WILLIAM S. JONES, Publisher, 
DANIEL LEE, M. D., and D. REDMOND, Fd tors,. 
AUGUSTA, GA., APRIL, 1855. 
NO. \ 
AGRICaLTITiXIs. 
^ SEE TERMS ON LAST PAGE. 
^kntatisii Ctrannii; anii BliscEllanij. 
TWO CROPS OF RICE IN ONE SEASON. 
The Columbia Carolinian publishes a letter from 
Signor Germano Lattis, of Egypt, (introduced by anothei- 
from Edwin DeLeon, American Consul at Alexandria,) 
in which said Lattis expatiates upon a method which he 
has discovered, ©f making two crops of rice on the same 
ground in one year. Fora consideration, the Signor pro- 
poses to introduce his system into the United States. 
Mr. DeLeon says the result of his inquiries and in- 
spection has been the conviction that a great discovery 
has been made by Signor Lattis, through which he is en- 
abled to produce two crops of rice in five months from the 
same seed and an increase on the usual yield of at least 
thirty per cent, — Sav. Cour. 
Whether this arises from some chemical preparation of 
the seed, or from his peculiar treatment of the plant, is his 
secret. 1 incline to the former opinion. But the tacts are 
authenticated by witnesses of the most irreproachable 
character, and the experiments have been made on the 
land and under the eye of Mustapha Pacha, one of the 
royal family, who was educated at Paris, and is a man of 
shrewdness and intelligence. 
Signor Lattis thus writes to the American Consul; — “My 
rice fields yield, as you know from personal examination, 
two successive crops from a single sowing, and within a 
period of about five months, provided that the tempera 
ture remains constantly above tne mean of 20 degrees 
Reaumur 1 think, therefore, that every country capable 
of growing cotton is fit for the cultivation office after my 
method. This cultivation is not effected by the usual 
method of irrigation by submersion, the water being al 
lowed to flow on the rice fields only at stated periods. 
The straw, especially that of the first crop, furnishes an 
excellent pasturage for cattle, while that left after the 
usual mode is good for nothing. 
The practical knowledge and attention necessary are 
extremely simple, and within the rapacity of minds the 
most ordinary, so as easily to render their adoption pos 
sible by every planter in jour country. 
The chemical means by which I stimulate the vitality of 
the rice, and which serves to determine in it an increase ni 
heat, are very cheap. They are more than sufficient tc 
repair the loss of productive capacity whichthesoil would 
endure in furnishing a double crop. 
You are aware, sir, that far from impairing the value of 
land, science has proved rice to be a plant which actually 
improves the soil that produces it. 
It remains for me now to add as to the sum I wouM de- 
mand for the introduction of my system in America, aL 
though it would be very difficult for me to state it at this 
moment, yet I am convinced that this could offer no ob- 
stacles to the enterprise. America is too powerful and 
too generous to hesitate in obtaining what she recognizes 
to be of great utility, and I, in my turn, should be too 
happy to place my humble services at her disposal. It is^, 
therefore, in my opinion, beyond a doubt, that as soon as 
you may be authorized to make me an offer, we may 
easily come to an understanding. 
The above reminds us of Mr. Co.mstock’s “Terra Cvl- 
— a humbug that has been pressed upon public at- 
tention as a secret worthy of the patronage of Congress 
and State Legislatures, by the purchase (fthe same. 
If Signor Germano L\ttis wished to sell \\\s nostrwm 
to the American Government through Mr. DeLeon, Con- 
sul at Alexandria, he should have avoided writing any 
such letter as the above, or at least, its publication in the 
United States. He says: The clic'mical means by 
which I stimulate the vitality of the rice, and which 
serves to determine in it an increase of heat. - ax-q very 
cheap. They are more than sufficient to repair the loss of 
productive rapacity which the soil would endure in fur- 
nishing a double crop.'’ 
The secret appears to consist in knowing some “cheap- 
chemical means” which will evolve “heat” in the tissues 
of rice plants; which “heat,” it is falsely assumed, is so 
much belter, and more agreeable to vegetable growth, than 
solar heat, that the [dant will organize as mueli of its food, 
whether present or not. in two months as it would in three 
without the aid of this super-natural chemical stimulant I 
Tills simple statement sliows that Signor Germ a, no Lattis 
knows liiile or noiliing of vegetable physiology in its pre- 
sent advanced condition. Two crofis of rice may be 
grown in a year in Egypt as two of corn are grown in 
Texas; but in luiiher case is the result attained by any 
“increase of heal” generated by “chemical means” arti- 
ficially applied. Any such pretence is a fraud, and it can 
only 1)6 successful to the extent of popular credulity and 
ignorance of chemistry, and the way in whicli all plants 
iiiow. Let us siipfjose, for illusiration and comparison, 
that it Wire emirely practical permanently to laise the 
mmperatnre of ilie soil of a rice field, waier and atmos- 
phere, (fur the two latter would certainly cool the growing 
|)lants if not wairned) during the whole time ihat. inter- 
vene.s from the sowing or (ilaniing of the seed, to the ma- 
turity of ihe crop. V\'ill tins virinal change of climate 
roin a cooler to a warmer, condition, shorten the time m 
