1/4 THE ESSENTIALS OF AGRICULTURE 



field must be almost perfectly level, so that the water, when the 

 field is flooded, may stand at a uniform height over all its parts. 

 Usually each field is surrounded by a levee and canal for water 

 control. The fields vary in size from I or 2 acres along the 

 Mississippi River to from 60 to 80 acres on the level prairies of 

 southeastern Louisiana. In the United States the land is plowed, 

 disked, and harrowed as a preparation for seeding. Rice seed 

 should be sown with a drill at the rate of from i * to 3 bushels 

 an acre sometime during the months of March, April, or May. 

 Unless water is needed to germinate the seed, the land is not 



FIG. 85. Harvesting rice in Arkansas 



flooded until the plants are from 6 to 8 inches high, when the 

 surface of the field is covered with water to a depth of from 

 3 to 6 inches, and this depth is maintained until the crop is 

 almost mature. In the Orient the plants are started in germinat- 

 ing beds, then transplanted to the fields when they are about 

 six inches high. 



220. Harvesting. Harvesting is done by machinery if the 

 ground has become firm enough to bear the reaper (Fig. 85). 

 Rice is cured, shocked, and threshed in much the same way as 

 wheat. The threshed grain, or rough rice, as it is usually called, 

 is sent to a mill, where the rough husks and closely fitting chaff, 

 or cuticles, are removed and the grain is polished ready for 

 the market. A fair yield of rough rice is from 30 to 40 bushels 

 an acre. 



