RICE. 



327 



wards it is kept in a warm room for several days, where it is mixed 

 with a certain quantity of rice covered with fungi ; these latter spread 

 rajndly over the whole surface of the rice. The fermenting wort is 

 made of fresh rice, also steamed, and mixed with water and a certain 

 percentage of ferment in small tubs. A large cool is filled with these 

 mixtures, and kept for about eight days at a certain temperature, 

 which is maintained by introducing a vessel filled with hot water 

 into it. The wort first gets a sour taste, whereupon the temperature 

 is lowered ; at a later period the taste becomes bitter, and the wort 

 is cooled so as to stop further fermentation. In January the real 

 brewing begins. Again fresh rice is steamed, washed with a con- 

 siderable percentage of both the ferment and the wort, mixed with a 

 sufficient quantity of water. The whole is then transferred into big 

 vats, frequently stirred, and left for about twenty days, at the expira- 

 tion of which period it usually acquires a vinous taste. The mash is 

 now placed in bags and pressed, and the liquid runs out into casks, 

 where it settles, whence it is tapped when quite clear. The clear 

 liquid is then heated up to a certain point and kept in large butts. 

 This sake is generally drank hot at meals. The residues and the 

 spoiled sake are distilled, and the alcoholic liquid used for making 

 the " mi-rin " or sweet liquor. The total production of sake in 1874 

 was estimated at 6,501,083 hectolitres, that of certain inferior kinds of 

 sake at 127,446 hectolitres, that of brandy at 60,577 hectolitres, that 

 of sweet alcohol liquors at 56,712 hectolitres. 



Java. — There are three principal varieties of rice reckoned here: 

 Oryza glutinosa, or Ketan ; Oryza sativa, or paddy ; and sawa {Oryza 

 Montana), with a variety called Paddy Girek. This last sort falls 

 from the stem immediately after being cut. Besides these principal 

 kinds, there are more than one hundred varieties, some of which are 

 cultivated in upland grounds, but the greater part in irrigated lands. 



The mean temperature varies very little in Java in the various 

 regions, even at different elevations. Eice grows as well at heights 

 3500 feet above the level of the sea, where at six in the morning 

 before sunrise the thermometer only marks 10° Eeaum., while in 

 the day it will ascend to 20°. The stalks are, however, less heavy, 

 and the grain ripens quicker than in the interior, where it will not 

 ripen under eight months. 



The yield cannot well be fixed, for this depends upon the kind of 

 rice and the nature of the soil. A return of 80 to 100 for one is con- 

 sidered very good, although this is sometimes exceeded. 



The time of sowing and transplanting varies, depending upon the 

 nature of the rains, as the sowing commences in the wet season. 



The culture of rice is the principal occupation of the people, as it 

 is not only the chief source of their food, but there is a surplus for 

 export. 



In 1873 the culture of rice in the island occupied 6,250,000 acres, 

 and the produce was 52,244,230 piculs, without reckoning the culture 

 in the environs of Batavia and the provinces which are partially in 

 the hands of the native princes. The table rice is called Beras. The 

 glutinous rice is employed for making pastry ; the red rice is given to 

 poultry and horses ; the black rice is more remarkable for its colour 



