RICE 105 



rice seed grows the next season, and again sows its seed, 

 and so keeps taking more and more room in the field. 

 Because it thrives on exactly the same treatment as the 

 cultivated rice, and looks much like it, but sows all its 

 seed in the field, wild rice is by far the worst weed in 

 rice fields. 



Production. Rice is a very important crop in all warm 

 parts of the world except tropical America. Its greatest 

 production is in southeastern Asia, and the greatest rice- 

 exporting cities are Rangoon and Saigon. Java sup- 

 ports its population of 30,000,000 chiefly on rice, and still 

 exports a great deal. In the United States the produc- 

 tion of rice is increasing very rapidly; Texas is the fore- 

 most state in its production. 



In the Philippines, every province produces rice; 

 Pangasinan, which in some years produces as much as 

 four million pesos worth more than it uses, has the first 

 place. Rice has been imported into the Philippines the 

 most of the time for fifty years. 



Value and Uses. Rice is the staple or chief food of 

 the people from the lowlands of India to Japan and 

 Polynesia ; it is probably the staple food of more human 

 beings than is any other one grain. A great deal of rice 

 is also eaten in the other parts of the world. It is re- 

 garded as an especially good staple food in hot countries, 

 because it contains very little fat. 



The rice grain contains, besides the ash, about 12.8 

 per cent of water; 78.3 per cent of starch; 7.3 per cent of 

 proteid; and 0.6 per cent of fat or oil. It is sometimes 



