SCIENTIFIC NOTES. 361 
The rice which is grown in Italy must be cultivated nnder a system of 
irrigation. There does not appear to be sufficient humidity in the air 
to admit of the successful cultivation of the species " mountain rice " 
which was brought by M. Poivre from Cochin China to the Mauritius, 
from whence it was subsequently brought to Europe, where it is proved 
to have germinated and come to maturity in climates possessing the 
requisite amount of humidity. Neither the Greeks or Romans appear 
to have cultivated rice, although it is certain they knew ol such produce 
as coming from Asia by the Red Sea to the ports of the Mediterranean. 
The Arabs are supposed to have cultivated it, and to have introduced it 
into Egypt and the southern parts of Europe with which they came into 
contact, but nothing is certain as to its existence in Europe until its in- 
troduction into Spain by the Moors in 1324, although a certain Peter 
Crescentius mentions it as growing in the marshy lands about Bologna 
as early as 1301. There are legislative enactments extant of Francesco 
Sforza and Ludovico the Moor, which prove that it was cultivated to a 
considerable extent in the Milanese in the fifteenth century. In the 
year 1585, the Spanish Governor of Milan, the Marquis Aymonte, pro- 
hibited it as a pestiferous production. Notwithstanding, however, all 
efforts to restrict its extension, it continued to spread throughout Italy, 
especially on the coasts of the Adriatic about Venice and Ancona in the 
valley of the Po. In Spain and Portugal sufficient care and attention 
were not bestowed on its cultivation as to render the crop important. It 
was grown to some extent in some parts of France until Cardinal Fleury 
put a stop to its cultivation, and at the present time it is by no means a 
profitable speculation. In Italy, however, the contrary is the case, and 
the crop is most remunerative, but it is a matter of serious consideration 
for the government to decide the question as to its pernicious effect on 
the health of the population, and if necessary, to adopt the most judi- 
cious measures to prevent the evil consequences consequent on an undue 
extension of its cultivation near great towns. 
To the Editor of the Technologist. 
Camp in Chumba, Lahore. 
Dear Sir, — In connection with an article on the shawl manufacture 
of Kashmir in a recent number of your Journal, some of the following 
may not be uninteresting : — 
During a short tour in Kashmir some years ago, I paid some atten- 
tion to corroborating, completing, or correcting some of the information 
connected with vegetable productions which Vigne gives in his * Book 
of Travels ' in that country, and among other things, made some 
inquiries into the nature of the dyes used there. The information that 
Vigne gives as to the dyes used in Sirinaggar (vol. ii. p. 127), may be 
condensed as follows. About forty different colours (and shades of 
colour) are in use for silks and woollens. Blues and purples are derived 
chiefly from indigo, yellows from a Punjab flower called gul-i-kyser 
