UNCLE IN ENGLAND. 143 



was almost confined to India ; and I had no 

 idea till yesterday that it grew in North America, 

 and even in Germany. I renewed therefore the 

 conversation to-day, and I now find that it is 

 so much cultivated in Spain, particularly in the 

 low parts of the province of Valencia, that a 

 very large quantity is exported every year. 



The ground is prepared for it there by first 

 sowing beans; and when they come into blossom, 

 which is about March, they are ploughed in for 

 manure, and flooded with water to the depth of 

 four inches. After a third ploughing the rice is 

 sown ; and when it comes up, it is transplanted to 

 another prepared field, and again covered with 

 water. Each stem produces about twenty-four 

 fold. When ripe it is gathered in sheaves, 

 and put into a mill, the lower grinding-stone 

 of which is covered with cork, by which 

 means the chaff is separated without bruising the 

 grain. 



My aunt tells me that rice grows wild in the 

 swamps of Upper Canada; and that the shallow 

 parts of Rice Lake, which is near the residence 

 of Mrs. * * *, is full of it. Her letters describe 

 it as having the appearance of reeds with long 

 narrow leaves, and bearing clusters of flowers at 

 the top of the stem. 



It is curious that the plant chiefly cultivated 

 in the Sandwich Islands for food is managed 

 very like rice 5 the taro, to grow in perfection,' 



