The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1907-06-14

Nti S'O4AIo, uGGlSIGS OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
Coville of the department of agricul-
ture He says that this branch of ag-
ricultural industry is being revolu-
tionized in this country by the intro
duction of new machinery, by the
help of which the American rice grow
err employing higher priced labor than
any other rice grower in the world,
can market his crop at the least cost
and the greatest profit All that is
now required is to secure a variety of
this cereal which shall be of the best
possible quality, and, with view to
this end, the government has recently
imported from Japan no less than ten
tons of a certain very precious kind Of
seed, which is now being distributed
among planters in the rice producing
districts.
1t is believed that before long Amer
lean rice growers will be able to COM
mand the highest prices for their pro-
duct in the markets Of the world. The
revolution recently accomplished in
methods of raising rice has been as
great as that caused by the introduc-
Son of modern agricultural machinery
into the great wheat fields which has
given to the United States control OF
the worlds market in respect to that
cereal. What has been accomplished
with wheat may yet be done with rice
and generation hence, or earlier, per
haps Yankee farmers may be supply
ing an immense foreign demand for a
staple food, which we now have to inn
port TO a large extent. In the year
1898 the people of this country con-
sumed 19O,285,000 pounds OF imported
rice, in addition to the home grown
crop of 116,500,000 pounds. Producing
such an enormous surplus of other
grains for export, it seems very odd
that we should be obliged to depend
so largely for our rice upon foreign
Producers. This queer state OF affairs
is due mainly to the fact that rice IS
raised chiefly on wet lands, where har-
vesting machinery cannot be used. The
crop, must, therefore, be cut with
a sicle and the Yankee -labOrer has been
thrown into competition with the cheap
labOrer of the tropics-a rivalry that
has not proved profitable to the Ameri-
can
The revolution in methods of rice
culture has already obtained a fair
start in the prairie region Of south
western Louisiana. In 1884 enterpris-
ing settlers began to develop the new
system, by which as now perfected,
the elevated prairie lands are flooded
at suitable intervals by canals and
pumps the water being drained Off
when the crop is about mature, so us
to leave the fields dry enough for the
use of reaping machines A few years
ago the notion Of utilizing reaping ma
chimes for the harvesting Of rice would
have been regarded as an absurdity;
but that is what is being done today
and in this way the cost Of harvesting
and, therefore, the total cost of pro-
duction, has been greatly reduced
During the last ten years the amount
of home grown rice annually market
ed in this country has been about 49,,
100000 pounds. The crop for 1899 is
said to be the largest ever produced
in the United States, being estimated
at 100000 900 pounds. From these fig
ures it would appear that the demand
for rice and rice products here is in
creasing. Botanist Coyille says that
there is no satisfactory reason why
we should not grow rice, nor why we
should not produce a considerable sur
plus for export The most desirable
rice from the standpoint of the grower
is one that will produce the largest
amount of "head-rice"-tha is, un-
broken grains. Japanese rices average
better than the American in this re-
spect and for that reason it Is con-
sidered desirable that they shall be ex-
tensiyely introduced into this country
There is very bright prospects for
rice cultivation in the Philippines,
where immense acres are available for
agricultural industry. Great quantities
Of the cereal are already produced on
the island of Luzon, but not enough
to feed the people no less than l5O.-
900 900 pounds being imported annual
" into the archipelago This is the
cheapest and most common food Of
Oriental people and what is wanted in
the Philippines is the same application
Of modern methods Of rice growing
that have been SO successful in Louis
lana.
The pre-eminence in rice cultivation
which South Carolina has enjoyed for
200 years has been won largely by
careful attention to the selection of
seed The gold seed rice, Justly fam
Gus for the quality and large yield
of the grain, stands, in the estima-