326 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



Newspapers opened and spread about a field here and there, and kept in place by a stone, 

 will sometimes keep them away, or a rattling windmill erected in the field. Twine put up 

 about the field on elevated sticks at the time of planting will usually frighten crows, although 

 blackbirds are more courageous and saucy, and not as easily intimidated. Small pieces of 

 polished tin or looking-glass suspended from a bent pole by a string in a manner to reflect 

 light from the sun, are usually effectual in frightening most birds; also a piece of cloth that 

 will flutter in the wind like a flag. A blackbird or crow might be sacrificed for the purpose 

 of frightening his companions; by being hung in the field suspended from a pole where it 

 can be readily seen it usually produces the desired effect. &quot;We hope no farmer will be so 

 cruel and inhuman as to hang the poor bird up alive, and leave it to suffer and die in that 

 condition. We have seen this cruelty practiced, and are of the opinion that a man that 

 would do so mean and cruel an act to any helpless creature deserves to have all of his corn 

 pulled up, and we think the whole race of birds would be entirely justified in avenging in 

 this manner such an atrocity perpetrated upon their species ! All remedies for keeping the 

 birds away should be resorted to as soon as the corn is planted, if not before, for if they once 

 get a taste of it, it will be difficult to frighten them afterwards. New devices will have to be 

 resorted to occasionally, as what will prove effectual one season may not another. Early- 

 planted fields are less liable to be attacked by birds than late, a fact that is well worth the 

 farmer s attention. 



RICE. 



f 



THE cultivation of rice in this country has not been one of its flourishing or permanently 

 prosperous interests, being limited, as it is, and always has been, to a comparatively 

 small area. Its culture was formerly confined principally to the sea islands and *low- 

 lying shores of South Carolina and Georgia, where it is now quite extensively produced, as well 

 as in Louisiana, Mississippi, and several of the other Southern States. According to some 

 authorities, there are two principal species of this grain, of which there are many varieties; one, 

 commonly known as the lowland rice, ( Oryza sativa,) which grows on wet land, and is cultivated 

 with excessive irrigation; the other, (Oryza mutica,) a species adapted to a dry or mountainous 

 region, of which the product of Ceylon and Java furnish an example, and which will not 

 flourish with long inundation, thriving best in a dry soil. Other authorities regard the two 

 mentioned as different varieties of one species, somewhat modified by a difference of soil, 

 climate, and mode of culture. 



Rice forms one of the principal articles of diet of the inhabitants of China and nearly 

 the entire southern portion of Asia, as well as the numerous islands of the Pacific and Indian 

 oceans, and a large portion of Africa. It is extensively cultivated, also, in Southern Europe, 

 and, in fact, to a certain extent in most of the tropical and semi-tropical countries. A species 

 of this grain, called &quot;cargo&quot; or &quot;Bengal rice,&quot; is a favorite with the Orientals. The kernel 

 is large and sweet, but rather coarse and of a red color. The East India rice is white, but 

 small-grained. The variety known as the &quot;Carolina rice,&quot; which combines the merits of the 

 others, being large-grained, sweet, and white, is considered superior to all others. 



According to Ramsay s History of South Carolina, rice was introduced into that state in 

 1G94, by a vessel from Madagascar, which, in distress, sought refuge in Charleston harbor. 

 The captain of this vessel, having subsequently formed the acquaintance of a resident of 

 Charleston, Mr. Landgrave Smith, presented him with a small sack of rough rice. This 

 gentleman had it planted in his garden, and the plants yielding abundantly soon attracted the 

 attention of his neighboring planters, among whom he distributed the seed, who in turn 



