604 THE SMALL GRAINS 



distributed, in Khartum, central Africa, near the mouth 

 of the Senegal River. The falling of the spikelets, ob- 

 served in all these instances, shows the rice to be a wild 

 form. When tested, the flavor was good. The oldest 

 Sanskrit name for cultivated rice is vrihi, used in the 

 Atharva-veda and Jadshur-veda (1000-800 B.C.). In 

 the expeditions of Alexander the Great (400 B.C.) culti- 

 vated rice was observed in Babylonia and Susa. A 

 thousand years later it was introduced into Syria, then 

 into Egypt, and, later still, into Europe. Rice w r as intro- 

 duced into Spain by the Arabs, and was first grown in 

 Italy in 1468, near Pisa. 



The bulk of the evidence appears to show that rice 

 originated somewhere in the region from China to India 

 inclusive. 



680. Range. Rice cultivation is limited in general 

 by temperature and its water requirement. Ordinary 

 rice will not succeed in higher latitudes than the warmest 

 part of the temperate zone. Certain varieties, however, 

 are grown in Manchuria and in some other cold temperate 

 districts. Wild rice is a marsh plant, or grows along the 

 banks of streams. In cultivation it usually requires 

 irrigation, and must therefore be grown where there is a 

 good supply of water, either by diversion from streams 

 or by pumping. The so-called upland rice is only slightly 

 or not at all different from ordinary rice, but appears to 

 require less water, and is usually not irrigated. On the 

 prairie land near Kissimee, Florida, and in northern 

 Georgia near the mountains, it is grown without irriga- 

 tion, but in the former locality the water table is near the 

 surface. In these places the crop is not a large one and 

 is grown chiefly for home consumption. 



