Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1908-12-30

To greet the dawn OF different year
tsleep. my baby one. sleepy
New Orleans Times Democrat:
separated from the chaff by pouring
1t from one vessel to another in thd
wind.
Although the Acadian was first to
make use of irrigation in rice grow
ing, 1t did not benefit him much, so
long as he was confined to the low
alluvial lands along the sluggish bay
Gus, and these primitive methods of
handling.
To the Acadian, however, and his
experiments with providence Rice
Gas it is now called), is due to the
honor Of Introducing this valuable
crop and industry to American soil.
Very little progress was made in
commercial rice-growing until after
civil war and it never could have be-
come a very important industry as
as it was confined to the low places
only. Among the new settlers who
went to Louisiana after the war were
many ambitious northern men who
commenced experimenting with rice
on the prairie up-lands. These exper-
imentS were successful, and proved
that the prairie land lying from fif-
teen to seventy-five feet above the
bayous was as well adapted to rice
that a good crop could be raised on
the upland farm in seasons when it
was too wet to grow crop on the
low land farms.
There was plenty of fresh water in
the bayous and the problem of rais-
ing it to the upland was solved by
utilization of the steam pump.
farm is entirely different from irrl-
| CATION III -tne great West. IN the ,ele-
l}vated plains of the west, water rises
by living springs or from the melted
mountain streams mountain SHOWS in
| the higher levels and the streams
therefrom have heavy fall which
permits of easy diversion near the
place of use.
In the rice districts of the south,
the fresh water for irrigation comes
lfrom bayous and sluggish streams ly-
ling below the level, of the land over
i which it must be spread. The canals
la the northwest arid countries are
dug below the surface, while the rice
canals are built on top of the ground
by throwing up levees. The large
rice farms of Louisiana and Texas
; being on the uplands, the canals ant
reservoirs are built on the highes
! grounds and the water pumped W
with steam pumps to get the fali
Two styles of pumps are now in gen
eral use, the centrifugal and the ro
i tary pumps, having discharge pipe'
which range in diameter from 12 t.
3 go inches, and which elevate from
: the bayou to the Hume above iron
2G to 100 or more cubic feet OF waite
e ner second. In the larger plants CON
+ mound Corliss engines of 400 to 50
horsepower used to run batteries
these pumps are not uncommon.
During the first century of ric
grown in this country North Carolina
South Carolina and Georgia low-land
!. produced all the rice, while today TN
eLouisiana uplands produce more tina
e half of all the rice grown in IN
$. United States. One of the larges
u rice farms in Louisiana is that OF AL
le hott Bros. two miles northwest
'e Crowley. Louisiana. The total area
'f irrigated ands on this plantation
'e eight thousand acres and the MAJ
a canal which supplies the water VIZ
ID the first canal ever put in in tn
III country for irrigating an upland ri'
Is farm. To these enterprising gent
Amen is due the credit of organizll
an agricultural industry which is ia
ne becoming one of the important
op dustries of this country.
ne The rice lands around Crowley a
u ltypical of the upland prairie reglo
ms Of Louisiana and the Abbot farm
NV set in tn emidst of the district. I
ns sell is a rich, black loan which
us impervious to water, and apparent
capable of continuously raising Gro
sc a.. rice without marked diminution
al either yield or quantity Except
w, the matter of irrigation, rice-growl
ice /. the south is carried on very mu
TO The same as grain growing in
ar north, and any farmer who has S
ITO cessfully raised wheat or oats is p
the pared to undertake the farming
rice.
ase The land is prepared for crop
on same as for wheat or oats and see'
be- IN the same way. Sowing is usus
OF done with broad cast seeder,
tsched to a farm wagon. On SO
hoa farms the seed is put in with d
low in rows eight inches apart. The pl'
and ing season extends from April
am until the middle of June, and 1t
The very necessary that the land she
kle, have good drainage in order that
ain field may be put in good condi'
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