28 The World's Commercial Products 



SOWING THE SPROUTED RICE IN SIAM 



cultivated by man. Evidence points to the Chinese having been amongst the earliest people 

 to cultivate rice, and such great value was attached to it that in the annual ceremonial sowing 

 of important plants, inaugurated by the Emperor Chin-nong so far back in the past as 

 2,800 B.C., the rice had to be sown only by the Emperor himself, whilst the four other plants 

 of the ceremony might be sown by the princes of his family. In India rice has been 

 cultivated from time immemorial. Theophrastus mentions that rice was grown there, 

 and the Greeks probably first became acquainted with it during the Indian expeditions 

 of Alexander the Great. It was introduced at an early period into Syria, Egypt, and other 

 parts of Northern Africa. In more modern times rice has spread into Spain, France, and 

 Italy, the first cultivation in the last-named country being stated to have been near 

 Pisa in 1468. 



The plant is believed to have been introduced into America in 1647, when Sir Wm. Berkeley 

 raised a crop of sixteen bushels from half a bushel of seed. A second introduction took 

 place in 1694, when an English boat homeward bound from Madagascar put in at Charlestown 

 through stress of weather. The captain paid a visit to the then Governor of Carolina, 

 Thomas Smith, whom he had previously met in Madagascar. Smith expressed a wish to 

 try to grow some rice in a swampy piece of land in his garden, and the captain gave him 

 a small . bag of rice which he happened to have on board. The site of the garden is 

 still pointed out in Charlestown. The experiment proved a brilliant success, and was the 

 beginning . of the flourishing rice industry of Carolina. 



Asia is the most important rice-growing region of the world, for excepting in the 

 northern portion of this continent, rice is universally cultivated. Three-quarters of all the 

 rice that comes into the markets of the world is grown in British India, Bengal producing 

 the greatest amount. Siam, China, Japan, Java, the Straits Settlements, Ceylon, the 

 Hawaiian Islands, and other Asiatic countries all produce large quantities of rice, although 

 not sufficient in every case to supply the local demands. 



In Africa the chief rice-producing country is Egypt, owing to the very favourable 

 conditions prevailing in the Nile valley, and the natural annual flooding of the lands. The 

 French colonies of Senegal, the French Sudan, Madagascar, and Reunion cultivate it 

 extensively and rice is also- grown in Mauritius, and along the coasts of both East and West 

 Africa. On the whole, however, Africa does not possess such large tracts of land naturally 

 suited to rice as occur in Asia. 



