EICE. 



299 



solicitude, "^eil persuaded that a scarcity of rice might be fatal to 

 its power. Ordinances to encom-age and increase this branch of 

 agriculture, have been promulgated at different times by an autho- 

 rity called to watch over the physical well-being of many millions 

 of inhabitants. 



As an evident proof that the culture of rice, of which it would 

 be difficult to fix the quantity produced annually, increases con- 

 siderablv, I mav mention that the exportation from Java, in 1840, 

 was 1,488,350 piculs of 125 Dutch lbs. 



Eice is cultivated in Java in three systems. The name of sawaJi 

 is given to the rice fields, which can be irrigated artificially ; tepar^ 

 or tagal, are elevated but level grounds ; and gagali, or ladang, 

 are cleared forest grounds. The two last only give one crop ; a 

 second crop may be obtained from the saicali, which then most 

 commonly consists of katjang, from whicb oil is extracted, in 

 kajpiis or fine cotton, and in uhie, a kind of potato. 



There are, says ^Ir. Crawfurd, two distinct descriptions of rice 

 cultivated throughout the Indian islands, one which grows without 

 the help of immersion in water, and another for which that im- 

 mersion is indispensably requisite. In external character there is 

 very little difference between them, and in intrinsic value not 

 much. The marsli rice generally brings a somewhat higher price 

 in the market. The great advantage of this latter consists in its 

 superior fecimdity. Two very important varieties of each are well 

 known to the Javanese husbandman, one being a large productive, 

 but delicate grain, which requires about seven months to ripen, 

 and the other a small, hardy, and less fruitful one, which takes liltle 

 more than five months. The first we constantly find cultivated in 

 rich lands, where one annual crop only is taken ; and the last in 

 well watered lands, but of inferior fertility, where two crops may 

 be raised. 



Both of these, but particularly the marsh rice, is divided into a 

 great number of sub-varieties, characterised by being awned or 

 otherwise, having a long or round grain, or being in color black, 

 red, or white. The most singular variety is the O. glutinosa, of 

 Humphius. This is never used as bread, but commonly preserved 

 as a sweetmeat. The rudest, and probably the earliest practised 

 mode of cultivating rice, consists in taking from forest lands a 

 fugitive crop, after burning the trees, grass, and imderwood. The 

 ground is turned up with the mattock, and the seed planted by 

 dibbling between the stumps of trees. The period of sowing is 

 the commencement of the rains, and of reaping that of the dry 

 season. The rice is of course of that description which does not 

 require immersion. 



The second description of tillage consists also in growing moun- 

 tain or dry land rice. This mode is usually adopted on the com- 

 mon upland arable lands, whicb cannot conveniently be irrigated. 

 The grain is sown in the middle of the dry season, either broadcast or 

 by dibbling, and reaped in seven or five months, as the grain 

 happens to be the larger or the smaller variety. 



