114 TlMEHRI. 
can find it laid down in books, and while 2 crops in a 
year is considered a wonderful yield in China, Japan, 
India, America and elsewhere, here we have well 
authenticated records of 3 crops in the year, and if 
ratoon crops were taken into account it would raise the 
return to 5 crops. Twenty-three dollars rent per annum is 
out of all proportion to the selling value of land. Mul- 
tiply that sum by 75,000 acres in cane cultivation, 
$1,728,000? If the land owners could realize half that sum 
by their canefields, there would be no cry of hard times. 
Turning to improvements in threshing and dressing 
grain, my friend Mr. Cornish has suggested certain 
minor appliances to deal with the rice in small quantities 
for local consumption which I have sent for. There have 
been no end of patents for cleaning rice, but all seem to 
fail. I have myself introduced one machine by WlLSON 
of London which played such havoc with the rice that it 
had to be given up. The late Mr. OLIVER introduced a 
card machine shod with bent steel wire fixed into a band, 
which ran at a high velocity against a plain roller ; but 
this also failed. So I am afraid there is no high road to 
rice cleaning. It must just be subjected to mill stones for 
breaking the rough crust and then to stamps, such as are 
in use in large rice cleaning factories in Europe; where 
by the way, all rice is received from the East in the paddy 
state, as the husk prevents destruction by weevils. ■ 
The following description of rice preparation is from 
De Bow's Review, and embraces the most complete 
treatment of the subject that I have come across ; — 
Process of Preparation.— The stones which are used for grinding rice 
should be five to six feet two inches diameter, and eighteen inches thick 
at the centre. 
