RICE; RICE-MILL. In the article Orme, in SAT. IdrsT. Drv., an recount is given of the botanical character, and under Onvzi in the present division the mode of cultivation is described. In order to remove the husk, which adheres very closely, without breaking the ;min itself, several ingenious machines have been recently introduced. 3f some of which it is proposed to give a brief notice.
The common mode of performing this operation in India and China, is by beating the grain in a kind of rude mortar of stone or earthen ware, with a conical stone attached to a lever worked by the hand or foot. Sometimes several such levers are moved by arms projecting from the axis of a water-wheel. This process being uncertain and tedious, the preference has been given of late to a kind of mill, in which the stones are placed at such a distance asunder as to detach the shell without crushing the grain; the stones being enclosed in a case which prevents the dispersion of the rice by the rapid rotation of the machine. The rice is thrown out of the case by an opening in its sido, and conducted over a sieve that separates the dust ; after which it is made to fall in a gentle stream exposed to a current of air, produced by revolving fanners, and thereby separated from the husk. Such a sifting and winnowing apparatus is attached to each pair of stones, and one pair of stones will husk from eight to ten bushels an how.. After the removal of the husk, the grain is exposed to the action of a whitening machine, which removes the inner cuticle, or red skin, remaining on the surface of the grain. This process i3 aided by the heat generated by the rapid motion of the grains, causing them to swell and split the red skin, which flies off in duet through per forations in the revolving case. With such accuracy are these pro cesses performed, that it is said not more than five per cent. of the grain is broken in the operation.
The method of cleansing rice just described has been practised in Ceylon with British machinery; but other plans have been followed in this country, where, owing to the difference between the duties on cleaned rice and paddy, or grain in the rough state, and thri better preservation of the flavour of the rice when brought over in the husk, several large rice-cleaning establishments have been gradually brought into operation. The process of Messrs. Lucas and Ewbank consists in breaking the husk by millstones, and removing the red cuticle by beating or triturating in mortars ; the latter operation being aided by mixing a quantity of the husks, well dried, with the grain, which obviates an inconvenience occasioned by the glutinous character of the red coating. Tho refuse matter and the broken grains are then sepa rated by a peculiar kind of screen; and the rice is finally cleaned and polished by a machine with two concentric cylinders, tho outer one remaining stationary, while the inner one, which is covered with sheep skin with the wool on, is made to revolve with great velocity. Tho rice, being placed between the two cylinders, is thoroughly whitened by the friction of the wool.
In the apparatus patented by Mr. &lel, the first operation is per formed between one millstone and a piece of wood of precisely similar shape ; and the subsequent removal of the dark pellicle is effected by rubbing between flat wooden surfaces covered with sheepskin. Mr.
Ewbank places tho wool outwards, Mr. Shiel has it next the wood ; its elasticity producing an effect very nearly resembling the rubbing of the grain between the palms of the hands.
Another ingenious contrivance, first used in the United States, con sists of a long hollow cylinder of wood, with several bars projecting from its inner surface, and enclosing an axis on which are several other bars capable of revolving between those attached to the cylinder. By suitable toothed wheels the cylinder is made to revolve slowly in one direction, while the axis is turned with great rapidity in the contrary direction. The whole being placed in an inclined position, the paddy is allowed to enter the upper end of the cylinder by a hopper ; and the mutual attrition of the grains, as they pass between the revolving bars, causes the separation of the husks, which are removed by a current of air as the grain falls into a bin under the lower extremity of the cylinder. The rico passes out of the cylinder by apertures capable of being enlarged or reduced at pleasure by means of sliding doors; and the action of tho machine may be further regulated by varying the inclination of the cylinder, which may be placed vertically or hori zontally, though an angle of about is preferred.
Rice is, as is well known, chiefly used as food, but it is also employed to some extent in the arts. A cement is made from it. Rice-paper is a name commonly, but erroneously, applied to a delicate vegetable film brought from China in email square pieces, tinged with various colours, and used as a substitute for drawing paper in the representa. Mon of richly coloured insects or flowers, and also in the manufacture of artificial flowers and other fancy articles. This substance, a morn. borne of the bread-fruit tree, though much resembling an artificial production, is evidently of natural growth ; for its vegetable organisation is easily seen by the aid of a microscope. Sir D. Brewster, in the Edinburgh Journal of Science,' vol. ii., has shown that the rice-paper consists of long hexagonal cells, whose length is parallel to the surface of the film; that these cells are filled with. air when the film is in its usual state ; and that from this circumstance it derives that peculiar softness which renders it so well adapted for the purpose to which t is applied.
The quantity of rice imported into this country varies very much, owing to the fluctuations of the crops. During the last fifteen years it has varied from 269,314 cwts. (in 1845) to 1,744,913 cwts. (in 1858). This was for home consumption ; there has generally been a still larger quantity imported simply for re-exportation, insomuch that the total import for 1858 was more than 3,600,000 cwts. This is rice, "not in the husk," to use a Customs phrase. Rice in the husk, or paddy, is entered separately. Before the year 1342, cleaned rice paid a duty of ls. per cwt. if from our own possessions, and 15s. if foreign. Since that year the duty on colonial and Indian rice has been lowered from Is. to 4id.; and on foreign from las. to 41d. The lowering of the duty has been followed by a rapid increase of consumption. Paddy pays a lower duty than cleaned rice.