356 



R A T 



RIC 



been made in the soil hy the run- 

 ning of water, which would have 

 been considerable inconveniences. 



The quantity of water that falls 

 in a year may be from twenty-five 

 to thirty inches. If the whole were 

 to fall at once, destructive deluges 

 would be experienced, and droughts 

 equally destructive. It is the fre- 

 quency of rains that renders the 

 earth fruitful. To some soils, as 

 stiff clays and loose sands, frequent 

 rains are more needful than to oth- 

 ers. The former imbibes the water 

 too slowly ; the latter parts with it 

 too speedily. These two kinds of 

 soil, therefore, need the most fre- 

 quent showers. 



In some years the rains are so 

 ordered, as to make the seasons 

 most fruitful. A moderate quanti- 

 ty in each week through the sum- 

 mer will be apt to supply so much 

 moisture, and keep up such a de- 

 gree of fermentation in the soil, as 

 is most conducive to the progress 

 of vegetation. 



Farmers in this climate generally 

 wish for but little rain in April, and 

 for much in May and part of June; 

 then less in hay time, and English 

 harvest. But as it is not left to us 

 to order this matter, we should en- 

 deavour to accommodate ourselves 

 to the seasons ; and to assist nature 

 whenever we have opportunity for 

 doing it, draining land which is too 

 wet, watering that which is too dry, 

 and applying more manures to dry 

 soils, which will make them more 

 retentive of water. 



RATS, a mischievous kind of 

 vermin too well known to the 

 farmer. No walls that I know of 

 have been found to be sufficient 

 barriers against them. 



The same poison which I pre- 

 scribed for mice, will well serve to 

 destroy these animals. But the best 

 way is to catch them in a cage made 

 of wire, in a cubical form, enclo- 

 sed m a wooden box. Each side of 

 the cage should bt; a plane of about 

 fifteen inches square. 



Take one quart of oat meal, four 

 drops of oil of rhodium, one grain of 

 musk, two nuis of nux vomica pow- 

 dered ; mix the whole together, 

 and place it where the rats fre- 

 quent ; continue to do so while they 

 eat it,and it will soon destroy them : 

 Or, take equal quantities of un- 

 slacked lime, and powdered oat- 

 meal ; mix them by Stirling, with- 

 out adding any liquid, and place a 

 small quantity in any place fre- 

 quented by rats. I hey will ea- 

 gerly swallow the preparation, be- 

 come thirsty, and the water which 

 they drink will cause the lime to 

 swell, and thus destroy them. 



RICE, or Oryza, is a genus of 

 plants consisting of several species, 

 which, however, ma) be divided in- 

 totwo varieties, viz. Mountain-rice, 

 which grows on dry elevated soils, 

 and Marsh-rice sown in low swampy 

 districts. According to the Domes- 

 tic Encyclopedia, Mr. Bordley 

 raised the former kind of rice on 

 dry sandy land at Annapolis, in Ma- 

 ryland. It is not impossible but 

 this plant may be gradually intro- 

 duced into the northern States, and 

 made to grow on dry and elevated 

 ground. This is a great desidera* 

 tum, as rice is the cheapest nutri- 

 ment known ; containing, it is said, 

 96 parts in 100 of nutritive matter. 



'' The following directions re- 

 specting the water culture of rice- 



