128 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS. 



famine is the inevitable consequence of a failure 

 of the crop, and this is not unfrequent, either 

 from too much or too little rain, or from insects. 

 In China, the land no longer produces sufficient 

 food for the excessive population, notwithstand- 

 ing all the industry with which agriculture is 

 carried on ; and this country, therefore, con- 

 sumes all the superfluous produce of the fertile 

 islands of the Indian Archipelago. But when 

 the rice crop fails in China, the greatest fleets 

 could hardly bring so much of the grain as 

 would be required to prevent a famine. The 

 Chinese government, therefore, adopts the same 

 wise and benevolent policy which Joseph re- 

 commended to Pharaoh. Public granaries are 

 established in each province, under the control 

 of certain officers, whose duty it is, during a 

 time of plenty, to purchase, at the cost of 

 government, large supplies of rice, to be distri- 

 buted to the poor at such prices as circum- 

 stances may require. If the grain of the follow- 

 ing year should amount to an average crop, 

 the stock' on hand is sold at a price a little 

 lower than the first cost ; if the supply should 

 be considerably short of the demand, it is 

 then sold to the poor at reduced prices ; 

 but if the famine should be severe, it is then 

 supplied to the sufferers gratuitously. 



There are two varieties of rice : the moun- 

 tain rice, which grows on hills ; the other 

 in marshy or very wet places. The common, 

 or marsh rice, is generally sown in hollows pre- 

 pared for it, two or three feet deep, and which 



