Naturalisation in Extra-Tropical Countries. 343 



American Union. In Persia it grows up to 8,000 feet. Among the 

 numerous varieties of Indian rice may be noted as prominent sorts : 

 The Early Rice (O. prsecox, Loureiro), which ripens in four months 

 and is not injured by saline inundations ; the hardier Mountain-Rice 

 (O. montana, Loureiro), which can be raised on comparatively dry 

 ground, and which actually perishes under lengthened inundation, 

 but which is less productive ; the Glutinous Rice (0. glutinosa, 

 Loureiro) which succeeds as well in wet as in almost dry places, and 

 produces black or reddish grains. Mr. H. A. Wickham recommends 

 the Brazilian and the Carolina varieties for Australia, as most prolific, 

 and as least troublesome in their culture. In the rich plains of Loin- 

 bardy, irrigated from the Alps, the average crop is estimated at 48 

 bushels for the acre annually. According to General Capron the 

 average yield in Japan is 50 bushels per acre, while on the Man- 

 ning River, in N.S.W., 60 bushels were obtained. The spirit, 

 distilled from rice and its molasses, is known as arrack. Rice-beer 

 known as " Sake," is extensively brewed in Japan, and is the 

 principal fermented beverage used by the inhabitants ; thus, according 

 to the "Journal of the Society of Arts," about 150 million gallons 

 are consumed annually. Rice starch is now consumed in enormous 

 quantities, particularly in Britain. Nearly 330,000 tons of rice to the 

 value of 2,690,000 were imported into the United Kingdom in 

 in 1889. Australia imports about 20,000 tons of rice annually, 

 valued at about 250,000. Only a few hundred acres are as yet 

 under this crop in North-Queensland, the yield there being from 

 | to 1 ton per acre [Essay on Rice growing by R. W. McCulloch 

 in " Bulletin of the Department of Agriculture of Queensland/' 1894]. 

 The export from India during 1886 was estimated to have been about 

 9,000,000 [Dr. G. Watt]. Rice-sugar, called "Ame" in Japan, 

 constitutes there a kind of confectionery. For sanitary reasons it is 

 preferable to cultivate the mountain-rice, when that is possible. 



Oryzopsis cuspidata, Bentham. 



South-Western parts of North-America. A perennial grass of 

 easy dissemination. Tufts dense, hence one of the Bunch-grasses ; 

 thrives on soil too sandy and too dry for more valuable grasses [Dr. 



Yasey]. 



Oryzopsis multiflora, Bentham. (Milium muttiflarum, Cayanilles ; Pipta- 



therum multiflorum, Beauvois j Urachne parviflora, Trinius. ) 

 Countries around the Mediterranean Sea, thence to Middle^Asia, 

 also Madeira and Canary -Islands, northwards to Tyrol. This tall 

 perennial grass grows naturally in the driest of localities [Prof. 

 Caruel]. No other grass at St. Vincent's Gulf grows so luxuriantly 

 with so little water and exposed to so great a heat [Hon. R. A. 

 Tarlton]. Succeeded well in the hot dry Wimmera-country [F. 

 Reader]. 



