Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-19
RICE IN LOUISIANA
Value of the Crop Worth
About Sl5,00O,OOO.
DUE TO JEFFERSON
RAPID GROWTH OF THE INDUS
TRY IN RECENT YEARS.
Result of Prof. Knapp's Mission in Eu-
rope-Secretary Wilson's Interest
in Agricultural Possibilities.
DUE TO JEFFERSON
BY WILLIAM f. CURTIS.

| Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star and
Chicago Record Herald.
NEW ORLEANS, April 10, 1905.
| Louisiana has a comparatively new in
dustry, which adds about fifteen million
dollars year to the wealth of the state,
| and she owes 1t to northern men-Iowa
| men. All this section is under obligations
| to Iowa men. Nobody has done or is doing
more to fill up the Mississippi valley with
| wealth producers than Captain J. F. Merry
Of Dubuque. He is not only bringing in
| immigrants, but is locating factories OF
great value in half dozen states. and is
the father Of the Vicksburg battle park. I
| have not heard of movement to erect
monument in Captain Merry's honor. but
I suppose grateful public will attend to
| that when he is gone, an event which
should be postponed as long as possible
Rice introduced by Jefferson.
Thomas Jefferson introduced rice culture
| into this country Mr.. Jefferson was deeply
| interested in agriculture. and while minister
| in Europe he was sending by every steamer
| to farmers, planters and agricultural So
cieties in the United States seeds, roots,
nuts and plants, which he believed might
| be cultivated in this country. He tried to
| introduce olive culture into the southern
states, and returns again and again to the
usefulness of the olive in Europe, because
| of its fruitfulness, its hardness, the low
quality of the soil in which it fiourishes,
| and the agreeable flavor 1t imparts to many
viands otherwise tasteless and disagree
able The culture was commenced with
enthusiasm, but whether from want OF
| skill perseverance, the unsuitableness OF
| the climate or the excessive richness or the
| soil, the trees did not flourish.
| Rice was another of his agricultural
| hobbies. He sent to Charleston specimens
of all the several kinds of rice known In
Europe. He concluded that the ltallan rice
was the best quality, and desired to send
| seeds to his friends AT that time no one
was allowed to send rice seed out OF Italy
| Falling back on what he termed 1.-The high
| er law" Jefferson induced muleteer TO
run a couple of sacks across the Apennnes.
| Having faith in the muleteer's honesty,
| he filled the pockets of his coat and over
| coat with best rice. The muleteer failed
| to reappear, but the small store from his
| pockets reached the president OF the agrl-
| cultural society of South Carolina, who dis
| tributed it among the planters, a dozen or
more grains to each. These were care1uily
| sown and watched, and were the origin OF
our present staple
Prof. Knapp's Mission.
Secretary Wilson, another Iowa man, has
been doing quite much to promote the
agricultural interests of the southern
states but 1t was Mr.. s. L. Cary, an i'm
migrant from Iowa, who first recognized
the possibilities of rice culture at Jennings,
| then in the parish of Calcasieu After
| long period of experiment he mastered the
problem, embarked in the business hlmselt
and interested his neighbors. Professor
Knapp, another Iowa man, formerly pres-
dent of the State Agriculture College at
| Ames, and a scientific as well as prac-
| teal farmer, became convinced that the
| quality of rice produced in Louisiana was
| not economical 1t was too soft to be han
| died by machinery, and was broken up in
| the threshing and cleaning; so he applied
to Secretary Wilson for advice. He told
| the Secretary there was a strip of land 900
| miles long and fifty miles wide on the gulf
| coast which was admirably adapted to rice
| culture and capable of producing all that
! could possibly be consumed in this country.
| Secretary Wilson appointed Professor
| Knapp a special commissioner of the De-
| partment of Agriculture and sent him to
| all the rice-growing countries of the world
| to study the methods OF cultivation and
| treatment and the different kinds of grain
| produced. Mr. Knapp found in Japan what
| he thought was the quality for Louis
| lana soil, and brought home carload of
| seed which was distributed among the
planters of Louisiana, and that was the
origin of the present industry, which has
grown to q product of 9O0,0OO,O00 pounds a
year.
From the seed Mr.. Jefferson brought home
in his pockets South Carolina used to pro-
duce the best rice in the world and the larg-
est proportion of the crop of the United
States. But of late years ii has been run
ming down in quality and quantity. In 1880
South Carolina produced 139 $50 613 pounds
and in 1900 only 1850 1913 pounds The
South Carolina rice growers, having no
ticed what has happened in Louisiana have
appealed to Secretary Wilson to come down
and help them out.
Growth of the Rice Industry.
There has always been more or less rice
produced in Louisiana on the alluvial lands
along the Mississippi, which were irrigated
by syphons from the river; and many
planters in other parts of the state grew
small patches, dependent upon the rain
fall. Hence the term Providence rice"
But today more than 100000 acres are
devoted to that cereal in Louisiana and
Texas. being irrigated by water pumped
from the streams and rivers, and by means
of case wells six to eight inches in diam
eter, reaching Water-bearing gravel from
forty to 300 feet below the surface The
product of Louisiana in 1860 was 6331 257
pounds; III 1890 it was 1868 433 pounds: in
1900 it was 173, $3.50, 724 pounds and in 1904
5OO0000OO pounds. This in Louisiana alone
AS a result of this development land
which could have been purchased for 10
cents an acre fifteen years ago is now SELL
| ing from S12 to $50 acre, according to
location. There are some sixty-five rice
| mills in louisiana and Texas, forty four of
| them being In the former state. The cost
| of the mills varies from $40 600 to 100000
| according to their size. Experts say that
| the profit of rice growing is double that of
wheat, the latter averaging about SIS per
| acre and the former about SIG per acre.
| In favorable localities in Louisiana rico
| pays as high as $50 an acre of profit This
| has brought into Louisiana large numbers
| of farmers from Iowa, Illinois and other
| parts of the north
The consumption of rice in the United
| States is limited Large quantities of
| broken rice are used by breweries and dis
| tilleries, and that demand is slowly in
| creasing. But for the last two years the
| crop has been greater than the demand,
| and nearly 3O.OO0,00 pounds have been ex-
| ported during the last twelve months The
| reason for the small consumption is found
! in the high price and the large profit ex-
| acted by the middlemen. The farmer gets
| only 2 cents pound. the retailer pays 5
| cents for it and sells II for cents the diff
| ference going to the mill. the broker and
| the wholesaler. -Four profits are made be-
tween the producer and the consumer At
| cents per pound rice costs more than
| -four for which Il IL S,iLstitaata 4,