THE GRAMINK.E. 



223 



grain-Iiearing plant; but he was lod to consider, 

 Iroin the great qtiantity of its blades, that it 

 would afford excellent green-meat for cattle. 



Clammy rice appears to be endowed with the 

 peculiar property of growing both on wet and 

 on dry lands : the period occupied by its growth 

 is intermediate between those of the common and 

 early varieties. 



Rice seed is sown in Carolina in rows, in the 

 bottom of trenches, which are about eighteen | 

 inches apart, reckoning from the ceiitres of the 

 trenches. The sowing is generally performed by 

 negro women, who do not scatter the seed, but I 

 put it carefully into the ground with the hand, 

 so as to preserve the perfect straightness of the 

 line. The sowing is for the most part completed 

 by the middle of March. The water, which 

 until then has been kept back by means of flood- 

 gates, is at this time permitted to ovei-flow the 

 ground to the depth of several inches, and things 

 remain in tliis state for some days, — generally 

 about a week. The germination of the seed is 

 promoted by this flooding, and the water being 

 then drawu from the surface of the land, the 

 plants sprout, rising in about four weeks to the 

 height of three or four inclies. At this time the 

 flood-gates are again opened, the fields are once 

 more overflowed, and remain in that state during 

 about sixteen days ; one good effect of this se- 

 cond flooding being the destruction of the grass 

 and weeds which may have sprouted at the same 

 time with the rice. The land is allowed after 

 this to remain without further irrigation until the 

 middle of July, being repeatedly hoed during the 

 interval, as well to remove any weeds at the mo- 

 ment of their appearance, as to loosen the soil 

 about the roots of the rice, adopting thus in all 

 its principal parts the drill system of husbandry. 

 At the time last mentioned, water is again ad- 

 mitted, and remains covering the surface until 

 the grain is actually ripened. 



The rice harvest in the United States usually 

 commences at the end of August, and extends 

 tlirough the entire month of September, or even 

 somewhat later. The reaping is performed with 

 a sickle by male negroes, and these are followed 

 by females, who collect the rice into bundles. 



This cultivation is found to be extremely un- 

 liealthy to tlie negroes employed in its prosecu- 

 tion. The alternate flooding and drying of the 

 land in so hot a climate, wliere natural evapora- 

 tion proceeds with great rapidity, must necessa- 

 rily be prejudicial to health. To avoid exposure 

 to this unwholesome atmosphere, the whole 

 white population abandon the low grounds to 

 the care of negro cultivators. The mortality 

 thus occasioned among the labourers in rice dis- 

 tricts is so great, that while the general increase 

 of population in the States exceeds by far that 

 realized in the older settled countries of Europe, 

 li-esh supplies of negro slaves must continually 



be brought, to repair tlie waste of life, from the 

 more northern slave states of the Union. 



The cultivation of rice is very extensively and 

 successfully carried on in the rich meadows of 

 Lombardy, which can be irrigated by the waters 

 of the Po. The meadows chosen for the purpose 

 are perfectly flat. After the seed is sown, the 

 water is turned on and allowed to cover the sur- 

 face to the depth of several inches during the 

 whole course of its growth, and until the rice is 

 ripe. Three crops are taken successively from 

 the ground in this manner without manuring ; 

 but the soil is then so far exhausted, that it must 

 be manured and planted for a time with other 

 crops, before another succession of rice harvests 

 can be drawn from it. 



This system of agriculture proves the most 

 profitable to the cultivator of any that is carried 

 on in Lombardy ; but tlie same unwholesome 

 effect is experienced there as in Carolina ; and 

 the government at Milan finds it expedient to 

 restrict the cultivation within a certain limit, 

 beyond which the production of rice is not 

 allowed. The quantity of seed usually sown is 

 three bushels to the acre, and the average pro- 

 duce from the same measure of land, is commonly 

 about six quarters. 



In the province of Valencia in Spain, the me- 

 thod of rice cultivation is very similar to that 

 pursued in Lombardy. The water remains on 

 the ground even during the operations of harvest, 

 and the reapers are obliged to wade up to their 

 knees in order to cut the grain, other persons 

 following to receive the sheaves as they are cut, 

 and to convey them to some dry place, where 

 the grain is detached from the ear by the tread- 

 ing of mules. 



The hollows between Columbo and Candy, in 

 the island of Ceylon, are devoted to the produc- 

 tion of rice. The fields on which it is sown are 

 ai'tificially formed into a regular succession of 

 terraces, one above another, so that the water of 

 irrigation may be made to flow from a higher to 

 a lower level, the plants being in different stages 

 of their growth. In some cases the water is led 

 for a mile, or even two miles along the side of a 

 mountain, and is then discharged over the high- 

 est ten'ace, and thence downward in succession 

 to the lowest, according as moisture inaj' be re- 

 quired by each. Bishop Ileber, for whom the 

 chai-ms of nature, whether in a wild or culti- 

 vated state, were never displayed in vain, re- 

 marks, on visiting this district, that " the ver- 

 dure of the young rice is particularly fine, and 

 the fields are really a beautiful sight, when sur- 

 rounded by and contrasted with the magnificent 

 mountain scenery." 



Rice is extensively cultivated throughout the 

 Chinese empire, and in consequence of the value 

 of all such products of the earth, to a people so 

 numerous, much care is taken in its culture. 



