The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1886-11-11

The land is prepared for the cultiva-
mon OF rice by q system of embank-
nents and d tches, 80 laid out as to in
chose separate fields, usually contain
ing from fourteen to twenty acres.
harly in the spring the land is plowed
over, and in the warm changes of the
weather it is kept covered with water.
In March it is drained off, the drains
are cleansed, the elods are broken, the
surfa smoothed with the harrow or
the hoe, and trenches for the seed are
made at right angles with the drains,
twelve to fifteen inches apart. In
April the seed is scattered in these
trenches at the rate Of two and half
bushels to the acre. Great attention
s given to the selection of the seed.
Volunteer rice, the product of scat
tered seeds that have remained In the
ground from the crop of the preceding
year, Is treated as weed, and oil that
appears outside of the drills is cut up
with hoe. AS the seed is sown it is
lightly covered with soil, and the water
Is then let in through the gates
apd kept on the land for four to
SIX days, till the grain sprouts. When
the little plants appear like needles
above the ground, the water IS lot in
upon it again, allowed to stand six
days, and then drained off When the
plant is six weeks old the earth is
stirred with the hoe; this is repeated
again after an interval OF ten days, and
the long water" is then put on for
about two weeks, deep for four days,
then gradually diminishing. After the
water has been drawn off about week
and the field is dry, it is
hoed to a good depth. On the
appearance of Joint in the plant
the land is lightly hoed again, and
is then -laid by" that is, covered with
water, to remain thus till the gram Is
matured, which may be two months.
A few days before cutting, the water is
run off. The rice is cut with sickle,
and carefully laid across the high and
thick stubble to cure. The next day,
when the dew is off, it is bound In
sheaves, which are stacked in small
ricks, and after week or so put In
large stacks. The threshing is done
with q thresher, which separates the
grain by the action of toothed beaters
revolving at the rate of 500 turns a
minute. The thresher does not take
the hulls of; this is done in a mill. To
accomplish this the grain is first
screened, then it passes between pair
of heavy stones, which remove the
outer husk, thence it goes down into
large wooden mortars and immense
ironshod pestles, which pound it for
two hours. 1t is finally passed through
an inclined revolving cylindrical wire
screen, which, by having its grating
much coarser at one end than the
other, asserts the rice as it passes
through. First the flour is sifted out,
then the broken grains, next the
smaller, and lastly, the large, fine
grains, which are known as prime
rice" This rice, as it falls through
the screen, descends through polisher,
made by having a cylinder bound with
sheepskin revolve rapidly within wire
screen, and is discharged below in a
perfectly clean condi ion, ready to be
sent to market. The average annual
product of rice in this country is now
about ll5, 10000 pounds. This is not
enough to supply the home demand,
for though we export about 300, 00t
pounds OF it we also import yearly
from China and India total of GA, 000,.
600 barrels. Our production of rice
makes very slight showing beside
that of those countries, which, after
supporting nearly all of their enor
nous populations on this staple only
also supply the rest of the world with
an aggregate export of over 1000, 600,
600 pounds. Blade.