30) 
Modern Business Geography 
RICE 
Rice feeds more people than 
any other cereal. In many 
parts of India, China, and 
Japan, the daily allowance 
of rice is as much a neces- 
sity as the loaf of bread is 
among the Western peoples. 
It is most interesting to see the different ways in 
which rice is eaten in the Eastern countries. The 
native of India sits on his heels with a banana leaf 
spread on the ground before him, bearing a little pile 
of boiled rice. With his right hand he makes a small 
rice ball and skillfully tosses it into his mouth. Every 
fio 32 A head of meal is of rice if he can afford it; otherwise his main 
rice has many short [00d is millet. Hot spices often add zest to the taste 
So. bearing of the rice ball. The native of China or Japan pokes 
close to the main the rice into his mouth by means of chopsticks. He 
stalk. holds the rice bowl near his mouth, and with the chop- 
sticks shoves in the contents as fast as he can. In some countries, as 
in Turkey and Persia, rice is cooked so that each grain is separate. 
Bits of meat, nuts, vegetables, or raisins are added, a heaping dish is 
set on a small, low table, and everyone eats from it with his hands. 
y 
~ 
a a 
“ACH DO~ 
t000 ACRE 
WORLD 
RICE 
PRODUCTION 
‘ACH DOT REPRESENTS 200,000.000 POUND: 
”~ 
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f16. 35. Draw a line from the northern part of Japan to the eastern end of Java; then, going 
south of Java, to the Indus River in western India; then across Asia to northern Japan. In the 
triangular area thus marked off rice is the main food of perhaps two thirds of the 800 millions of 
people. More than 90 per cent of the world’s rice crop is grown in this area. Here are found 
the conditions required for rice culture: high temperature; heavy rainfall; low-lying, level 
lands; a large supply of cheap labor. Egypt, Italy, Madagascar, and some districts in the 
southeastern United States (Fig. 33) are the only parts of the world outside this area where rice 
is grown on a commercial scale.