PREFACE, 



The introduction of Kiushu rice by the Section of Seed and Plant 

 Introduction of the United States Department of Agriculture in 1899 

 was the tirst step taken toward improving the conditions of rice grow- 

 ing in southern Louisiana and Texas, and the marked development of 

 the rice industry since that time is' in a large measure due to the value 

 of this variety. There were still other problems connected with the 

 rice industry, however, as well as those which concerned the improve- 

 ment of extensive tracts of pine lands occurring in manv of the 

 Southern States, which remained unsolved. These problems could be 

 best approached by first securing all the information available in 

 foreign lands, and Dr. S. A. Knapp was connnissioned to go to Asia 

 to make a careful study of the rice industry and to secure such seeds 

 as he might decide were valuable. 



Dr. Knapp's report deals with the life of the peoples among whom 

 he traveled, as well as with the methods and cost of rice production 

 and the cultivation and production of certain other crops, and alto- 

 gether it constitutes a unique contribution to our knowledge of the 

 agriculture and the condition of the farming communities of these 

 countries. 



The report is submitted for publication as Bulletin No. 35 of the 

 Bureau of Plant Industry. 



A. J. PlETERS, 



Botcmht in Cltarge. 

 Office of Seed and Plant 



Introduction and Distribution, 



Wmhington^ D. 6"'., Stjjtemher 12, 1902. 



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