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APPENDIX. 
Bice. Oryza sativa. 
Rice was cultivated from the earliest times In Asia and 
Africa. Its introduction into America is of very modern date. 
According to one account, Mr. Ashby, an English merchant, at 
the close of the seventeenth century, sent a hundred weight 
of rice from India to Carolina, which was the seed of all the 
future harvests. Another authority says, “ A brigantine from 
the island of Madagascar, happened to put in at Carolina, having 
a little seed rice left, which the captain gave to a gentleman of 
the name of Woodward. From part of this he had a very good 
crop, but was ignorant for some years how to clean it. It was 
soon dispersed over the province, and by frequent experiments 
and observations, they found out ways of producing and man¬ 
ufacturing it to so great perfection, that it is thought to exceed 
any other in value. The writer of this has seen the said 
captain in Carolina, where he received a handsome gratuity 
from the gentlemen of that country, in acknowledgment of the 
service he had done the province.” 
On the Importance of the British Plantations in America. 
(London, 1701.) 
