9 CEREALS 



in the Mandalay and Shwebo tracts consist of intensely 

 stiff clay, which cracks into large and deep fissures in the 

 hot weather. In Kyaukse and Minbu more variety is 

 found, and especially in the Mon-Canal area in Minbu 

 large stretches of friable loam resembling the Gangetic 

 soil in texture are found. It is on these latter that 

 the rice crop may expect to find a competitor in sugar- 

 cane as time goes on. 



Quality and Defects of the Grain. 



The quality of Burma rice does not come up to that 

 of the best of other countries. Many of its defects are 

 due to premature harvesting, faulty storage, damage 

 from insects, and other causes. From the miller's point 

 of view it is defective in three particular ways : 



(1) It contains a large percentage of red grains. 

 Apparently the redness is objected to by the consumer, 

 and must be got rid of in the mill as far as possible. To 

 do so means setting the hullers so closely that white 

 grains are smashed, and a large percentage of broken 

 grains seriously lowers the value of a sample. 



(2) A considerable number of the varieties grown are 

 possessed of awns, and these latter have a similar effect, 

 viz., they increase the amount of break. Unevenness of 

 grain, a result mainly of mixing different varieties on the 

 threshing floor, produces the same result. 



(3) Samples usually contain a considerable amount of 

 stones and dirt, which have found their way into the 

 stocks either by accident or design. 



Accordingly, the desire of millers is for a bold grain, 

 i.e., a grain which in shape approximates to the spheroidal 

 rather than to the cylindrical form, of uniform size, not 

 possessed of awns, and which on husking presents a 

 vitreous appearance, with no trace of red. At a recent 

 Agricultural and Co-operative Conference held in Man- 

 dalay, the representative of the Rangoon Chamber of 

 Commerce, in a paper read by him on this subject, 

 remarked as follows : 



" Every rice-consuming market in the world is protest- 

 ing against receiving either rough or cleaned rice which 

 contains more than an extremely small proportion of red 



