THE MILLING OF RICE. 11 



that removed by the hullers, but is occasionally mixed with the 

 polish from the brush or even bagged and sold locally as rice meal. 



Brush and brewer's reel. — The brush is the last scouring machine 

 in the milling process. On account of the rapid feed necessary in 

 securing the best results from the brush, the rice from the bran reel 

 following the pearling cone is stored in large bins situated above the 

 brush. This latter machine has already been described as the polisher 

 of the mortar-and-pestle mill. In the modern mill it has been found 

 advantageous to substitute pigskin for moose hide or sheepskin and 

 to increase the speed of the machine. The very thin layer of bran 

 which is rubbed off is forced through the surrounding screen as a 

 light-brown powder, called rice polish. The rice kernel at this point 

 is reduced approximately 10 per cent of its weight after the removal 

 of the hull. As a rule, when a coating of glucose and talc is to be 

 applied later in the process, the rice is not subjected to such a severe 

 scouring in the brush as when it is to be sold as uncoated rice. From 

 the brush the rice, containing all sizes from the most nearly perfect 

 whole grains to the smallest particles, is passed into the brewer's reel 

 for the first step in grading. This reel differs from that which re- 

 moves the bran only in that the wire screen covering has 10 meshes 

 instead of 14 to the inch in each direction. The brewer's rice which 

 passes through the screen of this reel is never coated with glucose 

 and talc, since its value is small and not increased by such a process 

 involving extra expense. 



T rumbles. — When the rice is to be coated with glucose and talc, as 

 is generally done, it is transferred directly from the brewer's reel 

 to the trumble for this purpose. The trumble is a cylinder about 9 

 feet long and 4 feet in diameter set on an incline of about 15° from 

 the horizontal and revolved by a gearing on the outside. It is often 

 provided with a steam pipe through its axis for raising the tempera- 

 ture of the rice, to effect a higher luster in cold weather. The rice, 

 together with the coating materials, is introduced at the higher end of 

 the trumble, and the shiny appearance is produced on the grain as 

 it moves slowly round and round and ultimately pours out at the 

 lower end. To the inside surfaces of the trumble are fixed several 

 small strips of wood, which carry the rice up the side and let it fall 

 again as the cylinder revolves, thereby increasing the friction on 

 the rice grains. Glucose of a good quality, which is generally heated 

 and mixed with a small proportion of water, is fed from a tank in a 

 constant small stream upon the rice as it enters the trumble. Talc is 

 introduced at the same place by means of a screw feed connected 

 with a supply box. The quantity of each coating material added is 

 regulated by the miller to suit the quality of the particular lot of rice 

 being milled. No other coating materials than those mentioned have 



