The Detroit times., 1910-10-12
nv r. B. YOUNG.

STUTTGART, Ark, Oct ll.-Late
this month, Arkansas rice growers
will begin to market their crop
which Is expected to net them up
wards OF s5,0O0.O0O.
And the industry is yet In its In.
fancy.
The six-year history of rice growing
In eastern Arkansas Is an agricultural
romance which sounds almost unbe-
lievable.
Six years ago not an acre OF rice
was raised In Arkansas.
One farmer experimental with ~
acres OF rice In 1906, pumping water
on the land from an artesian well.
From this small beginning rice grow
ing has spread until this year there
are $4,000 acres In cultivation.
Next year II IL predicted the acre
age will be doubled. perhaps tripled.
Arkansas farmers are as wild about
the wonderful profits OF rice growing
as the ''forty-niners" who swarmed
into California we're about gold.
Ordinary farming has been almost
abandoned, and every farmer who
can raise the price to drill a we'll and
buy Q pump and gasoline engine Is
raising rice. Prairie land which sold
for So to $40 an acre ten years ago In
many sections, cannot be bought to-
day for 500 an acre. Land specula-
tors are reaping a rich harvest,
Farmers, Once Poor, Now Rich.
Many a farmer who was land poor
q few years ago with several hundred
acres OF blistered prairie. finds him.
self today a rich man-because his
ri
than any other section of the world.
Rice Is one OF the most profitable
crops which q farmer can raise. but
the area which will produce rice In
America Is limited by the fact that
rice must be covered with water dur
ing q certain period OF Its growth.
Rice has been raised in the swamps
of Louisiana and the Carolinas for
many years. Until six years ago 1t
was never attempted In any region
away from the coast.
The Arkansas prairie country where
rice Is now being grown so success
fully, Is several hundred feet above
sea level. and Is subject TO annual
drouths In the growing season. But
under the soil lies q plentiful supply
OF artesian water and subsoil or sim
blue clay almost impervious to water.
Water pumped on the land stays there
until II sinks slowly into the soil.
The Arkansas rice grower drills a
we'll. buys a gasoline engine and
pump. bitches his land, throws up
three-foot levee around 1t. plants MS
rice and starts his pump. For the
next 90 DAYS all that Is necessary IL
to keep the pump going enough 10
keep the rice fields covered with three
or four inches OF water
How Il 10 Done.
When the crop begins to ripen the
pump Is stopped, the Ievee opened and
fhe water drained on By the time
the crop IL ready for the harvester
the ground Is dry enough TO permit o,
harvesting with the ordinary binding
machinery used in the wheat neids OF
Dakota.
A wheat crop Is good II 1t averages
On bushels an acre, and 81 bushei IL
a bonanza price for wheat
Rice I'm Arkansas produces 90 or
IN hushels an acre and brings over
81 per bushel. The cost OF raising
rice averaged $3.50 an acre In Ar
kansas last year. including plowing,
seed humping. harvesting, thrasning
and cleaning In the mill. Rice FAR.
mers In Arkansas have averaged
over $40 an acre net for the past five
years. a.. ,.,.v
in Arkansas. Nothing has been done
looking toward selection or better
seed or fertilizing the land TO produce
more per acre. Every farmer Is crazy
over the wonderful profits to be Sc
cured. and many OF the best informed
fear that the continual raising OF
one crop will finally take all the plant
food out of the soil and that the pr
duction will dwindle.
However, there are 200 square
miles of level prairie available for
rice growing in the eastern part OF
the state. enough to raise rice to
feed the world. The rice farmers are
getting rich and have little thought
for the future. IL the old land wears
out they say they can get plenty OF
new land and start over again, but
at the rate northern farmers are
puring into the rice country there
will be little land left at reasonable
price In Ave more years.
The state agricultural department
of Arkansas predicts that In five
more years the value OF the rice
crop in Arkansas will exceed $780,
100000.
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