IRRIGATION OF RICE IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 



125 



gates are automatic; that is, they hang on 

 horizontal pivots, as well as slide up and 

 down, and when the outside gate is lifted 

 to let the water in from the canal, the in- 

 side one floats on top of the water as long 

 as the tide is coming in, and flaps back as 

 soon as it begins to ebb, thus holding the 

 water on the field. The same action, with 

 the function of the gates reversed, takes 

 place when it is desired to drain the water 

 off, the outside gate closing when the tide 

 rises. 



The canals, which will average four to a 

 field covering a square mile or six hundred 

 and forty acres, are twenty feet in width 

 and five feet in depth, and take their ori- 

 gin, usually, each independently, from the 

 river by similar, though more perfect, au- 

 tomatic floodgates. For the purpose of 

 making the flooding more gradual and 

 even, and to enable the water to be drawn 

 off very completely, each square has a 

 marginal ditch six feet wide and four deep, 

 cut all around the interior edge a few feet 

 away from the embankment, and in addi- 

 tion, "quarter drains," usually two feet 

 wide by three deep, are run in parallel 

 lines across the square at a distance of 

 about seventy- five feet from each other. 



CULTIVATION. 



The cultivation of the crop involves the 

 use of water at every stage, and is in brief 

 as follows: Aboiit the first of January the 

 last year's stubble is burnt off. The land 

 usually has been lying just as it was left 

 after the harvest, but sometimes, where 

 water is plenty, it has been flooded imme- 

 diately after the crop was taken off, and 

 has remained so until sometime in De- 

 cember. After the burning, the land is 

 ploughed and put into the finest possible 

 mechanical condition. Planting begins 

 about the 1st of March and lasts until the 

 1st of May, when it has to be stopped on 

 account of the flocks of " May birds " that 

 stop by on their way north, to be known 

 there as the poetical bobolink. In June, 

 planting is begun again, and continued 

 until about the 20th, making a late crop, 

 always spoken of as "June rice." The 



rice is sown thickly in drills fifteen inches 

 apart. The water is then turned on for 

 the "sprout flow" and the land flooded as 

 deeply as possible. Then the whole stretch 

 of fields is one vast sheet of water, the 

 only land visible being the narrow inter- 

 secting dams. This sprout flow remains 

 on for from six to eight days, after which 

 it is taken off and the field left bare until 

 the rice sprouts sufficiently for a row to be 

 traced as a tiny green line for about a 

 hundred yards. The water is then let on 

 as deeply as possible for the " stretch 

 flow." It remains sO for six to eight days 

 again, and is then lowered until the tops 

 of the rice in the lowest parts of the field 

 can just be seen at the top of the water. 

 It is held so for twenty to twenty-five 

 days, just enough water being added from 

 day to day to keep pace with the growth 

 of the rice. This gives the rice, which 

 projects a little above the water, a very 

 rapid growth, while the weeds and grass, 

 being covered, are mostly killed. The 

 fields are then drained and dried off and 

 the rice hoed by hand, following with a 

 horse-hoe. It usually needs a second 

 hand- hoeing somewhat later in this period 

 of dry growth, which lasts forty to fifty 

 days. Then, about the 20th of June, with 

 the earliest rice, the " harvest flow " is put 

 on, and kept on pretty steadily until the 

 rice is ready to cut, which will be, with 

 rice planted on the 1st of March, about 

 the 25th of August. The water in this 

 flow reaches about two-thirds up the stalk 

 of the rice, and is drained off every eight 

 or ten days and fresh water put on. The 

 water now serves a double purpose, for 

 besides promoting the growth of the plant 

 and the consequent heavy fruiting, it sup- 

 ports the stalk, which, heavy with its head 

 of grain, might otherwise be beaten by a 

 single heavy wind down into a ruinous 

 mess in the mud of the fields. 



Here ends the function of water in the 

 making of the crop, the main anxiety of the 

 planter being lest such a storm may come 

 up in the two or three days after the water 

 is taken off and before the ground is dry 

 enough for the harvesters to work. 



