The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-05-31

prairie lands.
 | In the summer of 1895. while still in the employ of the land department of the Southern Pacific. I visited the States of Nebraska, Kansas. Iowa, Minnesota, Hi | nois and South Dakota, putting out lit- erature in the interest of rice develop ment in the gulf coast country. In the | following year I made a similar trip and | shipped more than 300 bundles of rice into
 those States to be placed on exhibition. Pioneer Rice Planters.
 The pioneer rice planters of the State were the late Captain Joe W. Davis and William Stacy. They planted several hun dred acres each. one farm being on the east side of the Trinity River and the other on the Dayton prairie. It was in 1892 that these gentlemen began the cul- tivation of rice. The Port Arthur Canal Company made the first effort to irrigate
 rice on an extensive scale in 1897. although two years previous to that time consider able acreage had been planted in the same county on Taylor's bayou. where
 water was pumped from this bayou. These pumping plants were small and furnished water enough to irrigate farm of from | 200 to 500 acres.
 Since that time the rice culture has | spread with amazing rapidity to all the counties or the Bul1 coast.
 One of the first canal companies that I organized is composed entirely of North
 ern and Eastern capital. because could
 not persuade home capital to take hold.
 Since that time. however, after it had been demonstrated how profitable is the cultivation of rice, home capital has in-
 vested freely in canal properties.
 Thus 1t is that a majority of people to-
 day engaged in the cultivation of rice in
 Texas were living In other States when first began the agitation of the rice
 question few years ago,
 Now, since we have discussed the diff ferent varieties of rice. the climate and soil where 1t thrives best, the next inquiry is naturally as to it's cultivation, for after we have selected the variety of rice we c- ,e to cultivate and the location of the land on which to grow tt, the next thing is to prepare the soil for planting. Of course as has already been declared
 rice can be grown only by irrigation, and
 it can be irrigated either by canals or by
 artesian wells The former method is the
 more expensive, but it is the better adapt
 ed for the cultivation of rice in large
 bodies of land This method requires a
 natural stream of water. which must he raised into the irrlgating canals by
 means of pumping plants. The method or
 irrigating by means of system of wells
 is best adapted to small farmers wno have not the money to invest in pumping
 plants. Tie we'll system of irrigation IS
 destined to utilize thousands of acres or
 rice land in the gulf coast country that otherwise would never be used for any
 other purpose than grazing. and in time
 it will make this country blossom as a
 rose.
 Rice lands should be prepared in mid
 winter say in January. or at least the
 work of blowing should then begin. A
 ten-inch gang blow. with four big mules.
 ia the proper outfit with which to begin
 operations It does not hurt the land to
 blow it when it Is wet, but If 1t Is in-
 cIined to be sticky. 1t may require four
 yoke of oxen and sixteen-inch blow.
 The blowing of land for rice may continue
 until April, when all of this kind of work
 should be finished. Now, to sum up: Jan
 uary, February and March is blowing
 time, which can be done when the land is wet or dry without injury as regard for
 mer condition of the land. and shallow blowing is decidedly the best. As to soil.
 almost any kind will do, provided 1t Is underlaid with clay to q depth of from three to fifteen inches, so that 1t will hold water. Shallow soil is the best for many reasons. as It requires less water to irrigate a given number of acres of land and as the blowing and harvesting are done during the wet season of the
 year, one from rain in the winter and the other from irrigation in the summer. With a shallow soil the teams and im- plements to do this work will be sup ported by the clay. After the land has
 been well broken and has been disced.
 then comes the planting season, usually in April. The rice seed is drilled into
 the ground at a regular depth. so that it grows all together and opens at the same time. It usually takes one and one-third