r
T
FOURTEEN MEDfORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE
Sunday, April 1, 1958
Is That
Hong Kong, with Japan Air
Lines When we think of China
naturally we think of rice. How
ever this grass seed is the basic
food of many more lands includ
ing The Philippines, Indonesia,
Thailand, India, Pakistan and
Japan.
Because of the density of their
populations, this means that
more than 1,250.000,000 people
half of the world's entire pop
ulation eati rice.
And unlike our. western diet
in which wheat plays a secon
dary role, hSte for these 1,250,-
000,000, rice is the main staple.
Virtually the entire meal. This
supplemented merely with veg
etable oils such as soybeans, ol
ives, and sesame, huge popula
tions thrive with a minimum of
animal food.
Unlike wheat which must be
reduced to flour usually and
baked, rice grains are almost
everywhere boiled and served
up in that form. (If you are a
guest in the Far East it is poor
manners to eat only one bowl
of rice. Always be DreDarpH to
accept the second offering, or
even a tnird, and then eat it to
the last grain.)
The world acreage for rice,
despite feeding half the world's
population, is but a fifth of that
used for the other two leading
food crops, wheat and maize
(corn).
Looking at a rice field in the
distance, it does not look unlike
wheat or rye but closer at hand,
the loose drooping seed heads
more nearly resemble oats.
Rice seems to have come from
a wild rice species native to In
donesia's trrjpical, rainy, marshy
areas. (Not to be confused with
the black-grained wild rice, a
distant cousin which grows in
shallow lake water in north
eastern Canada and the U.S. and
Is prized by gourmets who fancy
it with fowl and seafood and pay
a good price. As for rice paper,
that is made from the pith of a
plant not even related to rice.)
Began in India '
Quite likely the cultivation of
rice began in India about 6,000
years ago, about a thousand years
after wheat was first domesti
cated in the Middle East. From
there, the cultivation of rice went
to China and Egypt. By 1,500 A.
D., it was well established
throughout southewestern Asia
and west as far as Italy; by the
mid-1 600's it was introduced to
America and it is grown exten
sively today in California, Tex
as, Arkansas and Louisiana.
To meet various growing con
ditions, , many varieties have
been developed in India, alone,
there are more than 1,000 suit
able to conditions ranging from
hot to cool summers, from
marshy to comparatively dry
soils. But the yield and the
quality is still best in areas where
the climate is hot and humid
and the land marshy or flooded.
Basically, the growing of low
land swamp rice has not changed
much throughout the Orient dur
ing the past thousands of years.
Hours and hours of patient back
breaking toil go into the prepar
ation of what is eaten in a few
minutes.
In most areas, seeds are sown
broadcast in specially prepared
seed beds. Later these individual
plants are transplanted into flat,
dike-rimmed fields. These are
then flooded and the water is
kept at a five-inch level during
the growing season. When weed
ing is necessary, the water is
drained off. and rows of men,
women and small children, some
times up to their knees in mire,
seed out the offending plants.
Created on Hillsides
Where swampy lowland is
scarce, these conditions are arti
ficially created on hillsides. The
sides of low mountains are ter
raced and each terrace filled
with loam and diked and flooded
by crude but effective irrigation
systems.
Just before the plant's leaves
turn from green to yellow
from two to four months de
pending upon local growing con
ditions the fields are drained to
make them ready for harvesting
which is done with old-fashioned
hand sickles.
Once harvested, the grain is
threshed a simple process of
separating chaff from grain. The
most primitive way, and still
used throughout much of the
Orient, is to tread barefoot the
unhulled grain. Then the tramp
ed mass is scooped into a shal
low basket and tossed into the
air above a mat. In the breeze,
however gentle, the heavier
grain falls straight down, the
ligher chaff floats to one side.
Covered With Coat of Brown
For the most part, the hulled
grains of rice are not white but
covered with a coat of brown.
This was good eating until the
white man's "civilizing" influ
ences came along then it was
considered "better taste" to rub
or beat the grain and with" this
By EUGENE BURNS
, Ranger-Naturalist
"polishing" this outside brown
layer was removed. In doing so,
some of the most important vita
mins were lost and unless this
vitamin deficiency is corrected
with other foods, beriberi often
results. Yet today custom re
gards white "polished" rice as
preferable after all, isn't it
more expensive?
Even in the U.S., where rice is
planted by airplane, the weeds
controlled by airplane "dusting"
and the harvesting and thresh
ing is done by powered machin
ery, this same ignorance holds:
in fact, go to your grocer and
just see if you can buy the
tastier, more nourishing, and
healthier unpolished brown rice.
(Capyrigh, 1956, by Eugene
Burns Released by McClure
Newspaper Syndicate)
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Sorry, I simply can't answer
y o u r many friendly letters.
Please address your letter to: IS
THAT SO! co Medford Mail
Tribune, Box 575, Sausalito,
Calif.
Central Committee
Passes Resolution
The Jackson county Repub
lican central committee Wednes
day passed a resolution express
ing sympathy in the death re
cently of Robert G. Fowler, for
mer county agent and assessor at
the time of death.
The resolution:
"Whereas. Robert G. Fowler
has been, for many years, a loyal,
devoted and capable public ser
vent in Jackson County, Oregon,
serving the public in the capacity
of County Agent and as County
Assessor, and
"Whereas, he has been an out
standing citizen of high courage,
integrity and zeal and has en
deared himself to us, and
"Whereas, pur Heavenly Fath
er on March 18, 1956, has seen
fit to remove him from our
midst.
"Now, therefore, be it resolv
ed, as follows:
"That we deeply mourn his
passing and deplore .the result
ing loss which all the people
have suffered thereby.
"That we tender our 'deep
sympathy ,and sense, of loss to
his immediate family by sending
copies of this resolution and also
that we spread a copy hereof on
the minutes of this meeting.
Done this 28th day of March,
1956."
Two Injured Friday
In Four-Car Crsah
Ashland Two persons were J
hurt in a four-car accident just j
south of here Friday afternoon.
One of the injured was hospital-;
ized, according to state police.
The pile-up involved four cars,
all northbound on Highway 99. j
The lead car, driven by Paul !
Fletcher Nichols, 53, El Centro,
Calif., stopped for a school 'bus
which had halted on the other
side of the road. A car driven by
Jay Russell Wilson, 43, Port-:
land, struck the rear of Nichol's
car; a car driven by Wayne W.
Dailey", 46, route 1, box 392, Ash
land, struck the Wilson car, and
a car driven by Dick Lee Dailey,
23, 2970 Diane st., Ashland,
struck the Wayne Dailey car, ac
cording to the police report.
Wilson was taken to Ashland
General hospital for treatment
of head injuries which were not
thought to . be serious. Wayne
Dailye suffered possible neck in
juries. No others were reported
hurt.
Two of the cars were towed
away from the accident scene,
which was near the junction of
Clay st. and Highway 99.
Breakfast Ride Set
For Rogue Rangers
- A breakfast ride to Prescott j
park on Roxy Ann butte will be j
held April 15 by the Rogue j
Rangers. '
An advance crew at the park j
will prepare a breakfast of ,
bacon, eggs, potatoes, pancakes,
coffee and cocoa for the riders. !
All riding club members and !
public is invited. There will be a
$1 breakfast charge for adults j
and 50 cents for children under I
12.
The Rangers held a skating
party at Ashland earlier this ;
month attended by about 37
members and guests.
A playday was held March 25 '
at the Pierce ranch on Barnett
rd. Games were played on horse-:
back.
lj w MEDFORD ft
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