ever, that the machine might be seen by me, immediately on crossing
the Alps. This would be an affair of three weeks. I crossed them, and
went through the rice country from Vercelli to Pavia, about sixty
miles. I found the machine to be absolutely the same with that used
in Carolina, as well as I could recollect a description which Mr. E.
Rutledge had given me of it. It is on the plan of a powder-mill. In some
of them, indeed, they arm each pestle with an iron tooth, consisting of
nine spikes hooped together, which I do not remember in the description
of Mr. Rutledge. I therefore had a tooth made, which I have the honor
of forwarding you with this letter; observing, at the same time, that
as many of their machines are without teeth as with them, and of course,
that the advantage is not very palpable. It seems to follow, then, that
the rice of Lombardy (for though called Piedmont rice, it does not grow
in that country, but in Lombardy) is of a different species from that of
Carolina; different in form, in color, and in quality. We know that in
Asia they have several distinct species of this grain. Monsieur Poivre,
a former Governor of the Isle of France, in travelling through several
countries of Asia, observed with particular attention the objects of
their agriculture, and he tells us, that in Cochin-China they cultivate
six several kinds of rice, which he describes, three of them requiring
water, and three growing on highlands. The rice of Carolina is said to
have come from Madagascar, and De Poivre tells us, it is the white rice
which is cultivated there. This favors the probability of its being of a
different species originally, from that of Piedmont; and time, culture,
and climate may have made it still more different. Under this idea, I
thought it would be well to furnish you with some of the Piedmont rice,
unhusked, but was told it was contrary to the laws to export it in
that form. I took such measures as I could, however, to have a quantity
brought out, and lest these should fail, I brought, myself, a few
pounds. A part of this I have addressed to you by the way of London;
a part comes with this letter; and I shall send another parcel by some
other conveyance, to prevent the danger of miscarriage. Any one of them
arriving safe, may serve to put in seed, should the society think it
an object. This seed, too, coming from Vercelli, where the best rice is
supposed to grow, is more to be depended on, than what may be se