The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1900-03-14
ABOUT THE CULTIVATION OF
RICE1N TIE PIEDMONT.

MIR. EDITOR: Last year tried rice
IN two dozen or more places, on var.
lous characters OF soil, wet and dry,
the cultivation being that common to
upland and water culture.
No real upland was tried at all,
though the bottoms upon which an
effort was made to grow it was sub
jccted to upland culture. Some of
these bottom lands were good corn
lands, but rather low, and some too /
wet for corn some rSre stiff clay, |
and some sandy loaST Fifteen or
twenty men were entrusted with a good
share OF the lands in rice. The me-
thod of cultivation was that usually
given to cotton. The ground was
thoroughly prepared, rows laid off
about 3 fcco wide, two inches deep and
twenty or thirty seed dropped every
fifteen inches. The after culture was
plowng and hoeing about as l would n
cotton crop.
The rice grew well, and so did the
grass, and right here let me say that it
was the hardest crop to cultivate ever
tried. 1t seemed to me the grass would
take it, whether or no. The way it
was hoed (twice) was to put hoe
hand on each side of the row, and
scrapc it. After much trouble, the
rice got big enough to bear IL little dirt
TO it. 1t did finely Till the long hot,
dry weather in August, when il was
trying to head. The general result
was a complete failure of the crop,
making probably four or five bushels
to the acre, of a light, trashy, unmar-
kctable grain. All this you will under
stand was without irrlgrtion and with
but little rain.
The effect on me was that | will try
no more dry culture for rice. 1t is
water plant and common sense ought
to teach us that it cannot be made n
success in the excessively high temper
atures and long droughts to which 1t is
apt TO be subjected. Had not tried a
different system, rice and | would have
parted company forever. Fortunately
for me | had u good many acres we'll
ditchcd, and which had been cleaned
out so often that every one Of them had
a good bank on each side, with a creek
on higher ground entering the bottom.
These lands were prepared and planted
for dry culture. The grass came up
first, and then came the trouble. l
could not plow it, for the ground being
stiff clay and dry broke up in clods,
which uprooted the lice, and 80 after
plowing about one-half the field, the
plowing was given over as bad Job.
then undertook to hoe it, two men to
a row, doing about half an acre day.
| stood this for two days with six hands
at so cts. each per day, when the pro-
ject was abandoned. The grass had it
for good. AS Il last resort | threw up
embankmcnts across the bottoms from
ditch to ditch with two-horse plow
about II to Is inches high In short,
the land was tcrraccd just as Is done
on upland, each terrace being 3 inches
above the next one below it. A box
was put in the middle of each terrace
with gate to regulate the depth of
water. The water was turned in from,
the creek above INTO the first terrace
and when it was filled six inches deep il
was let into the section below, through
a box and by means of the gate, and
so on, through all the sections.
1t will thus be seen that the rice and
grass were covered with water from
3 TO SIX inches deep, and in some places
II inches. ! was 1T Il loss TO know if
would ever see the rice again. To my
great Joy in few days the rice could
be seen all along the low, and 1t con.
tinued to grow beautifully, the grass
of course, being left behind. Nothing
in the way Of further cultivation was
done, except to look after the water
which was kept flowing through the
field, until near harvest. The rice
grew to feet high, tillc:cd greatly
and looked as if sown broadcast. The
yield was 80 to rs bushels per acre
with two or three tons of straw pei
acre, which is equal to that much com
mon hay. This proved so satisfactory
that | shall try the same land again
sowing it broadcast, however this Ii ne
AS t0 profits, l am still unable to say
| shipped car of G76 bushels to Char.
lesion, with instructions to mill .ud
sell in January, but have no returns as
yet. If broadcast sowing succeeds the
cost of cultivation need be no more
than crop of wheat, or oats, except
the harvesting and looking after the
water. Speaking of wheat, reminds
me that one of my tenants sowed s
acres Of wheat and made 25 bushels
He planted 3D. Of an acre in rice, and
irrigated as | did, and made 56 bushels
on about two-thirds of the 3.4 of al
acre. My advice then is, if you can
water crop, try it; but if you cannot,
you had better let it severely alone.
The seed used by Inc was White
Rice, said to be the best adapted to dry
culture, and had great deal of red
rice in it. The millcrs cay | ought
to have planted the Golden seed or
Louisiana rice. l have no seed for
sale because of the impurlty above.
1t can be had in Charleston Tor abou:
$l.30 per bushel.
| am so taken with water culture
that / would plant largely were it not
that the hay crop, which has been do
ing so well, intcrferes. Should hay fail
me, than l am going for rice. l think
any bottom entirely too low for corn
can be made to yield so to rs bushels
or more per acre. 1t is a water plant
grows in the water, why waste time
and substance, in trying to grow rice OH
uplands? | nearly exhausted myself in
dilching bottoms to drain them. My
trouble now is, how to get them irrig-
ated, both for rice and grass. The lat
ter is in process of solution.
AS to drainage from frcshcts, do
not think that one need to hesitate
| about it. There is less danger than