STAMP STORIES RICE

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21812, 18 June 1936, Page 6 (Supplement)

STAMP STORIES RICE

(By R. J. G. Collins)

As the principal food of nearly a third of the human race, rice is the most extensively cultivated of all grains. Although its cultivation has not provided the subjects of many stamp designs, it is worth noting that the stamps that have appeared all deal with different phases of its growth. Thus the life history of rice cultivation may be followed in our albums. Rice wfls originally a native of the East Indies, but has spread to most parts of the world. It is au annual and the plant varies in

height from one to six feet. Fop its proper growth it requires a moist soil and in some countries the land is even flooded during part of the cultivation period. In some of the eastern countries where limited tracts of land are required to support large populations, the rice fields consist of terraces cut from the mountain sides. Irrigation is provided by means of intricate series of canals. The seeds are allowed to germinate and the small seedlings are then planted by hand in the flooded fields—a laborious and most fatiguing operation. Upon the 10 cent stamp of last year’s issue for Ceylon, an extensive rice growing country-side is depicted with neatly terraced hill fields. After the ground has been flooded at the beginning of the season, the saturated soil is ploughed by means of a primitive implement drawn by oxen. This operation is to be found on the 1 cent value of the, British Guiana sets of 1931 and 1934, and a good idea of the plough used is to be got from the Kedah stamps. When the plants have reached a certain height, the water is drained away and the growing crops have to receive constant attention, an operation shown on the 15 cent value of Indo-China of 1931. Hand sickles are used for harvesting the crop as the middle values of the Chinese issue of 1913 show. The sheaf of the harvested grain occupies the middle of the design of the lower values of the Kedah issue and this form is known as Paddy. The grain is threshed from the husk and dried quickly, but is not yet in the form in which it is bought from the grocer’s shop. The surface of the grain is rough and clouded and it is subjected to a process by means of which It is finally cleaned and polished. Large rice-producing countries in the world are India and China, but Japan follows closely and it is also extensively grown in Indo-China and Java.