THE BOOK OF USEFUL PLANTS 



CHAPTER I 

 RICE 



A YELLOW field that waves like wheat, but at 

 nearer view looks more like oats, comes to 

 harvest, sometimes twice a year, in the warm 

 countries of the globe, especially in the regions 

 near the sea. This is the rice crop, that feeds 

 nearly half of the human race. Rice does well 

 even with poor tillage, on poor soil; and better 

 when given the careful culture that a good 

 farmer puts upon a "money crop," one he grows 

 to sell. 



The rice plant is a grass, with long, narrow 

 leaves, and wiry stems from two to five feet high. 

 In India and Australia wild rice is found growing 

 to-day on the edges of marshy sloughs and along 

 rivers. From these wild grasses the natives 

 gathered the seeds with care thousands of years 

 ago, and, gradually, to the wild supply was added 

 the harvest of patches sown with the gathered 



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