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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 (1⅓ acres); but it has been considered advisable to rate it here at sixty fold only.

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.

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 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:—

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:—

435,067 arrobas of rice were exported from Manilla in 1847.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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:—

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.

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 Abyssinicais 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Among the most commonly cultivated leguminous plants are the lentil (Ervum lens), horse gram (Dolichos biflorus, Linn), various species of Cytisus and Cajanus, &c. Many of these are grown in India as fodder plants; others for their seeds, known as gram, dholl, &c. The Cajanus flavus, of Decandolle (Cytisus Cajan), is very generally cultivated along the Western coast of Africa, and continues to bear for three years. Several species of dolichos are used as food in various countries, as D. ensiformus in Jamaica, D. tuberosus in Martinique, D. bulbosus and D. lignosus in the East Indies.

We import on the average about 20,000 quarters of beans, peas, &c., from Ireland, 450,000 quarters of beans and 200,000 quarters of peas from foreign countries.

The land under cultivation with pulse, and the crops raised, have been estimated as follows:—