Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/325

 PJCE 309 water " is then put on for about two weeks, deep for four days, and then gradually dimin- ishing. After the water has been drawn off about eight days and the field is dry, it is hoed to a good depth. On the appearance of a joint in the plant the land is lightly hoed again, and is then "laid by," that is, the "joint water" is put on to remain until the grain is matured, which may be two months. A few days be- fore cutting, the water is run off and the ditches are washed out by the succeeding tide. The rice is cut with a sickle, and is carefully laid across the high and thick stubble to cure. The day after cutting, when the dew is off, it is bound in sheaves, and either borne on the heads of the laborers or packed in large flats, each one carrying the product of five to seven acres, to be conveyed to the barn yard. It is there stacked in small ricks, and when thoroughly cured it is put away in large stacks, each of which holds enough to make 200 to 400 bushels of threshed grain. The threshing is done with a machine invented by Calvin Emmons of New York, which is generally in use ; this separates the grain by the action of toothed beaters revolv- ing at the rate of 750 to 800 turns per minute. The grain comes from the threshing mills as rough rice or paddy, which requires milling or grinding to free it from the hulls ; but it is often shipped in this state, in which it is well protected against damage, to be hulled in Eu- rope or in New York, the rice being delivered fresh and clean to the consumers. The old method of removing the hulls was by pound- ing in hand mortars made of pitch pine blocks and holding about a bushel; it is at present hulled by steam power ; an elevator takes the grain to the top of the building, where a screen frees it from sand ; it then passes between a pair of heavy stones 5 ft. across, which re- move the outer husk ; thence it goes into large wooden mortars, the iron-shod pestles to which weigh 250 to 350 Ibs. each, and is pounded for about two hours, when it is ready for screen- ing. There are some mills which clean the rice by means of wire cards, without pounding. Finally the rice is passed through an inclined revolving cylindrical wire screen, the gratings of which grow coarser toward the lower end. It is thus assorted into a number of products. At the upper end of the screen the flour passes through, next the eyes and small pieces of broken rice, then the "middling rice," which consists of larger fragments and of the small- er grains, and lastly the "prime rice," or best and mostly unbroken grains. The head rice or largest grains of all, together with the rough that escaped the mill, pass out at the lower end and are thence returned to the mill. The prime rice as it falls through the screen descends to the " polishing " or " brushing screen," which is a vertical cylinder, laid up and down with shreds of sheepskin, and made to revolve rapidly within a wire screen. The rice, falling down in the space between these, is swept clean of the flour that adheres to it, and is discharged below in a perfectly clean and polished condition. It is received in bar- rels holding about 6 cwt. each, and is then ready for the market. The middling and small rice, being cleaned by a fan, are kept for home consumption. The average of several analyses gives as the proximate composition of rice: albuminoids 7'5, carbo-hydrates 76'5, water 14'6, ash 0'5. It will be seen that, as com- pared with wheat, rice is deficient in albumi- noids, or flesh-forming principles ; it is a very easily digestible food, and especially adapted to use in warm climates. New rice is said to produce indigestion and diarrhoea, and it should not be used until six months old. It is said that in some parts of India it is regarded as fit for food only when it has been kept three years. Some southern physicians assert that a diet consisting largely of rice produces near- sightedness, and that there are ten times as many persons with 'disordered eyes in the rice- consuming districts as elsewhere. The com- mon method of cooking rice is to boil it in water properly salted, the rice being intro- duced into the water after this is boiling hot. In four or five minutes the water is drained off, and the pot covered is left 20 minutes longer on the coals. The rice is then ready to be served up as a vegetable, in which state the grains should be thoroughly cooked, but still retain their identity. In tropical countries it is much eaten in curries, which consist of rice, meat, and various aromatics. It is also made into puddings, as is the ground rice or rice flour f of which are made varieties of bread and of griddle cakes. Parched rice is one of the many substitutes for coffee. Eice flour or rice starch is found in the stores put up in packages as rizena and under other trade names. In med- ical practice a decoction known as rice water is often prescribed as a nutritive drink in fe- vers and inflammatory affections of the bow- els, lungs, and kidneys. Its decoction ferment- ed and distilled produces the spirituous liquor known as arrack. A useful cement is readily prepared from rice by mixing the flour with cold water and boiling. It dries nearly transparent, and is used in making many articles in paper. If made with little water, it may be mould- ed into models, busts, &c. Although so rich in starch, it has not been found an economi- cal material for supplying that article. The total production of rice in the United States in 1870, according to the federal census, was 73,- 635,021 Ibs., of which South Carolina produced 32,304,825 Ibs., Georgia 22,277,380, Louisiana 15,854,012, North Carolina 2,059,281, Florida 401,687, Mississippi 374,627, Alabama 222, 945, Arkansas 73,021, Texas 63,844, and Tennessee 3,399. There has been a marked decrease in the production since the civil war ; the total yield in 1850 was 215,313,497 Ibs., and in 1860 187,167,032. A small quantity is annually ex- ported from the United States, amounting du- ring the year ending June 30, 1874, to 558,922 Ibs., valued at $27,075. The imports during