1846.] 



THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE. 517 



laying Iho land under water, light ploughing, hoeing, manuring, &c. Their man- 

 ner of gathering and preparing it for market is liliewise on the samo principle as 

 ours: cutting it down with sickle or reaping hoolj, (with serrated toeth, cut only 

 on one side of the hook, and at an inclination with the handle,) and pounding it 

 in a mortar. It is never attempted to be pohshed, as with us, and it is always 

 much broken in the preparation. There are but few qualities of Asiatic rice equal 

 to American, and these confined to the edges of the tropics and tlie tiigher altitudes 

 inland. There are no steam or water or wind mills, that I have heard or read of, 

 in the east, which are used for facihtnting the husking of the grain, and so cheap- 

 ening its price and saving much of it from bruising and breaking. This is a singu- 

 lar fact. The English, with all their capital, have never, to my knowledge, erected 

 a single rice mill or threshing machine ia their Indian possessions, though they 

 have, in conjunction with our own citizens, erected large and expensive establish- 

 ments at Cliarleston, Savannah, and other places. From what causes this has 

 arisen, when there are so many projects afloat in India, and have been for the last 

 thirty years, and large English and native capitalists ready to embark in any un- 

 dertaking promising a moderate profit, I am unable to conjecture. If some of our 

 sharp southern planters or New England mechanics, acquainted with this subject, 

 were to come out to India, particularly Calcutta, I have no doubt, with prudence 

 and economy, they would eventually overcome all difficulties and realize handsome 

 fortunes. But they must exercise much patience. The East India Company's 

 government is very willing to encourage foreigners in any undertaking of this 

 character. 



The other quality of rice is raised on virgin land, on the highlands. The trees 

 and brushwood are first cut down and burnt as clean as possible, when the ground 

 (just after the rainy season has terminated, or rather a spell of wet weather) ia 

 sown broadcast with the rough rice. I really do not know if lowland rice is capa- 

 ble of bjing raised in these dry situations. The quality is always superior to any 

 other, fetching higher prices. Rico throughout the east, before it is sown, is 

 soaked, and even often allowed to vegetate, before it is put into the ground. At 

 the time of sowing, and before it has taken root, there is much difficulty experi- 

 enced from the birds destroying it. To scare these away they use precisely the 

 same plans that we practise in the States to keep the crows from our cornfields. 



These are facts interesting to our southern and western planters. As the price 

 of cotton is so low at present, I have no doubt they would find it of great advan- 

 tage, after felling the forest and clearing the new lauds, to fow two erops of rice 

 before they put in their cotton. The Cmgalese sow two crops of rice in the year 

 on these lands, and the yield is very great and of the finest quality. If they wish 

 to cultivate them in rice another year they have to manure the land, and return the 

 chaff and straw to llie soil by burning. They never cultivate the same piece of 

 land the third year, as this kind of rice is a great exhauster of the soil. Such 

 lands are then left to grow up in jungle again for ten or twelve years, when it is 

 again felled and planted. Probably our planters on the rich bottoms of Alabama, 

 Mississippi, Louisiana, and Florida, by their skill and knowledge acquired after a 

 few years, may be able, by manures and rotation of crops, to grow the two products 

 of rice and cotton on the samo land. In Java the Malays grow a change of crops 

 on their lands, by sowing rice at the beginning of the season and tobacco at the 

 end of the rice crop. The rice is flooded, and the tobacco is produced without 

 tho use of water. I was told by a gentleman resident m Manilla that he had 

 frequently seen rice growing at the couimencement of the season, and, after it had 

 been reaped and the land turned over by ploughing and hoeing, waving with a rich 

 crop of wheat. It may safely be stated that rice forms the staple food of the pop- 

 ulation of the following eastern countries : 



China 350 raillions. 



Siam, Cochin China, Cambodia, and Tonkin 15 " 



India -.i. 200 " 



Indian Archipelago 20 " 



Ceylon 24 " 



Arabia, Persia, Mauritius, Bourbon, and Madagascar 10 " 



SuoAR. — Sugarcane is grown in Bengal, Madras, Ceylon, the Malacca settle- 

 ment!, Siam, Burmah, Cochin China, China, Java, Luconia, Mauritius, Bourbon, 

 and finally everywhere within tho tropical east. The cultivation has surprisinglj 



