284 



Mozambique Channel, Madagascar, some parts of Western Africa!, 

 South Carolina, and Central America. Three species only arc? 

 enumerated by Lindley : Oryza sativa, the common rice, a native 

 of the East ; O. latifolia, a species having its habitat in South 

 America ; and 0. Nepalensis, common in Nepaul. But there are a 

 host of varieties known in the East ; these, however, may for all 

 practical purposes, be resolved into two kinds the upland or 

 mountain rice (O. Nepalensis, the O. mutica, of Roxburgh), and 

 the lowland or aquatic species (O. sativa). 



Zizania aquatica is exceedingly prolific of bland, farinaceous seeds, 

 which afford a kind of rice in Canada and North- West America, 

 where it abounds wild in all the shallow streams. The seeds con- 

 tribute essentially to the support of the wandering tribes of Indians, 

 and feed immense flocks of wild swans, geese, and other water 

 fowl. Pinkerton says, this plant seems intended to become the 

 bread-corn of the North. Two other species of Zizania are common 

 in the United States of America. 



Rice, the chief food, perhaps, of one-third of the human race, 

 possesses the advantage attending wheat, maize, and other grains, 

 of preserving plenty during the fluctuations of trade, and is also 

 susceptible of cultivation on land too low and moist for the pro- 

 duction of most other useful plants. Although cultivated prin- 

 cipally within the tropics, it nourishes well beyond, producing 

 even heavier and better filled grain. Like many other plants in 

 common use, it is now found wild [it is to be understood that 

 the wild rice, or water oat (Zizania aquatica), already referred to, 

 which grows along the muddy shores of tide waters, is a distinct 

 plant from the common rice, and should not be confounded with 

 it], nor is its native country known. Linnseus considers it a native 

 of Ethiopia, while others regard it of Asiatic origin. 



The chief variety of this cereal is cultivated throughout the torrid 

 zone, wherever there is a plentiful supply of water, and it will ma- 

 ture, under favorable circumstances, in the Easteni continent, as 

 high as the 45th parallel of north latitude, and as far south as the 

 38th. On the Atlantic side of the Western continent, it Avill 

 flourish as far north as latitude 38 degrees, and to a corresponding 

 parallel south. On the Western coast of America, it will grow so 

 far north as 40 or more degrees. Its general culture is principally 

 confined to India, China, Japan, Ceylon, Madagascar, Eastern 

 Africa, the South of Europe, the Southern portions of the United 

 States, the Spanish Main, Brazil, and the Valley of Parana and 

 Uruguay. 



In 1834, 29,583 bags of rice were shipped from Maranham, 

 but I am not aware what have been the exports since. 



At the Industrial Exhibition in London, in 1851, there were 

 displayed many curious specimens and varieties of rice, grown 

 without irrigation, at elevations of three thousand to six thousand 

 feet on the Himalaya, where the dampness of the summer months 

 compensates for the want of artificial moisture. Among these 

 American rice received not only honorable mention for it* very 



