FARM CROPS. 123 



cut it. The rice remains in the shock until cured, and 

 may then be stacked or hauled directly to the factory. 

 If stacked and allowed to go through the " sweat," the 

 quality of the grain is improved. Where harvesting 

 machines cannot be used the rice is cut with a sickle, 

 spread on the stubble to cure, and is then tied by hand 

 in bundles, and shocked as above described. The ma- 

 terial used here for tying is a bunch of rice straws. 

 Harvesting in this way costs from four to seven.dollars 

 per acre. 



Threshing and Yields. Threshing is done by the 



THRESHING RICE. 



same machines made for wheat, except that they are 

 built for heavier work, and the screens are slightly 

 modified. A threshing machine, including self-feeder, 

 straw stacker and grain sacker, costs about a thou- 

 sand dollars, without the power to run it. A trac- 

 tion engine of twenty to twenty-five horse-power 

 is generally used in the prairie section. Station- 

 ary engines are usually employed in the alluvial 

 lands. A good machine will thresh from three to four 

 hundred sacks per day. The threshed rice is put in 

 four bushel sacks, and the crop yield is estimated 



