6 BULLETIN 330, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



allowed the grain to drop out, and by its revolutions forced grain and 

 hulls along together out of the machine. The runner stone was 

 capable of being raised or lowered to suit the quality and size of the 

 grain in various lots. 



From the stones the material passed to a newly introduced combi- 

 nation " screen blower," which fanned out the hulls and partly, sepa- 

 rated the unhulled, or paddy, grains from the hulled rice. The 

 paddy rice was returned to the stones and the hulled rice conveyed 

 to storage bins above the mortars. In these mills the mortars were 

 used only as scouring machines and removed most of the bran coat, 

 together with the germ, or eye, of the grain. When the rice had 

 been sufficiently pounded, it was transferred to the flour screen and 

 thence to the fine-chaff fan for the separation of the by-products. 

 The rice became heated through friction in the mortars, and it was 

 therefore sometimes placed in cooling bins, where it was stored for 

 eight or nine hours before further milling. The final polishing was 

 accomplished by the friction of the grain in the polisher or brush. 

 This machine consisted essentially of a vertically cylindrical frame- 

 work which was covered with overlapping pieces of soft moose hide 

 or sheepskin and revolved at a high rate of speed within a cylinder 

 of wire screen. The rice was scoured between the leather and the 

 wire screen and given a highly polished surface. Grading was done 

 on flat metal screens, and the clean products were barreled for the 

 market. 



PLANTATION HULLEES. 



Several small huller mills are still operating in various parts of 

 Louisiana, cleaning rice for local use. Briefly the process is as fol- 

 lows: Power is secured from a small engine which drives belts for 

 the operation of the mill machinery. The rough rice is first screened 

 free from straw, chaff, and dirt and passed directly into the hopper 

 of the huller. This huller resembles externally a large sausage ma- 

 chine and is composed of a horizontal, tapering, grooved cylinder 

 within which revolves a ribbed shaft. The rice is subjected to a 

 vigorous rubbing of the kernels against each other and to a scraping 

 between the rough iron walls of the tapering cylinder and the ribbed 

 surface of the rapidly revolving core. The grain is next screened 

 and fanned free from hulls and passed a second time through the 

 huller, after which it is again fanned and is ready for consumption. 

 Such milled rice contains a large percentage of broken kernels which 

 are covered with a film of powdery bran. 



On account of the small motive power and little machinery used, 

 the daily capacity of such a mill seldom exceeds 40 barrels of rough 

 rice of 162 pounds each. The grower generally has his choice of 



