The evening times., 1899-11-17
AMERICAS RICE CROP.
$. A. Knapp's Report to the secre-
tary of Agriculture.

| ). A. Knapp, agricultural explorer OF the
Department of Agriculture, will within a
few days transmit to Secretary Wilson re-
port on the present status Of rice culture in
the United States. He will say that in 1898
the United States used 1870, .315 pounds
of imported rice in addition to the home
grown crop of 116, ,401, ,760 pounds. During
the same period the United States produced
in addition to the domestic consumption OF
the common cereals, barley, maize, oats,
rye, and wheat an export quantity, 2i,205,-
469. 1856 pounds.
In the case OF one cereal, rice, the United
States produces only about half the amount
! its population consumes. OF all the others
| this country produces an enormous surplus
for export. This anomalous condition is
due TO the fact that rice, in addition to Its
| tropical or subtropical character, is a crop
| grown chiefly on wet lands, where harvest
ing machines cannot be used. The crop
must therefore be cut with sickle. and the
American hand laborer has been thrown in
competition with the cheap laborer of the
tropics competition which, it is said, has
not proved profitable to the American Ia
! borer. Under dry land cultivation rice is
precarious crop 1t is said that from all
these circumstances rice cultivation in the
United States has not obtained in past years
the full development of prosperous in
dustry
In 1880 a peculiar prairie region in the
Lake Charles district of southwestern Lou
isiana was opened up by the construction
of railroad. In 1884 enterprising settlers
began the development of new system of
rice culture, by which, as now perfected, the
elevated and normally or periodically dry
prairie lands are flooded by system OF
pumps canals, and levees and when the
rice is about TO mature, the water is drained
off, leaving the land dry enough for the
use of reaping machines.
Under this system the cost of harvesting
has been greatly reduced and the industry
has undergone a rapid development. In
1896 the depressing effect of new diff
Guilty assumed alarming proportions. The
varieties of rice most productive and other
wise satisfactory from a cultural stand
point under the Lake Charles SYSTEM were
defective commercially because the percent
age OF grains broken in the process of mill
ing or preparing the grain for the market
was very large, and the proportion of the
| head rice" made up of unbroken grain
was small.
The difference in wholesale prices be-
tween head rice and broken rice is about
cents pound. When the broken rice
ran up to 40 and 60 per cent or even 80
per cent. and that in the face of a close
market the whole industry was menaced.
On July J. 1898, an appropriation for
the introduction of valuable seeds and
plants from foreign countries asked for by
the Secretary of Agriculture in his esti-
mates of the preceding year, became avail
able, and on September /, 1898, DR.. S A.
Knapp, of Louisiana, was given instruc-
tions to visit Japan, investigate the rices
of that country and purchase a stock suit
ed TO meet the requirements OF the Ameri-
can problem.
DIR. Knapp returned in the early spring
of 1899 with ten tons of Kiushu rice. which
was distributed to eXperimenters in the
Lake Charles district and elsewhere in the
rice belt. The results of the milling tests
are now awaited by the Department of
Agriculture.
1t is said by Frederick V. Coville, botan-
ist of the Department OF Agriculture that
if the high milling quality of Kiushu rice
is maintained under our cultural condi-
tiOns the last apparent obstacle 10 the
complete success of our American system
of rice cultivation will have been removed
DIR. Knapp in his forthcoming report will
say that rice forms the principal food of
one half the population of the earth Rice
cultivation is older than authentic history
and is associated with the traditions and
mythology of primeval nations.
The rice plant was a native of southeast
ern Asia from Madras to Cochin China.
but was first cultivated by the Chinese. L.
was known to the early Greeks and Ro-
mans and had spread throughout the trop-
les before the commencement of the Christ
ian era.
There are an immense number of va
rieties of cultivated rice. differing in the
length of the season of maturity, and in
character, yield and quality. South Caro-
lima and Japan rices are rich in fats. and
hence are ranked in flavor and nutrition
among rice-eating nations as much above
Patua, which is very poor in fat, as we'll
fattened beef is superior to the lean ami
mails of the range. A botanical catalogue
enumeTates 161 varieties found in Cey-
Ion alone, while in Japan, China, and In
dia. where its cultivation has gone on for
centuries, and where great care is usually
taken in the Improvement of the crop, by
the selection of seed. no less than 1,400
varieties are said 10 exist.
There is one account which says that
rice was grown in Virginia by Sir William
Berkley as early as i647. No particu' ars
are given, except that from a half bushel |
of seed planted the product was sixteen |
bushels.
Governor Aston. of South Carolina in |
an agricultural address in 1854, said:
"Rice. for which we are indebted to the |
Island of Madagascar, was introduced into |
South Carolina toward the close of the |
seventeenth century" |
Governor Aston said that few seeds of |
this Madagascar rice were sown in a gar |
den which is now one of the thickly built |
portions of Charleston, and from that seed |
came the rice that has made South Caro- |
lima famous as rice producing State.
Ramsays History OF South Carolina !
states that an English or Dutch ship, |
homeward bound from Madagascar, was |
shelter in the harbor of Charleston, and the /
captain seized the opportunity to visit an
old acquaintance, the landgrave and gov
ernor of the province. Thomas Smith, whom
he had already met in Madagascar. Smith
expressed the desire to experiment with |
the growth of rice upon a low, moist patch /
of ground in his garden. whereupon the
presented him with a small Lag Of |
rice seed. which happened to be among the
ships stores.
The rice was planted in garden in Lon
gitude Lane. Charleston, and this spot is
still pointed out TO strangers.
The islands. OF the Hawaiian group con-
tain 6.740 square miles of territory. Like
most volcanic islands they are mountain- |