BREAD PLANTS 13 



Indian islands have their own beverages made of 

 fermented rice. 



Europe imports great quantities of rice for 

 food, and for the manufacture of starch. Calicoes 

 are stiffened with a paste of rice powder. Broken 

 rice, the dust from rice mills, and the straw and 

 hulls all make good food for cattle. The straw 

 is used in making bags, hats, shoes, and other 

 wearing apparel. Plowed under, the stubble en- 

 riches the soil. 



Not only is rice the greatest grain crop of the 

 world; it is one of the most beautiful of cereals 

 as it grows on hillsides in Japan. The brooks 

 that flow down the mountainsides are tapped by 

 side channels that lead the water onto wonderful 

 flat terraces, all planted to rice. Step by step 

 the water trickles down, each little patch watered, 

 and giving the water again to the level next below 

 it. Constantly the supply is renewed from above. 

 The trees form lovely frames for the pictures as 

 the grain turns from green to gold, and the widen- 

 ing brook finally pours its waters into the marsh 

 that is a broad, level sea of rice, ready for the 

 sickle. In September the golden ricelands are as 

 beautiful as the orchards and gardens that burst 

 into bloom in cherry blossom time, the month of 

 May. 



