ORYZA SATIVA. L. In husk or growing.
ltuz , ARAB. Gabah, in husk, . MALAY.
Dim, . . BENG , HIND. Paiera, . . . MALEAL.
SA-ha, BURN. Nellu, Arisi, . . TAM.
Tau, CHIN. Ilium, Uri, . . . TEL.
Vice plant, . . . ENG. Nivan dhanyamu, „ Paddy, in straw, MALAY.
The grain husked.
Pusnee, . . . . BENG. Tai, . . . . JHELUM.
l3hatta, . . . . CAN. Damn, Tani, . . KASH.
Kang-mi, Mi, . . CHIN. Bras, . . . . 3IALAY. Chawal, . Dux., HIND. Ari,Arisi,Payera, MALEAL. Bice, ENO. Birinj, Shall, . . PERS.
The Oryza genus of plants belongs to the natural order Panicacem. Oryza is the term by which rice was known to the Greeks and Romans, and which has been adopted by botanists as the generic name of the plant yieldieg that valuable grain. The Greek term would appear to be derived from the Arabic Aruz, and this is allied to Uri, a Telinga name of cultivated sorts ; but the Sanskrit names are Anu, Dhanya, and Vrihi, the wild kind being called Nivara ; while that of the great tanks is called Ansi in the Tamil language. The European names are evidently all derived from the same sources, but the Malay name, paddy, is applied to the rice in its natural state, or before being separated from the husk. The natives of India call it Dhan in this state, as well as the plant, and the rice itself is called Chawul. The genus Oryza has two plumes to a single flower ; palem two, nearly equal, adhering to the seed ; stamens six, and styles two. Dr. Roxburgh describes two species,—one, O. sativa, distinguished by its diffuse panicle ; the other, O. coarctata, has the panicle contracted, the valvulets of the calyx subulate, and the leaves culm-clasping. This species is a native of the delta of the Ganges, and was first discovered there by Dr. Buchanan in 1796, but was not found to be applied to any use. The common rice, O. sativa, unlike many long-cultivated grains, is still found in a wild state, Nivara, Salm., Newari, TEL., in and about the borders of lakes in the Raja mundry Circars of the Peninsula, though never cultivated, because the produce is said to be small compared with that of the varieties in cultivation. The composition per 100 parts of several rices was as under :— In the Emit Indica, rice in used for food for man, cattle, and fowl ; for the manufacture of starch, and the distillation of spirit, etc. Rice Is the food of a great number of the human rare.
i The nhabitants of N. and f3. America, on the S.
of Europe, of N. Africa, of the south and Not Asia, all largely use it. It is the moat easily digestible of all vegetable substances, but its bulk is objectionable.
There are in several provinces three distinct crops; the first, grown on somewhat high ground, is the early crop, sown for the most part in June, and reaped in August and September. The Bur mese recognise nearly a hundred varieties of rice, but their pnncipal distinctions between the differ ent kinds are, the hard-grain rice, soft-grain rice, glutinous rice. These names are designative.
The Nataung rice of Burma is the hardest grain, and is the rice principally exported to Europe. The Meedo is the chief of the soft-grain varieties ; is much preferred by the Burmese to the hard grained sorts, and it is certainly superior in taste when cooked ; but the hard-grained rice is chiefly purchased by the merchants for export, as it keeps better, and the soft-grained rice is too much broken by European machinery in cleaning.
This last objection appears to have been overcome, and a demand sprang up for the Meedo rice for the markets of foreign Europe.
The Koung-nyeen, or hill rice, is called glutin ous rice by Europeans, from the property it possesses, when cooked, of the grains all adhering in a thick glutinous mass. It is the chief article of food with the Karen and other hill tribes, but is not much eaten by the inhabitants of the low swampy plains, where the common rice is grown.
Many varieties of rice are grown in Oudh, but five kinds are considered among the best Mihee and Basee are foremost The peculiarity in the cultivation of these two kinds is, that they are transplanted and placed about 5 inches apart. By this method, if the soil is good, they grow to the height of an ordinary-sized man, and produce a much larger quantity than if otherwise treated. The odour and flavour of these two kinds, when cooked, are superior to those of any other variety. They are only used by such as can afford to buy them. Other esteemed varieties are the Bate esti and the Phool-birinj. They are sown broadcast in June, and left so, and they are mostly used by natives. The first two mentioned, when new, sell for 10 or 12 seers per rupee, and become dearer according as they become older. The other three kinds sell for about 19 seers per rupee, and are dearer if er. Some prefer Phool-buinj, as it swells in boiling, and has an agreeable odour.
Throughout the Panjab, where the soil is low and good, and water abundant, especially in the upper part of the Jullundur Doab, rice . grown. It is also abundantly grown throughout Siwalik tract, and up the valleys to an elevation in places of 6000 or even nearly 7000 feet. In Peshawur the varieties of rices are called doaba, shugha, zafrani, jyotahi, kaneri, and lukh, rice coarse rice. In the plain districts the nce commonly grown is called munji; other varieties met with in the bazar, of second and third quality, are begami and samoja, also sohn pat ; a fourth class is the red-skinned kind called Path, also sharbati and chinwa kik—this is inferior.
In Mysore, rice is extensively grown in the wet lands irrigated by the canals of the rivers Cauvery, Capila, Hamavety, Lutchman Tirta, and Pennar, at talapirige or fountain-heads, and under tanks. Nuggur and Astagram divisions have proportionally the largest produce of paddy. It is exported from one part of Mysore to another ; but except to the Neilgherries, and a portion to the western coast from Nuggur and North Astagram, little goes out of the territories. There are many varieties. In deed, almost every village in India has a variety of this grain peculiar to the locality. The ryots do not try to preserve paddy for a length of time, as it rapidly loses in weight.
The ardent spirits prepared from rice are Arrack, . . . BATAVIA. Said, JAPAN.
Ayet, . . . Bums. Rij, Tanpo, Sichow, JAY.
Mandrin, . . . CHIN. Phaur, . . . NEPAL.
Paniz, . . . COREA. Lan, SIAM The No or glutinous rice of China contains much dextrine, and is rounder in the grain. The best glutinous rice of China is from Kiang-si ; it is preferred for making congee, dumplings, wine, but is not so digestible as common rice.—Ainslie ; Roxb. ; Stewart ; Smith; Powell ; Madras Ex. Jur. Rep.; Catalogue Ex. ; Simmonds. See Rice.