O R Y Z A. 
Leaves wider, yellowilh. Panicle large, with (horterawns. 
Seed oblong, largifh, glutinous, ufually very white. This 
is cultivated both in wet and dry places. It varies with 
a black feed, which is higher flavoured; and alfo with a 
red feed. 
The varieties of rice, as of other cultivated grain, are 
innumerable. Loureiro propofes the abovC as fpecies, 
diftindl, not from culture, but by nature; differing in 
the time of fpringing, growth, and maturity, in the fort of 
foil that they require, in the form and colour of the feed, 
and probably in other characters, if they were carefully 
examined. 
The original native place of rice, like the other forts 
of grain in common life, is unknown. Linnaeus, indeed, 
fays, habitat forte in /Ethiopia; but we do not know' what 
authority he has for this afl’ertion. By a miftake, he has 
generally put ^Ethiopia for the country about the Cape of 
Good Hope; but perhaps he may here intend Abyflinia. 
Rice is cultivated in great abundance all over India, 
where the country will admit of being flooded ; in the 
fouthern provinces of China; in Cochin-china, Cambo¬ 
dia, Siam, Japan, &c. In Japan it is very white, and of 
the befl quality. It has alfo been introduced into culti¬ 
vation in the fouthern kingdoms of Europe, Italy, Spain, 
the fouth of France,and, within a few years, into Hungary. 
Rice is the chief commodity and riches of Damietta in 
Egypt. Dr. Haffelquift gives The following defcription 
of the manner in which they drefs and feparate it from the 
hulks : “ It is pounded by hollow iron peftles of a cylin¬ 
drical form, lifted up.by a wheel, W’orked by oxen. One 
perfon, fitting between the tw’opeftles, pufhes forward the 
rice when the peftles are riling; another fifts, winnows, 
and lays it under the peftles. In this manner they con¬ 
tinue working it until it is entirely free from chaff and 
hulks. When clean, they add one-thirtieth part of fait, 
and pound them together; by which the rice, formerly 
grey, becomes white. After this purification, it is palled 
through a fine fieve, to part the fait from the rice ; and 
then it is ready for fale.” Damietta fells every year 
60,800 lacks of rice, the greateft part of which goes to 
Turkey, fonre to Leghorn, Marfeilles, and Venice. 
In C aroiina (North America), it has long been a ftaple 
commodity. Mr. Houghton’s account of its introduc¬ 
tion there is, that Mr. Afhby was'encouraged to fend a 
hundred-pound bag full of rice to that province, from 
which, in 1698, fixty tons were imported into England. 
Mr. Dalrymple fays, that rice, in Carolina, is the refult 
of a fmall bag of paddy, given as a prefect from Mr. 
Dubois, treafurer of the Eaft-India Company, to a Caro¬ 
lina trader. A Dutch vefl’el, alfo from Madagascar, brought 
rice into the fame province; and to this is attributed 
their having two kinds. 
Mr. Miller cultivated it here in 1739 ; but Gerard had 
it long before; for he fays, “ the flower did not (how it- 
felf with me, by reafon of the injury of our unfeafonable 
year 1596.” In his time ftoves were unknown. 
In the hilly parts of Java, and in many of the eaftern- 
iflands, the mountain-rice is planted upon the (ides of 
hills, where no water but rain can come; it is however 
planted in the beginning of the rainy feafon, and reaped 
in the beginning of the dry feafon. The natives call it 
paddy gaming, which lignifies mountain-rice. In the 
weftern parts of India it is entirely unknown. It is well 
known in Cochin-china, where it thrives in dry light foils, 
moltly on the lides of hills, not requiring more moifture 
than the ufual rains and dews lupply, neither of which is 
frequent at the feafon of its vegetation. The French 
colonies are indebted to M. Poivre, for introducing this 
dry rice in'Cochin-china. 
Propagation and Culture in China. Much of the low 
grounds, in the middle and fouthern provinces of China, 
is appropriated to the culture of rice ; which conftitutes 
the principal part of the food of all thofe who are not fo 
indigent as to be forced to fubfift on cheaper kinds of 
grain. A great proportion of the furface of the country 
Vol. XVII. No. 1217. 
801 
is well adapted to the produftion of rice. Many and great 
rivers run through the feveral provinces of China; the 
low grounds bordering on thofe rivers are annually in¬ 
undated, by which means a rich mud or mucilage is 
brought upon their furface, that fertilizes the foil, in the 
fame manner as Egypt is by the oyerflowing of the Nile. 
After the mud has lain fome days, preparations are made 
for planting rice. For this purpofe, a fmall fp9t of ground 
is inclofed by a bank of clay; the earth is ploughed-up ; 
and an upright harrow, with a row of wooden pins jn the 
lower end, is drawn lightly over it by a buffalo. The 
grain, previoufly fteeped in dung, diluted with animal 
water, is then fown very thickly on it. A thin (fleet of 
water is immediately brought over it, either by channels 
leading to the fpot from a (ource above it, or, when below 
it, by means of a chain-pump, the ufe of which is as fa¬ 
miliar as that of a floe to every Ciiinefe hu(bandman. 
In a few days the (hoots appear above the water. In that 
interval, the remainder of the ground intended for culti¬ 
vation, if (tiff, is ploughed, the lumps broken by hoes, 
and the furface levelled by the harrow. As foon as the 
(hoots have attained the height of fix or (even inches, 
they are plucked up by the roots, the tops of the blades 
cut off, and each root is planted feparately, fometimes in 
fmall furrows turned with the plough, and fometimes in 
holes made in rows by a drilling-ftick for that purpofe. 
The roots are about a foot afunder. Water is brought 
over them a fecond time, for the convenience of irriga¬ 
tion, and to regulate its proportion. The rice-fields are 
fubdivided by narrow ridges of clay into fmall inclofures. 
Through a channel in each ridge the water is conveyed 
at will to every fubdivifion. As the rice approaches to 
maturity, the water, by evaporation and abforption, dif- 
appears entirely; and the crop, when ripe, covers dry 
ground. 
The firft harveft, in the fouthern provinces particu¬ 
larly, happens towards the end of May or beginning of 
June. The inftrument for reaping, is a fmall-toothed 
(ickle. The (heaves are placed regularly in frames, two 
of which, fufpended at the extremities of a bamboo-pole, 
are carried acrofs the (houlders of a man, to the place 
where it is to be threftred. This operation is'performed, 
not only by a flail, or by the treading of cattle, but fome¬ 
times alfo by (Hiking it againft a plank fet upon its edge, 
or by beating it againft the fide of a large tub fcoiloped 
for that purpofe; the back and (ides being much higher 
than the front, to prevent the grain from being difperfed. 
After being winnowed, it is carried to the granary. 
To remove the (kin or hulk of rice, a large ftrong 
earthen veffel, or hollow ftene, in form fomewhat like 
that which is ufed elfewhere for filtering water, is fixed 
firmly in the ground ; and the grain, placed in it, is (truck 
with a conical ltone fixed to the extremity of a lever, and 
cleared, fometimes indeed imperfectly, from the hulk. 
The fame objeft is attained, by palling the grain between 
two flat (tones of a circular form, the upper of which 
turns round upon the other, but at fuch a diftance from 
it as not to break the grain. The operation is performed 
on a larger fcale, in mills turned by water; the axis of 
the wheel carrying feveral arms, which raife levers by 
ftriking upon the ends of them. Sometimes twenty of. 
thefe levers are worked at once. The draw is cut chiefly 
into chaff, to ferve as provender for the very few cattle 
employed in Chinefe hufbandry. 
The labour of the firft crop being finiflied, the ground is 
immediately prepared for the reception of frefn feeds. 
The firft operation is to pull up the ftubble, colled it into 
fmall heaps, burn it, and fcatter the a(hes upon the field. 
The former precedes- are afterwards renewed. The fe¬ 
cond crop is generally ripe late in OCfober, or early in 
November. The grain is treated as befory; but the ftub¬ 
ble is no longer burnt. It is turned-under w ith the plough, 
and left to putrefy in the earth. This, with the (lime 
brought upon the ground by inundation, are the only- 
manures ufually employed in the culture of rice. Lands 
9 S thus 
