THE STAFF OF LIFE 9 



salt. Half the entire world has practically the same 

 diet. 



"The plant that produces rice has a stalk resem- 

 bling that of wheat, but instead of ending in an up- 

 right ear it bears a cluster of feeble 

 and pendent branches, all loaded with 

 seeds. The leaves are narrow and rib- 

 bon-shaped, rough to the touch. This 

 plant is aquatic. In order to nourish, it 

 must send down its roots into the sub- 

 merged mud and spread its foliage, ex- 

 cepting the tip, in the flood. Marshy 

 shallows, inundated a part of the year, 

 are adapted to its cultivation. ' ' 



"But what do they do where there are 

 no such marshes ? ' ' asked Louis. 



"When such marshes are lacking, the Eice 

 ingenious Chinaman floods the lowlands with water 

 from some near-by stream until the ground is all 

 soft and muddy. He then draws off the water 

 through a series of little canals, and works the mud 

 with a light plow drawn by a buffalo, a kind of ox 

 with a long beard hanging from its chin and a mane 

 waving on its back. 



"The seed once sown in the furrows and the young 

 plants started, the water from the stream is again 

 made to flood the fields, where it remains until har- 

 vest time. Then for the second time it is drawn 

 off, and the reaper, sickle in hand and with the black 

 mud up to his knees, cuts down the rice-laden tops 

 of the stalks. 



