THE MAGAZINE 
OP 
Tf)G mWOL OF AGRIOULTURG, 
COLOMBO. 
Added as Supidement inonlhhi to the ^'TllOPIGAL AGRICULTURIST/ 
'[’he following pages hichule the eout‘=!iitH of the Magazine of the School of 
Agriculture for March ; — 
ItlCK. 
lie growth mul iiri'paratioii of 
vice for the market is dealt with 
ill a bulletin issued by tlio Uris- 
bniie Uepartmont of Agriculture. 
tVitli regard to its value as a 
food, it is stated that the nutritious value 
of rice has hitherto been considerably un- 
derrated, that one pound of rice cooked 
for the table gave up 88 per cent ot 
it back as nutriment, whereas the same ((uan- 
tity of beef only gave tio per cent, and fur- 
ther that boiled rice woia digestible in an hour, 
while roast beef (costing three times its pricel took 
;5 hours. The following is the general compo- 
sition of rice: water IIV", flesh-forming sub- 
stances ti'o, non-nit rogenoua substances 7!)'4, 
ash ’4 per cent. ; while analysis shows rice to 
contain of starch Bti’il, gluten 7'o, fatty matter 
■ 7 , sugar and gum 'o, epidrmis 3'o, ash ’!) per 
cent. The following comparison between rice 
and potatoe.s is interesting, as showing the former 
to contain three times as much nutriment : 
Rice. Potatoes. 
Water 13'0 7o’() 
Pleah-formers. . . .fi'A I’l 
Starch, &c 80 0 
Total Food 80’.’) -4'0 
Thus 1 lb. of rice is equivalent to 4 lbs. of 
potatoes. Rico contains 70 per cent of starch. 
The gri'at and rapid digestibility of starch, and 
J-l'e large percentage of carbo-hydrates or 
'■cat-producing substances it contains no doubt 
"ccounts for the fact of the coolies of our 
Phinting di.sl rlcts being able to perform so much 
Work while subsisting on an almost pure rice diet. 
To prove the prolific nature of rice, the re- 
®"lt of an American experiment (which those 
Who cannot conceive how paddy could give a 
return ot .lOO fold, would do well to note) is 
given. A single grain is said to have produced 
more than ninety for the first crop, and over 
110 for the second. After removing the im- 
perfect grains, the whole number of grains 
from the one original grain was found to be 
2.'j.70tl ! 
Thrashing, to separate the grain from the 
straw and stalks ; hulling, removing the outer 
skin or husk ; separating, removing the trash 
and any unliulled grains ; and finally, polishing, 
to complete the process of Tict>-cleaning for the 
market by removing the inner cuticle, may all 
be done by machinery, which can be purchased 
in sots or separately for either hand, animal 
or steam power. A complete set of hand-jiower 
rice-cleaning machinery', with a capacity of 
from .'lOO lbs. to fiOO lbs. per day, will cost 
,t‘d3 'In. (ill. in Now York ; a set for animal 
power of the same capacity, .4:87 l.)«. The be.st 
known manufacturers of rice-cleaning machinery 
are George L. Squier Manufacturing Company 
of Buffalo, New York. 
Such machinery is a great improvement on 
the primitive methods adopted for cleaning rice 
in Kastern countries. The mode of thrashing 
paddy by tramjiling with bullocks, and winnow- 
ing the grain by dropping it from a height 
in a light breeze are too well known to need 
description. The hulling or husking of paddy 
is, however, done in more than one way : — 1. 
The imiilement moat commonly used by the 
natives of India consists of a heavy beam of 
timber about 8 feet long, into one end of which 
a short shaft shod with iron is fitted at right 
angles to the log. The centre of the beam 
rests on a cross bar, to which it is (i.xed, rest- 
ing upon two uprights sunk into the ground. 
The iron-shod shaft rests in a wooden cup sunk 
below the level of the ground. The implement 
is worked by one or more persons pressing 
the free end of the log down with one foot, 
and letting go, when the shod ends drop.s into 
the cup holding the paddy. 2. A second 
