50 
Modern Business Geography 
G. 
The world’s rice crop. 
What are the three greatest rice-producing 
countries? What conditions favor such heavy 
production ? 
How do you account for the fact that com- 
paratively little rice is grown outside of 
southeastern Asia? 
1. 
2 
Rice in the United States. 
Where is the rice belt of the United States? 
‘Fig. 33.) 
in this belt, what conditions of (a) relief, 
(b) rainfall, (¢) temperature, and (d) soil 
favor the growing of rice? 
Louisiana rice needs 45 inches of water dur- 
ing its growing season. The warm wet winds 
from the Gulf of Mexico bring enough rain 
to supply 20 inches of water. How is the 
rest obtained » 
In the United States the rice fields are plowed 
and harrowed in the spring by big machines 
like those used in the wheat belt. After the 
water is drawn off in the fall, the fields are 
harvested and the rice is threshed with 
machines resembling those used in harvesting 
wheat. Why do we not sell such machines 
to Oriental rice growers? 
The American rice grower is paid perhaps twenty times as much for his 
labor as is the Oriental laborer. But by the aid of machinery one 
American can take care of about 80 acres of rice, while one Oriental 
cares for 2 acres. What do you think as to the possibility of raising 
rice in the United States to export to Asia? 
3 
Fig. 46. The barley stalk is 
stiffer than the wheat stalk and 
has fewer grains and longer 
straws. Like oats and rye, it 
lacks the gluten that makes 
wheat bread light, and is much 
used for bread only where 
wheat is too costly. 
3 
The barley crop. 
Barley is so hardy that it is a winter crop in Mediterranean countries 
and a summer crop in regions that extend into the frigid zone. Barley 
and wheat dovetail like corn and oats, for they require attention from the 
Farmers at different times. Hence we find much barley grown in the wheat 
lands, especially in the cooler and drier parts (Figs. 28, 44). In 1919 
California, South Dakota, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin 
were the leading barley states. Which of these lie in the cooler parts 
of the wheat lands? the drier parts? 
Compare the regions of heavy production of barley and of wheat shown 
in Europe (Figs. 38, 45). 
Barley can be grown on poorer soil than wheat. In some parts of our 
wheat region, farmers who once specialized in wheat now grow barley. 
What may have happened to cause these farmers to change their crop?