RICE (Oryza sativa).
Rice is one of the most important food cereals. It furnishes a large part of the food of the inhabitants of China and Japan. It is a food rich in starch and poor in protein, and furnishes, therefore, heat and energy, and is well adapted for the nourishment of those engaged in hard labor or who undergo extreme physical exertion. The cultivation of rice is rapidly extending in the United States, especially in Louisiana and Texas. The statistical data relating to the rice crop for 1906 are as follows:
| Acreage, | 575,014 | acres |
| Production, | 17,854,768 | bushels |
| Yield per acre, | 31.1 | „ |
| Price per bushel, | 90.3 | cents |
| Total value, | 16,121,298 | dollars |
The adulteration of rice is confined to coating it with talc, paraffin, and glucose. The object of this treatment is to give a better appearance to the grain and to protect it from the ravages of insects. The use of indigestible substances such as talc and paraffin is scarcely justifiable. The starch granules of rice have distinctive properties which enable them to be readily recognized under the microscope, as shown in [Fig. 30].
The rice starch grains are polygonal in form and have sharp angles. The grains vary in size from 2 to 10 microns, though the latter size is seldom reached, the most of the grains being about 6 microns. The hilum is seldom visible. The grains occur in the rice kernels mostly in groups of a considerable number of the individual grains forming starch masses of ovoid or angular form.
Fig. 30.—Rice Starch. × 200.—(Courtesy of Bureau of Chemistry.)
RYE.
This is the source of the principal supply of bread in many European countries, but is not extensively used in the United States except among our citizens of foreign birth. It is also extensively used for making whisky. Rye belongs to the genus Secale. Only one species (Secale cereale L.) is commonly cultivated, but this species has a great many different varieties or races. According to the time of sowing there are two great classes of rye, namely, that planted in the autumn or early winter and that planted in the early spring, generally known respectively as winter and spring rye. This is one of the hardiest of cereals, and grows well in all locations where wheat and other common cereals flourish. The area planted in rye in the United States in 1906 and the quantity harvested are given in the following table:
| Acreage, | 2,001,904 | |
| Yield per acre, | 16.7 | bushels |
| Production, | 33,374,833 | „ |
| Price per bushel, | 58.9 | cents |
| Total value, | 19,671,243 | dollars |