310 KICE RICE PAPER TREE the same year amounted to 73,257,716 Ibs., valued at $2,083,248 ; 38,716,980 Ibs. were im- ported from England, 29,218,123 from China, 2,443,601 from the British East Indies, and 1,087,785 from the Hawaiian Islands. RICE. I. A S. E. county of Minnesota, drained by the head waters of Cannon river ; area, about 575 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 16,025. The surface is uneven ; the soil is productive. It is intersected by the Milwaukee and St. Paul railroad. The chief productions in 1870 were 531,206 bushels of wheat, 227,931 of Indian corn, 348,543 of oats, 36,773 of barley, 57,862 of potatoes, 33,615 tons of hay, 20,607 Ibs. of wool, and 364,260 of butter. There were 8,775 horses, 4,240 milch cows, 7,603 other cattle, 7,907 sheep, and 7,324 swine ; 1 manu- factory of agricultural implements, 3 of car- riages and wagons, 6 of cooperage, 4 of furni- ture, 4 of saddlery and harness, 6 of tin, cop- per, and sheet-iron ware, 8 Hour mills, 9 saw mills, and 1 distillery. Capital, Faribault. II. A central county of Kansas, intersected by the Arkansas river, and watered by Low creek and the Little Arkansas ; area, 900 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 5. It is traversed by the Atchison, To- peka, and Santa F6 railroad. The surface con- sists of undulating prairies, which have a fer- tile soil. The bottom lands are well timbered. Capital, Brookdale. RICE, Indian, also called water rice, Min- nesota rice, and water oats (zizania aquatica, the generic name being the ancient Greek one for some wild grain), an annual aquatic grass, with stems from 3 to 10 ft. high, growing in the swampy margins of streams, where it fre- quently forms the sole vegetation of extensive tracts. The genus belongs to the same tribe Indian Rice (Zizania aquatica). Panicle, and a separate Pistillate and Staminate Flower. with rice, but differs in having separated flow- ers, the staminate and pistillate being upon the same plant ; the lower branches of the ample panicle are spreading, and bear staminate flow- ers, which have six stamens, and fall soon after shedding their pollen ; the upper branches, with the pistillate flowers, are erect ; the pedi- cels to the flowers club-shaped ; glumes rudi- mentary ; lower palet long-awned ; the grain slender, cylindrical, nbout half an inch long, and purplish. The seeds of this plant afford abundant food for birds, especially water fowl ; they are a favorite food of the reed bird, and when the grain is ripe the birds are shot in great numbers, especially along the Delaware river. The grain was formerly an important article of food with the Indians of the north- west, who collected their winter supplies by pushing their canoes through the thickets, and shaking off the grain, which falls when ripe with the slightest touch into the canoes. Every few years there has been an attempt to bring this plant into notice as a valuable cereal ; but were there no other obstacle to its cultivation, the remarkable readiness with which the grain drops would prevent its coming into use. As a food the grain, according to Dr. Bachman, ranks with oats, an estimate which probably refers to the taste rather than to nutritious qualities. Recently the plant has been men- tioned in English journals as a highly valuable paper stock, and some very coarse paper has been made from it ; if the experiment should prove successful, the supply in our northwest- ern states and in Canada would be found prac- tically inexhaustible. Another species, Z. mi- liacea, is common southward ; it differs from the foregoing in being a perennial, is some- what smaller, and has the staminate and pistil- late flowers intermixed, and not on separate branches of the panicle ; the grain is ovate. RICE, Lnther, an American clergyman, born in Northborough, Mass., March 25, 1788, died in Edgefield district, 8. C., Sept. 25, 1836. He graduated at Williams college in 1810, and after studying at Andover theological semi- nary sailed in 1812 for India as a missionary under the American board. On the voyage Mr. Rice, like his friend the Rev. Adoniram Judson, changed his views, accepting those of the Baptists. He consequently returned, and spent several years in organizing missionary societies and raising funds among that body. He also projected the establishment of the Columbian college at Washington, D. C., and was for many years its financial manager. RICE BIRD, or Java Sparrow. See FINCH, vol. vii., p. 190. RICE BUNTING. See BOBOLINK. RICE PAPER TREE. Beautifully executed paintings of flowers and insects upon a delicate semi-transparent material, and the material it- self, were brought from China in the early days of commerce with that country ; for the want of a better name it was called rice paper, but the microscope showed that rice did not enter into its composition, and that it was some kind of pith. Various plants, among others the breadfruit, were suggested as the source of this material, but it was not until
