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a a a 
OEE —————e 
eee i pe A AE LES PLP EINE ETI RST AT POINT RI PO 
RICK. 
are told by Crawfurd, that in Java an English acre 
of good land yields annually, besides a green crop, 
641 lbs. avoirdupois of clean-grained rice; but, on 
the lighter soils, where two crops are reaped annual- 
ly, an acre does not average above 285 lbs. per crop. 
Even in the rich plains of Lombardy, the average 
crop per acre is only estimated at 48 bushels per 
acre; and inthe Carnatic, where four crops are raised 
in one year, two on the same ground, we are told by 
Mr. Porter, that the first crop produces fifty-fold, 
the second forty-fold, the third the same, and the 
fourth between twenty and thirty fold. Rice in 
Java yields, under favourable circumstances, from 
twenty-five to thirty-fold; but the produce of the 
mountain-rice does not exceed half this quantity. 
The separation of the grain from the ear is, in 
most countries where rice is extensively cultivated, 
performed by means of a hand-flail; no machine 
having yet been contrived for the successful perform- 
ance of this operation. As the husk adheres very 
tenaciously, it is passed through a pair of millstones, 
so far separated from each other as to remove the 
husk without crushing the grain; the pellicle being 
afterwards disengaged by trituration in large mortars. 
The rice of India is for home-consumption husked 
dry; but when intended for exportation, it is scalded. 
Paddy or rice in the husk is now imported into Eng- 
land, in considerable quantities. and a great saving of 
price is thus made. Not only is there less waste in 
the transportation, but it is divested of the husk 
much better by the improved machinery of England 
than by the rude and simple Indian method. ‘The 
apparatus for this purpose was invented by Messrs. 
Lucas and Ewbank, who obtained a patent for its 
exclusive use in the year 1827. 
RICHARDIA. See Canua. 
RICINUS. See Patma-Curistr and Castor- 
Orn. 
RICK. A pile of corn, hay, straw, or other 
field produce, regularly heaped up in the open 
air, and sheltered by thatch from rain and snow. 
See the articles Stack, Havmaxrina, and Barn- 
MANAGEMENT. 
RICK-CLOTH. See Haymaxine. 
RICK-YARD. The department of the farm- 
yard appropriated to ricks and stacks. 
RIDDER. An addition made to some varie- 
ties of the Scotch swing plough, for clearing 
away the stubble from the coulter. It isa very 
simple contrivance; but is not needed in any of 
the thoroughiy good constructions of the plough. 
See the article Proven. 
RIDDLE, A sieve, with a circular rim of 
wood and a bottom of open mesh-,vork, for se- 
- parating large and heavy impurities from grain. 
It may have either a wire or a wooden bottom ; 
and it is made of different diameters, and with 
different widths of mesh, to suit different pur- 
poses and different grains. See the articles 
Sieve and Barn-ManaGEmMeEnt. 
RIDGE. The portion of a ploughed field in- 
termediate between two open furrows. 
The disposing of fields in ridges is designed to 
facilitate surface drainage; and may be regarded 
as indispensable on all retentive soils in a wet 
climate. But wherever it is not really required 
for sufficient drainage—as on all lands which 
gO TE PE TL AE YR TS FOE EOI EOE ER EEE A TP FA we 
ne 
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RIDGE. 63 
enough, or artificially subsoil-drained enough, to 
effect the rapid absorption and permeation of 
excess of moisture from prolonged and heavy 
rains—it must be pronounced exceedingly waste- 
ful and injurious,—occasioning as much loss of 
land as the furrows occupy, as much loss of soil 
and manure as the surface-drainage sweeps away, 
and as much deficiency of crop as arises from 
unequal distribution of moisture, See the arti- 
cles Drarning and Provenine. The very high 
ridges of some parts of England, too, and the 
very narrow ones of some parts or even most 
parts of Ireland, entail some serious additional 
disadvantages oftheir own. “ Inhighly elevated 
ridges,” remarks Martin Doyle, “the mould is 
accumulated to such a depth in the centre that 
it becomes inert, while the soil on the sides ap- 
proaching the furrows is gradually more shallow ; 
a very high ridge is also under the inconvenience 
of having the sunny side more luxuriant, and 
sooner ripe, than the other side less favoured 
by the sun, or more exposed to wind. The com- 
mon Trish, like the Norman farmer, who has 
often a winding ridge (but only because the side 
of the field at which he commences happens to 
be crooked), and always an extremely narrow 
one, four feet, cannot assign any good reason for 
his bad practice, when on perfectly dry land, 
except that from habit he would not know how 
to plough if he had not. his frequent furrows to 
direct him.” Ploughing without any kind of 
ridges, too, or with a perfectly flat and uniform 
surface, effects a considerable saving of the la- 
bours of tillage, and puts the ground into the 
most convenient state for the operation of mow- 
ing, and is favourable for the conversion of arable 
land into grass. The best methods of it are with 
the turnwrest plough,—and in broad level 
ridges with the common plough, followed by a 
one-bout filling of the inter-furrow,—and in con- 
centric lines round and round a hill from the 
circumference to. the centre, or from the centre 
to the circumference. “This mode,” remarks 
Sir John Sinclair, in reference to the last of 
these methods, “requires little more force than 
common ploughing; it is likewise an expeditious 
mode, as there is no occasion for turning, and is 
economical, as by it every inch of the soil is 
moved.” 
Whenever ridges are necessary, they ought to 
be perfectly straight, and to have such a length, 
breadth, and direction as will best promote econo- 
my and best suit the conditions of the land. A 
length of about 150 yards is very suitable on 
fields with much acclivity,—of from 240 to 300 
yards on wet soils,—and of from 350 to 400 yards 
on somewhat dry soils. The proper breadth is a 
subject of great debate among farmers of differ- 
ent views and different districts; but ought to 
be as great as will comport with thorough drain- 
age and general convenience, and must, in some 
are suitable for the action of the turnwrest | degree, be determined by character of soil and 
plough, and on all which are naturally porous | climate, and by the mode of culture, whether 
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