RICE. 87 



that the unimportant varieties which these present, 

 and which do not in any way affect the chemical or 

 alimentary properties of the grain, are simply the 

 effects of difference of soil, culture, and climate. 

 The four varieties are common rice, early rice, 

 mountain rice, and clammy rice. 



Common rice is a marsh plant. If the ground on 

 which it is sown should become dry before the plants 

 arrive at maturity, they wither. It is this variety 

 which grows most strongly ; and on lands peculiarly 

 adapted for it the culture is probably as advan- 

 tageous as can well be pursued 



Early rice, like the other, is a marsh plant, but it 

 does not grow to the same size. It comes much 

 sooner to maturity ; for while common rice is never 

 ripe in less than six months from the time of 

 ploughing, this variety, if placed in favourable situa- 

 tions, requires only four months for arriving at 

 perfection. 



Mountain rice thrives on the slopes of hills and 

 in other situations where it can receive humidity 

 only occasionally. Dr Wallich, the able successor 

 of Dr Roxburgh as superintendent of the botanical 

 garden at Calcutta, sent to London a few years ago 

 some specimens of rice grown on the cold moun- 

 tains of Nepal. These seeds were furnished to him 

 by the resident of the East India Company in that 

 district, and were recognised by the Doctor as moun- 

 tain rice. The degree of cold which this plant is 

 qualified to bear is very great. According to the 

 information collected on the subject by Dr Wallich, 

 the cultivators consider their crop quite safe if the 

 growth of the plants is advanced five or six inches 

 above the surface at the time the winter snows cover 

 the ground. It is probable that the slow melting of 

 the snow is beneficial to the growth of the plant, 



