Oudh.—Very many varieties of rice are grown in Oudh. A heavy soil and plenty of water suits thern best There are five kinds which are con sidered among the best ; 31ihee and Bansee are foremost. The peculiarity in the cultivation of these two kinds is that they are transplanted and placed about five inches apart. And by this method, if the soil be 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 kind. They axe only used by those who can afford to buy them. As the labour in cultivatiug them makes them dearer than the other sorts, the other three varieties are considered good, as the Bateesa and the Phool Birinj. They are sown broadcast in June, and left so, and they are the kinds mostly used by natives. The first two mentioned, when new, sell for 10 or 12 seers per rupee, and be come dearer according as they become older. The other three kinds sell for about 19 seers per rupee, and are dearer if older. Some consider Phool Birinj the best, as it swells in boiling, and has an agreeable odour.
The rice of Bengal, by the exrcise of some care and skill, had been, by the middkof the 19th century, so far improved as nearly to`equal that of the Carolinas. Dr. Falconer introduced the numerous and fine varieties of rice cultivated in the Himalaya ; of these, some of the best sort were, at his suggestion, distributed to cultivators along the Doab canal. The early or aous rice is sown generally on high, light, and sandy soils from. March to May, as showers rnay he favourable. A is cut variously from the end of July to the middle or end of September, and in six weeks' time it is succeeded by what is known as cold weather crop, which may be mustard, vetches, pulse, millet, sola, or grant, barley, oats, and the like. The minion rice is sown in rich, deep, and loamy soils from April to June, and is reaped any time between the beginning of December and the end of January. It is a richer, stronger, and every way a better cropthan the aous, but it is more exposed to inundation, and is not followed by any second crop within the year. Occasionally the early and the late crops are sown on the same land, and cut without injury to each other at different periods. A large part. of the late rice is planted with the hand in rows, on land carefully ploughed, cleaned, and smoothed for the purpose. It is everywhere known as the roa, and yields an abundant harvest. A third kind of rice, unknown in high and dry tracts of country, but very common in extensive marshy districts, is called the born, and from its proximity to water is sown and grown from the month of January to the end of May. It is culti
vated in places where there is too great a depth of water durin,g the heavy rains, and consequently abundance to keep the plant moist during the fierce heat of summer. The early rice, in the most favourable season, from both grain and straw, c,annot give more than five rupees per bigha. In bad seasons it may not yield more than one rupee. As much as ten or even fifteen rupees may be got from the aumon crop in good seasons; but when heavy rains, or unexpected inundations from large rivers, drown the young plants, a.s was the case during 1855 and 1856, and may be the case again at any time, the return is positively nothing. The boru rice may be expected to yield sever( or eight rupees per bigha. And on these three crops, over some hundreds of miles, the hopes and anxieties of some millions hang for a large part of the year.
Cuttack has three crops. The early crop is grown on somewhat high oround ; it is sown for the rnost part in June, and reaped in August or September. The second is the main crop, and is sown in June or July, and cut from November to January; it requires much moisture, some varieties growing in several feet of water. The third is a dwarf crop, cultivated in the months of March, April, and May, on low-lying land, generally on the sides of marshes and pools, where itri,gation is easy ; the ratio of productiveness is said to be in a good season as 1 to 35.
Ganjani.—The exclusive culture of rice in Gan jam, Cuttack, and northwards into Lower Bengal has been a cause of much misery and great loss of lives from famines occurring thiough the failures of the periodical rains ; and Mr. Thornhill in 1872 counselled the partial culture of other cereals, pulses, and millet. In the Teling Circars the two crops are designated Poona or early, and Pedda worloo or great. Near the Colar Lake there are two kinds of rice, called sarva and dalva respectively. The former is the ordinary rice with a light-yellow husk, which is planted about July or August, and is cut about December or January. The dalva husk is of a dark-brown colour, and is planted about January or February, and cut about April or May. The sf.trva takes six 'months to ripen, but the dalva ripens in about tliee months. When the husk is peeled off the dalva, the seed looks much the sante as that of ordinary rice, and though at first the delve sells for less, towards the end of the year almost the same 'wilco is given for it 1113 for the sarva. The &Ilya im said to be unwholesome, except for those Nvho live in the neighbourhood of its cultivation and are accustomed to eat it. But oven they not 'Infrequently say that it causes derangements of the systcm.