VARIETIES OF RICE. 29 



ceived a handsome gratuity from the gentlemen of that country in ac- 

 knowledgement of the service he had done the Province. It is like- 

 wise reported that Mr. Dubois, then Treasurer of the East India Com- 

 pany, did send to that country a small bag of seed rice some short time 

 after." To this has been attributed the fact of having two kinds 

 there. The cultivation of rice in this country is confined to the southern 

 states, where its increase has been wonderful and from whence great 

 quantities are now shipped to British and other ports. Its quality is 

 much superior to that of India, whence it came originally, or to any 

 other known. The destiny of whole nations of people has been changed 

 by the cultivation of rice; hundreds of millions depend upon its annual 

 crops. The Chinese and Hindoos owe their civilization to it. The for- 

 mer obtain two crops a year from the same ground. They cultivate it 

 even upon rafts covered with soil. Rice, in fine, constitutes the food <.-f 

 the largest portion of the human race, but where it is mostly cultivated 

 in the East the people are in the lowest state, and life is most preca- 

 rious. They have no inferior food to fall back upon. Rice seeds di- 

 rect from India do not ripen in Germany. The mountain rice is cul- 

 tivated in Hungary, like barley or summer wheat. Rice is superior, as 

 an article of diet, to almost any other vegetable in warm climates, but 

 is not so well calculated for the constitution of people of the north. 



There are four varieties though but one species of rice, but these are 

 the result of difference of soil, culture and climate. The stem is com- 

 monly from 1 to 6 feet high, resembling wheat ; the flowers also resem- 

 ble those of oats. Each grain is terminated by a beard and is enclo- 

 sed in a rough yellow husk, the whole resembling barley. Its yield is 

 about six times as much as wheat on the same space of land. A kind 

 grows near the snows of the Himalaya mountains which, it is thought, 

 may be made valuable to the American cultivator. The farina of rice 

 is almost entirely composed of starch, with little or no gluten and 

 without saccharine matter. The outer husk adheres so closely that the 

 grain has to be passed between mill stones to remove it. Swamps 

 occasioned by the tide and those caused by the floodings of the rivers 

 are best suited for the production of rice in this country. It is raised 

 with very little labor. It is not much used as a bread grain here, but 

 boiled, it is the chief food of the slaves of the southern states. Mixed 

 with wheat flour it makes a fine bread. For puddings it is greatly used 

 throughout the country. A pound slowly boiled yields, it is said, 4 

 pounds of nutritive food. Where rice is the chief food of the people, 

 dearths are not uncommon, from a failure of the usual supply of rain. 

 Here we are most happily guarded against dearths or famines by the 

 diversity of our crops. Articles of food which may have been at any 

 time luxuries have been by their naturilization brought within the 

 reach of all ; so that in unfavorable seasons we are now supplied with 

 articles on which we can always fall back. 

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