314 



BICE. 



brought into commerce, being much sweeter, larger, and better 

 coloured than that from Asia, where its cultivation is not so well 

 managed. It is necessary to except Bengal rice, which now nearly 

 equals that grown in the Carolinas. South Carolina produces the 

 best American rice, and Patna the best East Indian variety. Excel- 

 lent rice is also grown in the Spanish provinces of Andalusia, 

 Valencia, and Catalonia, as well as in the marshes of Upper Italy, 

 especially Lombardy and Venice, and in the plains of Milan, 

 Mantua, Verona, Parma, and Modena, along the river Po. 



Our imports of cleaned rice in 1875 (besides 16,601 quarters in the 

 husk) were derived from the following sources : 



Cwts. 



Holland 51,369 



France 11,191 



Siam 110,216 



Bombay and Sciude 32,486 



Madras 182,265 



Bengal and Burmah 6,251,319 



Other countries 81,048 



Total 6,719,894 



The Carolinas and Louisiana now produce annually about 420,000 

 cwts. of rice ; the Brazilian comes into commerce from Rio Janeiro, 

 and the Egyptian from the Delta of the Nile, via Damietta and 

 Rosetta. 



The following table shows the imports into the United Kingdom, 

 of rice cleaned, and in the husk, or uncleaned, at decennial periods. 



Year. 



Cleaned. 



Paddy. 



1840 

 1850 

 1860 

 1870 

 1875 



cwts. 

 443,918 

 785,451 

 1.535,575 

 4,077,468 

 6,719,894 



qrs. 

 42,119 

 37,150 

 516 

 98,178 

 16,601 



In 1876 the imports of cleaned rice were 6,485,987 cwts. 



It will be seen how enormously the trade has increased. About 

 half the quantity received is re-exported to the Continent, &c. 



Loureiro enumerates the following species : Oryza communissima^ 

 glutinosa, montana, mutlca and praecox, all of China; other 

 authors consider them only varieties of 0. sativa. Then we Lave 

 0. latifolia, Desv. of the Carolinas and St. Domingo; 0. mlnuta, 

 Presl. of Luzon ; 0. Nepalensis, G. Don ; 0. peremiis, Moench, and 0. 

 platyphylla, of New Granada. 



The varieties of rice are very numerous in the different countries 

 where it is cultivated. The natives of India and China distinguish 

 them a good deal by the size, shape, and colour of the grain. There 

 are white and red rice, small and large-grained. The chief com- 

 mercial classifications, however, in the East are, table rice, cargo rice 

 and white rice. 



