Rice Culture Glossary

Name comes from the golden hue for the ripe hull. Known for its high quality and was important for the economy of the Lowcountry. Started to be grown in the Carolina colony around 1685.

Gopher rice is an upland rice species that was grown in dry fields or gardens. First recorded name of this rice was in 1876, and was displayed at the American Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia by Dr. P. Prichard of Beaufort, South Carolina. Grown mostly in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Louisiana.

Honduran rice is an upland rice species that after the Civil War was cheap and common to the point that there was no money for individuals to grow their own Honduran Rice.

Imported to South Carolina around 1829. Bearded Rice provided many advantages such as being drought resistant, can be threshed out using a simple and cheap machine, and can grow well on high ground.

Strain of Carolina Gold Rice, referred to as Big Grain Rice or Long Grain Carolina Gold. Developed by Joshua John Ward from 1838 to 1843.

Also called volunteer rice, hated by planters because it lowered the quality of the rice that was grown. If red rice was mixed in with white or golden grains, a planter could lose value in the grains that they were selling.

Major pest for rice fields. Flocks of bobolinks arrive during the spring planting, and eat the rice before the fields could be flooded. If left alone, a flock of bobolinks could eat an entire field of rice in a couple of hours.

A pest for rice growing, the rice worm is around an inch long with green and white stripes. It will eat the rice and cause mass amounts of losses in money if it is left alone.

Mules were used as a way to reduce the labor needs and cost. Used in the antebellum period by rice planters for the highland's sections of their plantations. Planters and labors developed a device called a mule boot, that helped the mules travel in boggy fields

A mosquito common in the Lowcountry, and is a carrier of yellow fever.

A mosquito found in the Lowcountry, and is a carrier of malaria.

Prior to 1930, the hoe was the one the most important tools used for the rice fields, and in general agricultural development. Four types of hoes were used for rice fields, each one different in width and weight.

A shovel used to till a rice field and was originally used by the Jola People of Senegal, Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau.

A facility where the rice is processed so that it can be sold. Necessary process due to rice have an outer cuticle, and an inner bran layer that made it difficult to remove. The rice is pounded and polished to make it into the white color that is often thought of for rice.

A device that allowed for the regulation of water into rice fields, built at strategic locations that allowed for the best control of the water.

Not a commonly used structure, but if used was installed at the end of the river, to act as a gate to control of water flow that would go to the rice fields.

Regulates the flow of a body of water like a river or lake.

Originally planters made two-story threshing houses that contain a mill and steam engine which was used for the preparation of rice.

A brick tower used in areas north of Charlestown. Individuals would go to these towers and stay in them for protection from incoming hurricanes.

Major rice planter of Carolina Gold in the Georgetown District. Ward was one of the largest slave owners in the Lowcountry and in the United States.

Laurens was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and major slave owner/rice planter in South Carolina. He is credited by the South Carolina Agricultural Society in 1823 for introducing Carolina Gold, but there are many debates on how factual that was.

Flooding from a river due to heavy rain.

A concrete made from a mixture of sand, lime, and oyster shells.

Labor system for slavery used predominantly in the Lowcountry, where each enslaved person is given a specific task to complete each day on a rice plantation.