RICE 



■'- 



Wheat is the most important cereal in Great Britain, Europe, Canada, the United States, 

 Australia, and indeed throughout the greater part of the temperate zone of both the old 

 and the new worlds. Barley, oats, and rye are also important, and in certain localities 

 exceed wheat in this respect, whilst rice in these same countries is of minor importance, and 

 is regarded more as a material to be made into puddings, etc., than as a staple article of food. 



In the tropical and sub-tropical regions the case is very different, especially in densely 

 populated countries where agriculture is the principal means of livelihood for the mass of 

 the people. In all these countries rice is the " staff of life," and, as a matter of fact, rice is 

 the principal food of about one-half of the whole population of the earth. Amongst the more 

 important of the rice-eating countries are the Chinese Empire, with a population of 

 400,000,000, British India, 300,000,000, Japan, 50,000,000. 



The cultivation of rice extends back into the dim past, and there .are no authentic records 

 as to when it first began. Its original home was in south-eastern Asia, but it has been culti- 

 vated for many ages, and introduced into almost every part of the warm region of the world, 

 so that it is extremely difficult to be certain in which country exactly it was first found or 



THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST TO MAKE ROOM FOR RICE 



27 



