RICE GROWING IN THE UNITED STATES. 



An account which appears to be authentic says that rice was grown in Vir- 

 ginia by Sir William Berkley as early as 1647. No particulars are given, except 

 that from a half bushel of seed planted the product was 16 bushels. Governor 

 Alston, of South Carolina, in an agricultural address (1854) says: "Rice, for 

 which we are indebted to the island of Madagascar, was introduced into Caro- 

 lina toward the close of the seventeenth century (1694)." Governor Alson 

 states that a few seeds of this Madagascar rice were sown in a garden, which is 

 now one of the thickly-built portions of Charleston, and from that seed came the 

 rice that has made South Carolina famous as a rice -producing state. Ramsay's 

 History of South Carolina states that an English or Dutch ship, homeward 

 bound from Madagascar, was driven by the stress of weather to seek shelter in 

 the harbor of Charleston, and the captain seized the opportunity to visit an old 



PLOWING FOR KICE. 



acquaintance, the landgrave and governor of the province, Thomas Smith, 

 whom he had already met in Madagascar. Smith expressed the desire to ex- 

 periment with the growing of rice upon a low, moist patch of ground in his 

 garden, similar to the ground upon which he had seen rice growing in Madagas- 

 car, whereupon the captain presented him with a small bag of rice seed which 

 happened to be among the ship's stores. The seed was planted in a garden in 

 Longitude Lane, Charleston, the spot being still pointed out. 



Rice production in the United States is limited to the South Atlantic and 

 Gulf states, where, in some sections, it is the principal cereal product. For 

 nearly one hundred and ninety years after the introduction of rice into the 

 United States, South Carolina and Georgia produced the principal portion, 



