8 THE BOOK OF USEFUL PLANTS 



The United States uses twice as much rice each 

 year as it produces. 



RICE FARMING 



Rice culture in the United States is usually 

 carried on in the most up-to-date manner, with 

 improved, labor-saving machinery. The fields 

 must be level, the soil a clay loam, with stiff clay 

 under it to hold the water, and later to support 

 the heavy harvester. Reclaimed swamps and 

 the flats subject to floods along river courses were 

 the first rice lands of the South. The fields must 

 be surrounded by levees, or dykes, to regulate 

 the water supply. After the grain is drilled in and 

 has sprouted, the water is let in by raising the 

 gates, and kept rising as the stems lengthen. The 

 grass and weeds are mostly drowned out, but the 

 water is drained off to allow the plants to get one 

 good hoeing. After this, the water is admitted 

 again, and it keeps rising until flowering time. 

 The rice plant heads like oats, in a branching 

 cluster of single flowers. The one grain in a spike- 

 let, is enclosed in two tight glumes, one carry- 

 ing the long awn, if it is a bearded variety. Ex- 

 amine any bag of rice, and you can find a grain 

 still in the glumes, that we call the "hull." 



