Rice. 
By the Hon. v W. Russell. 
T is scarcely necessary to dwell upon the im- 
portance of a cereal which feeds three-fourths, 
I think, of the entire population of the world, 
or to remind the members of this Society of the impor- 
tant part it plays in feeding a large bulk of the inhabi- 
tants of this colony, calling for no less a sum than 
^223,284.17.3 to be transferred from this colony to 
India in payment for this food supply. My purpose is 
to trace out the various steps taken to grow a home 
supply here, where both soil and climate are apparently 
more favourable for the plant than in any other part ot 
the world. 
In the year 1848 I first saw rice growing, in Berbice; 
and it affords the best illustration that I can give of rice 
cultivation on upland. I had been in pursuit of game on 
the 1st of August holiday, and the dogs gave tongue, in- 
dicating that the quarry was at bay in a high bullet tree 
reef; so with the "yackman," I made for the scene of 
yelping, and to my astonishment after struggling through 
a considerable distance of tangled bush I came upon 
an opening where a lovely green crop, something simi- 
lar to an oat-field, met my view. The " yackman " him- 
self, an African, at once pronounced it was rice, and 
told me that this was the labours of the "Timini" peo- 
ple, a race of Africans introduced by Messrs. Laing from 
New Providence, Nassau. Following up, we found a 
huge ant-eater backed up against a tree stump, keeping 
