RICK 287 



The rice now grown about New Orleans is as sweet, if not 

 sweeter, than that imported from South Carolina, but it is deficient 

 in hardness and brightness when ready for market, a defect owing 

 entirely to two causes, neither of which is beyond the control of 

 the planter. The one cause is the mode of culture, it being gene- 

 rally grown without due attention to the seed seeded at too late 

 a period of the season, and allowed to become rare-ripe upon the 

 stalk. The other cause is the very imperfect mode of its pre- 

 paration for market ; this being invariably accomplished by the 

 primitive pestle and mortar, or the old-fashioned " pecker mill." 

 The same seed is planted in the same soil from year to year, a 

 system which, it is generally conceded, will deteriorate the quality 

 and production of any grain crop. A very large proportion of the 

 rice grown in Carolina is prepared for market at the steam toll-mills, 

 in the vicinity of Charleston ; and a mill of this description near 

 New Orleans, would remedy the greatest defect in the rice of the 

 country, greatly increase the demand for the article, and undoubt- 

 edly yield a large return for the investment. The toll mills at and 

 around Charleston are, and always have been, prosperous. The 

 mills of Mr. Lucas, in England, erected to clean " paddy," i. e. 

 "rough rice," sent there in bulk from Carolina, have succeeded 

 also, and have increased the consumption of the article in that 

 country. The " rough rice," "paddy," or grain, as it comes from 

 the ear, is composed, first, of a rough, silicious outer covering, im- 

 pervious to water, which is very useful in the neighbourhood of 

 cities, for filling up low lots or pools, for horse beds, and for 

 packing crockery and ice, being far better for the latter purpose 

 than the saw-dust used; second, a brown flour or bran, lying 

 directly under the outer covering ; and third, of the clean or white 

 rice. There is no question that, as a common diet, it is better 

 adapted to the climate of Louisiana than Indian corn ; and it can 

 be grown on the hitherto waste lands of the sugar plantations ; it 

 is always substituted by the physician, when practicable, as the 

 food best adapted to the laborer, in seasons of diarrhoea and 

 other similar diseases, is preferred before any other grain by the 

 negro ; and if the clean rice be ground and bolted, a meal is pro- 

 duced which can be made up into various forms of cake and other 

 bread, of unrivalled sweetness and delicacy. The outer flour, or 

 brown bran, which is separated from the chaff" at the toll mill, is 

 known as " rice flour," and corresponds to the " bran " of wheat, 

 it is a most excellent food for horses, poultry, pigs and milch cows, 

 and would always command a ready sale in New Orleans. It is used 

 extensively for these purposes at and around Charleston, and is 

 shipped thence, by the cargo, to Boston and other Northern ports. 



No portion of the globe is better adapted to the growth of this 

 grain than the delta of the Mississippi. The river is always " up 

 and ready " to do the all-important duty of irrigation in March, 

 April, May, and June, in which period of the year the crop ought 

 to be made ; and I am informed, and doubt not, that two cuttings 

 can be obtained from the same plants, between March and the 

 killing frosts of the succeeding November. 



