THE CROWLEY SILT LOAM. 7 



of native prairie hay is also cut upon this type in Arkansas, giving 

 yields ranging from 1 to 2 tons per acre. The dairy industry has 

 been fairly well established upon the more rolling sections of the 

 prairie, which are not so well suited topographically to the produc- 

 tion of rice as the more level and poorer-drained sections of this type. 

 Considerable areas of the Crowley silt loam still remain unoccu- 

 pied for the growing of irrigated rice. As economic conditions prove 

 favorable there will doubtless be a considerable extension of rice 

 production upon this soil. 



SUMMARY. 



The Crowley silt loam occurs chiefly in the Gulf coast prairie 

 region of southwestern Louisiana and eastern Texas, although con- 

 siderable areas of the type are also found in the prairie section 

 lying between the Arkansas and the White River in east-central 

 Arkansas. 



While other crops are grown to a limited extent upon the type, 

 rice under irrigated conditions constitutes the great dominant crop, 

 and hundreds of miles of irrigation canals have been built for the 

 supplying of water to the paddy fields. Since 1885 the acreage 

 devoted to rice upon the Crowley silt loam in Louisiana, Texas, and 

 Arkansas has grown from practically nothing to hundreds of thou- 

 sands of acres. 



For the production of rice upon the Crowley silt loam pumping 

 plants, irrigation canals, and embanked fields are necessary. Modern 

 farm machinery is used for the preparation of the land, the seeding 

 of the crop, and the harvesting and threshing of the grain. 



As the demand for rice in the United States increases there will 

 be thousands of acres of the Crowley silt loam available for the 

 extension of the irrigated rice crop. 



Approved. 



JAMES WILSON, 



Secretary of Agriculture, 



WASHINGTON-, D. C., December #0, 1911. 



