RICE. 



RICE. 



upon the sides of hills, where no water but rain I long culture, in a comparatively cold country 



can come; it is, however, planted in the be 

 ginning of the rainy season, and reaped in the 

 beginning of the dry season. The natives call 

 iiPaddy Gunung, which signifies mountain rice. 

 It is>entirely unknown in the western parts of 

 India, but it is well known in Cochin China, 

 where it thrives in dry, light soils, mostly on the 

 sides of hills, not requiring more moisture than 

 the usual rains and dews supply, neither of 

 which are frequent at the season of its vege- 

 tation. 



There is a kind of hill rice which is hardy 

 enough to grow on the edge of the Himalayan 

 snows. This, it may be expected, will, at some 

 future time, prove an acquisition of value to 

 the European and American cultivators. 



Rice is extensively cultivated in the East 

 Indies and China, chiefly on low grounds near 

 large rivers, which are liable to be annu- 

 ally inundated, and enriched by the deposition 

 of mud. According to Sir George Staunton's 

 account, the Chinese obtain two crops of rice 

 in a year from the same ground, and cultivate 

 it in this way from generation to generation on 

 the same soil, and without any other manure 

 than the mud deposited by the water of the 

 river used in overflowing it. After the waters 

 of the inundation have withdrawn, a few days 

 are allowed for the mud to get partially dry ; 

 then a small spot is enclosed by a bank of clay 

 slightly ploughed and harrowed, and the grain, 

 previously steeped in dung, diluted with animal 

 water, is then sown very thickly on it. A thin 

 sheet of water is immediately brought over it, 

 either by a led stream, or the chain-pump. 

 Thus a seed-bed or nursery is prepared, and, 

 in the mean time, the remainder of the tract is 

 preparing for being planted. When the plants 

 are 6 or 7 inches high, they are transplanted in 

 furrows made by the plough, so as to stand 

 about a foot apart every way; water is then 

 brought over them, and kept on till the crop 

 begins to ripen, when it is withheld ; so that 

 when harvest arrives the field is quite dry. It 

 is reaped with a sickle, threshed with a flail or 

 the treading of cattle, and the husk taken off 

 by beating it in a stone mortar, or passing it 

 between two flat stones, as in a common meal 

 mill. The first crop being cut in May, a second 

 is immediately prepared for by burning the 

 stubble, and this second crop ripens in October 

 or November. After removal, the stubble is 

 ploughed in, which is the only vegetable ma- 

 nure such lands can be said to receive from 

 man. In Japan, Ceylon, and Java, according 

 to Thunberg, Davis, and Raffles, aquatic rice is 

 cultivated nearly in the same manner. Moun- 

 tain-rice is grown much in the same way as 

 barley. 



In Lombardy and Savoy rice is sown on rich 

 lands, the sower often wading to the knees in 

 water: one crop a year only is obtained ; but 

 four crops are often taken in succession. In 

 America a similar practice obtains. 



In Westphalia, and some other parts of the 

 south of Germany, rice has long been culti- 

 vated; there it is sown on lands that admit of 

 irrigation ; but the water is not admitted till the 



the German rice has acquired a remarkable 

 degree of hardiness and adaptation to the cli- 

 mate; a circumstance which has frequently 

 been alluded to as an encouragement to the 

 acclimating of exotics. It is found, Dr. Walker 

 remarks (Essays on Nat. Hint.), that rice seeds 

 direct from India will not ripen in Germany at 

 all, and even that Italian or Spanish seeds are 

 much less early and hardy than those ripened 

 on the spot. 



In Hungary rice has not been longcultivated: 

 the mountain sort has chiefly been tried, and 

 that in the manner of our barley or summer- 

 wheat. 



In England a crop of rice has been obtained 

 near Windsor, on the banks of the Thames. 



By far the best imported rice is that from 

 Carolina : it is larger and better tasted than 

 that of India, which is small, meager, and the 

 grains frequently broken. As an article of diet, 

 rice has been extolled as superior almost to any 

 other vegetable : but whatever it may be in 

 warmer climates, where it is a common, and 

 to many persons almost their only food, it does 

 not appear so well calculated for European 

 constitutions as the potato ; for we find that 

 the poor constantly reject the use. of rice when, 

 potatoes are to be had ; and whilst these can 

 be obtained, we may venture to predict, that 

 rice will always be considered, in Britain, 

 rather as a dainty, to be eaten with sweet con- 

 diments, spices, fruit, &c., than as ordinary 

 food. London's Ency. of Plants. 



The mountain rice has been raised in Mary- 

 land by Mr. Bordley, on dry sandy land. The 

 following comprehensive directions respecting 

 the water culture of rice, were furnished by one 

 of the most successful cultivators in South 

 Carolina: 



Begin to plant about the 25th March, trench 

 shallow and wide, and scatter the seed in the 

 row ; make 72 or 75 rows in a task, and sow 2 

 bushels to an acre. 



1. Hoe about the end of April or beginning 

 of May, when the rice is in the fourth leaf; 

 then flood, and clear the field of trash. If the 

 planting be late, and you are likely to be in 

 grass, flood before hoeing; but hoeing first is 

 preferable. The best depth to flood is 3 or 4 

 inches. It is a good mark to see the tops of 

 the rice just out of the water : the deep places 

 are not to be regarded ; the rice will grow 

 through in 3 or 4 days. Observe to make a 

 notch on the frame of the trunk, when the 

 water is at a proper depth : if the rains raise 

 the water above the notch, or it leaks out, add, 

 or let off accordingly. This is done by putting 

 a small stick in the door of the trunk, about an 

 inch in diameter : if scum or froth appear in 

 8 or 10 days, freshen the water, take off the 

 trunk doors, run off the water with one ebb, and 

 take in the next flood; then regulate as before. 

 Keep the water on about 15 or 17 days, accord- 

 ing to the state of the weather ; that is, if a hot 

 sun, 15 days; if cool and cloudy, 17 days, count- 

 ing from the day the field is flooded ; then leak 

 off with a small stick for 2 days, then run off 

 the whole, and keep the field dry. In 4 or 5 



seed has germinated, and it is withdrawn, as in j days after, hoe the second time, stir the ground, 

 Italy, when the crop comes into flower. From I whether clean or not, and comb up the fallen. 

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