Dec. r> 189L] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
37i 
BICE GROWiNii AND ITS PREPARA- 
TION FOE 31AUU.LT. 
By K. W. McCulloch. 
(Published bij Deyartment of Agriculture, Quzensland.) 
INTRODUCTORY. 
Rice Oryza (Liun.), order Gramineos, is a geuus of 
grasses. The inflorescence is ia panicles. Glumes 
two, not exactly opposite, outer pale, ribbed. The 
seeds grow on separate pedicles, which sp,ing from 
the main stalk, and each grain is usually terminated 
by an awn or beard resembling some kinds of wheat. 
Or;/r.a sativa and its varieties yield the wel-known 
rice of commerce. " Paddy " is the name by which 
it is known in its uihusked unprepared state, when 
it closely resembles barley in appearance. It has 
been said before, and will beu- repeating again, that 
probably few people realise, if they have even given 
it a thought, the import mt part that rice p ays in 
the economic history of the world; that probably 
there do^s not extst any otlier product of the soil 
vTViieh forms the staple food of as great a number of 
human beings — comput d at th ee-fifths of the entire 
human race— as depend for subsistence oq rice. 
Ric 1 is supposed to be of Asiatic origin, but i- is 
found growing wild in several other parts of the 
world, notably in central Ameica, Africa, and even 
in our own Colony, Queensland. To India, however, 
belongs the honour of first utilising it as a food, and 
by the cultivation of centuries altering the wild 
product into what it now is. Wild rice is still con- 
sidered a luxury in Madras and other parts of India, 
but it is scarcely eve cultiva ed o-»ing o tue small- 
iiess of the return and the difficulty of hu-vestiog 
as the grain is shed as soon as it rip ns. It is a 
very fine white rice and sweet to the taste. In Indi * 
it is known as "oori," and is treated as a weed. 
The rice plant is to be found growing between the 
45th paiallel north and ti.e 30th south. Rice ia 
extensively cultivated in India and the Bast generally, 
and whea it is mentioned that it is also culti at d 
in the S uth of Italy, ^pain. Portugal, the West Indies, 
Central Americ United S ates, and Australasia, io 
will be readily seen that the plant thrives under 
varying conditions of climate and soil. 
VALUE AS A FOOD 
The nutritive value of rioe has hithe: to been consider- 
ably underrated. Au acknowledged authority once 
said that 1 lb. of rice cooked for the tab e give up 
88 per cent. of its bulk as nutriment, whereas the same 
quantity of beef on y gave 25 percent. Further, boiied 
rice was digestible in an hour, while roast beef took 
three hours. The former cost just one-third of the 
price of the latter. The natives of India perform 
very long journeys and un lergo a great amount of 
exe lion on a handful or two of parched or roas'.ed 
ric3 ; indeed, thoy subs st for days on such a diet 
and Nature's bev«r*.;o, water. Rice analys :d con- 
tains: staroh, 86 9" 1 , g. uteri, 75; fat y matt r, "7; 
sugar and gum, '5; epidermis, 3'5 ; ash. '9 ; t.tal,100. 
The general cjmpjsitio 1 of rice from another analysis 
shows: water, IS 7 ; fl :sh-forming substa ces, 0 5; 
non-nitrogeuuus substa'ices, 79 4; ash, '4; total 100. 
Rice-dust, una 1 , or refuse, made up ef the husk aud 
external layers of rije obtained uy preparing tin 
paddy for mirk it, has been found nooA feed for 
poultry, cows, *nd pigs, containing as much fatty 
substances, it is said, as ilia best oats. The com- 
positio 1 office meal or dust is as follows: — Water, 
12' I ; woody fibre, 46 5 ; starch, gum, and sugar, 25*5 j 
proteine compounds, 0 0 ; fatty matter, 56, soluble 
silino substances, 8*7 ; total 100. Riocme*i as a liesh- 
formiug food nas on y to bj known to bo appreciated. 
A diet of three parts ot riceineal to one . f barley, 
cooked and fed whea cool, will put flesh un pigs in 
a most surprising manner, and his rather a beneficial 
effect on their general health. 1 he hardy little 
Mauiporo ponies used by the planters in Assam aud 
G&Ohar are almost entirely Ld on paddy. Tue stamiua 
of these hill ponies aud tin weights they carry over 
long journeys on a paddy di;t are ample testimony to 
47 
i:s nu'.ritive value — in fact, a very lar^e proportion of 
the equine race in India have paddy as their sole 
food. Sheep, goats, cows, and pigs eat it with relish, 
thrive on it, and indeed a o exceedingly fond 01 it. 
Elephants are also fed on it, and their liking for it 
is so great that next to th j wild pig the elephant is 
reckoned by paddy-growers as the most destructive 
enemy ihey nave to a growing crup. Rice s.nw 
etiiffed and mixed with molasses or linseed meal as a 
diet for milch cows is thought highly of. Rough rice, 
or "paddy," is therefore valuable as stock feed. The 
following analyses by Mr. Norman Tait, of Liverpool, 
show this clearly : — 
Rice Indian Rics 
meal. me il. husk. 
Flesh-formers ... 1230 11-27 4-18 
Oil and fa- ty matt :a- ... 9'00 6'50 110 
Starch, su,$ar &c. ... 57'00 60 98 44 94 
Woody fibre ... ... 4'40 5-02 26'80 
Ash ... ... 7.20 T27 13-18 
Moisture ... ... 10 10 14'95 9'80 
Total food ... 78 30 78'75 50'22 
It will ba seen tha 1 , com meal is a little in advance 
of the rice me d, but it costs about double the priee 
of rice m al. The straw also makes a capital bedding 
for horses, and is universally used in all well-kept 
stables. For mulching purposes it cannot be beaten. 
Rice, i i comparison with potato s, as the f llowing 
analyses show, contains just thr^e times as much 
nutriment : — 
Rice. Potatoes. 
Water ... ... ... 130 75'0 
Flesh-formera ... ... 6'5 1'4 
Starch, &c. ... ... 80 0 22-6 
Total food ... 86-5 24 0 
Henca 1 lb. of rice is equivalent to 4 lb. of potatoes. 
Rice, from its composition, is essentially an article 
of diet suitable for tropical countri s such as Queens- 
land, and were more of it and less beef consumed, 
the doc, r's services would soon be at a discount. 
Rice can be made up into a variety of enticing dishes, 
clean v, nourishing, strengthening, and h althful. 
Probably only on e European c iok in a hundred knows 
how to cook rice. In properly cooked rice each grain 
should be of a firm consistency, and separate— not 
at one sees it on most tables, in a mashy, lumpy, 
sticky state, positively uninviting. A description of 
the prop.r method of cooking rice as practised by 
Orieniais will not come amiss in a pap^r "on rice." 
In the first place, he ro requires to be thoroughly 
washed m cold wate. : it takes three or four washings 
to do it p operly. I- should tuen be placed in a 
saucepan or uther vessel three parts full of water, 
and allowed to boil just long enough to soften the 
graia, which is ascertained by taking a grain or two 
from time to time and pressiug between finger and 
thumb, and when found to bo soft it sh mid be taken 
off tue fire immediately, the lid of the vessel opened 
a bit, aud the vessel inverted to allow the wa er to 
drain off thoroughly; the lid should taeu be fasteued 
tight and the rice allowe 1 to steam. It is then 
tur..ed out, aud will be found to be quite white, 
with each grain separate. Rice should never bo 
sti red while boiling. The great mis.ake made in 
cooking ricj consists of not allowing sufficient water, 
and ov rcooking. When it is considered th*t rice, 
in boiling, absorbs toree times its weight ot water, 
thj advisableness of alowing a larger quantity of 
water is obvious. 
TRODUCTS FROJI RICE. 
In India a very intoxicating spirit named "arrack" 
is distilled from rio and is consumed by the lower 
classes principally. Ia Jap m a rice beer, known as 
"s;ike," is extensively brewed, aud is the principal 
f.rmentcd beverage of the inhabitants. 
Rice contains 70 per cent, if starch, a jd is largely 
U3«d by siarchmakers, so that a good demaud exists 
for it for that purpose. 
STATISTICAL. 
Queensland imported in 1890 nearly 3,350 tons of 
rice, valued at £47,193, and exported duriug the same 
period 215,167 lb., value! at £1,304, leaving for homo, 
