GRAIN AND ITS CULTIVATION. 



155 



RICE (Oryza saliva, <Fio. 38). 



This grain probably contributes directly 

 to the support of a larger number of the 

 human family than any other plant. In 

 China, and nearly the whole length of the 

 southern part of Asia ; throughout the in- 

 numerable and densely populated islands of 

 the Pacific and Indian Oceans ; in the south- 

 ern part of Europe, and a large extent "of 

 Africa ; and through no inconsiderable por- 

 tion of the North and South American con- 

 tinent and its central islands, it is extensive- 

 ly grown, and forms the staple food of the 

 inhabitants. Rice requires a moist soil, and 

 is much more productive when subject to in- 

 undation. A hot sun is also necessary to 

 mature it ; and as a result of these two es- 

 sential conditions, its culture is limited to 

 regions much more circumscribed than are 

 FIG. 38. allotted to wheat, maize, or some of the 

 usually cultivated plants. I subjoin, from an excellent 

 article on rice and its cultivation, addressed to the writer 

 by Dr. Cartwright, a practical planter of Mississippi. 



Varieties of Rice. " Of these there are many, but I am in- 

 duced to believe that they are all essentially aquatic. All the 

 varieties, yet discovered, flourish best under the inundation sys- 

 tem of culture ; yield more to the acre, give less trouble, and re- 

 quire less labor. But each variety grows well on light, moi^st 

 uplands without irrigation, when cultivated with the hoe or 

 plow. The product, however, is so much less than by the irri- 

 gation system, and the labor of tillage so much more, that the 

 upland producer never can compete successfully with the low- 

 lander. The former may curtail his expenses by growing 

 rice for domestic uses, but he cannot profitably, produce 

 it for sale. Besides the tenrfold labor which rice on upland 

 requires in comparison with that cultivated by the irrigation 

 system, it cannot be sown thick enough to make a large yield 

 per acre. Space must be left for the plow or hoe to till the 

 rice, which is not necessary in those localities where it can 

 be overflowed at will, and the water drawn off as occasion 

 may require. 



Cultivation of Lowland Rice. The method pursued on 

 the rice lands of the lower Mississippi, is to sow the rice 



