The second division of cultivated rice is called Pedder Wortoo by the Telingas. The grains are awnless, and both the unhusked and husked rice, in most varieties, is white and of excellent quality, though some require much water. In other parts of the country rice is divided, according to the seasons in which it is reaped, into that which ripens iu the hot weather of spring, in the summer, or in the winter.
Buchanan states that two crops in the year from the same land do not yield much more than a single good crop would. But the seasons are so uncertain, and the latter crop so liable to fail, that they cultivate as much as possible for the first crop. This is reaped iu the rainy season, when the straw cannot be preserved, and as rice-straw is almost the only food which the cattle have in many districts, there is an absolute necessity for sowing the second crop for fodder.
Rice is no doubt the grain which yields food for the largest portion of the human race, but even in India great numbers do not eat rice; in fact, in all the north-western provinces wheat is the principal crop, and the natives eat wheaten cakes, and have rather a contempt for rice-eating districts. It abounds, however, in nourishment, being com posed almost entirely of fceula, that is, 96 per cent., and therefore
cannot be baked into bread ; but it is more easily cooked. It is light and wholesome, and easily digested, and might form a much larger portion of the diet in Europe than it does. Europeans in India, eat it at breakfast as well as at other meals, and with fish as frequently as with their curries.
Of the kinds imported into England, the Carolina is the best, and is grown in the marshy grounds of North and South Carolina. The grains are shorter, broader, and boil softer than the Patna rice, which is the best Indian kind known in this country, though in India there are several superior varieties, as for instance the Riliheet, which are much more esteemed there. In the year 1859, 3,692,023 cwts. were imported into England. The quantity retained for con sumption in the United Kingdom was 1,761,865 ewts.; of the estimated value of 1,652,505/. The relative values may be judged of by the price of the Carolina rice being 208. when the Patna was 178. ; Bengal white, 12s. ;'and the Cargo only 98. 6d. The Cargo is a reddish coloured, coarse, but sweetish grain, which is liked by the lower caste of natives of India.