Burmese rice is known in the export trade as five parts cargo rice, being but imperfectly husked before shipment, so that it contains about one part in five of paddy or unhuslccd rice. The greater part of the Burman rice exported is used in •the countries to which it is sent for dis tillation or for making starch. It is a thick, coarse grain, which, when boiled, is repulsive in appear ance t,o persons unacquainted with it, aud its flavour is not equal to that of Beng,a1 rice proper.
Siam.—Rice is the main aliment of the Siamese poor ; by the opulent, it is an accompaniment to their ineals, as bread is in Europe. Glutinous rice is employed either in flour or gmins. A favourite cake ts thus prepared : The rice is cooked with out water or steam; it is then sprinkled with condiments consisting of ginger and other spices; it is divided into small parcels, which are wrapped up in plantain leaves, and in twenty-four hours a sweet and vinous liquor exudes, when the atke is fit for eating ; if kept longer they become in toxicating, and if distilled prodttce arrack, which, subject to redistillation, gives a strong and fra grant drink.
In Cochin-Chinn rice 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 only 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. Siam and Cochin-China supply the wants of China aud the Straits Settlements.
China.—In the southern and well - watered provinces, it is anything but uncommon to take two crops of rice, one of wheat and one of kulse, 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 season, from 1Z to 8 dollars per pikul (134 lbs.). 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 contmry, they are low, prices fall in proportion at the producing districts. The
amount of consumption is controlled in a con siderable degree by the cost of transit ; during the growth of the rice the fields are always kept flooded when water can be obtained. The terraces near the base of the hills are supplied by the mountain streams, and the fields which are above the level of any adjoining river or canal are flooded by the water-wheel. These machines are of three kinds. The principle in all of them is the same, the only difference being in the mode of applying the moving power ; one is worked by the hand, another by the feet, and the third by an animal of sonie kind, generally a buffalo or bullock. The rice lands are kept flooded in this way until the crops are nearly ripe, when the water is no longer necessary. It is advantageous during the summer to stir the soil up well amongst the roots, at the same time removing any weeds which may have sprung up. In the island of Chusan, and over all the rice country of Che-kiang and Kiang-su, manure plants are scattered in April in a fresh state over the surface of the ground. The fields are flooded, and the plough and harrow are employed to turn up and pulverize the soil. The manure thus scattered over the ground and half-buried amongst the mud and water, begins to decay immediately, and gives out a most disagreeable putrid smell. A great portion of the straw, cotton stalks, and grass which would go to manure the fields, is used for firing, and therefore the plan of growing manure for the land is forced upon the farmers by necessity. The glutinous rice of the Chinese contains much dextrine, and is preferred for making conjee, dumplings, and wine. The Chinese of Ho-nan, Shen-si, Shan-si, and Shan-tung prefer wheat to rice.
Java is the granary of plenty for all the Eastern _Archipelago. Rice is cultivated there 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 inay be obtained from the sawah, which then most commonly consists of katjang, from which oil is extmcted, in kapas or fine cotton, and in ubie, a kind of potato.