December i, 189 t.l 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
4iy 
At ttiQ present d^y Ili« ma ner of the world's fc< a- 
drinking may be rapi<Uy sni'veyed and britfl' sum- 
marise*^. Tbe Ch’neae and Japanese enjoy the dpooction 
of the herb just an their t* reiather." have done for 
unnnmbpred genera*, ioim. The Anglo- Indians hnvo 
their very early cup of tea with a thin aUco <’f bread- 
and-hutter, the snaok being known as the “ chota« 
bazri,” at five ot six in the tuoruing, a good two or 
thrfO hours before breakfast, at whioh 1 tst-naDied 
im al tea may vie with coffee as a beverage ; :»nd ag^in, 
In Anglo-Iudlan society, the kettledrum, or five o’clock 
tea, takes a conspicuous place. £)urop«au Koasiaue) 
of the civilised claseca Jriuk loimodorate quantities of 
tea 10 tumblers, without milk or sugar, but with the 
ze|t of a slice of lemon*pcoI, at all hours of tho day. 
Among tho peasantry and the artisans tho coarser 
kiud of black tea is extensively patronised. South 
of Moscow “brick tea’’— that is to say, the in- 
ferior leavea of the plant mixed with sheep's blood, 
and proAged iuto the form of cubes— is the ordinary 
drink of the commoa people, sad bolds its own with 
vodka and qvas. The Tartars swdll a horrible gruel, 
thick aud slab, of “ brick tea,” suet, ralt, pepper, and 
sugar, boilod io a chaldron. The Turks and Greeks, 
nationally speaking, kuow nothing often. Nor is it a 
very recogulsable quantity iu the dietary of tho Latin 
races, the .Spai.tards preferring chocolate and the 
ItiliauA bUok coffee. The Germans aro moderately 
fond of tea, but they like ouffeu better, aud beer best, 
lu Paris the of tea is gonerally coudnod to polite 
society, and scarcely enters into the economy of “la 
vie bourgeoiser.’ It is among the Aiiglo-Saxou peoples 
that the consumption of lea is moU syaU^matic and 
most oxtt ut'ive. The Aus ralians are essculially a toa- 
driukiug people. There c.muot, indeed, be the hlighlest 
doubt that tho cause of temperance both in Australia 
and Uoitod States has been materially advanced by 
the prevalence of tea-driukiug ; and, if our kii'emeu 
beyond the Atlantic or ou the shores of the Pacific 
really suffer from dyspepsia, it is possible that their 
tendoDcy to indigestion sprii gs much less from their 
custom of levimbibing than from thoir habit of eating 
beefsteaks and mutton-chops for breakfast. As re- 
gards England, we wholly fail to see that the consump- 
tioo of tea is immoderate, that it has injnred the 
health of the community, or that it has diminished the 
Dative grace aud dignity of English women. Euvy, 
malice, and all uncharitableness are much more con- 
ducive to iudigestioa than five o’clock tea . — haily 
Telegraph. 
KICK, ITS IIISTOKV, 
Bv }Ju. n, B. PnocTOR. 
" Thus trod created man, God mide food and driok, iffee, 
Are, and water, cattle, eloi hanta, and birds.*’— A Burmeae 
account of the Creation. 
Extraordinary^ as has been tho progress of the 
wheat trade of England during tho last century, the 
wheaton loaf having supplanted tliose of rye aud harloy 
as the staple food of all desses of tho people, it never- 
theless will not bear comparison wuieu contrasted 
with tho same movement in rice, the importation of 
which has increased not less than one hundred-fold 
during tlie same period. 
The rice trade of England continued in oxtromoly 
small compass, and was limited to the ■varieties pro- 
duced in I 'arolina, Bengal, and Madras, until the year 
of 18,52, when the most fertile provinces of Burma 
were conciuorod and annexed to the British empire. 
Of all the countries in the world, Burma is tho host 
adapted for tho cheap cultivation of rice ; all that was 
wanted was a just aud strong government, able to put 
down potty internal warfare, and willing to protect 
tho cultivators from excessive taxation, violence and 
oppression. 
Those blessings, wliich universally attend Britisli 
rule, soon changed tho condition of the people from 
ei-treme poverty to tho greatest prosperity. As soon 
08 
as the war was over, and the country boeame settled 
the export trade in rice began, and since then it 
has steadily increased year by year, until in 1881 the 
exports to EnroiJe amounted to no less tlian 736,660 
tons, besidoB wliicli 178,6(X) tons wore exported coast- 
wise and to other (larts of the world. 
'This immense addition to the rice supply of the 
world has not checked the trade in the same article 
from thereat of India, as might have Imen anticipated, 
but it has grown larger too ; last year, the exports to 
Europe amounted to 89,650 tons. 
A cereal trade that is developing with such rapid 
strides cannot fail to be of interest to tho milling 
world. As the subject has hitherto been somewhat 
overlooked and neglected by periodicals devoted to 
such subjects, we propose to give a short account of 
the history, cultivation, and manufactm-o of rice and 
its products, together with a few remarks upon its com- 
parative food value. 
The derivation of tho word — arisi, Tamil ; aruz, 
Arabic ; oryza, Latin ; riso, Italian ; rice, English, 
points correctly toils Indian origin. It is a cultivated 
variety of an aquatic grass, bearing when in the ear a 
closer resem bianco to harloy than to any other of the 
English corn plants. 
The seed vessel grows upon separate, fine, hair-like 
stalks like tho oat, oacli of which springs gracefully 
upwards from tho main stem. Tho grain is inclosed 
in a rough yellow husk, which generally terminates 
with a thin spike or awm, though some varieties are 
awnless. The height varies from two feet to six feet, 
according to the variety. The grain must bo removed 
from the husk, which adheres to it with great ten- 
acity, either by being pounded in a stamper pot or 
more generally by passing it through a pair of mill- 
stones, set a slight distance apart, which crack ofifthc 
husk withont crushing the grain. It has next a thin 
skin or pellicle, which must he renioved by scouring 
or decorticating, to make clean rice, just as barley is 
scoured for making pcarl-harley. Bice in tlio husk is 
called “ Baddy ■■ (Malay, Pardi); the husk which is 
removed is called Kico Shudo; tho meal whioh is 
obtained during the process is called Uice Meal. 
There are far more cultivated varieties of rice differ- 
ing more from each other than there ere of wheat, or 
any other of tho grain foods. The Karens, a hill 
race in British Burma, have names for forty varieties. 
Pr. Mooro mentions 161 varieties growing in Ceylon, 
be!,idos which llioronrc those grown in China, Africa, 
Jajjan, and other parts of the world. Tho colors of 
the grain vary from coal black, dark red, pink, yellow, 
to i.ory white; the shatios are various, and differ 
much fioiu each other; some varieties aro sweet, 
some others hitter ; some oily, others dry; some hard 
and translncent, others soft and chalky. Botanists 
have classified the varieties into four divisions : Early 
rice. Couimon rice. Clammy rice, and Mountain rice. 
Early rice is a mai'sh plant. It is sown between the 
end of March aud beginning of May. It matures in 
four mouths. It is grown mostly iu India, China and 
Japan. Carolina and Java rioo belong to this division. 
The isolated attempts whioh have been made to grow 
Carolina rice in Burma have failed, because it ripens 
sooner than the main crop of the country, an<i the 
liirda collect in such numbers os to clear off the bulk 
of the crop before it can bo gathered in. 
Common rice gives the greatest yield. About 
twenty-five-fold. It is wholly a marsh plant. If the 
ground becomes dry before it arrives at maturity it 
soon wittiers away. The Burmese crop belongs to this 
division. It is sown in Juno aud reaped about six 
months after. 
Mountain rice grows on the llimnlayas. It does not 
require irrigation and will stand groat cold, pushing 
its way tlirougli snow. It has been grown ns an ex- 
periment in England. 
Clammy rice has tho advantage of growing on wot 
or dry lauds. It ripens in five mouths. Voriotiosof 
the two first divisions ore those most known in com- 
merce. 
There can be no doubt that the rice plant is of 
Indian origin. Wild rice, growing in the waste 
marshes, is still oaten as a luxury on the Madras coast. 
The grain is small, white, aud Biveet; it bring-s a high 
price, hut tho plnat docs not pay togrow, hO oauso it 
