The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-12-21
WRERE THE RICE COMES FROM.
An old CoIored Aunt From Carolina Tells
 of the Ear hquake.

WHERE THE RICE COMES FROM. An old Co,ored Aunt From Carolina Tells of the Ear hquake.
 (From the New York Trlbunel A field of growing rice Is beautiful sight. It's color is a rich vivid green
 and when planted in regular rows the slender. grass-like blades, destined to
 become afterward the well-known "rice
 straw" range themselves in luxurious
 precision, a delightful contrast to the
 rich black soil in which the roots are
 set: Rice will grow on the high lands
 of Carolina, but produces double the
 yield when planted very late, in order
 to avoid the spring freshets.
 A certain Landgrave Smith, in 1898
 first introduced rice into South Caroli-
 ma by planting 8 small quantity of seed
 in~ his private garden on East Bay, in
 Charleston. A vessel from Madagas- car. being in distress. anchored fin
 Charleston harbor,, and a small bag of
 rice was obtained from the cook, after consultation with the vessels captain.
 The seed rice grew luxuriantly; the lit
 tie crop was distributed among MT.
 Smiths planter friends, and from this
 small beginning the first staple com
 modity of Carolina took its rise. No dinner table in South Carolina, espec- ially in the low country, is complete without one or two large vegetable dishes of plain boiled rice (boiled so that the snow-white grains stand apart from each other, though thoroughly done), from which all the family are plentifully served.
 Rice is planted in March or April, be- gins to head early in August, and a month or six weeks later is ready to cut and stack out to cure on long poles, supported on upright poles seve- ral feet from the ground. It looks wonderfully smooth and even arranged in this way. The long lines, or squares, or triangles. stretched across the field in the sunlight, andseven on cloudy autumn days the gleaming golden color of the sheaves make a bright spot in the otherwise colorless landscape. The rice ripens earlier or later, according to the time of the planting and the character of the soil Each blade bears it's heavy weight of golden grain. wrapped tight in the husky covering, which clings close to the treasure within. It is said that many experiments were tried in the early days before machine could be contrived for separating the grain from this closely adhering husk; but now the machinery in use in Carolina is even superior to that used in China, though the ingenious people of that ancient country had invented machinery for threshing and beating out rice 50 long before young, America began to experi- ment on it. The rice mills in Charles ton are worked by the force of the tides. with the help of few hands, but a quantity of rice is yet beaten out in the primitive way by colored women and children. with the mortar and pes- tie. They watch for conveniently burnt-out tree. rendered hollow in the heart by the accidental fires which oft en rage in the pine woods, and by saw ing 1t off convert it into "a mortar of convenient height.
 A certain old "maumer," strong and vigorous though the wool is whitening beneath her urban, makes an interest ing picture as she beats out her meas ure of rice beneath the cottonwood tree on one side of her cabin on a Saturday Her strong, bare arms raise the pestle high and bring it down with a leisurely, determined "thud, thud," on the unoffending grains, while she croons an old revival song In keeping with her monotonous task:
 De Gospel train am swine by, i rs hear de whistle blow;
 I'll jump on, haul cen. your flag, I'm bound for Canaan's shore, believer. I'm bound for Canaa1,'s shore.
 Oh! believeri etc.
 Thus she sings. bringing her pestle down with renewed yigor as she warns with religious fervor. reiteratihg over and over the assurance that she,s bound for Canaan's shore.
 Rice Is difficult to cultivate unless kept under water. when # ie little ot no trouble. as the weed1 and graaa fio g