The rice stalk borer (Chilo plejadellus Treuck) is a crambid moth, the larva of which bores into the upper part of the stems, and in part, at least, is believed to cause what is known as "white blast." If it becomes serious, which is seldom, burning of stubble is recommended. The chinch bug (151) is sometimes injurious to rice fields, and the fall army worm (Laphygma frugiperda Sm. and Abb.), when numerous, may become injurious.

521. BIRDS.-In some sections, the rice bird, reed bird or bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus L.) is one of the most serious obstacles to the culture of rice. It attacks the rice fields during the ripening period, being especially injurious when rice is in the milk. The rice bird is particularly injurious in the South Atlantic States, where it is common to hire men and boys, called "bird minders," to scare away the birds, the common method being that of shooting off guns loaded with powder, but usually not with shot, since the latter injures the rice.

The English sparrow (Passer domesticus L.) has become a serious pest in parts of Louisiana, both to the ripening grain and while it is in the shock. The best prevention for the latter is prompt threshing, and, where this is not practicable, stacking.

Many species of other birds occur in large numbers in the rice districts, drawn there by the abundance of palatable food, the most numerous of which are the various species of blackbirds. While these birds eat some rice, they gain most of their sustenance from the grain that has fallen to the stubble and from weed seeds; and are, therefore, believed to be beneficial rather than injurious.

XXV.

RICE.

I. HARVESTING AND USE.

522. Time of Harvesting. It requires from four to six months to mature a crop of rice. The date of harvesting in the United States varies usually from August to October, the early seeding and early harvest being preferred. The price realized generally is greater on account of lack of competition from foreign rice. The stage of maturity is probably more important with rice than with any other cereal crop, because of its marked tendency to shatter, and because of the process of milling, which requires grains which are not easily broken. Uniformity of ripeness is also essential; hence the desirability of having all portions of the field covered with as uniform depth of water as practicable. To get the best results, it is usually considered desirable to harvest when the grain is in the stiff dough and the straw somewhat green.

523. Method of Harvesting.-In the South Atlantic States and along the Mississippi River the sickle is still used, although not exclusively. In this case the sheaves are laid upon the stubble to partially dry when they are bound. In some cases the bundles are put into the shock, where they remain until drawn to the thresher; while in other cases they are drawn from the field and placed in stacks, or in still other cases the grain is stacked loose. Heating in either shock or stack is liable to take place.

"A rough method of measuring the temperature of the rick is by inserting a stake into the mass at either end. The stakes are examined daily by being drawn out suddenly, and if the inner point is found to be too hot to hold in the hand, the

rick must be pulled down, aired and built afresh; but if the stake is not too hot to hold, the rick must be left undisturbed." 1

In the prairie regions the self-binding harvester is used. (164) Slow curing in the shade gives best milling rice. Shocks should be placed upon dry ground lengthwise east and west, and caps should be put on with heads towards the north in order to avoid the sun as far as may be. (161)

524. Threshing.-Rice is now universally threshed in the United States with the ordinary threshing machine. The itinerant machine (167) is used in the South Central States, but in the South Atlantic States stationary threshing machines placed under cover are employed, when they are referred to as threshing mills. Some care is required to adjust the machine so as not to break the grains.

525. Use. The chief use of rice is for human food. It is estimated to enter into the dietary of more than one-half the population of the world, and is said to form more than fifty per cent of the subsistence of the people in some parts of Asia. In China it is used largely in connection with the fish raised so abundantly in their numerous waterways, and also with the soja bean (Glycine hispida Maxim.), which, on account of the high per cent of protein and fat in this bean, makes a diet resembling closely one made of meat, potatoes, bread and butter. Rice is usually eaten whole or in soups; it is seldom made into any form of bread or pastry, for which it is not well adapted, on account of its low percentage of gluten. It is sometimes, however, mixed with wheat flour. Rice is largely used for the manufacture of starch, and its lower grades are also used in the production of malt and alcoholic liquors. (465) The lower grades are so extensively used for this purpose as to be known to the trade as brewers' rice.

1 U. S. Dept. of Agr., Div. of Stat. Misc. Ser. 6, p. 23. U. S. Dept. of Agr., Div. of Bot. Bul. 22, p. 29.

Rice straw is not highly prized as food for domestic animals on account of its lack of palatability, nor for bedding because of its coarseness. It is valued as manure for rice and other lands; the straw, together with roots and stubble, containing much the larger proportion of the ash ingredients of the plant. The so-called "rice straw" used for making hats and other articles is not rice straw but that of other cereals grown for that purpose. (490) The so-called "rice paper" of the Chinese

1

2

is made from the pith of a

tree native to the island of Formosa.1

526. Preparation for Use. The paddy or rough rice. is prepared for use first by the removal of the husk or hull, and next by the removal of the cuticle or bran;

Rice, variety Honduras, showing steps in the mill- the bran in this case being

ing process: 1, rough rice, as it comes from the threshing machine, known as paddy; 2, same rice after it has been through the sheller, which removes husks or flowering glume and palea; 3, clean rice after it has been through either mortar and pounder or huller to remove cuticle and embryo, and through polisher to give

it a highly finished surface. (After Bond.)

analogous to the bran, middlings and shorts of wheat. After the cuticle and embryo have been removed the kernels are polished in order to enhance their glossy ap

pearance. This is believed in no way to improve the nutritive value but rather to decrease it; however, it greatly improves its commercial value. The following is a detailed account of the

milling process: 2

"The processes of milling rice are quite complicated. The paddy is first screened to remove trash and foreign particles. The hulls, or chaff, are removed by rapidly revolving 'milling stones' set about two-thirds of the length of a rice grain apart. The produce goes over horizontal screens and blowers, which separate the light

1 U. S. Dept. of Agr., Div. of Stat. Misc. Ser. 6, p. 15.

2 The Present Status of Rice Culture in the United States. By S. A. Knapp. U. S. Dept. of Agr., Div. of Bot. Bul. 32, pp. 34-35.

chaff and the whole and broken kernels. The grain is now of a mixed yellow and white color. To remove the outer skin the grain is put in huge mortars holding from 4 to 6 bushels each and pounded with pestles weighing 350 to 400 pounds. Strange to say, the heavy weight of the pestle breaks very little grain.

"When sufficiently decorticated, the contents of the mortars, consisting now of flour, fine chaff, and clean rice of a dull, filmy creamy color, are removed to the flour screens, where the flour is sifted out. From thence the rice and fine chaff go to the fine-chaff fan, where the fine chaff is blown out and mixed with the other flour. The rice flour, as we call it, or more properly 'rice meal,' as our English neighbors call it, is very valuable as stock feed, being rich in carbohydrates as well as albuminoids.

"From the fine-chaff fan the rice goes to the cooling bins, rendered necessary by the heavy frictional process through which it has just passed. It is allowed to remain here for eight or nine hours, and then passes to the brush screens, whence the smallest rice and what little flour is left pass down one side and the larger rice down the other.

"The grain is now clean and ready for the last process-polishing. This is necessary to give the rice its pearly luster, and it makes all the difference imaginable in its appearance. The polishing is effected by friction against the rice of pieces of moose hide or sheepskin tanned and worked to a wonderful degree of softness, loosely tacked around a double cylinder of wood and wire gauze. From the polishers the rice goes to the separating screens, composed of different sizes of gauze, where it is divided into its appropriate grades. It is then barreled and is ready for market.

"In mills more recently erected the foregoing process has been modified by substituting the 'huller' for the mortar and pounder. The huller is a short, cast iron, horizontal tube with interior ribs and a funnel at one end to admit the rice. Within this tube revolves a shaft with ribs. These ribs are so adjusted that the revolution of the shaft creates the friction necessary to remove the cuticle. The rice passes out of the huller at the end opposite the funnel. It resembles externally a large sausage machine. It requires six hullers for each set of burs. The automatic sacker and weigher is used instead of barreling, sacks being preferred for shipping the cleaned rice. Sheepskins are used for polishing.

"With the above modifications of the milling processes considerable reduction has been made in the cost of the mill. Mills of a daily capacity of 60,000 pounds of cleaned rice can now be constructed at a total cost of $10,000 to $15,000."

Mills are now constructed suited to plantation use which combine all the operations in one machine, receiving the rough rice or paddy as it comes from the thresher and turning out clean rice ready for use. While the polish is not so high as in the more complicated processes, the product answers the requirement of rice eating.

In the preparation of rice for market it is important to have