R I C 



corn, arrives at the fame period in five or fix : but all ot 

 thefe died, notwithitanding great attention was paid to 

 them: fome feed, however, which he had given to Mr. 

 Lambert, fucceeded better ; it was fown in his hot-houfe 

 in the month of June, where it throve well, but did not 

 produce ears till near Chriftmas, a period of feven months, 

 from whence it is probable, the grain would have ripened in 

 lefs than two months from the time the ear appeared. It is 

 eafy to deduce that in the neighbourhood of Serinagur thefe 

 kinds of rice are either fown as winter corn, or the climate 

 there is far better fuited to promote the quick, progrefs of 

 vegetation than our's is. It was, when it produced ears, 

 about three feet and a half high, and fome of the ftems had 

 five joints, including the radical one : had it been in a more 

 fuitable climate, it would certainly have grown taller, tor 

 the flowers dropped off without producing feed. 



It is however cultivated much in the Eaft, as in China, as 

 well as in the fouthern parts of America ; the method of 

 which is thus defcribed by Mr. Duhamel. 



I. To haften the fprouting of the nee, it is put into baf- 

 kets, and foaked for fome days in a Handing water. 2. When 

 their rice-grounds are fo foaked with water as to be quite 

 like mud, they are ploughed with a buffalo yoked to a 

 plough very fimple in its make, having but one fhare, one 

 handTe, and no wheels. 3. After a gentle rain, they break 

 the clods with a kind of large hurdle, drawn by a large 

 buffalo ; the driver fitting upon it to increafe the weight. 

 4. The ground is cleared of all flones, and whatever root. ■ 

 are in it are pulled up by a ftrong harrow, with great iron 

 teeth. This inftrument is drawn by a buffalo, and a man 

 guides it by the help of two handles, like thofe of a plough, 

 upon which he leans hard. The earth is like mud, and 

 partly covered with water during all this operation. 5. The 

 earth is afterwards fmoothed with a harrow, which has fe- 

 veral rows of teeth. A man guides this harrow by its two 

 handles, whilft a buffalo draws it ; and as faft as its teeth 

 form little channels in the ground, the water runs in and 

 fills them up. 6. When the rice that was laid to foak has 

 fprouted, the feed is known to be good ; and it is then fown 

 by hand, very thick, and as equally as poffible. Only part 

 of the ground is fown in this manner, to furnifh plants 

 for the reft. The day after it has been fown the points of 

 the plants appear above the furface of the water ; for the 

 ground is overflowed all this time with juft enough water to 

 cover it. And it is added, that when the plants have ac- 

 quired a little ttrength, they are fprinkled with lime-water, 

 to deftroy the infedts, and fome of the weeds that would 

 hurt them. For this purpofe a fmall bafket is fattened to 

 the end of a long handle, and dipt in the lime-water, which 

 runs through it, and is conveyed over the plants. And the 

 Chinefe have a great veneration for the firll inventor of this 

 method, which anfwers to our cuftom of tteeping wheat in 

 lime-water, or manuring land with quick-lime. 7. To- 

 wards April, when the plants are grown flrong enough 

 to cover the whole field, and look very green and even, 

 the greateft part of them is pulled up by handfuls, all 

 the mud is carefully wafhed off their roots, and, being 

 held at the fame time as even as poffible with one another, 

 they are planted in tufts, pretty far afunder, and in a 

 quincunx form, in fields prepared on purpofe for them. 

 A ferene day is chofen for this operation, which muff be 

 performed as quick as poffible. This praftice of the Chinefe 

 is, he thinks, with refpeft to the common culture of rice, 

 what the new hufbandry is with refpecvt to the common cul- 

 ture of wheat. 8. The rice mull be watered, which is always 

 done in China by overflowing it. To this end, the rice- 

 grounds are always near a rivulet, pond, or great pool of 



RIC 



water, from which they are feparated only by a bank or 

 caufeway. If the water was higher than the rice -ground, a 

 trench cut through the caufeway would overflow it at once : 

 but as it is generally lower, or on a level with the rice- 

 ground, the neceffary quantity is conveyed in pails or buckets, 

 which are worked chiefly by the help of ropes. 9. Though 

 a man cannot Hep in thefe rice-grounds without being up 

 to his knees, the Chinefe weed them three times in a fummer, 

 and that with fuch care, that they pull up even the roots 

 of every weed. 10. When the rice is ripe, which is known by 

 its turning yellow, like wheat, it is cut down with a fickle, 

 made into (heaves, and carried into a barn, where it is 

 threihed with flails pretty much like ours : the ftraw is re- 

 moved with pitch-forks and fhovels, and the outer hufk of 

 the grain is taken off by beating it with great wooden peftles, 

 or a kind of mallet, after which it is lifted and winnowed : 

 and, laftly, to get off the under hufk, the grain is put be- 

 tween two mill-ftones, which are worked by a lever fattened 

 to the upper one. But the two moll remarkable circum- 

 ftances of this culture are, 1 ft, the care which the Chinefe take 

 not to let their plants be too clofe together, left they fhould 

 rob one another of their food ; and 2dly, their weeding 

 their rice-grounds three times in a fummer, which anfwers 

 the end of the hoeings recommended for the alleys between 

 the beds of other grain, cultivated according to the horfe- 

 hoeing huibandry. 



This plant is laid to have been lately cultivated with fuc. 

 cefs near Dumfries, by Mr. Charters ; notwithftanding the 

 want of fuccefs in the above trial, as well as by others in 

 Cambridgefhire. And it is not improbable, but that by 

 degrees it may b? fo naturalized to the climate, as has been 

 the cafe with many other plants, as to be cultivated without 

 much trouble or difficulty, and thus contribute to the 

 advantage of the country as an article of the grain 

 kind. Rice forms an excellent kind of bread when incor- 

 porated with flour, as well as a good food for the feeding 

 of different forts of animals of the poultry and other 

 kinds. 



Rice is much ufed as food in the Roman Catholic coun- 

 tries in time of Lent. The ordinary preparation is, by tirll 

 fteeping it in water, then boiling it in milk. Some make it 

 into a fo"rt of farina, or flour, by pounding it in a mortar, 

 after having firft put it in hot water, and again wafhed it 

 out in cold. 



Among the common kinds of grain, rice is accounted the 

 mildeft and moll nutritious, and is fuppofed to be particu- 

 larly ferviceable in dyfenteries and diarrhoeas. It is lefs 

 vifcous than wheat, or of lefs tenacity, when boiled with 

 water.. 



The northern nations cat their fowls and other meats with 

 rice and faffron. The Chinefe make a wine of rice, which 

 is of an amber colour, and tattes like Spanifh wine, and 

 ferves them for their common drink. In fome parts of 

 Europe they alfo draw a very ttrong brandy, or fpirit, from 

 rice. 



KlCE-Baliing, in Agriculture, a provincial word applied 

 to a method of ploughing, in which, according to Mr. 

 Marfhall, the flag is always turned up towards the un- 

 ploughed ground, the edge of the coulter paffing clofe to the 

 edge of the flag latt turned : whereas, mjlob-furrowing, the 

 flag is turned towards the ploughed ground, the coulter 

 paffing fifteen or fixteen inches from the latt ploughed fur- 

 row ; into which, in this cafe, the edge of the flag hangs ; 

 and, in both cafes, a flip of unploughed foil, of a width 

 nearly to that of the flag, is buried. 



RlCE-Bird, in Ornithology. See Emberiza Oryzivora. 



RlCE Lake, in Geography, a lake of Canada, having a 

 6 portage 



