was found that As acres of
rice land could be plowed per day
with a five-foot cut-away bog plow
and four horses, as against from one
to one and half acres with two wa.
ter buffalo, or from three to four
horses on ten-inch mold-board plow
turning the soil to depth of about
six inches. This is the only advan-
tage which this form of implement
has over the improved types. If
manufacturers of disk implements
will evolve a type of bog plow that
will turn the ground from six to eight
inches in depth, there is no doubt that
they would be Immediately adopted
by the Chinese rice growers.
A number of trials were made in
the harvesting of rice with five-foot
twine binder harvester, and it is be-
lieved that the Chinese rice growers
would adopt this type of machinery
if they could secure lighter machine.
Slight misunderstanding.