101 



polish, 11.7 per cent protein, 7.3 per cent fat, and 64.3 per cent fibre 

 and carbohydrates ^ 



According to an estimate mado by Dr. Stubb?, director of the Louisi- 

 ana experiment station,^ rice polish is worth ^21 55 per ton ; rice bran, 

 $20.80 ; rice straw, $9 13; and rice hulls, $S.34. These values are taken 

 assuming the same digestibility for the nutritive elements as for those 

 contained in the by-products of wheat and oth' r cereals. 



HULLS. 



It has been widely assumed that rice hulls have no practical feeding 

 value. The usual practice of rice mills has been to burn them It has 

 ever been asserted that they were pure silicates. The analysis does 

 not confirm this claim. One hundred pounds cf air-dried hulls yield 

 ash 13.85 per cent, fats 65 percent, fibre 38.15 per cent, protein 2.80 

 per cent, and carbohydrates 34.99 per cent. 



They are so deficient in flavor that it is difficult to induce animals to 

 eat them. If ground and mixed with some highly nitro.^enous food 

 they could be used, but the small percentage of digestible material in 

 them renders them almost valueless for food, it is evidently more 

 economical to use them as a fertilizer. For tlds purpose rice hulls are 

 more valuable than wheat or oat straw. While they have less nitrogen, 

 for most soils the ash compensates. In all i ice-producing countries it 

 is important to increase the j orosity of the soils and to add to the 

 humus they contain, for gene al crops. Rice hulls should be ploughed 

 under for this purpose 



Hulls make an excellent mulch for garden and orchard, and in stiff 

 and unfrosted soils are of great value when ploughed under in moderate 

 quantities. The slow decomposition of hulls is here an advantage. 



In oriental countries the hulls or husks are removed al home by pjss- 

 ing the paddy rice through small burs made of clay, or cement, and 

 wood, and are then used by the fa mer as a fertilizer. The cost of 

 renoving the hulls is balanced by their value as a manure and the 

 reduced cost for sacks and freight to market. The hulls form about 20 

 per cent of the weight of paddy rice. If the average costs of sacks and 

 freight to market be estimated at one-four. h of a cent per pound, the 

 saving by removing the hulls on the farm would be 2^ cents per bushel 

 or 8.1 cents per bushel (162 pounds). 



HULL ASHES. 



In passing through rice-milling districts large quantities of hull 

 ashes will be noticed. These hdve been very little used by farmers and 

 gardeners under the general impression that they were of no value. 

 One hundred pounds of hull ashes contain . 82 pound of phosphoric 

 acid and 0.93 pound of potash. There are many other better sources 

 of potash and prosphoric acid. The amount contained in the hull 

 ashes would not pay the cost of scattering them over the fields. 



Calling the mineral iratter in the whole plant 100 per cent, we have, 

 as shown by analysis : 



^yearbook U. S. Dept. Agriculture, 1896, p. 607. 

 I^Louisiana Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 24. 



