750 



in a separate sub-class. As an article of import, rice holds a very 

 prominent place. Maize, on the other hand, has not found much 

 favour in Great Britain, its Hour, however cheaply imported, having 

 never perhaps been sufficiently appreciated. 



British East Indies. — Copious samples of about 50 Indian rices 

 are exhibited by the Honourable East India Company, and to them 

 a Prize Medal is awarded. Many are of good quality, but more are 

 dirty, small, broken in the grain, and unequal ; characteristic of the 

 slovenly state of the Indian bazaars. The quality, of many appeal's 

 only after boiling. In size, colour, and fineness of grain, none are at 

 all comparable to the Carolina and northern Italy rices : several are 

 however very curious, especially the Mountain rices, grown without 

 irrigation, at elevations of 3,000 to 6,000 feet on the Himalayah, where 

 the dampness of the summer months compensates for the want of arti- 

 ficial moisture. The small reddish Assamese rices which become 

 gelatinous in boiling, and the large, flat-grained, soft, purple-black 

 "Ketana" rice of Java and Malacca are also very curious. The East 

 Indian maizes are inferior in quality, and deteriorated. Borneo exhi- 

 bits a large series of rices, some of them curious. 



France. — The cultivation of rice in Europe is quite confined to the 

 Southern States, and chiefly to the borders of the Mediterranean, 

 where it is extensively grown, and is of good quality. Two varieties 

 are exhibited from Bordeaux, by A. Fery, to whom a Prize Medal is 

 awarded. One is a beautiful soft, brittle-bearded rice, irrigated, and 

 called " Nostrana," the other unirrigated, is bearded, harder, grayer 

 and larger in the grain, and is called " Chinese rice." Algeria con- 

 tributes rice and maize of indifferent quality. 



Spain, — The sample of rice from Valencia is equally good with 

 that of Bordeaux, and swells much in boiling; it has been awarded a 

 Prize Medal. Some good maize is exhibited, as also a sample of the 

 seeds of Cenchrus spicatus, a cereal little known in Northern Europe, 

 and of no great value. 



Russia. — Much rice, and of good quality, is cultivated in the south- 

 ern provinces of this empire. Two samples are exhibited, one unirri- 

 gated, from the mountainous districts of the Caucasus ; the other in 

 the state of paddy (unhusked), from Odessa. Of the latter, one spe- 

 cimen called Chaltik, from Khalil Beck, exhibited by Zilfoogar Beck 

 Iskander Beck Ogli, is worthy of Honourable Mention. 



Egypt. — Rice abundant, and of good quality ; that cultivated in 

 the Delta of the Nile, at Rosctta, is considered the best ; the grain is 

 broad, short, flat, and peculiarly striated. 



