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 sent 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.