cently, however, mills worked by gasoline engines are in operation for both hulling and polishing, in Japan.
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Fig. 177.—Suspending rice bundles from bamboo frames set up in the fields for curing the grain, preparatory to threshing, Japan.
The many uses to which rice straw is put in the
economies of these people make it almost as important as the
rice itself. As food and bedding for cattle and horses;
as thatching material for dwellings and other shelters; as
fuel; as a mulch; as a source of organic matter in the
soil, and as a fertilizer, it represents a money value which
is very large. Besides these ultimate uses the rice straw
is extensively employed in the manufacture of articles
used in enormous quantities. It is estimated that not
less than 188,700,000 bags such as are seen in Figs. 180 and
181, worth $3,110,000 are made annually from the rice
straw in Japan, for handling 346,150,000 bushels of
cereals and 28,190,000 bushels of beans; and besides these,
great numbers of bags are employed in transporting fish
and other prepared manures.
In the prefecture of Hyogo, with 596 square miles of
