Daily Kennebec journal., 1902-02-15

l
| tied up in irrigating canals n not nroft
is returned of not less than 40 ner cent
per annum.
| These canals are not excavated. Oh
! the contrary, they are built bv throw
ing two parallel embankments upon tha
highest point IN the territory to be sup
piled ana the water lifted from the
| DayouS OF ilkes deposited between
these levees and distributed to the rice
growers by means of lateral bitches and
fumes penetrating the fields. Power
ful pumping plants are employed and
as the evaporation during the growing
season is approximately 15.0O gallons
daily, it follows that some of the
plants lift more water during the "a
hours than would be consumed by St.
Louis in IS. The canals are in many
Instances $50 feet wide, IL and Is miles
in length. and tos6 feet deep.
| The charge of Two Sacks per acre
made by the canals a few years since
| led TO the adoption of the well system,
a system that Is spreading and en-
| abling the individual farmer to be in
dependent of the company canals. 1t
| has been ascertained the entire rice belt
Of Southwest Louisiana and Texas is
underlaid with an inexhaustihle supply
Of soft water. reached at a depth of
from 40 to 1S0 feet. The output from
one six-inch well will irrigate 100 acres
at a cost embraced in the boring and
the power necessary for pumping.
which is very slight compared with the
benefit of the Individual. The well
system will obtain for the entire 800
miles OF rice belt in both states men
toned, and which follows the rails of
the Southern Pacific Railroad the en-
tire distance, and it is estimated $4,000
acres will be supplied by this means
during 1902 in Louisiana alone.
The profits from the cultivation of
rice are shownin the scale of land prices
In 1854 land II the rice belt Of Louis
lana sold for from SO cents to s1.5O per
acre. Today the average value of the
same holdings has reached $40, with
many sales at $50 and more. The
average Of the crop per acre may be
placed at s35, the cost Of cultivation
s12. This represents yield of 10
sacks or barrels at $3.50 per sack Of
162 pounds. Much larger figures are
reached in many instances, when the
yield has gone TO 10 sacks per acre
| There are numerous and ell-attested
instances where farmers have bought
land, seed and implements on credit
paid all Indebtedness and put money in
bank from the product of the land in
a single season. Ii is this which has
largely settled the rice areas in Louis
lana with intelligent farmers from Mis-
souri,. Illinois and Iowa, and is rapidly
populating like districts in the coast
country of Texas with people from
| the same states. Each individual sue
cess proves in itself an advertisement,
and the fame of the rice district, lin
| tied possibly to 100000 acres of level
prairie lands in both localities. has
spread broadcast, aided materially by
| the 100000 spent by the Southern
Pacific Company in calling attention to
| the absolute advantages incorporated
in the new industry. The year 1900
showed an increase in production for
the United States of 100000 pounds
over 1899, and 1901 marked an addi-
tional increase of 65,000000 pounds
over 1900. In Texas alone the acreage
! for 1901 was 100000 as against 10000
| for 1900. and possibly 5000 for the year
| previous.
The methods for rice cultivation are
very simple. One man with q four
mule team for the initial plowiag each
season and the careful breaking or
narrowing of the land can cultivate 100
acres. The rice is planted in narrow
drills and is usually terminated by a
| partial flooding of the fields, should
the rains not have softened the soil
sufficiently to produce this result
Water is turned into the laterals and
| thence into the fields when the stalk
| is from to inches high and kept
| flooded to a depth of 2 to 6 inches dur
ing the growing period.
When the grain is ripened, the areas
are drained and permitted to harden
for about two weeks, when the teams
and binders are taken into the field
and harvest made. The shocks are
permitted to stand long enough to
harden the grain, when the sheafs are
given to the thresher and the rough
rice sacked and carried TO the mill In
the prairie sections weeds do not assail
the crop, the water killing all that ap-
pear in the fields.
In the face of the total production
from All sources in the United States of
about 300,000,000 pounds, the per capita
consumption is but slightly in excess
of four pounds. most trifiing quantity
considering the food value of the cereal
which forms the chief article of diet of
$4,000 900 persons in the Orient.
The most easily digested of all foods,
with food value in excess Of the ma
jority of articles of ordinary diet, based
on a price per pound. with a marvel
Gus adaptability for combination with
other table products, rice must event.
ually become the favored food of all
peoples, and in recognition of these
virtues il is a matter of statistics that
the consumption is increasing mate
rally.
The ratio of increase, however, is
not commensurate with the produc-
ton. In a year or two it will require
exporta ton to care for the overproduc-
ton. Cuba, with a consumption of s0,-
900 tons and Porto Rico, with 10000
tons. aggregate 100000. must pur-
chase the American product, and thus
provide a market for a part Of the
surplus. while the efforts which are
now being made to stimulate consump-
ton must necessarily have the re-
quired effect.
Poppy cultivation is driving out wheat