RICE. 



407 



rice was first introduced, but afterwards the golden seed 

 superseded it, and that is now universally grown both in 

 the swamps and uplands of the South, and is the same as 

 that grown in China and Asia. It is used as human food 

 by more people than any other cereal, feeding it is said, to 

 the exclusion of other cereals, over half the inhabitants. It 

 is really a water plant, and thrives best when supplied with 

 an abundance of it. In fact, to be grown in its best style 

 it. is flooded the greater part of the time by means of banks, 

 levees and flood-gates. It may be assumed than it has no 

 place in a Tennessee work, but there are several varieties of 

 rice, and we all remember, in the days of slavery, that 

 many negroes owned little rice patches, where they were 

 accustomed to grow rice and beat it out in a hominy 

 mortar and hawk in the country. 



There is an upland or mountain rice which grows well 

 on any rich soil, especially, however, if it is a marshy bot- 

 tom. I once sowed rice in a seed millet patch, having only 

 a few grains, and it grew very well and made a fair yield. 

 I have seen it yield well in Stewart County. It was 

 tor many years grown there by a South Carolinian. All 

 the upland counties of North Alabama, Georgia and 

 Mississippi raise enough for home consumption. It is 

 raised in the germinating gardens in Washington for dis- 

 tribution. 



Its method of culture is just as seed millet is raised. It 

 matures about the same time, and should be cut with the 

 sickle just as the millet is. Let it be bound in bundles 

 and stacked. After a week or two it will go through the 

 stack sweat and be ready for cleaning. The husk adheres 

 very closely to the grain, is very tough and difficult to 

 separate. On a regular rice plantation this :s done by large 

 stones, but here, in small quantities, it must be done by 

 using warm water and the hominy mortar. It is a tedious 

 process, but like all other processes it can easily be learned 

 by application. It would not pay to raise rice in large quanti- 



