395 
Jamaica it is now generally cultivated to supply both their stabled and 
working cattle: and Sir Archibald Campbell, who was governor of that 
island, carried the seed to the East Indies, where it was propagated with 
success, and was of great service to the cavalry; the horses having been 
before that fed on the roots of grass.* 
From the mildness of the winters in Cornwall and Devonshire, and 
myrtles growing every where in the open air, without the aid of green 
houses; the President of the Board of Agriculture has very properly recom- 
mended, from these circumstances, the trial of the Guinea Grass, to the in¬ 
habitants of Cornwall and Devonshire. 
The Guinea Grass is considered in Jamaica next the sugar-cane, in point 
of importance; the breeding farms throughout the island were originally 
created, and are still supported, chiefly by means of this invaluable herbage; 
which bestows verdure and fertility on lands, which otherwise would not be 
worth cultivation. The seed was first brought from the coast of Guinea to 
Jamaica, as food for some curious birds, who died before they had consumed 
the whole; the remaining seed was thrown into a pen or fold, where they 
sprang up; and the eagerness with which the cattle were observed to eat 
the grass, led to its being cultivated. 
They have, in Jamaica, another grass, called Scot's-grass ; it is an aqua¬ 
tic plant, rises to five or six feet in height, with long succulent joints, 
and is of a very quick vegetation. From a single acre of this plant, five 
horses may be maintained a whole year, allowing fifty-six pounds a day 
to each. 
Rice (O riza). This plant, although a grass, is thought to produce a 
floret with six stamina. Aymen observes “ Is not each flower of the Rice 
in fact composed of two florets?” The culm is pointed and rises to six feet 
in height. The native place of Rice, like the other Gramina, used as com¬ 
mon food is unknown. Linnaeus, indeed, says “ habitat forte iEthiopia,” 
but I do not know what authority he has for this assertion. 
Rice is cultivated in great abundance all over India, where the country 
will admit of being flooded; also in the southern provinces of China; in 
• Cochinchina, Cambodia, Siam, Japan, &c. In Japan it is very white and 
of the best quality. 
* Young’s Annals, 9. 409. & 13. 341. 
