Edible Products. 



320 



[April, 1910. 



The Koreans grow the standard food 

 l'ice, the glutinous or " cake " variety, 

 and the " Providence " or upland rice. 

 The dry-grown rice is, naturally, of poor 

 quality and little of it is used. The 

 Korean follows the Chinese and Japanese 

 methods of rice culture on about 90 per 

 cent, of the farms of the Peninsula. The 

 American covered and open methods 

 are rarely used in the Orient, but instead 

 the wet-grown rice is sown very thickly 

 in a limited number of paddy fields, 

 or in certain " cheeks" (sections of the 

 paddy field always used tor the purpose, 

 between " cheek " walls) called nurseries, 

 and when the plants are about 6 inches 

 high, or about at the American " point 

 flow," and before the head shoots and 

 the grain appears the shoots are plucked 

 up and transplanted. This process of 

 transplanting takes place during June, 

 and the paddies (fields), usually lifeless, 

 are then seen full of busy men and 

 women knee-deep in the water. 



Skill op Chinese and Japanese. 

 The Japanese and Chinese are probably 

 the most skilful rice growers in the 

 world, the former having made a study 

 of the process for many years. The 

 Japanese have, by the skilful use of 

 fertilizers, increased the productive 

 power of their land. The Koreans use 

 wood ash and manure as fertilizers, at 

 times kneading it into the soil of the 

 paddy fields with their hands. The 

 field (" cheek " or "page " of the paddy 

 field, as designated in the vernacular 

 expression) in which the seed rice is 

 grown resembles, shortly after the 

 tender shoots appear, a patch of 

 Kentucky blue grass. This is thinned 

 out and the shoots transplanted over 

 the entire paddy field. The American 

 open and covered methods are at times 

 employed in planting mountain rice. 

 The Japanese method of planting has 

 been tried iu America but with doubtful 

 success. 



The Japanese sow their lice on the 

 88th day from the beginning of spring 

 and transplant it in Nyubai, the period 

 fixed for the early summer rains. The 

 220th day from the beginning of spring 

 is looked upon as a day of special import- 

 ance to the crops, which are at this 

 time certain to be injured if there is a 

 storm, for the rice is in full bloom. A 

 similar method obtains in Korea, it 

 being the local custom to plant the rice 

 at certain periods of the native calendar 

 and transplant it at others, the times 

 varying in the different provinces of the 

 peninsula. 



Korean Method op Cultivation. 



The Korean lowland farmer plants his 

 rice in small paddies, after transplanting, 



separated by low " cheek banks." He 

 regulates his water carefully at certain 

 times, as does the American rice grower, 

 and weeds at stated periods. The water 

 flow is regulated by intake and spillway 

 flumes or small ditches. Dry lice is also 

 grown, the American open method 

 being used in planting. The harvest is 

 cut in October by hand and stacked to 

 dry. The grain is then beaten fiom the 

 stalk by hand and sacked, and the 

 tenant then divides with the landlord. 

 The rice is next hulled by being run 

 between wooden toothed rollers operated 

 by hand. The methods of polishing 

 the grain vary. An ingenious water 

 hammer, operated by a bucket on one 

 end of a larger hammer handle that fills 

 with water from the stream and raises 

 the hammer, which falls on the rice 

 when the water runs out through the 

 spillway of the bucket and thus relieves 

 the weight, is sometimes used. It is 

 also polished by a long handled hammer 

 operated by foot power. The women 

 usually polish the rice, or the farmers 

 do it at odd times when they have 

 nothing else to do, so the exact cost of 

 hand-cleaning is not known. 



Varieties op Korean Rice. 



There are several varieties of rice 

 grown in Korea, namely, the glutinous, 

 non-glutinous, and the red or "beer" 

 rice, native beer being made from the 

 latter. As with other Orientals the 

 Korean prefers his native rice to that of 

 foreign growth. There are three main 

 brands of native rice, namely, the ordin- 

 ary paddy-field rice, the so-called upland 

 rice, and the mountain rice. The paddy- 

 field rice is also known specifically as 

 the "tap-tok" rice and is used almost 

 exclusively to make the ordinary boiled 

 rice or "pap.'' The so-called upland 

 rice is the " chung-gok " or field rice, and 

 is drier than the paddy-field rice, being 

 used extensively for brewing beer and 

 for making ricu flour. The mountain 

 rice is known as " fire-field rice," no 

 doubt because it is grown exclusively on 

 the mountain slopes facing the sun and 

 generally in the southern districts of 

 the country, for the Korean word "wha" 

 or "fire" i9 the element corresponding 

 with south, so instead of being " south- 

 field rice " it is " fire-field rice " on 

 account of the location or the sunny 

 situation. This rice is much smaller 

 and harder than the other kinds, and is 

 used largely to supply the garrisons, 

 since it withstands the weather better 

 than the other grades and may be stored 

 for years without deterioration. 



The enemies of the Korean rice crop 

 are drought, flood, worms, and locusts 



