Report of Society's Meetings. 383 



mation as to " Kiln-drying of Indian Corn" and " Rice 



Culture":— 



In reply to yours of 19th ult. I would state that there is no such thing 

 in the United States as kiln-drying of Indian corn (maize) previous 

 to grinding, or at any other time. If such a thing is necessary in 

 British Guiana, it must be due to some peculiarity of climate. Here 

 our corn ripens and dries on the stalk, and so soon as dry enough to 

 be easily shelled from the cob is ready for the mill, into which it may 

 be passed dire<5tly without any previous preparation. Meal made for 

 long shipment, as from our Northern to our Southern States, and 

 expected to be on hand for a considerable length of time, is usually 

 kiln-dried after grinding, which causes it to keep longer. This meal is 

 not regarded with so much favour as is the undried meal, hence our meal 

 is most commonly ground in mills of the regions where it is to be con- 

 sumed. In the non-corn-producing districts the corn is shipped from 

 the corn countries to the mills. 



Meal is kiln-dried by a very simple steam-process, which I could 

 describe to you but suppose it would be of no interest to the Royal 

 Agricultural and Commercial Society of British Guiana. 



The only kiln-drying of corn ever done in this country is performed 

 on green corn (" roasting ear") preparing it for keeping as an article of 

 commerce when green corn is out of season with us. It is for use in 

 the kitchen as green corn, and the drying is done by the usual methods 

 of evaporating, with evaporators, on the same plans as those employed 

 for evaporating fruits, etc. Sugar corn is the only variety evaporated, 

 and the State of Maine sends out about all the evaporated corn 

 consumed by the people of the United States. 



The cultivation of lowland rice, as practiced in the United States, is 

 extremely simple. The first essential is low and level land with a water 

 supply sufficiently above it to admit of flooding at will. A low dike or 

 levee is raised around the plat to hold in the flooding water when let on, 

 and if the land is naturally too wet to admit of ploughing and pulver- 

 ization, it is drained by open ditches running through it and discharg- 

 ing outside the dike. The ground to be seeded is thoroughly broken 

 and deeply pulverized with the harrow. Here we do this in early 

 spring, to get our crop through before the fall frosts, as it takes rice 

 from five to six months from the seeding to attain to maturity. The 

 seed is thinly sown in drills from eighteen to twenty inches apart. One 

 bushel of seed (" rough rice") is considered enough to sow one acre. 



