The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-11-09
RICE IS GROWN
 IN MISSISSIPPI
CHARLES SCOTT HAS DEMON SPRAYED THAT THIS CROP CAN BE PRODUCED WITH PROFIT. FINE REPORTS.

i Jackson, Miss, November S.-tSpecla.)- | Hon. Charles Scott of Bolivar county
 who is understood to be the most exten- l sive farmer in the state of Mississippi
 has successfully demonstrated that rice l is one of the most profitable crops that can be grown in the delta section of the state, where heretofore cotton has been
 king sure enough.
 Seeing that the boil weevil is bound to
 reach his farms in very few more years' l MT. Scott casted about for something be-
 sides cotton, something the weevil will
 not eat up, and determined to try 20
 acres of Honduras rice. Sce was planted under the directiot or. S. A. Knapp chief of the demd ation ou-
 reau of the United States department Of
 agriculture-that is, he sent an expert 10 superintend the planting and the cuiti- vation of the land, MT. Scott paying all i the expenses
 | Mir Scott had generous samples of this rice at the State Fair. and 1t received a 1 great deal of attention. Speaking or thls l crop and his experiences in letter to l Commissioner of Agriculture Blakeslee, | Mr. Scott states that his 20 acres aver aged o21k bushels per acre, and that the
 rice dealers of New Orleans have declared l it worth the top of the market, and agree ing to take it all off his hands. How
 ever, he proposes to seed much larger area to rice next spring and will save ms rice for seed for himself and neighbors,
 same to be planted on land that has here
 tofore been planted to cotton.
 Colonel Hanna, the government expert
 who has charge of this rice experiment. in telling of the crop, says that the 'otal output was 1851 bushels of rice on 70 acres,
 making the average s21a bushels per acre, or 512 sacks.
 In view of the fact that these 20 acres of rice were planted as an experiment
 more money was spent on the looks of the farm, because of the great number of wis., 1 itors than would be necessary on an or dinary rice farm. The actual expenses
 were $915. The 512 sacks at $4 each come l to s2o4s; 1900 bales of rice straw, S9 tons l at $S, equals S312 making the total value | of the crop at the market price $236O De- ducting the cost of making the crop there | is a net profit remaining of sl455, or S72.25 per acre, which is equal to the profits or 1 the cotton land making two bales per
  | MT. Scott states that he is now plant 1 ing several hundred acres to oats, and l that another season he will have corn | sufficient to run his places He will in l crease his alfalfa fields. the lespediza and i peavine hay, raise his own hogs and meat ] and try 50 acres in wheat. In the event l he can induce his neighbors to join him
 in wheat raising he will put up small | flour mill and make their wheat into the merchantable article. MT. Scott does not 1 anticipate the boil weevil in his section 1 for several years but is simply taking l time by the forelock.
 1 While the past season is said to have 1 been one of the poorest corn years ex- perienced for some time, and while the 1 average farmer will have to buy corn next 1 spring, just as he always does, some very l phenomenal yields were reported by the l boys corn clubs, and most of their yield | were far ahead of anything ever before 1 heard of in this section.
 Down in Lawrence county, for instance, 1 right in the heart of the piney woods, al- l ways looked upon as the poorest part l of the state, the winners of the prizes of- l fered by the county are announced as l follows:
 1 Hoover Hammonds one-half acre at the
 rate of 147 bushels, s25, the first prize. 1 Henry Reid, one-half acre at. the rate of l 143 bushels, $15, second prize.
 George Ivy, one-half acre at the rate Of l 114 bushels per acre, BIO, third prize.
 All of the other members of this Law l renee County Corn club did well, and
 similar reports come from every other 1 county. The 147 bushel yield won the State Fair prize, and that was just one
 more bushel than captured the prize last | year. However, 1t was not won by the same boy.
 There were this year more than 5000
 Mississippi boys enrolled as members of
 county corn clubs, and the majority of | them are said to have shown up with | more than 100 bushels of corn per acre. | Their fathers and grandfathers have been l in the fAbit of skimming along over their lands year after year and have sell dom. If ever, been known to harvest more than 20 bushels per acre. They all | ways considered that was doing flrst-rate.