nt me
hereafter. There is a rice from the Levant, which is considered as of a
quality still different, and some think it superior to that of Piedmont.
The troubles which have existed in that country for several years back,
have intercepted it from the European market, so that it is become
almost unknown. I procured a bag of it, however, at Marseilles, and
another of the best rice of Lombardy, which are on their way to
this place, and when arrived, I will forward you a quantity of each,
sufficient to enable you to judge of their qualities when prepared for
the table. I have also taken measures to have a quantity of it brought
from the Levant, unhusked. If I succeed, it shall be forwarded in
like manner. I should think it certainly advantageous to cultivate, in
Carolina and Georgia, the two qualities demanded at market; because the
progress of culture, with us, may soon get beyond the demand for the
white rice; and because, too, there is often a brisk demand for the one
quality, when the market is glutted with the other. I should hope there
would be no danger of losing the species of white rice, by a confusion
with the other. This would be a real misfortune, as I should not
hesitate to pronounce the white, upon the whole, the most precious of
the two, for us.

The dry rice of Cochin-China has the reputation of being the whitest to
the eye, best flavored to the taste, and most productive. It seems then
to unite the good qualities of both the others known to us. Could it
supplant them, it would be a great happiness, as it would enable us to
get rid of those ponds of stagnant water, so fatal to human health and
life. But such is the force of habit, and caprice of taste, that
we could not be sure beforehand, it would produce this effect. The
experiment, however, is worth trying, should it only end in producing
a third quality, and increasing the demand. I will endeavor to procure
some to be brought from Cochin-China. The event, however, will be
uncertain and distant.

I was induced, in the course of my journey through the south of France,
to pay very particular attention to the objects of their culture,
because the resemblance of their climate to that of the southern parts
of the United States authorizes us to presume we may adopt any of their
articles of culture, which we would wish for. We should not wish for
their wines, though they are good and abundant. The culture of the vine
is not desirable in lands capable of produ