12 THE BOOK OF USEFUL PLANTS 



American rice mills sacrifice in order to get a white, 

 polished grain. 



In the American mills, rice is first received as 

 paddy from the threshing. It is cleaned of weed 

 seed, then hulled, then winnowed, then ground 

 to remove the bran, and rubbed between sheep- 

 skin buffers to polish the grain. Now the sift-- 

 ing process takes out the broken grains and 

 the starchy dust, and the grain is graded for 

 market. 



Our rice is white, but tasteless when cooked. 

 " Brown rice" is rich in flavor, and has a creamy 

 color. Those who taste rice in Japan, or cooked 

 in the Japanese way here, do not wonder that the 

 little brown men were able to defeat men and arm- 

 ies much larger than their own, and to keep well 

 and strong on a diet of rice. 



Some American grocers carry a limited quan- 

 tity of "brown rice," the paddy with hulls re- 

 moved. 



Fermented rice is the basis of the national 

 beverage, called sake, which the Japanese drink 

 hot out of tiny porcelain cups at the beginning 

 of a meal. At weddings a good deal of sake is 

 drunk, and as it contains a high percentage of 

 alcohol, the people may become intoxicated. 

 The Chinese and the natives of different East 



