ON THE CULTURE OF PEPPER AND RICE. 
255 
result, however, proved otherwise. Six different samples of this rice were sown in 
separate compartments in the most favourable situations. The grains were sown 
very thin in the middle of May, and they soon pat forth a most luxuriant vegeta- 
tion, each root tillering so much that the ground was entirely covered with the 
grassy verdure of the plants. The blades grew vigorously, attaining to the length 
of two feet ; but the stalks showed no disposition to rise ; and unless the ground 
was kept constantly moist, either by natural or artificial watering, the plants 
drooped. They continued to vegetate thus, until an early night frost in September 
entirely destroyed them. Some few of the plants had been transplanted into pots, 
and placed in a hothouse, but in this situation they soon died. Other plants which 
had been originally reared in a hothouse succeeded in sending forth flowering- 
stalks, which bloomed, but the blossoms never fructified. These experiments led 
Sir Joseph Banks to conclude, that though rice would not succeed in this country 
as a grain-bearing plant, it might, perhaps, be advantageously cultivated- as fodder 
for cattle^, because it furnished such an abundance of blades. Since the above- 
named unsuccessful experiment, a crop of rice has been obtained in England, on the 
banks of the Thames, near Windsor. 
The Chinese conduct this cultivation with great care, endeavouring in this, as in 
all the offices of husbandry in which they engage, to draw from the soil the greatest 
possible produce. 
The care of the cultivator begins before the seeds are placed in the earth. The 
grains destined for that purpose are put in baskets, and immersed in water, in which 
situation they remain for some days ; this softens them, and tends to hasten their 
germination. The land which is to be sown with this crop is previously saturated 
with water, until the surface is like soft mud. In this state it is stirred up with a 
plough of very simple construction, to which is yoked a single buffalo. A rude 
kind of hurdle, drawn also by one buffalo, succeeds the plough, the driver sitting- 
upon the hurdle to increase its weight, by which means the clods are broken down 
and the ground made smooth. All stones are carefully removed, and as far as 
possible, every weed is extirpated. Water is then again let in upon the land, in 
just sufficient quantity to cover its surface, and a harrow, with several rows of great 
iron teeth, still further smooths and completes the preparation of the ground. 
Only those grains which have sprouted in the water are selected for sowing, since 
as they have begun to germinate, their goodness is ascertained ; all the rest are 
rejected. 
The seed is sown thickly and evenly on only part of the ground ; this serving- 
as a nursery for the rest. A day after the seeds have been sown the points of the 
plants appear above the surface of the ground. As soon as the plants have acquired 
a little strength they are sprinkled with lime-water, for the purpose of destroying- 
insects, which might otherwise prey upon the young shoots. This operation is 
performed with a small basket attached to a long handle, the basket being filled by 
immersion from another vessel ; it is moved over the plants, and the fluid runs 
through, and is thus equally distributed over them. 
When the young plants begin to appear in thick vegetation they are thinned ; 
