The herald. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1905-1953, 1917-08-16

Sarily follow that the Topography Of
the country will largely determine the
size ar the fields.
Where rice lands are along q river
II * customary Ia run canal u the
outer rim uf the rice field. entirely sur
rounding il. The dirt taken from this
canal is thrown upon the outer bank
10 form protecting lcvee against sud
den rises from the river Water ~
flood the rice fields is let i'm from the
stream. The larger tract inclu>rd Ivy
the main canal is now cut up by small
ar canals into fields or suhhrldS of
suitable size and small lrvecS are
thrown upon each side. II is essential
that the surface Of each Of these sub
fields be level. The main canals av-
"ragr from 10 To - feet wide and are
about feet deep. They connect with
the river 10y food gates. The sub
canals average from Is rn 10 feet wide
and are nearly as deep as the main
canals. Boats are used 10 reach any
point of the growing areas. and some
times the leveeS are made wide
enough To form roads.
Various methods for preparing the
soil for the crops are used. some grow
er> advocating deep blowing. while
others Use the shallow method Nat
urally. the character of the soil should
govern. one Of the advantages claimed
Tor deep blowing i that. as the rice
hoes not feed much below the pillow
Line the deeper the plow"d area the
NOR" f"od j. placed at IN" disposal
If tn" growing crops.
After tn" ground i plowcd. a disk
narrow is run over the surface. fol-
lowed by a smoothing barrow. and
often a heavy roller j. used 10 break
up the cludS.
Sowing is done early in spring and
about two bushels Of seed are used
10 the acre. While there are several
methods of planting the seed the best
results are said 10 he obtained with
drill. This inSureS the equal diStri-
button of the seed ar uniform depth
Flooding is the most important fea-
/ ture Of rice growing. Except where
water is necessary for terminating the
seed, flooding is not praCticed until the
rice is q or : inches high. When the
rice reaches that height water i run
onto the land 70 depth from 3 10
q inches. 1t is constantly changed 10
prevent stagnation. The principal
| thing Ia watch is the height of the wa
ter. as it is essential that the water
be kept at the same depth throughout
! the entire field. otherwise one part of
! the crop will ripen before the other.
Harvesting machines are brought on
! the land as soon as the grain is ripe.
/ 1t takes about six months To grow a
| crop of rice in this country. Where
/ the drainage is good and the ground
/ dries quickly. reaping machines are
/ generally used. In California the
! track-laying tractors are almost uni
! verSally used in the rice fields, and
| the harvesting can be commenced a
week or two earlier by their use
In harvesting, the rice is cut from
6 to u inches from the ground and the
cut grain Is laid on the stubbles to
keep ii off the wet soil. After days
| curing the grain Is removed from the
field and stacked on dry ground. Ex-
IRENE care must be taken in shocking
the grain TO prevent the rice from be-
ing lost. The bundles are stacked
against each other. with the heads in.
Slow curing in the shade produces the
tOughness of kernel necessary to with
left In the shock until the straw is
cured and the kernel hard. The
threshing is done by the regulation
threshing machine.
The rice as il comes from the thresh-
er is called paddy" or trough rice
1t still has surrounding ii the huSk of
clOse-fitting cuticle The process of
milling removes this husk and poliSheS
the rice. This polishing is more fad
than necessity. for by it some of the
most nutritious parts of the rice are
LOST.
The improved method of milling rice
is quite complicated. The paddy is
first screened 70 remove foreign sub.
stances. The hullS are removed hy
rapidly revolving stones set about two.
thirds of the length of rice kernel
apart. The product goes over hOri
zontal screens and blowers that sep,
arate the light Chaff and the whole
and broken kernels. The grains are
now run into huge mortars holding
from four to six bushels each. and
pounded with pestles weighing about
wor heSidaS cuttinr of tho SrpDlv M