The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1880-04-08
Rice Planting in the Up.CountrJ.

Rice Planting in the Up.CountrJ.
We have always held that rice can be
made profitable crop in the up,country,
and we are glad to know that the many
experiments that have been made have
shown that We are correct.
In Pickens County we are Informed OF
two trials that have proven very success.
full. Mr.. J. T. Hunt, of that county,
planted last year a small patch of land,
something less than an acre, aud after
supplying some of his neighbors with
seed therefrom, shipped the remainder
to Charleston and realized net sum OF
over $751;,
Capt. Kirk, engineer of the projected
Easley and French Broad Railroad
through Pickens County, selected a small
piece Of land along the route, which he
planted in rice, and the result, we learn,
was even more successful than Dir. Hunts
trial.
To come nearer home, Mr.. S. P.
Stoney, formerly of Charleston County,
living several miles from Greenville City,
on the Rutherford Road, planted last
year several spots of land about his place,
and be informs US that the result was all
he could expect, and he expects to plant
ten acres of rice on his farm this year.
He hasnow on hand lot of fine seed and
to spare.
Nj. Stoney was rice planter in the
low-country, and he has not the least
doubt that rice planting in our immedi-
ate section can be made very profitable.
Most up.country people labor under
the mistaken idea that rice requires a
low, marshy soil, and must be watered
regularly at intervals to ever mature,
but this idea must be banished.
Upland rice-the sweet white rice
the rice that is much sweeter and more
nutritious than that raised on the i'm
mediate saltwater coast, can be grown
and matured as successfully on high
CRY land as corn or ANY other grain,
with anything like good seasons.
In the lower portion of the State, a
hundred miles from the coast, it is a
profitable crop, and farmers plant it.,
many of them in preference to cotton,
for market; and that, too, on the high
and dry soil in the same field with
cotton or corn.
For the benefit of those who may
wish to give it trial We, will state
how it is done. Lay of your rows three
feet apart; plough the first three fur
rows ordinarily deep, and split out the
middles shallow, avoiding throwing up
high bed. Plant in hills, say Is
inches apart, dropping about 8 to II
grains to the hill: In; low land it lis
much easier kept clean Of grass by
planting in hills far enough apart to
admit of hoe between them. The
process of cultivating is almost the
same as that of cotton, with the exception
that too much dirt must not be thrown
to the rice unless there is a thin stand
and the object is to make it "stool. "
In planting open a shallow. .furrow in
the middle of the ridge or chop holes
with hoe the proper distance apart, and
cover with rake so as to leave no clods
or other obstacles to make the rice
"clinch." In good loose soil it may be
covered with block attached to the
plough foot.
Young rice is very tender and if Gov
cred too deep will not comeup. In grassy
land it is tedious to work until it has
grown to some size, and is easily KEPT
down if the grass gets good start. Ii
will "come out" however, after it ha::
been nearly killed by the grass, ant
| will freshen up and grow off quicker
after it has been we'll worked, than either
cotton or corn.
It must be ploughed with the regular
cotton sweep, but does not require
| ploughing as often as cotton. Like
| cotton it cannot grow we'll if a hard
crust, caused by packing rains, is allow
ed to remain unbroken.
The middle of April is good time te
| plant, and it will ripen by the middle ol
August. It must be cut with reap hooks
and handled with more care than wheat OF
| oats, or much of it will be left in the
| field. Itfalls off the stalk too easy 10
be Graded. Tie in convenient size
sheaves, and in hauling use a tight wagon
body to save the loose rice that will fall
off in hauling.
T. Rice is more easily threshed than
wheat OF oats. Whole crops are often
threshed by whipping it out across o
bench by hand. Another way is to make
rail scafolds end use frails-placing
cloths on the ground to prevent sand get.
ting in the rice. The regular threshing
machine is often used. When threshed
it must be famed or winnowed, as there
are always more or less faulty grains
no matter how fine the crop. You then
have your trough" rice ready for an
always good market, or for pounding
In the low-country where rice is univer'
sally planted by farmers, great and small,
a mortar and pestle will be found in every
mans premises, and "Blind Bill" will
"beat" all the rice you want for family
use, and it is profitable work for the
other hands on rainy day.
As to cost of pounding rice for market
it:doesnt take the price ofa cotton factory
to put up a "rice beater:" Small water
power will run it, and all you've got to
do is to get you out four, six or eight or
ten mortars by burning or chiseling out
one eud of blocks from the trunk of any
tough tree, to the depth of about two feet
deep, dish or bowl fashion; station them
in row-have the shaft of your water
wheel of sufficient length; with arms to
lift the pestles as the wheel turns and
drop them into the rice mortars at every
turn, and the pounding process is very
simple.
At a cost of not more than 500 to $3.50
any one who has the dam and water