Imperial Valley press., 1931-02-04
new METHODS IN
RICE CULTURE TO
SOLVE DIFFICULTY.
Sowing Seed By Plane Is
Found To be Successful
And Economical

Seeding rice by airp1ane ano
harvesting It with a combine, may
eliminate the storage problem that
has come to be one of importance
in the rice industry of California,
says j. d. Long, of the University
of California Division Of Agricul-
tural Engineering. In a paper pre-
sented by him before the farm
structures division of the American
Society Of Agricultural Engineers
in Chicago, Long said:
Rice is one of the two cereal
crops in California, which because
of the season of harvesting pre-
sent a storage problem due to mois-
ture content. Our other grains
harvested during the arid summer
months leave the field bone dry
but the October-November har-
vests Of rice and milo maize may
find higher atmospheric humidities
and precipitation with the result
that the grain does not dry on the
stalk.
"As with the cereal crops of the
midwest states, the application Of
the combine to the harvest of these
problem crops has somewhat ag-
graVated the situation. The Incl
pient change from sack to bulk
storage added to the combining
problems has directed more atten-
ton to the moisture storage rela-
tionship
Under the prevailing harvesting
system in California, rice is cut
with binder, shocked, threshed
into l00-pound grain sacks, and
stored III the sacks in warehouses.
During the time the grain is in the
shock it is expected to cure to a
moisture content safe for storage,
but frequently this is not accom-
plished. The lots of high moisture
grain in the warehouse require at
tention when it begins to heat, the
sack pile is torn down and replied,
or the grain dumped out on the
floor and shoVeled over TO cool it.
Occasionally consignment Of
sacked rice in the II to 20 per cent
through the winter months with an
atmospheric temperature range of
approximately 25 TO 90 degrees F.,
and then begin to heat in the
spring when atmospheric tempera-
lures strike 80 degrees or above.
Storage is not generally recog-
ni2ed among rice men as a very
serious problem, even though the
conditioning of the occasional lots
is both slow and laborious. and the
treatment of the entire crop in wet
years impossible The harvest of
1927 found an exceptionally wet
fall in the Sacramento Valley. Rice
delivered to the warehouses that
fall had water running out of the
sacks. Millions of bushels spoiled
in the warehouses and were used
for hog feed.
Combining Meets Favor
Direct combining is just coming
into favor, approximately Is per
cent of the rice crop of the Sacra-
mento Valley being so harvested
this season. Early in the season,
before the winter rains start. or
throughout the season if the rains
are late, the combine may take some
Well-cured grain from the fields.
Later in the season. one must eX-
pect a range of 20 to 25 per cent
Such percentages practically re-
quired bulk handling, with its at
tendant machinery and equipment
to permit low cost moving and air.
ing OF the rice III storage. or me
cnanical driers. Two drierS, one
imported from Italy and other
homemade, have been operated in
the Sacramento Valley rice area
this season. If the harvest dates
can be moved earlier in the season,
as now seems possible with the use
OF airplane seeding and combine
harvesting, the storage problem
may be eliminated.
In unventilated bulk bins the
tendency to heat is naturally great
er than in the sack piles; apparent
~ 2 per cent moisture differen-
tial may effect similar results.
The protection of rice from ro-
dent and insect depredations, IS ef-
fected similarly to the recommend
atoms for other cereals. An ind
vidual characteristic is the pro-2c-
ton required to avoid mixture with
other grains, particularly barley
and wheat, which are almost i'm
possible OF removal from the rough
rice. Since admiXtureS great
ly lower the quality of milled rice,
it is necessary to use separate har-
vesting, storing and shipping tacil-
tiles for rice, or exercise extreme
care in the cleaning and storage
and machinery equipment