7569. RICE, Italian.—[continued].
I had expected to satisfy
myself at Marseilles, of the cause of the differences
of quality between the rice of Carolina,
and that of Piedmont, which is brought in
quantities to Marseilles. Not being able to do
it, I made an excursion of three weeks into the
rice country beyond the Alps, going through it
from Vercelli to Pavia about sixty miles. I
found the difference to be not in the management,
as had been supposed both here and in
Carolina, but in the species of rice; and I hope
to enable them in Carolina to begin the cultivation
of the Piedmont rice, and carry it on, hand
in hand, with their own, that they may supply
both qualities; which is absolutely necessary at
this market.—
To John Adams. Washington ed. ii, 162.
Ford ed., iv, 396.
(P.
1787)
