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THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



IRRIGATION OF RICE IN THE UNITED STATES. 



An interesting report has just been issued by the 

 office of experiment stations known as Bulletin No. 113. 

 It is comprehensive of searching investigations and 

 should be in the hands of all rice growers, a copy of 

 which can be had by application to the Department of 

 Agriculture at Washington, D. C. 



In his letter of submittal through Director A. C. 

 True, of experiment stations, Prof. Elwood Mead, expert 

 in charge of irrigation investigations, gives out the 

 following valuable information : 



WASHINGTON, D. C., April 2, 1902. 



Sir : I have the honor to submit herewith a report 

 on the irrigation of rice in the United States, including 

 a report on the irrigation of rice on the uplands of 

 Louisiana and Texas, by Frank Bond, agent and expert 

 in irrigation investigations, and a report on irrigation 

 of rice in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, 

 by George H. Keeney, special agent, irrigation investiga- 

 tions. 



During the last half century rice production in the 

 Tnited States has grown but little, the crop of 1850, 

 as given by the census of that year, almost as large as 

 the maximum crop reported since that time, and con- 

 siderably larger than the average crop of the last ten 

 years. While rice production has remained practically 

 stationary, there has been a decline in the South Atlantic 

 States and an increase in the Western Gulf States. 

 Within the past few years the raising of rice in Louis- 

 iana and Texas has developed into one of the leading 

 industries of that region, and has given great value to 

 lands heretofore used only for grazing, and to water 

 which had been allowed to waste into the Gulf of 

 Mexico. This development has been so rapid that laws 

 and institutions have not kept pace with the industry, 

 and already serious loss lias resulted iTom the failure 

 of those States to provide for the establishment and 

 protection of titles to the use of water. Streams have 

 been overappropriated, and early investors who should 

 Iiave been protected in their use of water have been 

 made to suffer with the later corners, who .should have 

 been prevented from diverting water until earlier settlers 

 were supplied. This study of conditions in Ixmisiana 

 and Texas was undertaken for the purpose of applying 

 to those States, so far as conditions were similar, the 

 lessons learned in those parts of the country where 

 irrigation has long been practiced. It is hoped that 

 this report may aid the rice growers and the lawmakers 

 of Louisiana and Texas in the adoption of codes of 

 irrigation laws which will bring about the highest de- 

 velopment of their resources. 



The rice industry in the South Atlantic States 

 has been on the decline for many years, owing chiefly 

 to the decline in the price of rice and the inability of 

 the rice growers in those States to cheapen production 

 sufficiently to make rice growing profitable under the 

 new conditions. If rice farming along the Atlantic 

 coast could be so modified as to permit of the use of 

 labor-saving machinery, there is little question that the 

 industry in that region could be carried on at a profit. 

 The descriptive portions of the accompanying report 

 on the industry in Louisiana and Texas, should suggest 

 to the rice growers of the South Atlantic States methods 

 which will enable them to compete with cheap labor 

 abroad and with labor-saving machinery at home. 



During the past ten years the United States have 

 produced less than half the rice consumed in this coun- 



try, the average importation for that time being 172,- 

 736,057' pounds per annum, having a value of $3,185,968. 

 Rice as yet enters very little into everyday use in this 

 country. With the present large importation and the 

 increasing use of rice as a staple food rather than a 

 luxury the possibilities for the expansion of this industry 

 are unlimited. 



There have been frequent calls upon this office for 

 information regarding pumping water for the irrigation 

 of rice and other crops. The attempt has been made to 

 meet this demand by collecting information regarding 

 the cost of pumps and their installation and operation, 

 and their duty in the irrigation of rice. This informa- 

 tion is included in the report of Mr. Bond. 

 Respectfully submitted, 



ELWOOD MEAD, 

 Chief of Irrigation Investigations. 



PRES. SLOCUM, OF COLORADO COLLEGE, BEFORE 

 THE zoth NATIONAL IRRIGATION CONGRESS. 



With the annual export of nearly a billion dollars' 

 worth of farm products, and the business of the country 

 adjusted to that fact, with a rapidly increasing popu- 

 lation to be fed, with .a shortage in the corn crop 

 affecting nearly every citizen in the republic, we have 

 come to problems which require the very best training 

 and the most careful thought for their solution. There 

 must be the sme large grasp of the situation that 

 the English have had in their irrigation projects which 

 will double the amount of arable land in Egypt, and 

 which will accomplish more to relieve poverty in that 

 country than has ever been done in all its history. 



A careful study of the situation indicates that 

 the colleges and universities harve an important part 

 to play in this national undertaking. The people as 

 a whole know very little about the whole matter. The 

 nation has been interested in questions which relate 

 to the tariff, the creation of harbors, foreign commerce 

 and domestic manufacturing, and thus far have left 

 this matter alone until it is now demanding consid- 

 eration. This makes it necessary that the irrigation 

 of our large areas of arid land should receive the most 

 intelligent and scientific consideration. It is not a 

 matter of partisan politics, but one which requires 

 special training and careful study of the whole problem 

 and all that is involved in it. For this reason the time 

 has come when our colleges and scientific schools should 

 give the whole subject serious consideration. 



It is important that our colleges should offer 

 courses of lectures treating the whole subject of irri- 

 gation, including a study of all the arid districts in 

 the United States, the problem of water supply and 

 the great water sheds and reservoir sites;. the relation 

 of forests to irrigation. 



Let me whisper to you, little maid, little man 

 Don't follow the path that's wrong; 



Be honest and noble and always do right, 

 And your life will be sunshine and song. 



Go, make thy garden fair as thou canst, 



Thou workest never alone ; 



Perchance he whose plot is next to thine 



Will see it and mend his own. 



