370 FIELD CROPS FOR THE COTTON-BELT 



all classes of domestic animals. It has a high content of 

 fat and is often fed in connection with cotton-seed meal. 

 Rice hulls are valued highly as a manure for rice lands. 

 They are of practically no value as a stock food. 



ENEMIES OF RICE 



456. Weeds. — Red rice, so called because of the red 

 color of the grains, is of more annoyance to rice-growers 

 than any other weed. It is a wild variety of rice and will 

 cross readily with the improved varieties. Contrary to 

 the opinion of many rice-growers, the red rice and the com- 

 mon white rice are two distinct varieties and one will not 

 produce the other. As the red rice is more hardy and per- 

 sistent than the cultivated varieties it often becomes a 

 serious pest. In the United States where the demand is 

 for white rice, the admixture of red rice grains in white 

 rice reduces greatly its market value. 



To keep the field clear of red rice, the grower must ex- 

 ercise the greatest caution to secure and plant seed that 

 is free from it. If red rice has already been introduced 

 into a field it can be eradicated by preventing it from ma- 

 turing seed. 



Many other troublesome grasses and weeds invade 

 rice fields. Some of the methods recommended for ridding 

 rice lands of these pests are: (1) Plowing the field soon 

 after harvest, a treatment causing the weed seeds to 

 germinate, whereupon they are killed by frost, or in some 

 cases mowed and burned. (2) Plowing the field early in 

 the spring, thus inducing the weed seeds to germinate. 

 They are then killed by cultivation before the rice is 

 planted. (3) Planting no rice for a year or two and thus 

 allowing the dry land weeds to crowd out the water 

 weeds. 



