Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1902-07-26
MONEY IN RICE CROP
new TEXAS TOWN HAS
GROWN OUT OF INDUSTRY
FOUND THAT EXCELLENT PROF.
ITS CAN BE MADE AND GOOD
QUALITY oBTAINED-WHAr
RICE GROWING HAS DONE

New York, July John T. Nixon
editor of the Crowley Ua) News and
one of the best informed authorities on
rice culture in the Southwest, is now
In this city on an extended pleasure
trip. To Commercial reporter Mr.
Nixon drew a vivid word picture Of
Crowley and told why that town is now
the center of the rapidly growing rice
industry of this country.
Twelve years ago." said Mr.. Nixon.
"the town of Crowley was laid out on
a tract of land which then was worth
about IL 1.2 cents per acre. 1t was a
barren prairie, with apparently no re-
deeming features, and the promoters,
among them w. w. Duson and his
brother, were then regarded as having
more energy than brains. But viewed
from the light of subsequent events
they builded better than they knew.
for today Crowley has a population OF
upward of 5000, including about $500
negroes, and town lots which in 1890
sold for 5000 will sell readily now foi
$4,000. At the same time the prairie
lands adjacent to the town that could
be had a decade ago for smiling an
acre, are held now at from $50 to s75
an acre and some are as high as 500.
Growth Of Crowley.
"The town has 10 rice mills averae'
ing a cost of $4,000 each, exclusive OF
the land-several are valued at more
than 100000 each-employing up.
ward of 500 people, two printing OF.
fees. iron works, two brick factories,
planning mills, an ice plant, more than
100 stores, hotels and seven of tn,
largest irrlgating canals in America. A
s75, court house is now in course ri
construction.
las to the rice culture Of the belt,
which has width of from 30 to A.
niles, and extends about 100 miles
one.half the territory lying across tn
border in Texas, II may be said that IL
Is as yet in its infancy, though nearly
nj! the lice now consumed In this cour
try is grown in that section. At the
same time we are now exporting rice
to Porto Rico and expect soon to DO
sending some abroad.
THE first rice growers found here
just the right kind of soil for their pur'
pose. 1t was only three TO five inches
deep; beneath that was clay. In plant
ing rice II Is only necessary to scratch
the soil little bit. SOW the seed and
when It sprouts food the land. II Is
what is called the lazy mans farming
but II pays.
AT first the small streams am
lakes were pumped dry in irrlgatinl
the rice fields. Then they built dams
and allowed them to overflow. Nov
they are sinking wells 300 to 500 fee
deep, from which the water Ia rur
through the canals. Oh, yes, rice farm
ing is profitable, II you have water
One man can handle 100 acres with {
team, and as the harvest will yield a,
average of 10 sacks, of 100 pound!
each per acre at a minimum price o
IL cents a pound, II can readily b'
seen that 1t pays.
Unprecedented Profits.
Homegrown rice seed Is not a.
good as the imported, because farmer
do not take proper care Of ii. There I
no reason why we should send to ia
pan for our seed, and the time Is no
far distant when II will be stopped. Blu
while the rice industry is rapidly grow
:. ing now and rice Is fast becoming
staple article of food throughout tn
United States and is bound to steadll
increase for generations, the increas
in production must stop inside OF tn
next five years. Owing TO the peculiar
tiles of the soil and climtae necessar
for its production, 1t can be raised OF
ly in a limited section Of the countr
along the Gulf coast of Louisiana an
Texas.
"The unprecedented profits in ric
culture during the vast ten years hav
simply astonished people wherever tn
actual conditions and result have b.
come known. They have fiocked I
Crowley and southwest Louisiana froI
all over the North and West and ell
gagged in rice culture. Women, to-
have not been slow in grasping the 81
uation. They have bought lands an
rented them and in addition to recei
ing annual enormous returns Their
from their lands have steadily enhan
ed in value. Farmers have bee
known to desert their mortgaged gral
farms in the West, come down
Louisiana, rent a rice field and in
short period make enough to pay o
their Western mortgages and land
Until quite recently only small acr
age of rice lands was found in TeXs
Now there are about 100000 acres u
der cu!svation in that State and Il
same number in Louisiana.
"The rice belt really takes in Il
territory in and about Crowley, Je
nings, and Lake Charles, all of whit
towns are truly cosmopolitan in the
character. Crowley is on the new III
of the Southern Pacific, while Goult