GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 



53 



In Roumania maize is the staple crop, and the staple CHAP. 



food-stuff of the people ; there are local distilleries which 

 produce whisky from the maize. 



Italy is the next largest producer with about I 5 per cent 

 of the European crop. The largest and richest, agricultural 

 area is the basin of the River Po, including the plains of 

 Lombardy, Venetia, and Emilia. Part of the crop is shipped 

 from Genoa and part from Venice; at the latter port the 

 grain is stored in air-tight silos to await shipment. 



49. Asia. — Very little information is obtainable as to the 

 culture of maize among Asiatic peoples. Maize is grown in 

 India, Ceylon, Persia, China, Japan, and the Malay Archi- 

 pelago, but few statistics are accessible except in the case of 

 India. The value of maize as a cereal crop is strikingly 

 emphasized by its distribution in the latter country ; though 

 doubtless first introduced into the Portuguese Settlements of 

 the East Indies early in the sixteenth century, the conservatism 

 of the Indian peoples naturally stood in the way of its adoption 

 as a regular crop. As recently as 1832, Roxburgh observed 



ill. 



Table X. 



ACREAGE UNDER MAIZE IN INDIA FOR THE DECADE 1897-S TO 

 1906-7, BOTH INCLUSIVE. 1 



The distribution of the crop through the several Provinces is instructive ; 



the highest yields per acre are obtained in the North-west Frontier Provinces ; 



the lowest (as far as we have figures) in Bengal; but Bengal has by far the 

 largest acreage. 



1 Indian Government Publications, 1. 



