40 PEOCEEDINGS OF THE [DeC., 1860. 



14. Tellina plagia, n. sps. 



Shell ovate-triangular, white, thin, diaphanous, polished, covered by obsolete 

 lines of growth, crossed obliquely by distinct striaB ; the oblique stiiaB cease at 

 the posterior fold, and at this point the Unes of growth become more distinct ; 

 beaks a little prominent, behmd the centre ; anterior end regularly rounded ; 

 posterior end narrowed, sUghtly truncated and angulated at the tip by the 

 rather prominent posterior fold ; slope rectilinear ; primary teeth dehcate ; 

 lateral teeth more prominent, and the anterior one the most so. 



This is a very pretty little shell, a little over a half inch in its longest diam- 

 eter ; it is quite raie. Prof. L. K. Gibbes has kindly sent me two detached 

 valves, both of the right side, which he obtained on the beach near Charleston, 

 So. Ca. 



RICE CULTURE IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 



BY A. M. FOKSTER, M. D. 



The Cultivation of Kice in Carolina at the present day is conducted almost 

 exclusively in the region of tide-water, upon lands which may be inundated or 

 kept dry at the option of the cultivator. Those lands are most valuable for this 

 staple which are above the reach of Salt water, and low enough down the river 

 to have sufficient drainage at all seasons. Such lands He generally between 

 sixteen and thirty-six miles from the river mouth. Those higher up than 

 thirty-six miles are too frequently inundated by freshets during the tunes of 

 planting and harvest ; and those lower down than sixteen miles often cannot 

 obtain fresh water when the river is low. 



The land to be taken into cultivation is first surrounded with an embankment 

 sufficiently high to keep out the tides, and provided with a trunk or trunks for 

 drainage : and is then cleared of its forest growth. The entire body first en- 

 closed by bank is divided by smaller embankments into ' ' squares " of fields of 

 various sizes of five to thirty acres each, as a larger or smaller area can be found 

 of nearly the same level, so as to ensure equal drainage and a uniform flow. 



Besides the larger ditches which surround each square or field just inside the 

 embankment ( the earth from which forms the embankment, ) there are smaller 

 ones called quarter drains, running across the field, parallel to each other, at 

 distances varjdng from seventy-five feet in new land (when the soil is porous,) 

 to thirty-seven and a half feet in old, when the soil has become more compact 

 by the more or less complete decay of the roots and other vegetable fibre. 

 The larger ditches around the borders of the fields are generally about 5 feet 

 deep and 4 or 5 feet wide : the quarter drains are 3 feet deep, by 18 inches 

 wide. These latter are cut so near each other in order to effect, by thorough 

 drainage, the aeration of the soil and the j^reparation of those constituents of 



