USE OF RICE 373 



rick must be pulled dowTi, aired and built afresh; but if the stake is not too hot to 

 hold, the rick must be left undisturbed." i 



In the prairie regions the self-binding harvester is used. (164) 

 Slow curing in the shade gives best milling rice. Shocks should 

 be placed upon dry ground lengthwise east and west, and caps 

 should be put on with heads towards the north in order to avoid 

 the sun as far as may be.^ (161) 



524. Threshing. — Rice is now universally threshed in the 

 United States with the ordinary threshing machine. The itin- 

 erant machine (167) is used in the South Central States, but in 

 the South Atlantic States stationary threshing machines placed 

 under cover are employed, when they are referred to as thresh- 

 ing mills. Some care is required to adjust the machine so as 

 not to break the grains. 



525. Use. — The chief use of rice is for human food. It is 

 estimated to enter into the dietary of more than one-half the 

 population of the world, and is said to form more than fifty per 

 cent of the subsistence of the people in some parts of Asia. In 

 (Ilhina it is used largely in connection with the fish raised so 

 abundantly in their numerous waterways, and also with the soja 

 ])ean {Glycine hispida Maxim.), which, on account of the high 

 per cent of protein and fat in this bean, makes a diet resembling 

 closely one made of meat, potatoes, bread and butter. Rice is 

 usually eaten whole or in soups ; it is seldom made into any 

 form of bread or pastry, for which it is not well adapted, on 

 account of its low percentage of gluten. It is sometimes, how- 

 ever, mixed with wheat flour. Rice is largely used for the 

 manufacture of starch, and its lower grades are also used in the 

 production of malt and alcoholic liquors. (465) The lower 

 grades are so extensively used for this purpose as to be known 

 to the trade as brewers' rice. 



1 U. S. Dept. of Agr., Div. of Stat. Misc. Ser. 6, p. :ty 

 « U S. Dept. of Agr., Dir. of Bot. Bui. 22, p. 29. 



