314 FARMER'S ASSISTANT. 



After the grain is taken from the straw, and winnowecL, 

 the hull is taken off, by a mill made for the purpose, which 

 fits the grain for market. 



Lmds prepared for raising rice, by flooding, are such a& 



were originally swamps, or fli natural meadows. They are 



prepared for receiving and retaining *he water, in a manner 



simil ir to that for improving ' rH by warfiing. as it is culled. 



See IMPROVEMENT OF LAND 



If the land is naturally 100 wr-i for cultivating rice, it is to 

 be l.i id drier, by a ditch, ot sufficient depth, dug round the 

 field, with the earth thrown on the outer sidts; und this 

 earth will serve to form the bank for retaining the waters, 

 when the field is to be fl odfd. SmulU r ditches may also 

 be carried across th* fi !<1 into the ou er ditch, for the 

 purpose of laying the fv id drier, if it be naturally very 

 moist 



A rice-fi Id thus prepared will bear crops for many years, 

 without any sensible diminution of the fertility of the soil; 

 particularly if it be naturally rich, or if it be assisted by 

 some sediment of the waters with which it is flooded. 



The great objection to flooding fields, during the heat 

 of Summer, is the pn valence of malignant fevers which this 

 practice occasions Whatever advantages the fields derive 

 from flooding, in repairing that exhaustion of the soil which 

 yearly croping must occasion, might be obtained with equal 

 ease bv luting on the waters during the Winter season, or 

 when they have most sediment 10 deposit 



Whether, then, the benrfv to be derived in the saving of 

 labor, by flooding in Summer, is more than sufficient to 

 overbalance the evil jus? mentioned, which is thus occasion- 

 ed, may perhaps be very doubtful ; and perhaps it may be 

 a matter of less doubt, whether it would not ultimately be 

 more beneficial to convert all the rice lands into grass- 

 grounds, for feeding and soiling cattle, by stocking them 

 with the best erasses 



See GRASSES SOILING, Sec. 



The Southern Stairs have eminent advantages, if rightly 

 improved, for raising great numbers of cattle, and where 

 these greatly abound .he lands may be increasing in fertility, 

 and, of course, wealth; while the country that ha* few or no 

 cattle must, sooner or later, exhibit a very different ap- 

 pearance. 



Rice is r>ot a very exhausting crop, owing, no doubt, to 

 its being fi' to harvest while the stalks are still green. 

 When grown on uplands, the growth of the crop might 

 perhaps be very considerably assisted by the use of gypsum, 

 applied in the usual way to the ground; or to roll the seeds 

 in, after being soak< d in some fertilizing 1'quor : And if 

 such upland were sufficiently rich, we can see no reason 



