Jan. i, 1895.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
443 
paddy is plac d in this mortar and pounded with 
a shaft 5 feet in length, shod at one end. The 
shaft is grasped by the middle, raised to the full 
extent of the arms, and da-:hed ioto the mortar, this 
pounding continuing till aU the gra n is hu?ked. 
Two or three may engage in the work, and, as iu 
the firstnamed implement, one per oa has to attend 
to the mortar and keep pushing the grain in. There 
is con iderable waste by this process, as the rice 
gets broken and is winnowed out with the hu^k and 
dust. But it need not be lost. If all this is collected 
ant fei to pigs and cows, the grain to the farmer 
will more than counterbalance the actual loss in rice. 
Another system of husking is to pas the paddy 
through, a small pair of millstones or cyliuders of the 
same shape, made to hardwood, set on end and grooved 
on the working surface. The distance be ween is 
regulated, so as to remove the husk by friction without 
breaking the grain and chaff being wiunowed as 
before desciibet. After the husk is off, the inner 
skin covering the grain has to be rem ved by pounding 
in a mor ar. The paddy should be one year old 
before husking, old rice being preferable to new in 
point of rldvour. 
The above primitive methods of preparing rice are 
certainly slow and tedious, and lik-ly to disgust 
the would-be rce-grower, but in the absence of 
winn .wing and husking machinery they are the only 
pos ible mak-shifts, and cun be worked by him=elf 
and family. The greater proportion of the paddy pre- 
pared for the market in India passed through a 
steaming and soaking process b fore being husked, 
which serves to render the removal of the husk easier 
and to minimise breakage. The paddy is steeped in 
wat-r for forty-eight hours, and is then pui into 
another vessel with a small qun tity cf water and 
placed over the fire ; just sufficient water is used 
to merely steam the couten's. After this it is dried 
thoroughly in the sun for two or more davs, and 
then pounded iu the mortar b for 3 mentioned. The 
pad ly loses one-third iu Weight by the husking ; that is 
to say, three bushe's of pa'dy when husked will 
g.ve two bushels of rice. A bushel of paddy equals 
from 40 to 45 lb., and a bushel of clean polished 
r ce 60 to 65 lb., d-pendent m the siza of the grain. 
Is a cut of an American hand rice huller, manu- 
faciured iy the above firm, has a capacity of 200 1b. 
of rough or paddy 'ice in twelve hours, and costs 
£10 8s. 4d. in the State', i he machine is simple in 
construction and is durable. 
Eepr.-eents a hul'er and polisher, mauuf ctured by 
the E'geburg Huller Coy., of Syraose, U.S.A. 
This machine has a capacity of from 75 to 150 bushels 
in tea hou s and both hulls the rough rice and polishes 
it in the oue operation, a' d co-'t £100. 
Is a cut of modern rice mill, is automatic inaction, 
and can put through' 13,000 lb. or 300 t ushels of rough 
rice psr d>y, and costs about £1,230, 
The above modern rice machinery has all origi- 
nated from the primitive appliances used from the 
days of Abraham, and which m y, even in these 
days, be seen at work in the East. 
Gives a very fair representation of the appliances in 
question. Their ingenuity cannot be disputed, and 
tor want of a better method, any farmer can easily 
apply this system. 
The initial cost of these machines, taking into 
conside ation the work thoy perform, is not excessive, 
but doub'less their price places them beyond he 
reach of sm .11 growers. These small h uid machines 
arc not -a'.isfaoto y, the article produced by them 
not being the same as that from higher class mahi- 
nory, consequently the valui of tho rice would 10 
consider -bly .ess. C )-operation of rice-growers is the 
only suc-es fal method of tackling th'3 iu ustry— 
tho cost of tin necessary ni'diinery divided among 
ten or a dozen farmers would not amount to much 
after all. Individual efforts in both growing and 
preparing rice for tho market, especially the latter, 
will end in failure. Like tho sugar industry, the 
pr Dotation of the rice should bo distinct f»>m the 
growing of it, aul hereiu will bo fjuud success 
financially, 
WILL IT PAT? 
Under favourable circumstances one acre under 
rice will produce from 50 up to 90 bushels of erain 
per acre. Quite recently on the Clarence R.ver, 
New South Wales, a crop was gathered which gave 
67 bushels of grain, and it is said (but this most 
be a misprint), 80 tons of straw to the acre. In 
the Cairns district last season, the average rice yield 
per acre is estimated at 2 tons. Taking 2 tons, 
then or 74 bushels, as a basis for calculation, we 
find that paddy, or the rough uuhusked rice, being 
worth to the grower, say, £9 5s. per ton, or 5s. 
per bushel (the price varies between £8 and £10), 
2 tons per acre will realise £18 10s., and this multi- 
plied by two crops, gives £37. Then the straw, 
being good feed, would, iu all probability, meet 
with a re idy sale, if done up into bales, at from 
£2 to £3 10s. per ton, and, taking the yield of straw 
at 5 tons to the acre, so realise another £10 per 
acre, or in all, £57 per acre for the two crops. The 
cost of putting the land under crop will be amply 
met if set down at £9 per acre. Profit per acre, 
say, £18 10s., at which price it cannot but be ad-' 
mitted that rice growing will pay. 
Rice milling is also remunerative enterprise. Taking ■ 
rice at the present market value — viz., £23 per ton, 
to produce which 3 tons of paddy would have to 
be milled, we find 3 tons of paddy at £9 5s. equals 
£27 15?., producing 2 tons rice at £23 equa's £46.; 
difference, £18 5s., or equivalent to £6 Is. 8d per ton 
of p.ddy, from which deduct the cost of milling, 
amply met by, i. c'uding all charges £2 per t n. Net 
profit, £4 Is. 8J. p;r ton. Furth r, rice chaff has a com- 
me: cial val e, and is commanding a good price in Eu- 
rope today. It is u?ed exte. sively tor packing glass, 
canued goods, and like packages, for which purpose it 
cannot be equalled. This chaff realises in the Germaa 
rnaivet something like fr m i!3 to £4 per ton. 
•it* v'-t ■ *- - .wtigntT 
PARTICULARS re RAMIE CULTIVATION, 
(For/carded bij a Glo,s(iov) constituent of Messrs. 
Bosanquet. & Co., of Colombo.) 
1st. — Shou'd be grown from plants, not seeds, 
2nd. — A "Nursery" of say 20 acres should be planted 
out to begin with and from this nursery, cuttings obtain^- 
ed for rapid extension to a. mucii larger acreage. The 
211 acres wou'd also give marketable product as below. 
3rd. — Plant yields 4 crops per annum of "ribbons" 
{i.e. the stem ) which is the commercial product, 
E:ch crop should give at least 10 cwt. of " ribbons" 
per acre, which equals 2 tons per season, or probably 
2i tons. But in the first year, the first crop should 
be put back on the grouud as manure, as the pro- 
duct of the first crop is valueless for " ribbons," bo 
the first year there are but 3 marketable crops, each 
year thereafter 4 crops. The plants, taken care of, 
la^t permanently, and crop for a hundred years. 
4th. — The leaves of the plant, and also the rubbish 
left by the reducing machines, shou d go on the g ound 
as manure. (Cat'Ie also eat the leaves with avidity), 
5th. — While Rd,mie grows w Id in China the product 
is very coarse, and to obtain the commercial material 
of good quality requires care in cultivation, just as any 
other na.ural product- The method is as follows: — 
In hot or dry couutries irrigitiou is necessary. "No' 
water, no Ramie." After ploughing to a depth of 15 
inches, and harrowing the ground, au 1 having fur- 
rows three feet apart, the plants should be set in 
late autumn, mois iseason 18" apart. Broad cart ways 
should be left at convenient distances apart for getting 
at the plants at harvesting time. The ground should 
be plou.'hed between the youn^ pla.ts similar to 
cultivating potatoes. Keep ground well weeded. 
When once a plantation is formed it keeps down 
1 he weeds. Liqu d manure is best, but others w ill do. 
When harvesting, the stems should be cut when 
the colour changes a few inches from the ground, 
conveyed to the decorticating machines, aud then 
the fibre given from them packed iu ba.es lor ship- 
ment. Machines would be shipped from this hid«>. 
Before packing the " ribbons, ' thoroughly dry them, 
{ 83 as to preveut fermcuUUou, The plums saouid. 
