366 Report of the London Society of Arts [June, 



the Honorable Court of Directors of the East India Company, have 

 been pleased to approve the same, and have directed their Secretary 

 to transmit a copy of the Report forthwith to the Honorable the Court 

 of Directors, with an assurance that the Society will at all times be 

 happy to receive from them any communications connected with the 

 objects of this Society. 



(Signed) Arthur Aikin, Secy. 



Report. 



The Committee of Colonies and Trade having been directed by the 

 Society to examine sundry articles sent to the Society by the Honor- 

 able the Court of Directors of the East India Company, and referred 

 to this Committee 4th November, 1835, report as follows : 



I. The Soomla or Himalaya paddy, or mountain rice, received 

 from Mr. Hodgson, Resident at Nepal, appears to be of the same 

 kind as a sample (comprising five varieties) sent to the Society of 

 Arts in 1821, by Dr. Wallich. 



From the great height above the level of the sea at which this 

 grain is cultivated in Nepal, it is suggested that it may perhaps be 

 advantageously introduced as an agricultural crop in the North of 

 Europe. 



Before this can be determined in the affirmative, it is necessary to 

 prove, first, that this grain is capable of coming to maturity in the 

 climate of the North of Europe ; and, secondly, that the clear profit of 

 a crop of hill-rice from a given area shall be at least equal to that 

 of a crop of oats, barley, or rye from the same area. 



Several parcels of the former quantity of hill-rice were distributed 

 by the Society to persons residing in various parts of England ; and 

 several were likewise sent to France, to Switzerland, to Germany, 

 and to Russia. Of those sent to the Continent, the Society has 

 received no intelligence ; and of those distributed in England, the result 

 has been, with one exception, that the seeds did not germinate. A 

 notice likewise was inserted in one of the French journals a few 

 years ago, from which it appeared that various attempts had been 

 made to grow the hill-rice of Nepal in some of the districts of France 

 from seed distributed by the Government of that country, but wholly 

 without success. 



Mr. Anderson, the Curator of the Apothecaries' garden at Chelsea, 

 was one of those who undertook to make an experiment on the possi- 

 bility of growing the hill-rice in England, and was, in consequence, 

 furnished with some seeds of the five varieties at that time in the 

 Society's possession. They were sown in March, and some of 

 each kind germinated and did very well while they were kept in the 



