The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-06-26

| The increase In the production AMI
| consumption Of rice in this country ha:
led some students of economics to be
lieve that the United States Is abou
to Join the ranks Of the rice-~ating ma
tions. which at present include Japan
China. India and other important coun
| tries. Already the rice industry o.
America Is enormous and CONSTANT,
| increasing in extent This plant
adopted from the Old World. Is doius
even better In the United States thar
1t does in Its original habitat.
However. the Department Of Agri'
culture In carrying on extensive ex.
| periments with a view to improving tbs
crop Recently It has been decided to
| establish sub-experifnent station ~
| Crowley. La. where work VIII be con.
Quoted In cooperation with the State.
| The people of that section are SO In
terested In the scheme that they have
! furnished land and buildings for tbs
station, and Louisiana will pay all tbs
expense of maintaining the plant The
Federal Department will lend the serv.
ices of its experts and furnish advice
and assistance.
The Department has a rice farm "
South Carolina, where breeding and Sc
lection work has been going on for
some time. The efforts of the experts
at that point are largely confined to
nkDLluk a IuUkOuS ulSGdac hHOWn az
rotten neck" which has attacked the
Carolina rice crop for years. doing in
caicuiable damage Recently the gov
eminent has obtained a number of new
varieties of rice from Italy which APP
pear to be immune as against dis
ease. The Department Is cooperating
in rice work with the State of Arkau-
sas and q government rice farm will
soon be established in Texas.
at axnarfrnantG In rice pff1-
tivation are being carried on In Cali
fornia People in the Sacramento Val
lev have become convinced that they
can grow rice and the government is
working out, with several large frrl-
cation concerns. the various problem
involved. The indications are that the
experiments will be successful and that
a supply Of the cereal for the thous-
ands of Chinese and Japanese on the
Pacific Coast thus will be obtained. The
Southern rice does not suit the taste o.
Orientals, so those on the Pacific Coast
import their supply from Asia. The
Department has imported hundreds of
varieties from the Philippines. India.
Japan. China. Siam, Ceylon. Italy and
other countries. Scores have been
abandoned after trial. but some good
varieties have been discovered and
their cultivation has spread. There
are 1,40o varieties of rice.
Rice was introduced into America
before 1647. In that year Sir William
Berkeley is said to nave raised small
crop in the colony of Virginia. NADIA
gascar rice was first planted in South
Carolina In 1894. according to former
Governor Aston of that State. II is
said that a sea captain homeward
bound from Madagascar, was driven In
to Charleston harbor by stress of
weather and called on Governor Thorn
as, Smith and presented him with
small bag of rice seed. This the Gov
ernor planted in a moist spot in his
garden and that was the beginning
Of the South Carolina rice industry,
which fiourished for nearly two CEN
turtles. 1t is said that the exact spot
where Governor Smiths first rice crop
was harvested is still pointed out
Until the outbreak of the Civil War.
rice culture was confined almost entire
ly to the Carolinas and Georgia. but
the great conflict almost destroyed the
industry in those States. Meanwhile,
IL had been taken mp In Louisiana and
Texas. There were millions of acres OF
seemingly va1ueless land along the
Gulf Coast at that time. which some
body suggested might be used for
growing rice.
To DR.. H. s. Knapp. now a venerable
cmploye of the Department of Agrit
culture. but then an expert In the
prime Of life. fell the task OF supervis-
ing the work of developing Southwest
arn Louisiana and Texas. Farmers
from the Northwestern states were In,
duced to settle on the prospective rice
farms, canals and irrigating bitches
were dug. and then the problem Of ell
ttvation was undertaken. II was de-
termined to supersede the old hand
methods with modern machine methods
IL possible.
The AGRICULTURAL machinery, which
made the bonanza wheat farms of the
Dakotas possible. was tried. Most of
IL worked well. steam and horse power
doing the work of men. Immense
plows, seeders. harrows and reapers
were used successfully, but the bind
ers got stuck in the mud. This dim-
Guilty was overcome by widening their
tires and adding cogs to them, so that
they would not sink in the soil, and
would grip the surface. In this way
immense tracts we're cultivated. When
these Improved methods are considered,
Il is no wonder that the industry In the
South Atlantic States, which relied
principally upon hand labor. should
suffer.
rsomnare n Louisiana or Texas rice