The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-10-11
RICE. CROP IS
 INCREASING IN
 ITS IMPORTANCE

The rice crop of the United States has practically doubled since the be- ginning of the war and the crop of the current year promises to be the biggest on record, A lecture deliver ed before the class on International Trade. and Commercial Geography in the Educational Department of the National City Bank of New York shows that the United States has re- cently become the largest rice pro- ducer of the Occidental world, our total production having grown from 136,0OO,0 pounds in 1890 to 233,- OO0. 900 in 1900; 100000 in 1914 and DOS, 900, ,0000 in 1917, and a prospect for 1,136, ,0oo,O in the cur rent year if the predictions of the Agricultural Department are sustain ed.
 Rice production in the United States, said the lecturer, languished after the Civil War, for it was not then realized that it could be grown and harvested by the machinery and methods applied to the production Of wheat and other grains Rice can only flourish on wet land, so wet that ordinary farm machinery can not be used upon 1t But few years ago It was discovered that certain lands in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and elss- where were so constituted With rela- tion to soil, climate and water supply that they could be prepared with the usual agricultural machinery, the rice also planted with machinery, the lands then flooded from nearby streams or Artesian wells, and the water drained off as the rice approaches maturity, and ordinary reaping and threshing machines used in harvesting the crop
 This revolutIonfzed rice growing in othe United States, and was ill fact a new development in world production for in no other country has this method been practised- The produc- ing area was expanded from the Caro- lines and Georgia to the Mississippi Valley, Arkansas and Texas and re- gently certain areas in California, and the annual production has in- creased from 50,oo0,00 to 10O,00O,0O0 pounds in former years to over 1,- 900, 900, 900 pounds year at this time, making the United States by far the largest rice producer of the Occidental world.
 Of course our biggest rice crop, of over 1 ,ooo, ,Ooo, 900 pounds per annum while the largest in the Occidental world is a trif1e when compared with that of some of the Oriental countries where rice Is the chief article. of food for a very dense population Slam, for example, produces over 5000 00000 pounds of rice year against our 900, ,OoO. 900, the Dutch East In- dies 7,0O0, ,000, 900, Japan 17,00o,00O,- 900, and India 10000, 900, 900; while China has no official figures of heI crop may equal or possibly exceed India in production, bringing the worlds total crop to approximately o0,000, 900, 900 pounds a year.
 Few people realize, said the banks lecturer. that the worlds production of rice is'nearly as great as the world production of wheat, pound fol pound. We often hear 1t said that rice Is the chief cereal food of more than one-half of the population of the world, and this is probably true, bu we do not realize how near the rice prOUuctlOn comes 10 eQuaIlHB lId of wheat when compared by actua quantity The best estimates that car be made of the rice production of the world indicate that the grand tota in favorble years is nearly, or perhap: quite 200, ,0OO, 900, 900 pounds while the number of pounds of wheat growr even in the high reacrd years of 191; and 1915 was but about 240,OOO,' 900, 900 each year.
 The people of the United States have greatly increased their consumption of rice with the large increase in pro duction. The product has as above indicated doubled in a few years. ant even quadrupled since 1900, yet thC importations steadily continue to grow and the exportations though increas ing are still less than the imports indicating that the actual consump ton at home has kept pace with thu increase in production at home. Th' importations of rice were in 1918 456, 6,000,O0O pounds, the largest in thu history of our own import trade, ant double the average of the past fev years, while the total exports to for eign countries, 6,000,000 pound plus the 5O,OO0, 900 pounds sent tt Porto Rico, makes the movement ou of the country actually less than tha entering from abroad, indicating tha the consumption by the people of tn country has more than doubled With t-i.