Feb. 1908.J 



133 



Edible Products. 



with horse and hand hoes. All weeds, 

 grasses and self-set rice are uprooted 

 and the ground thoroughly stirred. It 

 is during the "dry growth" that condi- 

 tions are most favourable for grubs, and 

 an intermediate flow is sometimes neces- 

 sary to protect the crop from these 

 worms. 



When the plant begins to joint the 

 " harvest flow" is turned on. First, the 

 water is raised till it covers all the high 

 places in the fields, and is held so for 

 three, four or five days, after which it is 

 lowered to where the stretch flow was. 

 In a few days the water is again raised 

 till it almost touches the rice heads, 

 where it remains till the grain is ripe. 

 The harvest flow extends over 65 days, 

 and, in order that the water may not 

 become stagnant, it is shifted every ten 

 days. When the grain is ripe the heads 

 bend low. The field is then drained for 

 harvest. 



Some fields require more water than 

 others, and by careless irrigation a 

 volume of water many times in excess of 

 that actually needed may be used. The 

 amount of water used, however, is of 

 very little importance, as the supply is 

 almost unlimited, and as to questions of 

 water rights there are none. 



Weeding.— During the rice growing 

 season harmful weeds and grasses grow 

 on the banks and in the fields and ditches. 

 These weeds and grasses must be cut 

 down and their growth prevented. Hand 

 weeding is very effective, and the conse- 

 quent loosening of the soil is very favour- 

 able to the growth of the crop. 



In cultivating this cereal the horse hoe, 

 a kind of plough, and the common hand 

 hoe are used. Underthe best cultivation 

 the field is horse-hoed once and hand-hoed 

 twice. Where the drainage is poor the 

 horse hoe is not taken on the held and 

 all cultivation is done by hand. 



The needs of the rice plant require that 

 the ground be thoroughly stirred. This 

 places food within reach of the plant and 

 prevents a rapid drying of the soil. Rice 

 cannot be grown here successfully with- 

 out cultivation. The application of water 

 cannot take the place of hoeing. On irri- 

 gated land the top surface, often flooded, 

 becomes a paste. This when dried beneath 

 a scorching sun becomes hard and baked 

 and forms a crust that arrests the growth 

 of the plant. 



Harvesting. —In the Georgia and Caro- 

 lina States harvesting machinery is not 

 used. All the rice is cut with the sickle. 

 The beds, in order to permit of complete 

 drainage, are made very narrow and 

 usually small. For this reason the har- 



vester cannot be used without great loss, 

 owing to the amount of grain broken 

 down and wasted in using the machine. 



Rice is cut when the straw barely 

 begins to colour, when the lower part of 

 the head (about one-eighth)is still "in the 

 milk." If cutting is delayed until the 

 entire head is quite ripe, the quality is 

 inferior and the quantity greatly reduced 

 by the loss incurred by shelling out in 

 handling. 



It is cut 10 to 12 inches from the ground, 

 leaving a high stubble on which the grain 

 is laid to cure. In about 24 hours, when 

 the grain is thoroughly dry, it is bound 

 into sheaves, tied with strawand shocked. 

 The labourer waits in the morning till 

 the dew passes off before making the 

 stook. As soon as possible, in order to 

 avoid the danger of storms, the sheaves 

 are taken in carts and wagons to the 

 threshing mill, one of which is placed on 

 each plantation. Some planters have a 

 "stacking yard" on high ground, safe 

 from floods and storms, where, after the 

 grain is cut, it is carried and stacked. 



Harvest work is given in tasks to 

 coloured men and women. They cut, tie 

 and put the sheaves in stooks for 2 dol, 

 per acre. 



Threshing. — Threshing is done on near- 

 ly all plantations with a steam thresher 

 not unlike the machines used in threshing 

 wheat. The machiues are stationary and 

 very large. Threshing mills are erected 

 on tide-water canals or on the banks of 

 streams, in order that tugs and lighters 

 may come to the mill and carry the 

 produce to market. In the process 

 of threshing the grain is thoroughly 

 cleaned by fans and screens, which 

 remove all the light and inferior grains, 

 chaff, &c, from the maketable article. 

 This is then carried by elevators into 

 large bins, where it is stored. Great care 

 is taken that the grain be thoroughly dry 

 before threshing. 



The rough rice or paddy, as it is taken 

 to the mill, has two coverings, a thin, 

 close cuticle, encased by a coarse, thick, 

 stiff husk. Milling consists in removing 

 these coverings. In the process 20 lbs. 

 of husks are taken from 10C lbs. of paddy. 



The grain is usually brought to mill in 

 boats and taken from the boats by eleva- 

 tors. The first operation the paddy 

 undergoes in the mill consists in recleau- 

 iug, after which it passes between milling 

 stones, distant from one another by 

 about two-thirds of the length of the 

 grain. These tear off the husks, and, as 

 the product passes over screens and 

 bellows, the chaff and grain are separated. 

 The grain is now placed in mortars, where- 

 in the cuticle is removed by pounding 



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