THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



331 



rels of rice per acre more than the remainder of the empire. This is because 

 the land is situated where the warm ocean currents first strike the cooler lands 

 and give off a large amount of moisture. 



Soil Conditions. The best rice lands are underlaid by an impervious sub- 

 soil. Otherwise the land can not be satisfactorily drained at time of harvest in 



order to permit the use of improved 

 harvesting machinery- The alluvial 

 lands along the Mississippi Valley in 

 Louisiana are not underlaid by hard- 

 pan, and they can not be drained suf- 

 ficiently to permit the use of heavy 

 harvesters and teams of horses. Ac- 

 cording to the best estimates there 

 are about 10,000,000 acres of land in 

 the five States bordering the Gulf of 

 Mxieco well suited to rice cultivation. 

 The amount which can be success- 

 fully irrigated by present methods, 

 using the available surface and artes- 

 ian flows, does not exceed 3,000,000 

 acres. The balance of the land could 

 probably be brought into cultivation 

 were it necessary, but the cost would, 

 perhaps, be prohibitive at present 

 prices. 



Three million acres is a con- 

 servative estimate of the amount 

 which can be successfully irrigated. 

 The best results require rotation of 

 crops; consequently only one -half of 

 that amount, or 1,500,000 acres, would 

 be in rice at any one time. At an 

 average yield of 10 barrels (of 162 

 pounds) per acre, 1,500,000 acres of 

 rice would produce nearly 2,500,000, 

 000 pounds of cleaned rice, nearly six 

 times the amount of our present con- 

 sumption. It will be noted here 

 that the imports fqr 1809 show a considerable increase over preceding years. 

 The crop harvested in 1899 is said to be the largest which has ever been grown. 

 Unofficial estimates place it at 300,000,000 pounds. It would appear from these 

 figures that the demand for rice and rice products is increasing in the United 

 States. 



James Kray, a commercial traveler, who travels in Wharton and Matagorda 



PUMPING STATION MATAGORDA COUNTY. 



