286 



eice; 



"bushels of paddv; from Pliilaclelpliia, in 1771, 258,375 pounds. 

 The amount exported from the United States, in 1770, was 150,529 

 barrels ; in 1791, 96,980 tierces ; in 1800, 112,056 tierces ; in 

 1810, 131,341 tierces; in 1820-21, 88,221 tierces; in 1830-31, 

 116,517 tierces ; in 1810-41, 101,617 tierces ; in 1845-46, 124,007 

 tierces; in 1846-47, 144,427 tierces: in 1850-51, 105,590 tierces. 



According to the census of 1840, the rice crop of the United 

 States amounted to 80,841,422 lbs. : in 1850, 215,312,710 lbs. 



nice being an aquatic plant, is best grown in low moist lands, 

 that are easily inundated. 



The ground is ploughed superficially, and divided into squares of 

 from twenty to thirty yards in the sides, separated from each other 

 by dykes of earth about two feet in height, and suQiciently broad 

 for a man to walk upon. These dykes are for retaining the water 

 when it is required, and to permit of its being drawn off when 

 the inundation is no longer necessary. The ground prepared, the 

 water ns let on, and kept at a certam height in the several com- 

 partments of the rice field, and the seedsman goes to work. The 

 rice that is to be used as seed must have been kept in the husk ; 

 it is put into a sack, which is immersed in the water until the 

 grain swells and shows signs of germination ; the seedsman, walk- 

 ing through the inundated field, scatters the seed with his hand, as 

 usual ; the rice immediately sinks to the bottom, and many even 

 penetrate to a certain depth in the mud. In Piedmont, where 

 the sowing takes place at the beginning of April, they generally 

 use about fiftj^-five pounds of seed per acre. The rice begins to 

 show itself above the surface of the water at the end of a fort- 

 night ; as the plant grows, the depth of the water is increased, so 

 that the stalks may not bend v*T.th their own weight. About the 

 middle of June this disposition is no longer to be apprehended ; 

 the rice is not so flexible as it was, so that the water can be drawn 

 oif for a few days to permit hoeing ; after which the water is 

 again let on, and maintained to the height of the plant. In July 

 it is usual to top the stalks, an operation which renders the flower- 

 ing almost simultaneous. 



B-ice generally flowers in the beginning of the month of August, 

 and a fortnight later the grain begins to form. It is at this period 

 especially that the stalks requh^e to be supported, and this is eftec- 

 tually done by keeping the water at about half their height. The 

 rice field is emptied when the straw turns yellow. The harvest 

 generally takes place at the end of September. In the Isle of 

 Prance rice is cultivated in very damp soils, upon vrhicli a great 

 deal of rain falls, but which are not flooded, as in other tropical 

 countries : but the process is not so certain nor the crop so great, 

 as when inundation is employed. In Piedmont the usual return 

 of a rice field is reckoned at about fifty for one. At Munzo, in 

 ISew Grranada, the paddy fields which are not inundated, under 

 the influence of a mean temperatme of 26 deg. centi^igrade 

 (7-90 deg. Pahrenheit), yield 100 for 1. — (Simmonds's " Colonial 

 Magazine," vol. xi., p. 92.) 



