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TKOPICAL AGRICULTURE. 



Description 

 of the plant. 



Varieties. 



Common 

 rice and 

 mountain 

 rice. 



that the cuhivation was almost altogether neglected in that 

 island. It is now being revived. 



Rice is an annual grass, with a round jointed stem, reach- 

 ing to a height of from one foot to six feet. The seed is 

 borne at the termination of the stem, and it is protected by 

 a rough yellow husk. The term paddy is applied to the 

 grain in the husk, and in this condition it keeps sound for 

 several years. There are very many varieties of the plant, 

 as might be imagined when one considers the number of 

 ages it has been in cultivation in different countries, but the 

 two principal kinds are the common or aquatic rice, and the 

 mountain rice. The former can be grown only in land that 

 is hot and marshy, the latter will thrive on ordinary soil at 

 elevations of even 6,000 feet above the sea, and it will stand 

 a degree of cold that would speedily kill the common aquatic 

 rice — which needs a temperature of from 60° to 80° Fahr. to 

 ripen it. The cultivation of these two kinds is quite dis- 

 similar, and it will be convenient, therefore, to consider 

 them under separate heads. 



The best 

 soil. 



Climate. 



Common Rice. 



Soil and Climate. — The best soil for rice is a sandy 

 loam overlying a substratum of clay, the loam forms a bed 

 for the easy penetration of the roots of the plant, and the 

 clay prevents the draining away of the water, without which 

 common rice cannot be cultivated. It follows from these 

 facts, therefore, that pure clays and loose sands are unsuited 

 to the growth of the plant. The climate must be a hot one ; 

 and, as rice delights in the sun, all shade is harmful. The 

 great rice districts of the East are the hot, humid, and 

 unhealthy lowlands along the banks and estuaries of the 

 larcrc rivers. 



Irrigation. PREPARATION OF THE LAND. — In places where the 

 soil is not naturally wet irrigation is absolutely necessary. 

 In Eastern countries, when water cannot be turned on to 



