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Against the Grain - Early states like determinate grain crops, like wheat and rice, that are harvested all at once. They make thing easy for tax collectors. Indeterminate roots and tubers are especially hard to tax, unless you send your tax collectors out to dig them up, but even then, they are easy to hide in the ground and stay fresh for several years.
@ewankeep Thanks for posting about this. I picked up a copy and have been reading through it. Very interesting!