132 CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



rice is cultivated, they make reservoirs of 

 water to refresh this plant every day, al- 

 though they select the moistest soil : the 

 cultivators are often half way up their legs 

 in water ; but, as the harvest approaches, 

 they suffer the ground to dry, for it requires 

 as much heat to mature the seed as moisture 

 to nourish it. 



When cut, it is put into heaps, and the 

 seed trod out by oxen or buffaloes, after the 

 manner of the ancient Orientalists, as men- 

 tioned in the Scriptures. 



The rice plant somewhat resembles our 

 corn, but is thicker and more firm than that 

 of wheat or barley ; it grows commonly from 

 three to five feet in height ; its hermaphrodi- 

 tal flowers are of a purplish colour. Rice is 

 subject to other enemies than the winds and 

 the worm ; for, about the time the ears are 

 formed, there often arises a burning blast 

 which runs on the ears and dries them : this 

 evil is called the Devil's fire, and it never oc- 

 curs but in the night. We conclude, that 

 this fatal effect is produced by abundant 

 electric fluid. 



M. de Haller tells us, that M. Poivre dis- 

 covered in Cochin China a kind of rice that 

 does not require water, and which grows on 



