Daily Kennebec journal., 1902-02-15
RAISING RICE.

New Methods Which Have Revolution
| lied the Business.
| Since Sir Edward Berllley first in
| troduced the culture of rice in Nir-
ginia, in 1857, the growth of the indus
| try, until of late years. was neither
| Commensurate with the value of the
cereal If Il food product its possibili-
ties as a wealth producer. or its ease
OF agricultural development.
! The marsh lands OF the Carolinas
We're first put into the grain after its
trial in Virginia. where its latest possi-
bilities were realized and partly dem
onstrated. The mode of cultivation
followed closely the methods practiced
| by the Orientals. who. for J. thousand
years had planted the soft alluvial
lands and overflow river districts, cul-
tivating and harvesting entirely by
hand, and it was because of this sys-
tenn and coincident conditions as af-
| fecting the lands lying along the great
Mississippi in Louisiana that certain
sections of its alluvial areas were
planted in rice during the year 1S4I,
and from that time on, with varying
degree and success until the present
day.
| Rice has always been dependent for
growth upon u never-failing water sup
ply. Without this water cultivation is
impossible, as it is more or less imper-
ative that the fields shall be kept sub
merged during the growing season, or
until the yellowing heads of the stalks
! give token of ripening. For many
years the higher lands Of Louisiana
hundred or so miles west of the Mis-
sissippi and New Orleans have been
marked occasionally by the vivid green
| of the providence" rice patch" that
is, where the lands were level and OF
hard subsoil. The term providence"
| has been applied as differentiating be-
tween the irrigated lowlands Cat that
time) on which the yellow water of
! the great river We're Siphoned over the
llevees, and the small areas cultivated
by the Creole or "Cagien' farmer who
depended solely upon the bounty of
generous Almighty in the matter of
rainfall, to make Il crop. In the ma
ijority of instances it was a failure, and
for this reason, possibly, providence
rice never became a drug on the mar
tket, nor n really live feature on the
floor of the New Orleans Rice Ex-
change.
Improved methods of cultivation, the
iadoption of new ideas. the use of i'm
ported seed and artificial irrigation, to-
gether with proper climatic conditions,
and n large level territory, have effect
ually revolutionized the rice industry
of Louisiana and of Texas, moving the
headquarters of the cereal from the
lowlands of the Carolina to the wide
land fertile prairie lands of Southwest
Louisiana, and the coastal plains Of
the Lone Star State.
Today this territory dominates the
| markets of the United States and al
ready produces four fifths of the total
consumption of the country and Will.
by the end of 1902, in connection with
the crop of North and South Carolina,
lsupply the states with practically every
pound of rice consumed by a grand to-
tai of over 70,0OO,000 people. The ter
ritory devoted to rice in Louisiana for
the present year will aggregate 225,000
tacres, with a crop of 100000 sacks of
rough rice or 200.000,000 pounds of the
cleaned grain. A sack Of rough rice
weighs 162 pounds, which when milled
and polished reduces to 100 pounds,
the loss being consumed in the removal
Of the hull, bran and polish, this lat
ter being the flour which adheres to
the outer surface of the hulled grain,
and is removed in the shape of a fine
dust during the process of polishing in
the sheepskins after passing through
the "hoppers," where the rough cover
ing is pounded or ground away.
The development here shown means
the development of the industry dur
ing the past l6 years, although the past
four years have manifested the great
est activity in the settlement of rice
lands and a corresponding increase in
production. In 1884 rice fostered by
the uncertain elements gave way to
irrigated grain, and the new millen-
MUM was introduced. The lowlands
We're no longer sought, and the efforts
Of the promoters were devoted to har-
Messing the sluggish currents of the
Deep dark streams of the wooded dis
tricts and pouring the revivifying
waters upon the fields placed in cul-
tivation. terminating the seed and
giving life to the growing stalks.
One reason the industry was given
SO decided an impetus was due to the
fact that an Iowa farmer conceived
the idea of cultivating as he would
wheat on his native heath. He ascer-
tanned the prairie soil was shallow,
with dense clay subsoil absolutely
iimpervious TO water. Experiment
demonstrated that even after a COM
pIete submergence of the grounds dur
ling the full growing period of three
months the fields dried out so
thoroughly in the course of 10 or IL
days, weather being average, that if
became possible for the farmer to go
into the field with two-mule team
and twine- binder and harvest the pro-
duct exactly in the same manner as
wheat or oats.
This was the awaited revelation. The
thrasher followed the binder, and thus
l.. Ii