84 



generally left to some boy who can do nothing else. Thirty per cent of 

 the crop may be lost by improper shocking. The following directions 

 ■will aid: First, shock on dry ground; second, brace the bundles care- 

 fully against each other, so as to resist wind or storm; third, let the 

 shock be longest east and west and cap carefully with bundles, allow- 

 ing the heads of the capping bundles to fall on the north side of the 

 shock to avoid the sun. Exposure of the heads to sun and storm is a 

 large factor in producing sun-cracked and chalky kernels, which re- 

 duce the milling value. The idea is slow curing in the shade to produce 

 that toughness of kernel necessary to withstand the milling processes. 

 In the shock every head should be shaded and sheltered from storm as 

 much as possible. The rice should be left in the shock till the straw is 

 cured and the kernel hard. 



Whether stacking rice from the shock is a benefit depends upon the 

 condition of the grain and straw at the time of stacking and how the 

 stacking is done. If too much heat is generated, stacking is an injury. 

 It is, moreover, of loss importance with rice than with wheat. Judging 

 from the practice in other countries, rice well cured in the shock and 

 aired after thrashing ought to keep in the bin without heating. 



THRASHING. 



With tte large steam thrashers there is frequently considerable 

 breakage and wa^te of grain. Great care should be exercised to avoid 

 this and preserve every part which has been won from the soil with 

 such labour. At the commencement of thrashing, examination should 

 be made to see that there is no avoidable breakage of the grain. If 

 the rice is damp when delivered from the machine it should be spread 

 upon a floor and dried before sacking, so as to be in the best condition 

 for the market, for colour of grain aftects the value. 



FERTILISING. 



It has been claimed that the flooding of the rice fields restores to 

 the soil as much nutritive material as the rice crop removes. Where 

 lands are flooded from rivers like the Mississippi or the Nile, which carry 

 a large amount of silt, this may be true. It is not the case where flood- 

 ing is done with pure water. The continued fertility of the rice field can 

 only be maintained by restoring to the soil annually a portion of what 

 the crop removes. Whether this can be more economically done by the 

 use of commercial fertilisers and ploughing under of the rice straw or by 

 following occasionally and using some renovating crop as a green man- 

 ure is an economic question to be determined by each planter according 

 to the conditions presented. Repeated trials of commercial fertilisers 

 have almost invariably shown gains in the quality and quantity of the 

 crop more than sufficient to cover the cost. Summer fallowing, where 

 it can be practiced, is, in addition to its renovating effect, a substantial 

 aid in destroying noxious grasses and red rice. It appears to be a 

 general impression that red rice can be destroyed by allowing the field 

 to remain without crop for a few years and pasturing with sheep or 

 hogs. In one well-established case this was tried for eight years, and 

 at the expiration of that period the field was ploughed and still produced 

 red rice. (Ulose grazing is helpful, but where summer fallowing can b© 

 employed it is far more advantageous than grazing. 



