Where did rice cultivation begin

Rice is the principal grain crop of the tropical countries of Eastern and South Eastern Asia, where it is generally used daily in large quantities as the principal food.

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It is not definitely known where man first cultivated it.  But most authorities believe it originated in South India in the remote past.  It has been cultivated all over India for many thousands of years.  Rice spread from there to China, and westward to Persia and Egypt soon afterward.  It was introduced to the Western Hemisphere in the 17th century.
Rice and millet have been staple crops in China since the dawn of history and long distance voyagers in ancient times invariably carried a supply of grain so as to replenish food supplies by pausing to grow crops wherever possible.
Key Words: Rice, Crops

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How do seeds germinate
What are Viviparous
Dolphins

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History of Dogs

All living members of the dog family are descended from a dog – like ancestor Cynodictus and from Tomarctus.  They were wolf like and lived about thirty million years ago.

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The dog is not a brother of the wolf, but  cousin as he is descended from the same ancient relatives.  Dogs’  scientific name is Canis familiaris and is a species of the family Canidae – meat eating mammals.

The dog first appears as a domesticated friend of ancient Egyptians.  The early paintings of Egypt and some inscriptions show that dogs had some religious significance.  The Egyptian God Anubis is depicted as having the body of a man and head of a dog!  Dogs played a part of the religion of Greeks, usually as guardians of temples or animal sacrifices.  Romans’ used dogs for sacrifices.

Of all animals, the dogs seems to be the most rewarding pet for man.

Key words: Dogs, Canidae, Anubis, Mammals

What are Viviparous
Dolphins
Sea Mammals

Food of the earthworm

The earth worm is called “friend of the farmer.”  This is because it helps much to increase the fertility of the soil.  A highly delightful book on the earth worms is written by Charles Darwin the modern architect of the evolution theory - “The Formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms.”

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The chief food of earthworms is decaying plant matter.  They also occasionally eat dead animals.  they take in these materials along with some soil while swallowing.

The chief food of earthworms is decaying plant matter.  they also occasionally eat dead animals.  They take in these materials along with some soil while swallowing.

Scientists have estimated the earthworms to the acre as high as 3 million or 15 cwt.  As Gilbert White wrote.” without them (the soil) would become cold, hardbound, and void of fermentation and consequently sterile.”

Darwin estimated that 7 1/2 to 18 tons of soil can be thrown up per acre per year!  He compared them to that of the plough and said-“long before the plough existed the land was in fact regularly ploughed and still continue to be thus ploughed by earthworms”!

The Upper side of the mouth is covered by a lip (prostomium) which is used for seizing decaying leaves.  It is passed on to the muscular pharynx and on to the Oesophagus, from where it goes to the muscular walled gizzard where it is made into a pulpy mass, which is passed into the intestine.  The digestion ends there.

What are seeds

One of the methods by which a plant produces another plant of its own kind, is by production of seed.  Seed plants reproduce by a tiny grain of pollen (microspore) growing into an almost invisible plant that produces sperm cells.  When these unite with the egg of the plant grown from the megaspore, the large green plant that we know starts developing.  Before the development has progressed very far, the new plant becomes completely enclosed in a sturdy case which protects it until it can find a favourable time and place for further development.  Until its growth is resumed, the little plant lies dormant as a seed!
The most conclusive example for survival of seed is provided by the Arctic lupin (Lupinus arcticus) gathered from Yukon in Canada by Harold Schmidt in 1954.  Carbon dating showed the seeds may be 8000 – 13,000 B.C.  But they were germinated in 1966!
Seeds vary greatly in size, shape, pattern and colour.  Only a very small number of the worlds seeds, are planted by man.  Nature has devised ingenious methods to assure their distribution.  Forest seeds travel varying distances before landing to take root.  The largest single seeded fruit, that of the double coconut (Lodoicea maldivica) of Seychelles, in the Indian Ocean.  It weighs about 20 kg! The smallest seed is produced by an orchid!

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Every seed has three essential parts.  The most important is the embryo or tiny plant.  The second is nourishment stored in the endosperm and the third, seed coat, which protects the embryo and other contents.  The embryo must break through, before growth actually begins.  For this there must be present the proper amount of warmth, moisture and oxygen.  A shortage or excess of these factors may adversely affect its destiny.  It may either lie dormant or decay in the soil.

Dolphins
Sea Mammals
Most Venomous Snake