Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1910-06-09
BOSTON BUTTER MARKET.
THE ARKANSAS RICE FIELD.
New Industry Developed by study OF
Local Conditions.
(Froln the New York SUM

(ErOin the New York SUM
They have struck Il way of growing
rice In Arkansas 10y which tho farmer
can harvest his crop without getting His
boots muddy. For the last eight years
they have been developing the iloa ever
since 1t occurred to one man that per
haps maTshlands were nor the only plausl-
bic sprouting ground for rice This year,
the optmists OF the industry say, 100000
acres are being planted in the state and
half dozen modern rice mills have been
set up. They say that so an acre Is a
safe guess at the profits.
The theory OF the industry came into
eX.a,ence through tho very circumstan-
ccs THAI have made part Of Arkansas a
Joke as a country on which anything
could thrive The trouble was that
under the surface of tho ground was a
layer Of clay which separated the prairie
from whatever natural water resources
there were beneath Anything that they
tried to grow on this land was baked out
by the summer sun as soon as the mos-
ture retained by the surface ground was
absorbed.
The man who first thought that this
condition might be turned to proht re
allied that there was plenty OF moisture
under this layer Of clay. OF hardpan, as
they call 1t out there. His name was w.
II. Fuller, and he got the idea In l.U3 at
his home near Stuttgart, n town In the
Grand Prairie district In the eastern part
of the State.
The land in the immediate neighbour
hood had been considered useless. They
say that land went for s. and 81 an acre
In that part OF the country, ana there
is tradition that one quarter section
was exchanged for an old shotgun.
Fuller bored down through the clay and
struck water. Then he lct the ground
around the wells mouth become flooded
and he sent u bit of 1t to Warrington,
and the department of agriculture sent
back word that the sample WAS suitable
for rice growing. So he made a trial
planting.
The layer OF clay was as level nS he
could wish and 1t retained the water
that was sent up through the many wells
that he sunk around his little rice field,
The flooding could be controlled by a
system of earthon bikes and cross bikes
at small cost. His crop prospcred and
came to harvesting time
Then it was only necessary TO divert
the canals by which he had been doing
ms irrigating into reservoirs apart from
tho rice fields. To harvest tho crop he
dlont have to wallow around in mars hes
lie could walk over dry ground and he
conid use regular harvesting implements
without getting them rusty.
Ills record for that wear hasn't hcen
kept by the enthusiasts who have fol-
lowed IN his footsteps. but he tells them
that he got more returns than the AVERAGE
in established rice growing districts. His
methods were crude. for he wasn't vast
Ing money on the experiment.
The next year he was ENCOURAGED nv
a better yield. and in 1904 he planted 70
acres and got crop of "A bushels an
acre which Is said to be about ~. tinos
| the return of the experienced rice grow
crs of the low cost field. The department
of agriculture set UP an experiment sta
| ton nearby iu the same year, and by n 1T
tic more scientific work they managed to
get 96l. bushels an acre. At another