THE CROWLEY SILT LOAM. 5 



tile drainage, it would be possible to alternate rice with cotton or to 

 arrange a rotation whereby rice, cotton, corn, and cowpeas could be 

 adjusted to a system of farming suited to this type of soil. It has 

 been found that the constant flooding of the soil for rice production 

 and the growing of the rice crop year after year tends to diminish 

 somewhat the yields secured from the Crowley silt loam and at the 

 same time tends to spread the growth of the wild rice or red rice 

 which sometimes infests the fields. The latter pest may be thor- 

 oughly eliminated by the adoption of a proper system of crop rota- 

 tion whereby the red rice is allowed to germinate and to make its 

 growth and to be destroyed during the year when the soil would be 

 occupied by some other crop such as cotton or corn. The land woulcl 

 then be ready for another crop of the cultivated rice, which would 

 be found to be largely free from the red rice. 



EXTENT OF OCCUPATION. 



In southern Louisiana practical!}* all of the areas of the Crowley 

 silt loam which are so located as to be readily irrigated are occupied 

 for rice cultivation. Westward from this region in southwestern 

 Louisiana and in the eastern Gulf section of Texas there are still 

 large areas of the type which may be made available for rice culture 

 when the proper plants for the irrigation of this soil have been in- 

 stalled. Similarly in east-central Arkansas there are considerable 

 areas upon which the water has not yet been brought for the purposes 

 of rice irrigation. It is probable that more than 50 per cent of the 

 total area of this soil type in these localities is still available for 

 development for rice culture. 



CROP ADAPTATIONS. 



The Crowley silt loam is the typical rice land of southwestern 

 Louisiana and east-central Arkansas. It is probable that more rice 

 is grown upon this soil than upon all other rice soils in the United 

 States. In fact, the development of this type for agricultural pur- 

 poses has been almost coextensive with the development of the rice 

 industry in the western Gulf States. Prior to its utilization for 

 extensive rice culture the Acadian population of southern Louisi- 

 ana had grown small patches of rice on the low flat areas along 

 the bayous where drainage waters from the upland could be turned 

 upon the field. Considerable rice was also grown dependent upon 

 annual rainfall for its moisture supply or upon a small amount of 

 irrigation water which could be turned upon the rice fields in 

 periods of drought. The first improvement over this method was 

 that of impounding part of the water in a low-lying field and allow- 

 ing it to spread over the planted crop. Usually, however, the rescr- 



