RICE 367 



450. Harvesting. Rice should be harvested when 

 the grain is in the stiff dough stage, at which time the 

 straw is beginning to turn yellow. In the prairie districts 

 of Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas the crop is commonly 

 harvested with the ordinary grain binder. The bundles 

 should be carefully shocked and protected by cap bundles, 

 so as to reduce exposure to the sun as much as possible. 

 Careless shocking results in many sun-cracked grains which 

 usually break in milling. 



In the rice-growing districts of the South Atlantic states, 

 the use of the grain binder is often impractical on account 

 of the bogginess of the soil at harvest time or the small 

 size of the fields. In such cases the crop is harvested with 

 a sickle, the cut grain being laid upon the stubble to cure. 

 After a day's curing it is bound into small bundles, re- 

 moved from the wet field and shocked on dry ground. 



451. Thrashing. The rice crop is now thrashed 

 with steam thrashers, except in special cases, when the 

 primitive method of "flailing" is employed. While the 

 use of the steam thrasher frequently involves the breakage 

 of considerable grain, it furnishes the most economical 

 means of separating the grain from the straw. Without 

 it the present extensive production of rice in this country 

 would be impossible. 



If the grain comes from the thrasher in a damp condi- 

 tion, it should be spread out on a floor and thoroughly 

 dried before it is placed in sacks or barrels. Rice is usually 

 sold by the barrel of 162 pounds. A sack is an indefinite 

 quantity but usually contains from 150 to 200 pounds. 

 A bushel of rough rice, or " paddy, " is 45 pounds. A 

 pocket of clean rice is 100 pounds. 



452. Yield. Ordinarily the yield of rice grain ranges 

 from 20 to 40 bushels to the acre. By greater care in the 



