Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-09-28
OUTLOOK FOR THE RICE CROP.


What the Planters and Factors Say
About It-Indicati0ns of an Average
Yield-The Receipts Compared With
Last Year.s
Reports have been published from time
to time relative to the condition of the
rice crop and its prospective yield, from
which it may have been enormously in
ferred that the crop this year
would be much smaller than last,
especially as the storms of two
OF three weeks ago threatened
to seriously damage some of the planta-
tiOns. A MORNING News reporter, with
a view to learning what kind of a show
ing the crop is making, called on some of
the planters and mill men yesterday and
ascertained that while the yield will not
be less in Georgia than last year,
it will not be appreciably greater or
so much in excess Of last years crop as to
warrant marked change in the prices,
either one way or the other. The acreage
under cultivation is in the aggregate
about the same as last year, when the
yield was unusually small, owing princi-
pally to the drought.
Rice in order to grow to perfection
which is furnished only in rain, not in
river water, when the streams are low
and fed principally, il not solely, by
springs. Robert Habersham, a leading
factor. remarked that he had read a tele-
gram which reported Dan Talmage's Sons
as saying that the yield would be fully 80
per cent. over last year. He thought this an
Oyerestimate. There is great proba bility,
he said, that the yield Will be greater than
last year If every condition should
continue favorable, but 80 per cent. in
crease is manifestly too much. The pro-
duct so far has proven to be Of excellent
quality, while the recent storms did COM
paratiyely little damage to Georgia plan
tiers.
H. F. Grant, another factor and
planter, said: "As 1 told you
about two or three weeks ago,
the returns from the plantations show
that an average crop viii be made. The
storms a few weeks ago did some damage
Of a trifing description here and there,
causing diminutiOn in the yield at some
points, but this is cOunterbalanced by
fair average crop at other points. Hence It
is improbable that the entire crop will
exceed that Of last year as much as 80
per cent. l think l or 2 per cent. in
crease over the yield of last year will be
all that can reasonably be expected"
Frank Buchanan said:
81 think the estimate of 80 per
last year is excessive. The receipts of
rice for this season up to date, as well as
the receipts for the corresponding period
last year, do not warrant the conclusion
reported from New York. The crop, as
far as l can ascertain is only an average
one, and a great deal Of it is of very
good quality"
Col. John Scriven, upon being asked in
regard to the matter, said that the crops
,E nv,1 1rr-,,- ,rarrN IN
while this year the yield began to come in
on Aug. %. Hence, he said, the crop
could not be much later this season than
last. The crop of 1888 was small one
on this coast. The reason for this he re-
ferred to further on. The crops of 1882
and 1881, he also said, were larger than
that of 1888. "The proper way to make a
comparison in the yield" he added, sis to
take the crops for a series of years and
ascertain what the average was. Suppose
the yield in 1884 is in excess of that of
1888. The damage this year has been
doubtless exaggerated. There is no doubt
that the heavy rains and freshets did
great deal of damage in the CarOlinas, but
they did comparatively little in Georgia,
including the Savannah river dis
trict. About all the rice grown
in this State is milled in Savannah. l
have shown that the crop came in in 1888
ana 1854 ABOUT the same time, and the
receipts for the two corresponding periods,
each taken up to the present date, should
indicate the percentage of increase
in the yield of this seasons crop
over that of last year. II the rice
has not come in it follows that there is a
cause for it somewhere. One thing must
be borne in mind in looking at the crop.
The planters every season since the storm
of 1881 have been carrying into execution
the policy of cultiFating less land, and the
acreage is consequently being diminished
from year to year. 1t follows that while
the yield per acre may be up to
the average, the diminished acreage
has some influence on the market. The
introduction of foreign rice and the eff
fects of the storm of 1881 upon some of
the plantations are among the reasons
which have induced the planters to re-
duce the area. Hence, l cannot under
stand why the yield this year should be
greatly in excess of the average"
The reporter called at the Board of
Trade and learned that the receipts at the
mills since Sept. l have been 60,059
bushels, while for the period included
between Sept. l and Oct. of last year
they were S,1751% bushels. From this
statement it will be observed that the
indications for a yield will not be as
great as is claimed