The quantity of matter dissolved, whethe_The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c.

the few weeks in which corn plants organise the bulk of their solids,

is small. From 93 to 97 parts in 100 of the dry matter, in a mature,

perfect plant, including its seeds, cob, stems, leaves, and roots, are

carbon (charcoal) and the elements of water. It is not only an

important, but an exceedingly instructive fact, that the most

effective fertilisers known in agriculture are those that least abound

in the elements of water and carbon. The unleached dry excrements of

dunghill fowls and pigeons, have five times the fertilising power on

all cereal plants that the dry dung of a grass-fed cow has, although

the latter has five times more carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, per 100

pounds, than the former. Although it is desirable to apply to the soil

in which corn is to grow as much of organised carbon and water as one

conveniently can, yet, where fertilisers have to be transported many

miles; it is important to know that such of the measure as would form

_coal_, if carefully burnt, can best be spared. The same is true of

those elements in manure which form vapor or water, when the

fertiliser decomposes in the ground.

Carbonic acid and nascent hydrogen evolved in rotting stable manure

are truly valuable food for plants, and perform important chemical

offices in the soil; but they are, nevertheless, not so indispensable

to the economical production of crops, as available nitrogen, potash,

silica, magnesia, sulphur, and phosphorus. These elements of plants

being less abundant in nature, and quite indispensable in forming

corn, cotton, and every other product of the soil, their artificial

supply in guano, night soil, and other highly concentrated

fertilisers, adds immensely to the harvest, through the aid of a small

weight of matter. In all sections where corn is worth 30 cents and

over a bushel, great benefits may be realised by the skilful

manufacture and use of poudrette. This article is an inodorous

compound of the most valuable constituents of human food and clothing.

It is the raw material of crops.

It is not necessary to restore to a cornfield all the matter removed

in the crop to maintain its fertility. A part of each seed, however,

ought to be carried back and replaced in the soil, to make good its

loss by the harvest.

In every barrel of meal or flour sent to market (196 pounds), there

are not far from 186 pounds of carbon (coal), and the elements of

water. When a bird eats wheat or corn, I have reason to believe, from

several experiments, that over 80 per cent, of the food escapes into

the air through its capacious lungs in the process of respiration; and

yet the 20 per cent, of guano left will re-produce as much wheat or

corn as was consumed. Imported guano, which has been exposed to the

weather for ages, often gives an increase in the crop of wheat equal

to three pounds of seed to one of fertiliser; while it has given a

gain of seven to one of corn, and fifty to one of green turnips.

Like other grains that have been long cultivated, Indian corn abounds

in varieties. In Spain they count no less than 130, and in the United

States the number is upwards of forty. The difference consists in

size, color, period of maturation, and hardness and weight of grain.

Of size there exists a considerable variety, from Zea Curagua of

Chili, and the Egyptian or chicken corn, both extremely diminutive, to

the large white flint, and ground seed corn of the United States. The

differences in color are the red, yellow, and white. The period of

maturation varies, apparently, very considerably; but it is

questionable whether this variation is real, and independent of

climate. In the Northern States of America, Indian corn ripens in a

shorter period of time than it does in the South, owing, possibly, to

the greater length of the summer day in those latitudes.

In selecting varieties, some experienced and judicious farmers prefer

that which yields the greater number of ears, without regard to their

size, or number of rows. Others prefer that which furnishes one or two

larger ears, having from twelve to twenty-four rows. In the Northern

States of America the yellow corn bears the highest price in the

market, and is considered the most prolific and best suited to feed

cattle and hogs. For bread, the white Button is preferred at the

North, and the white ground seed is used for that purpose in other

quarters. Preference, however, is most frequently given to white flint

corn, which is unquestionably the heaviest, and contains the greatest

proportion of farina.

In Mississippi many varieties are grown, principally those known as

flint and bastard flint. The gourd-seed varieties are very

objectionable in that climate, principally on account of their

softness rendering them unfit for bread, and open to the attacks of

insects in the field and the crib. They require a grain, _white_,

_hard_, and rather flinty--_white_ because of its great consumption in

bread and hommony, in the preparation of both of which their cooks

greatly excel. When meal is ground for bread, the mill is set rather

wide, that the flinty part of the grain may not be cut up too fine,

this being sifted out for "small hommony;" the farinaceous part of the

grain is left for bread. This hommony is a beautiful and delicious

dish. On most plantations the negroes have it for supper, with

molasses or buttermilk. A _hard flinty_ grain is necessary to head the

weevil, with which not only the cribs but the heads of corn in the

field are infested. These are the _Calandra oryzæ_, the true rice

weevil, distinguished from his European cousin by the two reddish

spots on each _elytra_ or wing-cover, and known in America as the

"black weevil;" also a little brown insect, not a true weevil, but a

_Sylvanus_. This sylvanus, and another of the same genus, most

probably the _S. surinamensis_, attack the corn in the field before it

becomes hard, causing serious damage--but nothing to equal that

occasioned by the black weevil.

I know of no generally successful method of staying or even checking

the injury caused by the insects, though much might be written in the

way of suggestion.

In Michigan, the _dent_ variety in dry seasons produces the best crops

on sandy loam, as its roots run deeper than the common _eight-rowed_

yellow or white. In moist seasons the latter varieties usually do

well. They are grown most generally in the Northern part of the State,

while in the Southern section the Ohio dent is principally raised. The

shuck and blade are much used as fodder for cattle, in the early part

of winter.

Indian corn is very liable to change of character from soil and

climate, growing smaller the farther North it is raised. The mixing of

the eight-rowed yellow with the Ohio dent has, so far as my experience

goes, been beneficial in increasing the yield. Sandy loam, or clay, is

considered the soil best adapted to corn. It is usually planted in

May, and harvested in September. The blade is not taken off there as

at the South; some farmers cut up their corn when ripe, put it into

shocks, and husk it late in the fall; others cut the stalks, bind them

in sheaves, and stack them for winter in the fields, or put them away

in barns or sheds; while others husk the corn on the hill without

cutting the stalks, and late in the fall turn their cattle into the

field to eat the fodder. Of these different modes the preference is

usually given to cutting the stalks and putting them under cover

after being well cured, and busting the corn on the hill. The corn is

thought to ripen better in this way, and to keep better in the cribs.

The Ohio dent, having a smaller ear containing less moisture than

other varieties, ripens quicker and keeps better. This crop ranges

from 25 to 65 bushels per acre, and the difference in the yield is to

be attributed to the manner of cultivation. My experience shows that a

crop of 45 bushels per acre costs 13 cents a bushel, including

interest on land. Corn is principally raised in Michigan for home

consumption, and the stalks and shucks, if well cured, are worths

dollars per acre, compared with hay at 5 dollars per ton.

As much as 134 bushels per acre have been obtained, in some instances,

in Massachusetts; till the last 20 years 35 bushels was considered an

average crop, but by a due rotation of crops, and ploughing in long

manure, at least 75 bushels to the acre are now raised. The kinds

preferred there, are an eight-rowed variety, procured originally from

Canada; the Cass corn, another eight-rowed variety, and the Dutton

corn, each of which averages about 60 lbs. to the bushel.

Maize is a principal crop in the Connecticut River Valley, Western

Vermont, and along the Lake shore; but in the high dividing ridge, and

in the Northern counties bordering on Canada, the climate is too

severe for its profitable cultivation.

"The kind mostly grown (observes Mr. Colburn, of Vermont) is the

yellow eight-rowed, though some prefer the twelve and sixteen-rowed,

known here by the name of the Button corn; but my experience in

cultivating the different kinds for the last twenty-four years, has

forced me to the conclusion that the common eight-rowed, mixed with

a kind called the Brown corn, does the best; the kernel of

the-latter bearing upon a chocolate hue, and the mixture of these

two kinds of seed imparting a deep rich color to the whole, when

they become blended, and enhancing the yield whenever the soil is in

high tilth. Of this kind, the writer has raised, the past season,

upon eleven acres on the Connecticut River alluvium, over eight

hundred bushels shelled corn, four acres of which, with extra

preparation, produced four hundred and sixteen bushels.

It will never do to carry seed corn from South to North, as it will

not mature in a higher or colder climate than that from which it has

been taken. Even half a degree of latitude sensibly affects the

maturing of the blade, and renders it an uncertain crop in our high

northern latitudes. To insure an extra yield of this valuable grain,

the soil must be highly manured, deeply ploughed, thorough

cultivated and hoed, and top-dressed with lime, house ashes, and

plaster. This done, it is the most remunerative and profitable of

all grain crops."

In Delaware there are many varieties, and everybody esteems his own

kind the best. The grain varies from pure "flint" to pure "gourd

seed"--of course the mixtures which are between these two varieties

are most common--it inclines more to gourd seed than to flint. Mint

weighs full standard fifty-six, the gourd seed from forty-nine to

fifty-two pounds, and the mixtures range between. Flint ripens from

ten days to two weeks earlier. It will not produce as many pounds per

acre as the lighter gourd seed. Soil exerts its influence over the

character of corn, a heavy soil tending to produce flint--light soil,

gourd seed.

The corn is "cut up" in the fall, and after curing in the shuck, is

husked; the shuck remaining on the stalk with the blades.

The average yield, on improved land, is fifty bushels; though crops

of one hundred and twelve, and one hundred and sixty bushels per acre

are reported to have been raised in the county, in 1849. The yield

increases from year to year. A general and rapid improvement of the

State is in progress, and in nothing is this seen more clearly than in

the corn crop. Mossy "old sedge" fields, which have been laid out for

years, are broken up, and will yield, if it be a good season, from

five to ten bushels per acre; fence them, lime them with twenty to

thirty bushels, and seed the oat crop with clover, and in two years

the clover sod will return eighteen to twenty bushels of corn. Another

dressing of lime, or its equivalent in marl, of which there is an

abundance in the lower half of Newcastle County, will show thirty

bushels of corn; and of wheat, if the farm manure be used on it, nine

to twelve bushels will not be too much to expect.

In Arkansas, Indian corn is regarded as the "king of grains." It

constitutes the chief food of every animal, from man down to the

marauding rat, while its dried blade furnishes seven-tenths of the

long food for working animals. The _large white_ is the variety most

esteemed, and most generally cultivated, for the reasons that it

yields more grain and fodder, makes, when ground into meal, whiter and

sweeter bread, and is less liable to injury from the weevils. The

blade is usually esteemed the best long food for horses, exceeding in

price the best Northern hay; the average price may be stated at about

seventy cents per cwt. The shuck is fed to cows and young mules, they

eat it, but with less relish than they do the blades, which are

sweeter and more nutritious. The former are much used for mattresses,

being preferred to moss, as they are cleaner, and easier manufactured.

When mixed with coarse cotton, and properly prepared, they will make a

mattress but little inferior to curled hair: price about fifty cents

per cwt. The average price of this grain may be set down at forty

cents per bushel; and the yield on upland in some parts of the State

may be stated at thirty bushels per acre.

Five varieties of maize are grown in Peru. One is known by the name of

_chancayano_, which has a large semi-transparent yellow grain; another

is called _morocho_, and has small yellow grain of a horny appearance;

_amarello_, or the yellow, has a large yellow opaque grain, and is

more farinaceous than the two former varieties; _blanco_, white--this

variety is large, and contains more farina than the former; and

_cancha_, or sweet maize. The last is only cultivated in the colder

climates of the mountains; it grows about two feet high, the cob is

short, and the grains large and white; when green, it is very bitter,

but when ripe and roasted, it is particularly sweet, and so tender

that it may be reduced to flour between the fingers. In this roasted

state it constitutes the principal food of the mountaineers of several

provinces.

The natives remove the husk from the maize by putting it into water

with a quantity of wood ashes, exposing it to a boiling heat, and

washing the grain in running water, when the husk immediately

separates from the grain.

In Jamaica I found maize to produce two crops in the year, and often

three. It is usually grown there on the banks or ridges of the cane

fields. It may be planted at any time when there is rain, and it

yields from fifteen to forty bushels per acre, according to the

richness of the soil, and the more or less close manner in which it is

planted.

In the colony of New South Wales, including the district of Port

Phillip, there were 20,798 acres under cultivation with maize in 1844,

the produce from which was returned at 575,857 bushels; 27,058 bushels

of maize were exported from Sydney in 1848.

_Culture in the East Indies_.--The growers on the hills of Nepaul

reckon three kinds of maize: a white grained species, which is

generally grown on the hill sides; a yellow grained one, grown in the

low and hot valleys; and a smaller one, called "Bhoteah," or "Murilli

Makii," which is considered the sweetest of the three, but from being

less productive is not generally grown on good lands. Maize thrives

best on a siliceous, well-drained, rich soil. A correspondent in my

"Colonial Magazine," vol. ii. p. 309, says the finest Indian corn he

ever saw was in the Himalayas of the Sikim-range, where the soil

consists of a substratum of decomposed _mica_ from the under or rocky

stratum, with a superstratum of from three to six inches of decayed

vegetable matter, from leaves, &c., of the ancient forests.

Throughout Hindostan, June is the usual time for sowing. In Behar,

about two seers are usually sown upon a beggah; in Nepaul, twenty-four

seers upon an English acre; in the vicinity of Poonah, one and a-half

seer per beggah. Before the seed is sown the land is usually ploughed

two or three times, and no further attention given to the crop than

two hoeings. In Nepaul, where it is the principal crop cultivated, the

seed is sown, after one delving and pulverisation of the soil, in the

latter end of May and early part of June, in drills, the seeds being

laid at intervals of seven or eight inches in the drills, and the

drills an equal space apart. The drills are not raised as for turnip

sowing, but consist merely of rows of the plant on a level surface.

The seed is distributed in this manner with the view of facilitating

the weeding of the crop, not for the purpose of earthing up the roots,

which seems unnecessary. The Indian corn sowing resembles that of the

_gohya_ (or upland) rice, in the careful manner in which it is

performed; the sower depositing each grain in its place, having first

dibbled a hole for it five or six inches deep, with a small hand hoe,

with which he also covers up the grain.

The after-culture of this crop is performed with great care in the

valleys, but much neglected in the hills, especially on new and strong

lands. In the former it undergoes repeated weeding during the first

month of its growth, the earth being loosened round the roots, at each

weeding, with the hand hoe. After the first loosening of the soil,

which is performed as soon as the plants are fairly above ground, a

top dressing of ashes or other manure is given. By this mode the crop

gets the immediate benefit of the manure, which otherwise, from the

extraordinary rapidity of its growth, could not be obtained by it. In

three months from the time of sowing, the seed is ripe. The crop is

harvested by cutting off the heads. In Nepaul these are either heaped

on a rude scaffolding, near the cultivator's house, or, more commonly,

they are suspended from the branches of the trees close by, where,

exposed to wind and weather, the hard and tough sheath of the seed

cones preserves the grain for many months uninjured.

Cattle are voraciously fond of the leaves and stems, which are very

sweet, and even the dry straw, which Dr. Buchanan surmises may be the

reason why it is not more generally cultivated by the natives, as the

difficulty would be great to preserve the crop. So slow is the

progress of changes in the regions of India, that near Kaliyachak,

though the people give all other straw to their cattle, yet they burn

that of maize as unfit for fodder. In Nepaul the stalks, with the

leaves attached, often twelve feet long, cut by the sickle, are used

as fodder for elephants, bedding for cattle, and as fuel. The maize

crop within the hills of Nepaul suffers much from the inroads of

bears, which are very numerous in these regions, and extremely partial

to this grain. The average return from this crop is seldom below fifty

seers, ranging frequently far above it.[42] Maize is increasing in

cultivation in Java, and some of the Eastern islands. It is found to

have the advantage there over mountain rice, of being more fruitful

and hardy, and does not suffer from cold until the mean temperature

falls to 45 deg. of Fahrenheit, and no heat is injurious to it.

Several varieties of it are known, but for all practical purposes

these resolve themselves into two kinds: one, a small grain, requiring

five months to ripen, and a larger one, which takes seven to mature.

In some provinces of Java it yields a return of 400 or 500 fold. Mr.

Crawfurd found, from repeated trials, that in the soil of Mataram, in

Java, an acre of land, which afforded a double crop, produced of the

smaller grain 848½ lbs. annually.

RICE.

This is one of the most extensively diffused and useful of grain

crops, and supports the greatest number of the human race. The

cultivation prevails in Eastern and Southern Asia, and it is also a

common article of subsistence in various countries bordering on the

Mediterranean. It is grown in the Japan Islands, on all the sea coasts

of China, the Philippine and other large Islands of the Indian

Archipelago, partially in Ceylon, Siam, India, both shores of the Red

Sea, Egypt, the shores of the Mozambique Channel, Madagascar, some

parts of Western Africa, South Carolina, and Central America. Three

species only are enumerated by Lindley:--_Oryza sativa_, the common

rice, a native of the East; _O. latifolia_, a species having its

habitat in South America; and _O. Nepalensis_, common in Nepaul. But

there are a host of varieties known in the East; these, however, may

for all practical purposes, be resolved into two kinds--the upland or

mountain rice (_O. Nepalensis_, the _O. mutica_, of Roxburgh), and the

lowland or aquatic species (_O. sativa_).

_Zizania aquatica_ is exceedingly prolific of bland, farinaceous

seeds, which afford a kind of rice in Canada and North-West America,

where it abounds wild in all the shallow streams. The seeds contribute

essentially to the support of the wandering tribes of Indians, and

feed immense flocks of wild swans, geese, and other water fowl.

Pinkerton says, this plant seems intended to become the bread-corn of

the North. Two other species of Zizania are common in the United

States of America.

Rice, the chief food, perhaps, of one-third of the human race,

possesses the advantage attending wheat, maize, and other grains, of

preserving plenty during the fluctuations of trade, and is also

susceptible of cultivation on land too low and moist for the

production of most other useful plants. Although cultivated

principally within the tropics, it flourishes well beyond, producing

even heavier and better filled grain. Like many other plants in common

use, it is now found wild [it is to be understood that the wild rice,

or water oat (_Zizania aquatica_), already referred to, which grows

along the muddy shores of tide waters, is a distinct plant from the

common rice, and should not be confounded with it], nor is its native

country known. Linnæus considers it a native of Ethiopia, while others

regard it of Asiatic origin.

The chief variety of this cereal is cultivated throughout the torrid

zone, wherever there is a plentiful supply of water, and it will

mature, under favorable circumstances, in the Eastern continent, as

high as the 45th parallel of north latitude, and as far south as the

38th. On the Atlantic side of the Western continent, it will flourish

as far north as latitude 38 degrees, and to a corresponding parallel

south. On the Western coast of America, it will grow so far north as

40 or more degrees. Its general culture is principally confined to

India, China, Japan, Ceylon, Madagascar, Eastern Africa, the South of

Europe, the Southern portions of the United States, the Spanish Main,

Brazil, and the Valley of Parana and Uruguay.

In 1834, 29,583 bags of rice were shipped from Maranham, but I am not

aware what have been the exports since.

At the Industrial Exhibition in London, in 1851, there were displayed

many curious specimens and varieties of rice, grown without

irrigation, at elevations of three thousand to six thousand feet on

the Himalaya, where the dampness of the summer months compensates for

the want of artificial moisture. Among these American rice received

not only honorable mention for its very superior quality, but the

Carolina rice, exhibited by E.I. Heriot, was pronounced by the jury

"magnificent in size, color, and clearness," and it was awarded a

prize medal. The jury also admitted that the American rice, though

originally imported from the Old World, is now much the finest in

quality.

This grain was first introduced into Virginia by Sir William Berkeley,

in 1647, who received half a bushel of seed, from which he raised

sixteen bushels of excellent rice, most or all of which was sown the

following year. It is also stated that a Dutch brig, from Madagascar,

came to Charleston in 1694, and left about a peck of paddy (rice in

the husk), with Governor Thomas Smith, who distributed it among his

friends for cultivation. Another account of its introduction into

Carolina is, that Ashley was encouraged to send a bag of seed rice to

that province, from the crops of which sixty tons were shipped to

England in 1698. It soon after became the chief staple of the colony.

Its culture was introduced into Louisiana in 1718, by the "Company of

the West."

The present culture of rice in the United States is chiefly confined

to South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas.

The yield per acre varies from twenty to sixty bushels, weighing from

forty-five to forty-eight pounds when cleaned. Under favorable

circumstances as many as ninety bushels to an acre have been raised.

Judge Dougherty, who resides near the borders of Henderson county,

Texas, has raised a crop of several hundred bushels of upland rice.

The crop averages thirty bushels to the acre. He thinks rice can be

raised there as easily as Indian corn, and will be far more

profitable.

Another variety is cultivated in America to a limited extent, called

Cochin-China, dry, or mountain rice, from its adaptation to a dry

soil, without irrigation. It will grow several degrees further north

or south than the Carolina rice, and has been cultivated with success

in the Northern provinces of Hungary, China, Westphalia, Virginia and

Maryland; but the yield is much less than that already stated, being

only fifteen to twenty bushels to an acre. It was first introduced

into Charleston, from Canton, by John Brodly Blake, in 1772.

The American crop of rice in 1848, reached 162,058 tierces in market,

and of these 160,330 tierces were exported from South Carolina. The

largest rice crop grown in South Carolina for the past thirty years,

was in 1847, when 192,462 tierces were raised; 140,000 to 150,000 is

about the average, and it has only exceeded 170,000 on four occasions.

The amount of rice exported from South Carolina in 1724, was 18,000

barrels; in 1731, 41,957 barrels; in 1740, 90,110 barrels; in 1747-48,

55,000 barrels; in 1754, 104,682 barrels; in 1760-61, 100,000 barrels;

from Savannah, in 1755, 2,299 barrels, besides 237 bushels of paddy or

rough rice; in 1760, 3,283 barrels, besides 208 bushels of paddy; in

1770, 22,120 barrels, besides 7,064 bushels of paddy; from

Philadelphia, in 1771, 258,375 pounds. The amount exported from the

United States, in 1770, was 150,529 barrels; in 1791, 96,980 tierces;

in 1800, 112,056 tierces; in 1810, 131,341 tierces; in 1820-21, 88,221

tierces; in 1830-31, 116,517 tierces; in 1840-41, 101,617 tierces; in

1845-46, 124,007 tierces; in 1846-47, 144,427 tierces; in 1850-51,

105,590 tierces.

According to the census of 1840, the rice crop of the United States

amounted to 80,841,422 lbs.; in 1850, 215,312,710 lbs.

Rice being an aquatic plant, is best grown in low moist lands, that

are easily inundated.

The ground is ploughed superficially, and divided into squares of from

twenty to thirty yards in the sides, separated from each other by

dykes of earth about two feet in height, and sufficiently broad for a

man to walk upon. These dykes are for retaining the water when it is

required, and to permit of its being drawn off when the inundation is

no longer necessary. The ground prepared, the water is let on, and

kept at a certain height in the several compartments of the rice

field, and the seedsman goes to work. The rice that is to be used as

seed must have been kept in the husk; it is put into a sack, which is

immersed in the water until the grain swells and shows signs of

germination; the seedsman, walking through the inundated field,

scatters the seed with his hand, as usual; the rice immediately sinks

to the bottom, and many even penetrate to a certain depth in the mud.

In Piedmont, where the sowing takes place at the beginning of April,

they generally use about fifty-five pounds of seed per acre. The rice

begins to show itself above the surface of the water at the end of a

fortnight; as the plant grows, the depth of the water is increased, so

that the stalks may not bend with their own weight. About the middle

of June this disposition is no longer to be apprehended; the rice is

not so flexible as it was, so that the water can be drawn off for a

few days to permit hoeing; after which the water is again let on, and

maintained to the height of the plant. In July it is usual to top the

stalks, an operation which renders the flowering almost simultaneous.

Rice generally flowers in the beginning of the month of August, and a

fortnight later the grain begins to form. It is at this period

especially that the stalks require to be supported, and this is

effectually done by keeping the water at about half their height. The

rice field is emptied when the straw turns yellow. The harvest

generally takes place at the end of September. In the Isle of France

rice is cultivated in very damp soils, upon which a great deal of rain

falls, but which are not flooded, as in other tropical countries: but

the process is not so certain nor the crop so great, as when

inundation is employed. In Piedmont the usual return of a rice field

is reckoned at about fifty for one. At Munzo, in New Granada, the

paddy fields which are not inundated, under the influence of a mean

temperature of 26 deg. centrigrade (79.0 deg. Fahrenheit), yield 100

for 1.--(Simmonds's "Colonial Magazine," vol. xi., p. 92.)

The rice now grown about New Orleans is as sweet, if not sweeter,

than that imported from South Carolina, but it is deficient in

hardness and brightness when ready for market, a defect owing entirely

to two causes, neither of which is beyond the control of the planter.

The one cause is the mode of culture, it being generally grown without

due attention to the seed--seeded at too late a period of the season,

and allowed to become _rare-ripe_ upon the stalk. The other cause is

the very imperfect mode of its preparation for market; this being

invariably accomplished by the primitive pestle and mortar, or the

old-fashioned "pecker mill." The same seed is planted in the same soil

from year to year, a system which, it is generally conceded, will

deteriorate the quality and production of any grain crop. A very large

proportion of the rice grown in Carolina is prepared for market at the

steam toll-mills, in the vicinity of Charleston; and a mill of this

description near New Orleans, would remedy the greatest defect in the

rice of the country, greatly increase the demand for the article, and

undoubtedly yield a large return for the investment. The toll mills at

and around Charleston are, and always have been, prosperous. The mills

of Mr. Lucas, in England, erected to clean "paddy," _i.e._ "rough

rice," sent there in bulk from Carolina, have succeeded also, and have

increased the consumption of the article in that country. The "rough

rice," "paddy," or grain, as it comes from the ear, is composed,

first, of a rough, silicious outer covering, impervious to water,

which is very useful in the neighbourhood of cities, for filling up

low lots or pools, for horse beds, and for packing crockery and _ice_,

being far better for the latter purpose than the sawdust used; second,

a brown flour or bran, lying directly under the outer covering; and

third, of the clean or white rice. There is no question that, as a

common diet, it is better adapted to the climate of Louisiana than

Indian corn; and it can be grown on the hitherto _waste lands of the

sugar plantations_; it is always substituted by the physician, when

practicable, as the food best adapted to the laborer, in seasons of

diarrhoea and other similar diseases, is _preferred_ before any other

grain by the negro; and if the clean rice be ground and bolted, a meal

is produced which can be made up into various forms of cake and other

bread, of unrivalled sweetness and delicacy. The outer flour, or brown

bran, which is separated from the chaff at the toll mill, is known as

"rice flour," and corresponds to the "bran" of wheat, it is a most

excellent food for horses, poultry, pigs and _milch cows_, and would

always command a ready sale in New Orleans. It is used extensively for

these purposes at and around Charleston, and is shipped thence, by the

cargo, to Boston and other Northern ports.

No portion of the globe is better adapted to the growth of this grain

than the delta of the Mississippi. The river is _always_ "up and

ready" to do the all-important duty of irrigation in March, April,

May, and June, in which period of the year the crop ought to be made;

and I am informed, and doubt not, that _two_ cuttings can be obtained

from the same plants, between March and the killing frosts of the

succeeding November.

An interesting report by Dr. E. Elliot, on the Cultivation of Rice,

was read before the Pendleton Farmer's Society, South Carolina, at a

recent annual meeting, from which I shall make an extract.

In "Ramsay's History of South Carolina" it is stated:--"Landgrave

Thomas Smith, who was Governor of the Province in 1693, had been at

Madagascar before he settled in Carolina. There he observed that

rice was planted and grew in low moist ground. Having such ground in

his garden, attached to his dwelling in East Bay, Charleston, he was

persuaded that rice would grow therein, if seed could be procured.

About this time a vessel from Madagascar, being in distress, came to

anchor near Sullivan's Island. The master inquired for Mr. Smith, as

an old acquaintance. An interview took place. In the course of

conversation Mr. Smith expressed a wish to obtain some seed rice to

plant in his garden. The cook being called, said that he had a small

bag of rice suitable for the purpose. This was presented to Mr.

Smith, who sowed it in a low spot in Longitude Lane. From this small

beginning did one of the great staple commodities of South Carolina

takes its rise, which soon became the chief support of the colony,

and its great source of opulence."

"Such is the historical account of the introduction of rice into

South Carolina; and from that day to this, it has constituted one of

her staple articles of production. Although the climate and soil

were found admirably suited to the plant, the planters encountered

incredible difficulty in preparing or dressing the rice for market.

From the day of its introduction, to the close of the Revolution,

the grain was milled, or dressed, partly by hand and partly by

animal power. But the processes were imperfect, very tedious, very

destructive to the laborer, and very exhausting to the animal power.

The planter regarded a good crop as an equivocal blessing, for as

the product was great so in proportion was the labor of preparing it

for market. While matters stood thus, the planters were released

from their painful condition by a circumstance so curious that it

deserves a place in the history of human inventions. A planter from

the Santee, whilst walking in King-street, Charleston, noticed a

small windmill perched on the gable end of a wooden store. His

attention was arrested by the beauty of its performance. He entered

the store and asked who the maker was. He was told that he was a

Northumbrian, then resident in the house--a man in necessitous

circumstances, and wanting employment. A conference was held; the

planter carried the machine to the Santee, pointed out the

difficulties under which the planters labored, and the result was

the rice pounding-mill. This man was the first Mr. Lucas, and to his

genius South Carolina owes a large debt of gratitude. For what the

cotton planter owes to Eli Whitney, the rice planter owes to Mr.

Lucas. His mills were first impelled by water, but more recently by

steam, and though much mechanical ingenuity and much capital have

been expended in improving them, the rice pounding-mill of this day,

in all essential particulars, does not differ materially from the

mill as it came from the hands of Mr. Lucas.

This great impediment being removed, one formidable difficulty still

remained in the way of the rice planters, and that was the threshing

of the crop by flail. The labor requisite to accomplish this was so

great, that we once heard a distinguished planter say, while having

one large crop threshed out by flail, that he would regard another

large crop as a calamity. Previous to 1830 threshing mills had been

tried by various individuals, but with no apparent success. In that

year the attempt was renewed, and we were present and witnessed the

first trial of a thresher, constructed in New York, and which was

tested on Savannah river, under the auspices of General Hamilton.

The machinery was driven by apparatus similar to that employed for

driving the cotton gin. The result was not very satisfactory, but

there was ground for hope, and after an outlay of very large sums,

and after many disappointments, the happy expedient was thought of,

of testing the mill with steam instead of animal power. The

experiment was completely successful, and it was manifest at once

that the difficulties had not been in the imperfect construction, of

the thresher, but in the insufficiency of the moving power.

It is now twenty years since we witnessed the working of the small

mill alluded to, and the rice threshing-mill, with steam-engine

attached, is now a splendid piece of operative machinery. The rice

in sheaf is taken up to the thresher by a conveyor, it is threshed,

the straw taken off, then thrice winnowed and twice screened, and

the result in some cases exceeds a thousand bushels of clean rough

rice, the work of a short winter day.

Humanity rejoices at these inventions--at this transfer to water and

steam, of processes so slow and so exhausting to the human as well

as to the animal frame--and in this feeling we are confident every

planter deeply sympathises. Moreover, the relief they have afforded

in other respects has been perfectly indescribable. Previous to

these improvements all the finer portions of the winter were

appropriated exclusively to the milling and the threshing of the

crop with the flail, yet it is manifest they added not one particle

to the value of the property; indeed, while going on, all other

work, and all preparation for another crop had to be suspended, so

that the condition of the plantation was not progressive, but

retrograde.

A short recapitulation will show what has been accomplished by the

enterprise of our planters in the last seventy years. At the close

of the Revolution it is believed the rice fields were poorly

drained, and when broken up were chiefly turned with the hoe, then

trenched with the hoe; then came three or four hoeings and as many

pickings. The rice was then cut with the sickle and carried in on

the head, then threshed with the flail, then milled and dressed, in

some cases wholly by human labor, and in others by a rude machine,

called a pecker mill. Now, in 1852, the hoeing, the pickings, and

the cutting with the sickle remain unchanged; but the lands are

better drained, and in the turning the plough has superseded the

hoe; the trenching, when, necessary, is done by animal power; the

rice, when cut, is carried in on a flat and wagon, then threshed and

milled by machinery, so perfect that it is difficult to imagine how

it can be surpassed.

It is one hundred and fifty-nine years since the introduction of

rice into Carolina, and there are grounds for supposing that our

people have accomplished more during that period, in the cultivation

and preparation of this grain, than has been done by any of the

Asiatic nations who have been conversant with its growth for many

centuries. We had the rare opportunity, a few years since, of seeing

a Chinese book on rice planting, which contained many engravings.

The language we could not read, but we comprehended a sufficient

number of the engravings to institute a comparison between their

system and our own, and the result was, in our method of irrigation

we were their equals, while in economy of cultivation, and in the

preparation of the grain for market and for use, we are greatly

their superiors. Again, some six or seven years since the East India

Company, of London, sent an agent to this country to procure

American cotton seed, gins, and overseers, for the purpose of

testing the practicability of raising cotton by our method in India.

This agent, Captain Bayles, when in Savannah, was heard to say that

he had especial directions from the Company to inform himself

minutely of our system of rice culture. Here, then, was an embassage

from the banks of the Ganges, a spot where rice has been cultivated

probably for twenty centuries, to inquire into the method of

cultivation and preparation, of a people amongst whom the grain had

no existence one hundred and sixty years ago."

The following is the mode of culture for rice in Carolina:--It is

sowed as soon as it conveniently can be after the vernal equinox, from

which period until the middle, and even the last of May, is the usual

time of putting it in the ground. It grows best in low marshy land,

and should be sowed in furrows twelve inches asunder; it requires to

be flooded, and thrives best if six inches under water; the water is

occasionally drained off, and turned on again to overflow it, for

three or four times.

When ripe the straw becomes yellow, and it is either reaped with a

sickle, or cut down with a scythe and cradle, some time in the month

of September; after which it is raked and bound, or got up loose, and

threshed or trodden out, and winnowed in the same manner as wheat or

barley.

Husking it requires a different and particular operation, in a mill

made for that purpose. This mill is constructed of two large flat

wooden cylinders, formed like mill-stones, with channels or furrows

cut therein, diverging in an oblique direction from the centre to the

circumference, made of a heavy and exceedingly hard timber, called

lightwood, which is the knots of the pitch pine. This is turned with

the hand, like the common hand-mills. After the rice is thus cleared

of the husks, it is again winnowed, when it is fit for exportation.

A bushel of rice will weigh about sixty or sixty-six pounds, and an

acre of middling land will produce twenty-five bushels.

Various machines have been contrived for cleaning rice, of which one

secured by patent to Mr. M. Wilson, in 1826, and thus described by Dr.

Ure, may be regarded as a fair specimen:--It consists of an oblong

hollow cylinder, laid in an inclined position, having a great many

teeth stuck in its internal surface, and a central shaft, also

furnished with teeth. By the rapid revolution of the shaft, its teeth

are carried across the intervals of those of the cylinder, with the

effect of parting the grains of rice, and detaching whatever husks or

impurities may adhere to them. A hopper is set above to receive the

rice, and conduct it down into the clean cylinder. About eighty teeth

are supposed to be set in the cylinder, projecting so as to reach very

nearly the central shaft, in which there is a corresponding number of

teeth, that pass freely between the former.

The cylinder may also be placed upright, or horizontal if preferred,

and mounted in any convenient framework. The central shaft should be

put in rapid rotation, while the cylinder receives a slow motion in

the opposite direction. The rice, as cleaned by that action, is

discharged at the lower end of the cylinder, where it falls into a

shute, and is conducted to the ground. The machine may be driven by

hand, or by any other convenient motive power.[43] The growth of rice

in North America is almost wholly confined to two States; nine-tenths

of the whole product, indeed, being raised in the States of South

Carolina and Georgia. A little is grown in North Carolina, Louisiana,

and Mississippi.

The aggregate crop, for 1843, amounted to 89,879,185 lbs., while in

1847 it had risen to 103,000,000 lbs.

Besides the rice which is raised in the water, there is also the dry,

or mountain rice, which is raised in some parts of Europe on the sides

of the hills. It is said to thrive well in Cochin China, in dry light

soils, not requiring more moisture than the usual rains or dews

supply. By long culture the German rice, raised by the aid of water,

is stated to have acquired a remarkable degree of hardness and

adaptation to the climate. The upland rice of the United States is

thought by some to be only a modified description of the swamp rice.

It will grow on high and poor land, and produce more than Indian corn

on the same land would do, even fifteen bushels, when the corn is but

seven bushels. The swamp rice was originally cultivated on high land,

and is not so now, because it is more productive in the swamp, in the

proportion, as is said, of twenty to sixty bushels per acre; and the

use of water likewise, it is stated, makes it easier of cultivation,

by enabling the planter to kill the grasses. It is thought that on

rich high land, rice may be made to produce twenty-five or thirty

bushels to an acre in a good season. A letter from a gentleman in

North Carolina gives the following account of some rice raised there.

He says:--

"I have planted it the two past years with a view to private

consumption only; not, however, with the success of my neighbours,

who are famous, and have the things under their own management. They

make from forty to fifty, and some, sixty bushels to the acre, on

fine land that produces ordinarily from ten to fifteen bushels of

Indian corn or maize. It is a larger grain than the gold or swamp

rice, and very white; hence it is commonly called here the 'white

rice.' It is planted generally about the middle of March, or 1st of

April, in small ridges two-and-a-half feet apart, in chops at

intervals of about eighteen inches, on the top of the ridge, ten or

twelve seeds in each chop. A season that will make Indian corn,

will, if long enough, make this rice; but it requires about four or

five weeks more than the corn to mature. It ought to be cut before

quite ripe, as it threshes off very easily, and is liable to great

waste. Instead of the flail, we take the sheaf in the hand, and whip

it across a bench in a close room until the rice leaves the straw.

It does not stand the pestle as well as the swamp rice, but breaks a

good deal in the beating; this, however, I have heard attributed to

the dry culture."

A new variety of rice is mentioned as having been discovered in South

Carolina, in 1838, called the big-grained rice. It has been proved to

be unusually productive. One gentleman, in 1840, planted not quite

half an acre with this seed, which yielded forty-nine and a half

bushels of clean winnowed rice. In 1842, he planted 400 acres, and in

1843, he sowed his whole crop with this seed. His first parcel when

milled, was eighty barrels, and netted half a dollar per cwt. over the

primest rice sold on the same day. Another gentleman also planted two

fields in 1839, which yielded seventy-three bushels per acre. The

average crop before from the same fields of fifteen and ten acres, had

only been thirty-three bushels per acre.

The following were the returns of produce on some of the leading

estates of South Carolina, in 1848:--

-----------------+----------+-----------+---------+------------+----------

-----------------+-----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------

1. Prospect Hill |1,387| 10 | 1,495½ | 897,166|16 08-100ths| 24,001

2. Springfield | 737| 5 | 801½ | 480,937|16 60-100ths| 13,264

3. Brook Green |1,571| 15 | 1,716 |1,026,405|16 53-100ths| 28,261

4. Longwood |1,113| 4 | 1,227½ | 736,413|15 53-100ths| 19,021

5. Alderly | 484| 6 | 533 | 319,912|16 68-100ths| 8,851

-----------------+-----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------

Total |5,292| 40 | 5,773½ |3,460,833| | 93,398

-----------------+-----+----+-----------+---------+------------+----------

Nos. 2 and 3 were sown with long grain rice, the others with small

grain. These plantations were all on the river Waccamaw. The expenses

of a well supplied rice plantation may be stated at 33-1/3 per cent. on

the net income.

A gentleman from the United States, named Colvin, proposes to

establish the cultivation of rice in the colony of Demerara. This is

no new experiment, rice having been already grown with success in

several parts of the colony--for instance, in Leguan, up the Canje

Creek, and elsewhere; and some of it is of superior quality,

preferable, indeed, to that imported. If Mr. Colvin's object be not

merely to demonstrate the practicability of rice being grown in

British Guiana, but to promote its cultivation on such a scale as may

tend to render it in time one of the staples of the colony, he is

deserving of support, and I hope that his efforts will be crowned with

complete success.

The editor of the _Gazeta_, a local paper, has been shown some sprigs

of rice raised near Matanzas, in Cuba, the smallest of which contains

at least three hundred grains, perfectly opened, and of a larger size

than is usually produced on the island. He observes that this

phenomenon is not limited to a certain number of sprigs, but that the

whole crop is similar--that this excess of production is to be

attributed to the extraordinary abundance of rain this year. "Here we

have a specimen," says the editor, "of the enormous production that

could be raised in our fields of this excellent and nutritious grain,

if it were cultivated in places contiguous to the rivers, where it

could be flowed during drought."

The experiment of cultivating rice in France appears to have succeeded

perfectly. A piece of ground of 100 hectares in extent (250 acres) was

sown with rice last year in the lands of Arcachon, near Bordeaux, and

the crop proved a highly satisfactory one. The seed is sown about the

middle of April, and almost immediately appears above ground.

Rice may be kept a very long period in the rough--I believe a

lifetime. After being cleaned, if it be prime rice, and well milled,

it will keep a long time in this climate; only when about to be used

(if old) it requires more careful washing to get rid of the must,

which accumulates upon it. Some planters--the writer among the

number--prefer for table use rice a year old to the new. The grain is

superior to any other provisions in this respect. If a laborer in the

gold diggings, or elsewhere, takes with him two days' or a week's

provisions, in rice, and his wallet happens to get wet, he has only to

open it to the sun and air, and he will find it soon dries, and is not

at all injured for his purpose. Rough rice may remain under water

twenty-four hours without injury, if dried soon after.

Passing eastward, rice begins to be found cultivated in Egypt, becomes

more general in Northern India, and holds undisputed rule in the

peninsulas of India, in China, Japan, and the East India

islands--shares it in the west coast of Africa with maize, which, on

the other hand, is the exclusively cultivated corn plant of the

greatest part of tropical America, with only some unimportant

exceptions. On the coast of Africa rice ripens in three months; they

put it under water when cut, where it keeps sound and good for some

time.

Rice is now the staple commodity of Bourbon, and it produces about

26,000 quintals annually. It forms, together with maize and mandioc,

the principal article of food amongst the negroes and colored people.

_The Bhull rice lands of Lower Sind_.--Like all large rivers which

flow through an alluvial soil, for a very lengthened course, the Indus

has a tendency to throw up patches of alluvial deposit at its mouth;

and these are in Sind called _bhulls_, and are in general very

valuable for the cultivation of the red rice of the country. These

_bhulls_ are large tracts of very muddy swampy land, almost on a level

with the sea, and exposed equally to be flooded both by it and the

fresh water; indeed on this depends much of the value of the soil, as

a _bhull_ which is not at certain times well covered with salt water,

is unfit for cultivation. They exist on both sides of the principal

mouths of the Indus, in the Gorabaree and Shahbunder pergunnas, which

part of the province is called by the natives "Kukralla," and was in

olden days, before the era of Goolam Shah Kalora, a small state almost

independent of the Ameers of Sind. On the left bank of the mouths of

the river these _bhulls_ are very numerous and form by far the most

fertile portion of the surrounding district. They bear a most dreary,

desolate, and swampy appearance--are intersected in all directions by

streams of salt and brackish water, and are generally surrounded by

low dykes or embankments, in order to regulate the influx and reflux

of the river and sea. Yet from these dreary swamps a very considerable

portion of the rice consumed in Sind is produced; and the Zemindars,

who hold them, are esteemed amongst the most respectable and wealthy

in Lower Sind.

To visit a _bhull_ is no easy matter. Route by land there is none, and

the only way is to go by boat, in which it is advisable to take at

least one day's provisions and water, as the time occupied in the

inspection will be regulated entirely by the state of the tide and

weather. Very difficult is it too, to land on any of these places, the

mud being generally two or three feet deep, and it is only here and

there that a footing can be secured, in the embankment surrounding the

field.

Let me now describe the mode of cultivating these anomalous islands,

floating as it were in the ocean, and deriving benefit both from it

and the mighty river itself, whose offspring they are. Should the

river during the high season have thrown up a _bhull_, the Zemindar

selecting it for cultivation, first surrounds it with a low bund of

mud, which is generally about three feet in height. When the river has

receded to its cold weather level, and the _bhull_ is free of fresh

water (for be it remembered, that these _bhulls_ being formed during

the inundation, are often considerably removed from the river branches

during the low season), he takes advantage of the first high spring

tide, opens the bund and allows the whole to be covered with the salt

water. This is generally done in December. The sea water remains on

the land for about nine weeks, or till the middle of February, which

is the proper time for sowing the seed. The salt water is now let out,

and as the ground cannot, on account of the mud, be ploughed,

buffaloes are driven over every part of the field, and a few seeds of

the rice thrown into every footmark; the men employed in sowing being

obliged to crawl along the surface on their bellies, with the basket

of seed on their backs; for were they to assume an upright position,

they would inevitably be bogged in the deep swamp. The holes

containing the seed are not covered up, but people are placed on the

bunds to drive away birds, until the young grain has well sprung up.

The land is not manured, the stagnant salt water remaining on it being

sufficient to renovate the soil. The rice seed is steeped in water,

and then in dung and earth for three or four days, and is not sown

until it begins to sprout. The farmer has now safely got over his

sowing, and as this rice is not as in other cases transplanted, his

next anxiety is to get a supply of fresh water; and for this he

watches for the freshes which usually come down the river about the

middle and end of February, and if the river then reaches his _bhull_,

he opens his bund, and fills the enclosure with the fresh water. The

sooner he gets this supply the better, for the young rice will not

grow in salt water, and soon withers if left entirely dry.

The welfare of the crop now depends entirely on the supply of fresh

water. A very high inundation does not injure the _bhull_ cultivation,

as here the water has free space to spread about. In fact the more

fresh water the better. If, however, the river remains low in June,

July, and August, and the south-west monsoon sets in heavily on the

coast, the sea is frequently driven over the _bhulls_ and destroys the

crops. It is in fact a continual struggle between the salt water and

the fresh. When the river runs out strong and full, the _bhulls_

prosper, and the sea is kept at a distance. On the other hand, the

salt water obtains the supremacy when the river is low, and then the

farmer suffers. In this manner much _bhull_ crop was destroyed in the

monsoons of 1851 and 1852, during the heavy gales which prevailed in

those seasons. The rice is subject to attacks also of a small black

sea crab, called by the natives _Kookaee_, and which, without any

apparent cause, cuts down the growing grain in large quantities, and

often occasions much loss.

The crop when ripe, which, if all goes well will be about the third

week in September, is reaped in the water by men, either in boats, or

on large masses of straw rudely shaped like a boat, and which being

made very tight and close, will float for a considerable time. The

rice is carried ashore to the high land, where it is dried, and put

through the usual harvest process of division, &c.: and the _bhull_ is

then on the fall of the river again ready for its annual pickling.

The process of preparing the field for rice culture, in the Kandian

country, Ceylon, is very simple.

When the paddy is to be cultivated in mud, a piece of ground is

enclosed in a series of squares or terraces, by ridges raised with mud

and turf; a quantity of water is directed into the field from an

adjacent stream or tank, and is allowed to remain on it for fifteen

days; at the expiration of this time the field is ploughed with a yoke

of buffaloes, which operation is repeated at the end of fifteen days

more, when, by the rotting of the weeds and other matter, the field

has become manured. After another interval of fifteen days the field

is again ploughed and the broken ridges are repaired. Eight days after

the field is harrowed, and subsequently rolled or levelled; and when

the water has been let out the seed is sown, having in most instances

been previously made to germinate, by being spread on platforms and

kept wet.

The water is turned in during night, to prevent crabs and insects from

destroying the seedlings, and let out during the day; and this they

continue to do till the plants attain the height of one foot. Water is

only retained in the field until the ears are half ripe, otherwise

they would ripen indifferently and be destroyed by vermin. A variety

of coast paddy, called "moottoo samboo," was introduced into the

Kandian province in 1832, which was found to produce a more abundant

crop, by one third, than the native. It is of six months growth.

In Kashmir rice is the staple of cultivation, and the practice adopted

there is thus described by a writer in my "Colonial Magazine," vol. x.

p. 130. It is sown in the beginning of May, and is fit to cut about

the end of August. The grain is either sown broadcast in the place

where it is intended to stand till it is ripe, or thickly in beds,

from which it is transplanted when the blade is about a foot high. As

soon as the season will admit after the 21st of March, the land is

opened by one or more ploughings, according to its strength, and the

clods are broken down by blows with wooden mattocks, managed in

general by women, with great regularity and address; after which water

is let in upon the soil, which for the most part of a reddish clay, or

foxy earth, is converted into a smooth soft mud. The seed grain, put

into a sack of woven grass, is submerged in a running stream until it

begins to sprout, which happens sooner or later, according to the

temperature of the water and of the atmosphere, but ordinarily takes

place in three or four days. This precaution is adopted for the

purpose of getting the young shoots as quickly as possible out of the

way of a small snail, which abounds in some of the watered lands of

Kashmir, but sometimes proves insufficient to defend it against the

activity of this destructive enemy. When the farmer suspects, by the

scanty appearance of the plants above the water in which the grain has

been sown, and by the presence of the snail drawn up in the mud, that

his hopes of a crop are likely to be disappointed, he repeats the

sowing, throwing into the water some fresh leaves of the Prangos

plant, which either poison the snails or cause them to descend out of

the reach of its influence. The seed is for the most part thrown

broadcast into about four or five inches of water, which depth is

endeavoured to be maintained. Difference of practice exists as to

watering, but it seems generally agreed that rice can scarcely have

too much water, provided it be not submerged, except for a few days

before it ripens, when a dried state is supposed to hasten and to

perfect the maturity, whilst it improves the quality of the grain. In

general the culture of rice is attended with little expense, although

dearer in Kashmir than Hindostan, from its being customary in the

former country to manure the rice-lands, which is never done in the

latter. This manure, for the most part, consists of rice straw

rejected by the cattle, and mixed with cow-dung. It is conveyed from

the homestead to the fields by women, in small wicker baskets, and is

set on the land with more liberality than might have been expected

from the distance it is carried. Many of the ripe lands are situated

much higher than might be thought convenient in Hindostan, and are

rather pressed into this species of culture than naturally inviting,

but still yield good crops, through the facility with which water is

brought upon them from the streams which fall down the face of the

neighbouring hills. In common seasons the return of grain is from

thirty to forty for one, on an average, besides the straw.

The rice of Bengal, by the exercise of some care and skill, has

recently been so far improved as nearly to equal that of the

Carolinas. Dr. Falconer has introduced into India the numerous and

fine varieties of rice cultivated in the Himalayas; of these some of

the best sorts were at his suggestion distributed to cultivators along

the Doab canal.

A species of hill rice grows on the edge of the Himalaya mountains.

The mountain rices of India are grown without irrigation, at

elevations of 3,000 to 6,000 feet on the Himalaya, where the dampness

of the summer months compensates for the want of artificial moisture.

The small reddish Assamese rices, which become gelatinous in boiling,

and the large, flat-grained, soft, purple-black Ketana rice, of Java

and Malacca, shown at the Great Exhibition, were curious.

The fertility of the province of Arracan is very great, its soil being

fit for the culture of nearly all tropical productions; rice, however,

is alone cultivated to any great extent; the low alluvial soil which

extends over the whole country, from the foot of the mountains to the

sea, being admirably suited for its growth. About 115 square miles are

under culture with rice. The export trade in rice of the district, is

seen by the following statistical return; and it gives employment to

from 400 to 700 vessels, aggregating 60,000 to 80,000 tons.

QUANTITY OF PADDY AND RICE EXPORTED FROM AKYAB, THE PORT OF ARRACAN.

-------+---------+-------+---------+----------------------------------

| | | |Average price per 100 baskets

| | | Total | of 12 seers, in Rupees

|Maunds of|Maunds | value +------------------+---------------

-------+---------+-------+---------+------------------+---------------

1831-32| 380,600| 28,970| 130,591| 15.4 to 16.6 | 8 to 9

1832-33| 502,740|175,560| 232,915| 16 17 | 7.5 8

1833-34| 555,540|418,950| 430,830| 19 20 | 9 10

1834-35| 127,050|260,650| 176,717| 18 19 | 8 9

1835-36| 783,870|548,460| 354,791| 10 11 | 5 5.8

1836-37|1,737,841|641,010| 666,732| 10.8 12 | 5 6

1837-38|1,621,566|248,783| 650,385| 21 23 | 9 10.8

1838-39|1,364,100|332,380| 821,168| 24 25.1 | 8.8 11.12

1839-40|2,033,698|529,961|1,121,311| 21.8 23 | 9.8 10

1840-41|2,212,068|446,941|1,131,087| 20 21.8 |10 11

1841-42|1,265,388|270,000| 553,014| 19 20 | 8 9

1842-43|1,310,900|393,900| 472,889| 14 15 | 7.8 8

1843-44| 848,922|707,780| 633,710| 17 18 | 7 8

-------+---------+-------+---------+------------------+----------------

(" Colonial Magazine," vol. vi., p. 348.)

EXPORT OF RICE FROM MOULMEIN

Baskets Value

1840 67,318 38,708

1841 11,175 6,900

1842 64,055 40,034

1843 35,635 35,289

1844 71,822 44,529

1845 149,815 73,034

1846 193,267 101,465

--(Simmonds's "Colonial Magazine," vol. xii., p. 462.)

From Tavoy and Mergui rice was also exported, equal in value to 41,000

rupees, in 1846; 100 baskets of 12 seers each, are equal to 30 Bengal

maunds. The basket of rice named above, is equal to 55½ lbs. English.

Paddy means rice in the husk--rice, the grain when unhusked--a

distinction to be kept in mind.

The daily average consumption of rice in a family of five, is rated in

the Straits' settlements at three and a quarter chupahs.

The Burmese and Siamese are the grossest consumers of rice. A common

laboring Malay requires monthly 30 chupahs, or 56 pounds of rice,

value 3s. 9d. or 4s. The Burmese and Siamese about 34 chupahs, or 64

pounds. Rice land in Penang yields a return which cannot be averaged

higher than seventy-five fold--or nearly thirty guntangs of paddy for

each orlong (1-1/3 acres); but it has been considered advisable to rate

it here at sixty fold only.

The rice land of Province Wellesley gives an average return of 117½

fold; the maximum degree of productiveness being 600 guntangs of paddy

to an orlong of well flooded, alluvial land, or 150 fold, equal to 300

guntangs of clean rice, weighing nearly 4,520 English pounds. The

present average produce has been very moderately estimated at 470

guntangs the orlong of paddy. The quantity of seed invariably allotted

for an orlong of land is four guntangs. In Siam forty fold is

estimated a good average produce. At Tavoy, on the Tenasserim coast,

the maximum rate of productiveness of the rice land was, in 1825, and

is still believed to be, nearly the same as the average of Siam; while

their _average_ was only twenty-fold.--(Low, on "Straits

Settlements.")

Rice in Cochin-China is the "staff of life," and forms the main

article of culture. There are six different sorts grown; two on the

uplands, used for confectionery, and yielding only one crop annually;

the other sorts affording from two to five crops a year; but generally

two, one in April and another in October; or three when the

inundations have been profuse.

The late Dr. Gutzlaff stated, at a meeting of the Statistical Society

of London, that the population of China was about 367,000,000, and the

returns of the land subject to tax as used in rice cultivation there,

gave nearly half an acre to each living person; and he further stated

that in the southern and well watered provinces, it is anything but

uncommon to take two crops of rice, one of wheat, and one of pulse,

from the same land in a single season. Rice is the only article the

Chinese ever offer a bounty for; the price fluctuates according to the

seasons, from one and three-quarter dollars to eight dollars per

picul. Siam and the Indian Islands, particularly Bali and Lombok,

supply the empire occasionally with large quantities.

The price of rice in China varies according to the state of the canals

leading to the interior; if they are full of water the prices rise; if

on the contrary they are low, prices fall in proportion at the

producing districts. The amount of consumption is controlled, in a

considerable degree, by the cost of transit; when this is cheap prices

rise from the general demand; but when land-carriage to any extent has

to be resorted to, they fall; it raises prices so much at any great

distance, that rice must be used very sparingly, from its enhanced

price. It is obvious that if the waters are sufficiently high to allow

a boat to pass fully loaded, she does so at an expense of nearly 50

per cent, less than she would do, if, from want of water, she could

only take half the quantity; when transport is cheap every one obtains

a full supply; when it is dear the rice districts have more than they

can consume.

At home we are so much accustomed to the facilities of transit offered

by railroads, canal boats, &c., that we do not readily take into

consideration, that in China, except by water, all articles are

conveyed from one place to another on men's shoulders. Taking the

population of Canton at the usual estimate of a million, and allowing

to each a catty a day, the quantity of rice required for one day's

consumption alone in that city would be 10,000 piculs, of 133 lbs.

each = 1,340,000 lbs.

Java is the granary of plenty for all the Eastern Archipelago; and the

Dutch East India Company occupies itself in this culture with

solicitude, well persuaded that a scarcity of rice might be fatal to

its power. Ordinances to encourage and increase this branch of

agriculture, have been promulgated at different times by an authority

called to watch over the physical well-being of many millions of

inhabitants.

As an evident proof that the culture of rice, of which it would be

difficult to fix the quantity produced annually, increases

considerably, I may mention that the exportation from Java, in 1840,

was 1,488,350 piculs of 125 Dutch lbs.

Rice is cultivated in Java in three systems. The name of _sawah_ is

given to the rice fields, which can be irrigated artificially;

_tepar_, or _tagal_, are elevated but level grounds; and _gagah_, or

_ladang_, are cleared forest grounds. The two last only give one crop;

a second crop may be obtained from the _sawah_, which then most

commonly consists of _katjang_, from which oil is extracted, in

_kapus_ or fine cotton, and in _ubie_, a kind of potato.

There are, says Mr. Crawfurd, two distinct descriptions of rice

cultivated throughout the Indian islands, one which grows without the

help of immersion in water, and another for which that immersion is

indispensably requisite. In external character there is very little

difference between them, and in intrinsic value not much. The marsh

rice generally brings a somewhat higher price in the market. The great

advantage of this latter consists in its superior fecundity. Two very

important varieties of each are well known to the Javanese husbandman,

one being a large productive, but delicate grain, which requires about

seven months to ripen, and the other a small, hardy, and less fruitful

one, which takes little more than five months. The first we constantly

find cultivated in rich lands, where one annual crop only is taken;

and the last in well watered lands, but of inferior fertility, where

two crops may be raised.

Both of these, but particularly the marsh rice, is divided into a

great number of sub-varieties, characterised by being awned or

otherwise, having a long or round grain, or being in color black, red,

or white. The most singular variety is the _O. glutinosa_, of

Rumphius. This is never used as bread, but commonly preserved as a

sweetmeat. The rudest, and probably the earliest practised mode of

cultivating rice, consists in taking from forest lands a fugitive

crop, after burning the trees, grass, and underwood. The ground is

turned up with the mattock, and the seed planted by dibbling between

the stumps of trees. The period of sowing is the commencement of the

rains, and of reaping that of the dry season. The rice is of course of

that description which does not require immersion.

The second description of tillage consists also in growing mountain or

dry land rice. This mode is usually adopted on the common upland

arable lands, which cannot conveniently be irrigated. The grain is

sown in the middle of the dry season, either broadcast or by dibbling,

and reaped in seven or five months, as the grain happens to be the

larger or the smaller variety.

The culture of rice by the aid of the periodical rains forms the

third mode. The grain being that kind which requires submersion, the

process of sowing and reaping is determined with precision by the

seasons. With the first fall of the rains the lands are ploughed and

harrowed. The seed is sown in beds, usually by strewing very thickly

the corn in the ear. From these beds the plants, when 12 or 14 days

old, are removed into the fields and thinly set by the hand. They are

then kept constantly immersed in water until within a fortnight of the

harvest, when it is drawn off to facilitate the ripening of the grain.

The fourth mode of cultivating rice is by forcing a crop by artificial

irrigation, at any time of the year; thus, in one field, in various

plots, the operations of sowing, ploughing, transplanting, and reaping

may be seen at the same period.

The fertile, populous, and industrious countries of the Eastern

Archipelago export rice to their neighbours. The most remarkable of

these are Java, Bali, some parts of Celebes, with the most fertile

spots of Sumatra, and of the Malay Peninsula. Rice is generally

imported to these western countries from those farther east, such as

the Spice Islands. Java is the principal place of production for the

consumption of the other islands, and the only island of the

Archipelago that sends rice _abroad_. The rice of the eastern

districts is generally superior to that of the western. The worst rice

is that of Indramayu, which is usually discolored. The subdivision of

the province of Cheribon, called Gabang, yields rice of fine white

grain, equal to that of Carolina. The rice of Gressie preserves best.

All Indian rice is classed, in commercial language, into the three

descriptions of table rice, white rice, and cargo rice. From the

limited demand for the first, it is only to be had in Java, in small

quantity. For the same reason the second is not procurable in large

quantity, unless bespoken some time before-hand; but the third may be

had at the shortest notice in any quantity required. Java rice is

inferior in estimation to that of Bengal or Carolina in the markets of

Europe.

The following statistics show the extent and progress of the culture

in Java:--

In 1840. In 1841.

--------- ----------

No. of Residencies in which rice is cultivated 18 18

" Regencies 69 68

" Districts 414 414

" Desas or villages 39,931 36,296

Amount of the population who take a part in it,

without distinction of caste 6,704,797 6,857,372

Number of families, &c. 1,466,845 1,475,675

" " families who devote themselves to the

cultivation 1,150,406 1,146,083

Number of men bound to obligatory service 1,321,767 1,325,746

Cleared grounds in _bahus_, of 71 decametres 1,470,047 1,540,054

Upon this extent the population had cultivated for

the government, in _bahus_ of 71 decametres 78,182 74,277

Extent of fields which the population had cultivated 1,286,139 1,381,216

on their own account, in _bahus_, &c.

Extent of land in fallow in _bahus_, &c. 105,726 84,561

Produce in piculs of fields cultivated by the

population on its own account 21,273,278 23,810,573

Average produce of a _bahu_ 16½ 17

Gross amount of the land tax of 1840 8,502,402 fl 9,030,761 fl.

Extent of rice fields newly cultivated in

_bahus_ 10,328 13,561

This comparative summary shows that the culture of rice increases

yearly, and that the average produce of the fields is also continually

increasing. These results have been obtained by the attention paid to

the proper irrigation of the soil fit for this culture; and to the

hydraulic works which the Government executes on its own account in

the parts of the island where rice fields can be established, and

where they are required to feed a population whose number is still

increasing yearly.

I have seen, continues Mr. Crawfurd, lands which have produced, from

time beyond the memory of any living person, two yearly crops of rice.

When this practice is pursued, it is always the five-months grain

which is grown. The rapid growth of this variety, has, indeed, enabled

the Javanese husbandman, in a few happy situations, to urge the

culture to the amount of six crops in two years and a half. Rice

cultivated in a virgin soil, where the wood has been burnt off, will,

under favorable circumstances, give a return of twenty-five and thirty

fold. Of mountain rice, cultivated in ordinary upland arable lands,

fifteen fold may be looked upon as a good return. In fertile soils,

when one crop only is taken in the year, marsh rice will yield a

return of twenty-five seeds. When a double crop is taken, not more

than fifteen or sixteen can be expected. In the fine province of Kadu,

an English acre of good land, yielding annually one green crop and a

crop of rice, was found to produce of the latter 641 lbs. of clean

grain. In the light sandy, but well watered lands of the province of

Mataram, where it is the common practice to exact two crops of rice

yearly without any fallow, an acre was found to yield no more than 285

lbs. of clean rice, or an annual produce of 570 lbs. --("History of

the Indian Archipelago.")

The low estimation of Java rice is not attributable to any real

inferiority in the grain, but to the mode of preparing it for the

market. In husking it, it is, for the want of proper machinery, much

broken, and, from carelessness in drying, subject to decay from the

attack of insects and worms. When in the progress of improvement more

intelligent methods are pursued in preparing the grain for the market,

it will equal the grain of any other country. Machinery must be

employed for husking the grain, and some degree of kiln drying will be

necessary to ensure its preservation in a long voyage.

I know nowhere that rice is so cheap as in Java, except in Siam,

whence it is exported at one-third less cost. A great deal of rice is

exported from Siam to China by the junks, and also occasionally a

little from Java.

The quantity exported from Java in 1830 was 13,521 coyans.

" " 1835 " 25,577 "

" " 1839 " 1,103,378 piculs

" " 1841 " 676,213 "

" " 1843 " 1,108,774 "

Rice is grown to some extent in the Dutch portion of Celebes; it

yields at a minimum one hundred and fifty fold. The average annual

delivery of rice to the Government, from 1838 to 1842, was 3,390,119

lbs. At present the Government pays sixty cents for a measure of forty

pounds. That which is sold for the consumption of the inhabitants may

be procured at the public warehouse for a guilder the 35½ lbs.; and

that which is sold for export may be had at public auction for 125

florins the coyan of 3,000 lbs.

The following description of some varieties of rice cultivated in the

Philippine islands, is given by Mr. Rich, botanist to the United

States Exploring Expedition. The varieties are very numerous; the

natives distinguish them by the size and shape of their grain:--

_Binambang_.--Leaves slightly hairy; glumes whitish; grows to the

height of about five feet; flowers in December: aquatic.

_Lamuyo_ greatly resembles the above; is more extensively

cultivated, particularly in Batangas, where it forms the principal

article of food of the inhabitants of the coast: aquatic.

_Malagcquit_.--This variety derives its name from its being very

glutinous after bailing; it is much used by the natives in making

sweet or fancy dishes; and also used in making a whitewash, mixed

with lime, which is remarkable for its brilliancy, and for

withstanding rain, &c.: aquatic.

_Bontot Cabayo_.--Common in Ilocos, where it is cultivated both

upland and lowland; it produces a large grain, and is therefore much

esteemed, but has rather a rough taste.

_Dumali, or early rice_.--This rice is raised in the uplands

exclusively, and derives its name from ripening its grain three

months from planting; the seed is rather broader and shorter than

the other varieties; it is not extensively cultivated, as birds and

insects are very destructive to it.

_Quinanda_, with smooth leaves.--This variety is held in great

estimation by the people of Batangas, as they say it swells more in

boiling than any other variety; it is sown in May, and gathered in

October: upland.

_Bolohan_.--This variety has very hairy glumes; it is not held in

much esteem by the natives, but it is cultivated on account of its

not being so liable to the attacks of insects and diseases as most

of the other upland varieties.

_Malagcquit_.--With smooth leaves, and red glumes (all the preceding

are whitish); possesses all the qualities of the aquatic variety of

the same name--that of being very glutinous after boiling. This rice

is said to be a remedy for worms in horses, soaked in water, with

the hulls on; it is given with honey and water.

_Tangi_.--Leaves slightly hairy, glumes light violet color. This

upland variety is held in much esteem for its fine flavor.

435,067 arrobas of rice were exported from Manilla in 1847.

A simple but rude mill is in use in Siam, and many parts of India, for

hulling paddy, which is similar to those used 4,000 years ago. It

consists of two circular stones, two feet in diameter, resting one on

the other; a bamboo basket is wrought around the upper one, so as to

form the hopper. A peg is firmly set into the face of the upper stone,

half way between its periphery and centre, having tied to it by one

end a stick three feet long, extended horizontally, and attached by

the other to another stick pending from the roof of the shed under

which the mill is placed. This forms a crank, by which the upper stone

is made to revolve on the other set firmly on the ground. The motion

throws the rice through the centre of the stone, and causes it to

escape between the edges of the two.

More starch is contained in this grain than in wheat. Braconnet

obtained from Carolina rice 85.07, and from Piedmont rice 83.8 per

cent. of starch. Vogel procured from a dried rice no less than 98 per

cent. of starch. There are several patent processes in existence for

the manufacture of rice-starch, which are accomplished chiefly by

digesting rice in solutions, more or less strong, of caustic alkali

(soda), by which the gluten is dissolved and removed, leaving an

insoluble matter composed of starch, and a white substance technically

called fibre. Under Jones's patent, the alkaline solution employed

contains 200 grains of real soda in every gallon of liquor, and 150

gallons of this liquor are requisite to convert 100 lbs. of rice into

starch. In manufacturing rice-starch on a large scale, Patna rice

yields 80 per cent, of marketable starch, and 8.2 per cent. of fibre,

the remaining 11.8 per cent. being made up of gluten, gruff, or bran,

and a small quantity of light starch carried off in suspension by the

solution.

Jones's process may be thus described:--100 lbs. of rice are macerated

for 24 hours in 50 gallons of the alkaline solution, and afterwards

washed with cold water, drained, and ground. To 100 gallons of the

alkaline solution are then to be added 100 lbs. of ground rice, and

the mixture stirred repeatedly during 24 hours, and then allowed to

stand for about 70 hours to settle or deposit. The alkaline solution

is to be drawn off, and to the deposit cold water is to be added, for

the double purpose of washing out the alkali and for drawing off the

starch from the other matters. The mixture is to be well stirred up

and then allowed to rest about an hour for the fibre to fall down. The

liquor holding the starch in suspension is to be drawn off and allowed

to stand for about 70 hours for the starch to deposit. The waste

liquor is now to be removed, and the starch stirred up, blued (if

thought necessary), drained, dried, and finished in the usual way.[44]

Rice is imported into this country in bags of 1½ cwt., and tierces of

6 cwt., not only for edible purposes, but, when ground into flour, for

cotton manufactures, in aiding to form the weaver's dressings for

warps. Rice-meal is commonly used for feeding pigs.

Imported.

British Retained for home

Plantation. Foreign. consumption of all kinds.

Bags. Bags. Bags.

1843 136,319 35,125 60,965

1844 127,876 69,112 126,733

1845 173,794 5,713 114,933

Tons. Tons. Tons.

1847 38,736 3,033 28,375

1848 21,226 4,631 15,468

1849 19,397 1,410 14,961

Total imported. Re-exported.

1849 976,196 cwts. 290,732 cwts.

" in the husk 31,828 qrs.

1850 785,451 cwts. 248,136 "

" in the husk 37,150 qrs.

1851 714,847 cwts. 345,677 "

" in the husk 31,481 qrs.

1852 989,316 cwts. 414,507 "

" in the husk 23,946 qrs.

The quantity of rice retained for home consumption, by the corrected

returns, in 1850, was 401,018 cwts. and 35,119 quarters; in 1851,

399,170 cwts. and 31,481 quarters; in 1852, 574,809 cwts. and 23,946

quarters. The aggregate imports range from 40,000 to 80,000 tons

annually, of which about 500 to 800 tons are in the husk.

Among culmiferous plants and legumes used in the East, are the

_Panicum italicum_, _P. miliaceum_, _Eleusine coracana_ (the meal of

which is baked and eaten in Ceylon under the name of Corakan flour),

and _Paspalum_ of several varieties. The pigeon pea (_Cytisus Cajan_),

and a very valuable and prolific species of bean, called the Mauritius

black bean (_Mucuna utilis_), growing even in the poorest soil, is

cultivated in India and Ceylon. _Sorghum vulgare_ is the principal

grain of Southern Arabia, and the stems are also used extensively for

feeding cattle. The plant bears its Indian name of joar, or juri, and

is cultivated throughout Western Hindostan. Job's tears (_Croix

lachryma_) is another cereal grass, native of the East Indies.

MILLET.

Millet of different kinds is met with in the hottest parts of Africa,

in the South of Europe, in Asia Minor, and in the East Indies. It is a

small yellowish seed, growing in dense panicles or clusters, the

produce of a grassy plant with large and compact seeds, growing to the

height, in India, of seven or eight feet.

The millets, known to Europeans as _petit mais_, are tropical or

sub-tropical crops. In India they hold a second rank to rice alone;

and in Egypt, perhaps, surpass all other crops in importance. In

Western Africa they are the staff of life. The red and white millets

shown by Austria, Russia, and the United States, at the Great

Exhibition, were beautiful, and Ceylon exhibited fair samples. Turkey

abounds in small grains.

_Panicum miliaceum_ and _P. frumentaceum_ are the species grown in the

East Indies. Loudon says there are three distinct species of millet;

the Polish, the common or German, and the Indian. _Setaria Germanica_

yields German millet. The plants are readily increased by division of

the roots or by seed, and will grow in any common soil. The native

West Indian species are _P. fascisculatwm_ and _oryzoides_. Millet

receives some attention in New South Wales. In 1844 there were 100

acres of land under cultivation with it, and the amount grown in some

years in this colony has been about 3,500 bushels.

In the United States millet is chiefly grown for making hay, being

found a good substitute for clover and the ordinary grasses. It is a

plant which will flourish well on rather thin soils, and it grows so

fast that when it is up and well set it is seldom much affected by

drought. It is commonly sown there in June, but the time of sowing

will vary with the latitude. Half a bushel of seed to the acre is the

usual quantity, sown broadcast and harrowed in. For the finest

quantity of hay, it is thought advisable to sow an additional quantity

of three or four quarts of seed. The ordinary yield of crops may be

put at from a ton to a ton and a half of hay to the acre. It should be

cut as soon as it is out of blossom; if it stands later, the stems are

liable to become too hard to make good hay. The variety known as

German millet is that most common in North America. It grows

ordinarily to the height of about three feet, with compact heads from

six to nine inches in length, bearing yellow seed. There are some

sub-varieties of this, as the white and purple-seeded.

The Italian millet, _Setaria italica_, is larger than the preceding,

reaching the height of four feet in tolerable soil, and its leaves are

correspondingly larger and thicker. The heads are sometimes a foot or

more in length, and are less compact than the German, being composed

of several spikes slightly branching from the main stem. It is said to

derive its specific name from being cultivated in Italy, though its

native habitat is India. It is claimed by some that this variety will

yield more seed than any other, and the seed is rather larger, but the

stalk is coarser, and would probably be less relished by stock.

If the greatest amount of seed is desired from the crop, it is best to

sow it in drills, two to two-and-a-half feet apart, using a seed drill

for the purpose. This admits of the use of a small harrow or

cultivator between the rows, while the plants are small, which keeps

out the weeds. The crop will ripen more uniformly in this way than

broadcast, and enables the cultivator to cut it when there will be the

least waste. The seed shatters out very easily when it is ripe, and

when the crop ripens unequally it cannot be cut without loss, because

either a portion of it will be immature, or, if left till it is all

ripe, the seed of the earliest falls out. It should be closely

watched, and cut in just about the same stage that it is proper to cut

wheat, while the grain may be crushed between the fingers. It may be

cut with a grain cradle, and, when dry, bound and shocked like grain;

but it should be threshed out as soon as practicable, on account of

its being usually much attacked by birds, many kinds of which are very

fond of the seed. In particular localities they assail the crop in

such numbers, from the time it is out of the "milk," till it is

harvested and carried off the field, that it is no object to attempt

to ripen it. This crop is sometimes sown in drills, when it is only

intended for fodder, being cut and cured in bundles, as the stalks of

Indian corn are. It is best to pass it through a cutting machine

before feeding it to stock; indeed, all millet hay will be fed with

less loss in this way, than if fed to animals without cutting.

The seed is used in various European countries as a substitute for

sago, for which it is considered excellent. It is likewise a valuable

food for poultry, particularly for young chickens, which from the

smallness of the grain can eat it readily, and it appears to be

wholesome for them.

In some countries millet seed is ground into flour and converted into

bread; but this is brown and heavy. It is, however, useful in other

respects, as a substitute for rice. A good vinegar has been made from

it by fermentation, and, on distillation, it yields a strong spirit.

Millet seed--the produce of _H. saccharatum_--is imported into this

country from the East Indies for the purpose chiefly of puddings; by

many persons it is preferred to rice. It is cultivated largely in

China and Cochin-China. The stalks, if subjected to the same process

that is adopted with the sugar-cane, yield a sweet juice, from which

an excellent kind of sugar may be made.

Millet will grow best on light, dry soils. The ground being first well

prepared, half a bushel of seed to the acre is ploughed in at the

commencement of the rains, in India. The crop ripens within three

months from the time of sowing. The usual produce is about 16 bushels

to the acre. The Canary Islands export annually about 212,400 bushels

of millet.

_Great Indian Millet, or Guinea Corn_.--This is a native of India (the

_Sorghum vulgare_, the _Andropogon Sorghum_ of Roxburgh), which

produces a grain a little larger than mustard or millet seed. It is

grown in most tropical countries, and has peculiar local names. In the

West Indies, where it is chiefly raised for feeding poultry, it is

called Guinea corn. In Egypt it is known as Dhurra, in Hindostan and

Bengal as Joar, and in some districts as Cush.

In Lower Scinde joar is very extensively cultivated, as well as bajree

(_H. spicatus_). It is harvested in December and January; requires a

light soil, and is usually grown in the east, after _Cynosurus

corocanus_.

Guinea corn is extensively cultivated in some parts of Jamaica. I did

not, however, find it thrive on the north side of the island. It is

best planted in the West Indies between September and November, and

ripens in January. It ratoons or yields a second crop, when cut. The

returns are from 30 to 60 bushels an acre, but the crops are

uncertain.

Mr. C. Bravo tried Guinea corn at St. Ann's, Jamaica, as a green crop,

sown broadcast, for fodder, and it answered admirably, the produce

being very considerable. It was weighed, and yielded 14 tons of fodder

per acre, and was found very palatable and nutritious for cattle. It

was grown on a very poor soil, which had, previously to ploughing,

given nothing but marigolds and weeds. The luxuriant growth of the

corn completely kept under the weeds. A great number of the stalks

were measured, and they averaged 10 feet from the root to the top of

the upper leaf. It had been planted 10 weeks, and had, therefore,

grown a foot a month. Mr. Bravo is of opinion, that sown broadcast it

would answer either as a grain crop, as fodder, or ploughed in to

increase the fertility of the soil.

Dr. Phillips, of Barbados, being of opinion that it might be

advantageously employed as human food, requested Dr. Shier, the

analytical chemist, of Demerara, to determine in his laboratory its

richness in protein compounds (the muscle-forming part of vegetable

food) in comparison with Indian corn. He, therefore, caused a sample

of each to be burned for nitrogen, when the following results were

obtained:--

Indian corn. Guinea corn.

Water, per cent. 12.81 13.76

In ordinary state--

Nitrogen, per cent. 1.83 1.18

Protein compounds 11.51 7.42

In dry state--

Nitrogen, per cent. 2.10 1.36

Protein compounds 13.20 8.60

According to these results, the Guinea corn is less rich in nitrogen

or protein compounds than Indian corn, though not much less so than

some varieties of English wheat.

Indian corn meal, analysed by Mr. Hereford, from two localities, gave

in the ordinary state of dryness 11.53 and 12.48 per cent. of protein

compounds--results which come very near to that obtained by Dr. Shier.

_Sorghum avenaceum_, or _Holcus avenaceus_, is a native of the Cape.

Several species and varieties of sorghum have been introduced, and

more or less cultivated in the United States. It is often popularly

termed Egyptian corn. It is closely allied to broom corn (_S.

saccharatum_), the head being similar in structure, and the seed

similar, except that in most varieties of sorghum, the outer covering

does not adhere as in broom corn. The plant bears a strong

resemblance, while growing, to maize or Indian corn. There is also

some similarity in the grain, and it is extensively used as food by

many oriental nations.

A variety, under the name of African purple millet, was some years

since introduced into North America, and recommended for cultivation

as a soiling crop; but this, as well as other varieties, do not

possess any advantages over Indian corn.

The natives of Mysore reckon three kinds, known as white, green, and

red. The red ripens a month earlier than the rest, or about four

months from the time of sowing. Near Bengal, Bombay, and elsewhere, in

Eastern India, sowing is performed at the close of May or early in

June. A gallon and a third of seed is sown per acre, and the produce

averages 16 bushels. This grain, though small, and the size of its

head diminutive, compensates for this deficiency by the great hulk

and goodness of its straw, which grows usually to the height of 8 or

10 feet. It is sometimes sown for fodder in the beginning of April,

and is ready to cut in July. It is said to be injurious to cattle, if

eaten as green provender, the straw is therefore first dried, and is

then preferable to that of rice.

This grain is frequently fermented to form the basis, in combination

with goor or half made sugar, of the common arrack of the natives, and

in the hills is fermented into a kind of beer or sweet wort, drank

warm.

_Holcus spicatus_, the _Panicum spicatum_ of Roxburgh, is cultivated

in Mysore, Behar, and the provinces more to the north. From one to

four seers are sown on a biggah of land, and the yield is about four

maunds per acre. It is sown after the heavy rains commence, and the

plough serves to cover the seed. The crop is ripe in three months, and

the ears only are taken off at first. Afterwards the straw is cut down

close to the surface of the soil, to be used for thatching, for it is

not much in request as fodder. Being a grain of small price, it is a

common food of the poorer class of natives, and really yields a sweet

palatable flour. It is also excellent as a fattening grain for

poultry.

The _Poa Abyssinica_is one of the bread-corns of Abyssinia. The bread

made from it is called _teff_, and is the ordinary food of the

country, that made from wheat being only used by the higher classes.

The way of manufacturing it is by allowing the dough to become sour,

when, generating carbonic acid gas, it serves instead of yeast. It is

then baked in circular cakes, which are white, spongy, and of a hot

acid taste, but easy of digestion. This bread, carefully toasted, and

left in water for three or four days, furnishes the _bousa_, or common

beer of the country, similar to the _quas_ of Russia.

BROOM CORN.

The production of broom corn is rapidly extending, and corn brooms are

driving broom sedge, as an article for sweeping floors, out of every

humble dwelling in the United States. There are about 1,000 acres of

it under culture in one county (Montgomery) alone, and it brings 30

dollars per acre in the field.

Messrs. Van Eppes, of Schenectady, have been engaged in the broom

manufactory business about eleven years. They have a farm of about 300

acres, 200 of which are Mohawk flats. A large portion of the flats was

formerly of little value, in consequence of being kept wet by a

shallow stream which ran through, it, and which, together with several

springs that issue from the sandy bluff on the south side of the

flats, kept the ground marshy, and unfit for cultivation. By deepening

the channel of the stream, and conducting most of the springs into it,

many acres, which were formerly almost worthless, have been made

worth 125 dollars per acre. They have also, by deepening the channel,

saving the water of the springs, and securing all the fall, made a

water privilege, on which they have erected an excellent mill, with

several run of stones, leaving besides sufficient power to carry saws

for cutting out the handles of brooms, &c.

They have about 200 acres of the flats in broom-corn. The cultivation

of this article has within a few years been simplified to almost as

great a degree as its manufacture. The seed is sown with a seed-barrow

or drill, as early in the spring as the state of the ground will

admit, in rows 3½ feet apart. As soon as the corn is above ground, it

is hoed, and soon after thinned, so as to leave the stalks two or

three inches apart. It is only hoed in the row, in order to get out

the weeds that are close to the plants, the remaining space being left

for the harrow and cultivator, which are run so frequently as to keep

down the weeds. The cultivation is finished by running a small, double

mould-board plough, rather shallow, between the rows.

The broom corn is not left to ripen, as formerly, but is cut when it

is quite green, and the seed not much past the milk. It was formerly

the practice to lop down the tops of the corn, and let it hang some

time, that the brush might become straightened in one direction. Now,

the tops are not lopped till the brush is ready to cut, which, as

before stated, is while the corn is green. A set of hands goes

forward, and lops or bends the tops to one side, and another set

follows immediately and cuts off the tops at the place at which they

are bent, and a third set gathers the cut tops into carts or waggons,

which take them to the factory. Here they are first sorted over, and

parcelled out into small bunches, each bunch being made up into brush

of equal length. The seed is then taken off by an apparatus with

teeth, like a hatchet. The machine is worked by six horses, and cleans

the brush very rapidly. It is then spread thin to dry, on racks put up

in buildings designed for the purpose. In about a week, with ordinary

weather, it becomes so dry that it will bear to be packed closely.

The stalks of the corn, after the tops have been cut off, are five or

six feet high, and they are left on the ground, and ploughed in the

next spring. It is found that this keeps up the fertility of the soil,

so that the crop is continued for several years without apparent

diminution. It should be observed, however, that the ground is

overflowed every winter or spring, and a considerable deposit left on

the surface, which is undoubtedly equivalent to a dressing of manure.

This may be inferred from the fact that some of the flats have been in

Indian corn every year for forty or fifty years, without manure, and

with good cultivation have seldom produced less than sixty bushels per

acre, and with extra cultivation from eighty to ninety bushels have

been obtained.

In case of need, the stalks would furnish a large amount of good food

for cattle. They are full of leaves which are nutritive, and whether

cut and dried for winter, or eaten green by stock turned on the ground

where they grow, would be very valuable in case of deficiency of

grass.

Messrs. Van Eppes employ twenty hands during the summer; and in

autumn, when the brush is being gathered and prepared, they have

nearly a hundred, male and female. They are mostly Germans, who come

to Schenectady with their families during the broom corn harvest, and

leave when it is over.

The manufacture of brooms is carried on mostly in the winter season.

The quantity usually turned out by Messrs. Van Eppes is 150,000 dozen

per annum.--("Albany Cultivator.")

CHENOPODIUM QUINOA.

About twenty-eight years ago this plant was introduced into Britain

from Peru, where the seeds are used as food, under the name of petty

rice. Attention was drawn to it by Loudon, in his "Gardener's

Magazine," in 1834, and in 1836 it was cultivated on a large scale by

Sir Charles Lemon. This plant and the lentil are two of the most

promising exotics that have been recommended for field culture. There

are two varieties of quinoa, the white and the red seeded; the red has

bitter properties, and is only used for medicine. In North America the

seeds of the former are used as a substitute for maize and the potato.

A white meal is obtained from it, having a tinge of yellow. It

contains scarcely any gluten, but, like oatmeal, makes very good

porridge and cakes. Its nutritive qualities are proved by the analysis

of Dr. Voelcker ("Journal of Agriculture of Scotland," October, 1850),

which states it to yield 3.66 per cent. of nitrogen, equal to 2.87 per

cent. of protein compounds. In this respect the meal appears to be

superior to rye, barley, rice, maize, the plantain, and potato. It has

long furnished the food of millions in South America; and in Scotland

and Ireland the plant would find a congenial climate and rich soil.

FUNDI OR FUNDUNGI.

This is an hitherto undescribed species of African grain (probably the

_Paspalum exile_), much cultivated and esteemed in Sierra Leone, and

other places on the African coast, where it is known by the Foulahs,

Joloffs, and other native tribes, under the local name of Hungry rice.

It is a slender grass with digitate spikes, which have much of the

habit of _Digitaria_, but which, on account of the absence of the

small outer glume existing in that genus, Mr. Keppist, Librarian of

the Linnean Society, of London, refers to _Paspalum_. It produces a

semi-transparent cordiform grain, about the size of a mignionette

seed; the ear consists of two conjugate spikes, the grain being

arranged on the outer edge of either spike, and alternated; they are

attached by a peduncle to the husk. The èpicarp, or outer membrane, is

slightly rugous.

The ground is cleared for its reception by burning down the copse wood

and hoeing between the roots and stumps. It is sown in the months of

May and June, the ground being slightly opened, and again lightly

drawn together over the seeds with a hoe. In August, when it shoots

up, it is carefully weeded. It ripens in September, growing to the

height of about 18 inches, and its stems, which are very slender, are

bent to the earth by the mere weight of the grain. The patch of land

is then either suffered to lie fallow, or is planted with yams or

cassava in rotation. Experienced cultivators of this Lilliputian grain

assert that manure is unnecessary, as it delights in light soils, and

it is even raised on rocky situations, which are most frequent about

Kissy. When cut down, it is tied up in small sheafs and placed in a

dry situation within the hut; for if allowed to remain on the ground

and to become wet, the grains are agglutinated to their coverings. The

grain is trodden out with the feet, and is then parched or dried in

the sun, to allow the more easy removal of the chaff in the process of

pounding, which is performed in wooden mortars. It is afterwards

winnowed with a kind of cane fanner or mats.

This grain could be raised in sufficient quantities to become an

article of commerce, and I have no doubt would prove a valuable

addition to the list of light farinaceous articles of food in use

among the delicate or convalescent. In preparing this delicious grain

for food, it is first put into boiling water, in which it is

assiduously stirred for a few minutes; the water is then poured off,

and the Foulahs, Joloffs, &c., add to it palm oil, butter, or milk;

but Europeans and negroes connected with Sierra Leone prepare it as

follows:--To the grain cooked as above mentioned, fowl, fish, or

mutton, with a piece of salt pork for the sake of flavor is added, the

whole being then stewed in a close saucepan. This makes a very good

dish, and thus prepared resembles "_Kous-kous_." The grain is

sometimes made into puddings, with the usual condiments, and eaten

either hot or cold, with milk. By the few natives of Scotland in the

colony, it is occasionally dressed as milk porridge.

The negroes also eat it in the same way as they do rice, with palaver

sauce. Fundi ought to be well washed in cold water, and afterwards

rewashed in boiling water. If properly prepared it will be white, and

perfectly free from gritty matter.

Canary-seed, obtained from _Phalaris canariensis_, is grown rather

largely in Kent, the Isle of Thanet, and other parts of the south of

England, as much as 500 tons being annually consumed here for feeding

singing birds. The produce is three to five quarters the acre, and it

is sold at about £25 the ton. We receive foreign supplies of the seed

from Germany and the Mediterranean, and the duty on imports is 2s. 6d.

per bushel.

PULSE.

There are a variety of pulses and leguminous seeds extensively

cultivated as food for both man and cattle, and which form an

important article in the husbandry of tropical countries. The

importance of peas and beans is well appreciated, both by the

horticulturists and agriculturists in Europe and our temperate

colonies, where, however, they are comparatively of less importance

than the smaller pulses and grains are in various tropical countries,

such as haricots in the Brazils and West Indies; ground or earth nuts

in South America, and especially in Western Africa; beans of different

kinds amongst the miners of Peru; gram (_Ervum lens_), and dholl

(_Cajanus_), with innumerable varieties of beans and small lentils

among the natives of India and Egypt; and the Carob bean, or St.

John's bread (_Ceratonia siliqua_), in the Mediterranean

countries.--("Jury Reports.")

Of leguminous grains there are various species cultivated and used by

the Asiatics, as the _Phaseolus Mungo_, _P. Max_ and _P. radiatus_,

which contain much alimentary matter; the earth-nut (_Arachis

hypogæa_), which buries its pods under ground after flowering.

The gram (_Cicer arictinum_) which is mentioned by Dr. Christie

("Madras Journal of Science," No. 13) as exuding oxalic acid from all

parts of the plant. It is used by the ryots in their curries instead

of vinegar. It is the chick pea of England, and _chenna_ of Hindostan.

The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c. · 第 9 / 20 章

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