A very singular circumstance has been stated respecting the barberry shrub; that corn, sown near it, proves abortive, the ears being in general destitute of grain; and that this influence is sometimes extended to a distance of three or four hundred yards across a field. A similar opinion, on this subject, prevails in France, as well as in England, but there is reason to suppose it is without foundation. DIGYNIA. 116. _RICE_ (Oryza sativa, Fig. 39) _is a well-known kind of grain, which is much cultivated in the East Indies, America, and some parts of Spain; and which, previously to its being sold for use, is freed from a brownish husk that covers it._ _The rice plant has an erect, simple, round, and jointed stem. Its leaves are narrow and pointed; and its flowers appear in a kind of bunch, at the extremity, somewhat resembling, but more compact than, an ear of oats._ We are, at present, chiefly supplied with rice from America; and it is said that the Americans were indebted for this grain to a small bag of it which was formerly given as a present from a Mr. Dubois, treasurer of the East India Company, to a Carolina merchant. A wet and morassy soil, appears in general necessary to the cultivation of rice. The parts of the farms or plantations in which it is grown are usually so situated as to admit of being flooded; and, in many places, reservoirs of water are formed for this purpose. These reservoirs have sluices, by which the rice fields may be inundated at pleasure. In reaping the crop, the labourers generally work knee deep in water and mud. As the rice is cut, the sheaves are put on drays, and carried out to be spread on dry ground. The rice thus produced has the name of _marsh rice_, and is that which is chiefly imported into Europe. In some of the mountainous parts of the East Indies rice is cultivated on the sides of hills, where it can only be watered by rain. It is sown, however, at the beginning of the rainy, and reaped in the beginning of the dry season; so that, in fact, it has nearly all the advantages of being watered, which the marsh rice possesses. The general appellation of rice, in the East Indies, is _paddy_; but the kind just mentioned is denominated _paddy gunung_, or _mountain rice_, and is little known in Europe, though of late years it has been cultivated with success in Tuscany. Its grains are whiter, finer, and more palatable than those of the marsh rice.