The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-04-15
Rice.


ton, s. c., in distress. The cook on board
had small quantity of rough rice, which
was procured from him by Landgrave Smith
or Smythe. who had travelled in the East,
and knew from observation the great value
of this edible vegetable. The Landgrave
planted the seed in his garden, near White
Point, at present within a populous part of
the city of Charleston. The product was
distributed among the neighboring planters,
who, in turn, extended it to others in the
interior, until in time, it was planted quite
largely on uplands and low lands; and rice
became, eventually, the chief staple produc-
tion OF that State. Although good returns
had been made from its culture ON uplands,
it was early ascertained that low, wet, or
damp ground was better adapted to its vi
gorous growth. The next step was the dis
covery of the superior advantages of the
tide-water lands, with their facilities for irri-
CATION; combining rich soil with the usual
fertilizing influence of water, which also
materially aided the tillage, by retarding,
suppressiDg or destroying the grasses The
Carolina rice thus managed, often reached
IN average of sixty bushels per acre. sim
gle grain sometimes throwing out from sixty
to seventy tillers or branches, each branch
having head of from 10 to $50 grains, and
costing comparatively little, after the first
outlay for embankments, trunks, dikes, etc.
by selection and improvement of the seed,
so much superior in quality, that it became
celebrated and controlled the markets to the
extent of its production. Another effect
probably was, to discourage its general cul-
tivation and restrict it, in great measure
to the seaboard of Carolina and Georgia.
The existing arrangement OF labor and
recent loss Of capital in these favored To-
calities, causing the diminished supply and
greatly enhanced price of an article of as
much popularity, and almost as universal
use among certain classes, as sugar, has sug-
gested inquiry whether rice cannot be sue
cessfully grown beyond the narrow limits of
the tide-water swamps It will no doubt
surprise many to hear that decided affirm
alive may be given in reply.
Rice may be produced wherever the
cereals flourish, between the parallels of 7O'
degrees.from the equator,--And the higher
the latitude the better is the quality, al
though less in quantity. 1t is n mistake to
plant and must necessarily be flooded with
water. While moist soil is highly benef-
cial, and periodical irrigation and warm
sun. as they do nearly all kinds of vegeta-
tion, render it more prolific, these are not
indispensable. It grows equally in Liberia
and China-as well, with larger, coarser
grain, if not so abundantly, near the snow
line, on the Hymalaya Mountains, as amid
the waters and marshes of the torrid zone
1t was found growing wild near the North
ern lakes, and afforded aliment to the abort
gines 1t was acclimated in Germany, and
made fair yield on the Thames, in Eng
land. In our own mp country it has re-
turned fifty bushels to the acre, and the
largest grained and whitest rice ever seen
by the writer was produced near the noun
tains of Carolina. The census OF 1910 (the
only one at handy shows that the year be-
fore it was produced in eleven States, vary
ing in quantity, from sixty-fve pounds in
Missouri, to 66,897,244 pounds in South
Carolina.
In fact, rice will grow wherever wheat
will. and by bestowing attention and care,
with more profit than either rye or barley.
1t delights, however. in moist ground, and
low places should be selected, as the mar
gins OF creeks or branches, or drained ponds.
The culture, with us, does not require any
peculiar skill. On the coast, they lay off
trenches five or six inches deep, from
thirteen to fifteen inches apart, and drill
from two to two and-a-half bushels of seed
to the acre. 1t is worked altogetI er with
the hoe, which is slow and tedious. The
system here must be varied. Burrows
should be made with the bull tongue or
shovel, twenty inches or two feet apart, to
permit the use of the sweep or plow, and
one bushe of grain will plant the acre. for
in early days only one peck per acre was
required on rich land, where it tillered
numerously. The last season, the writor
gathered twenty-five bushels of paddy-the
name of rough rice, borrowed from the
East-from less than an acre of an old
pond field without manure-with drills two
and-a- half feet apart-having sowed at the
rate OF one bushel of seed per acre, and
worked it twice with the sweep and twice
with the hoe.
AS with every other crop, the grass must
be kept down, which, at the first hoeing.
should be carefully picked ont with the I'm
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