PARTY 



MISCELLANEOUS CROPS. 



RICE CULTURE. 



Rice forms the principal food of one-half the population of the 

 earth. The luxuriant growth of leguminous plants (beans, peas, 

 etc.) at all seasons in tropical climates provides the nitrogenous food 

 elements necessary to supplement rice. A combination of rice and 

 legumes is a much cheaper complete food ration than wheat and meat 

 and can be produced on a much smaller area. 



Varieties of Rice. Rice is an annual plant belonging to the 

 natural family of the grasses. There is an immense number of varie- 

 ties of cultivated rice, differing in length of the season required for 

 maturing, and in character, yield, and quality. Their divergence 

 not only extends to size, shape, and color of the grain, but to the rela- 

 tive proportion of food constituents and the consequent flavor. 



The two principal varieties of lowland rice cultivated in the 

 Atlantic States are the "gold seed," so called from the golden-yellow 

 color of its husk when ripe, and the "white" rice, the original rice 

 introduced into this country in 1694, which has a cream-colored husk 

 and resembles the rice commonly grown in China. 



Rice-Growing Sections. Rice production in the United States 

 is limited to the South Atlantic and Gulf States, where, in some sec- 

 tions, 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, 

 while North Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana 

 grew only a limited amount. Within the last ten years Louisiana, 

 Texas, and Arkansas have increased the area devoted to rice to such 

 an extent that they now furnish more than three-fourths of all the 

 product of the country. 



Soils Adapted to Rice. The best soil for rice is a medium loam, 

 containing about 50 per cent of clay. This allows the presence of 

 sufficient humus for the highest fertility without decreasing too much 

 the compact nature of the soil. The alluvial lands along the southern 

 rivers, where they can be drained, are well adapted to rice culti- 

 vation. Occasionally such lands are too sandy. The rich drift soils 

 of the Louisiana and Texas prairies have shown a marvelous adapta- 

 tion to rice. 



Showing its wide range of adaptation, rice from the same sack 

 has been planted in moist land and flooded, in cultivated upland 

 fields, and on levees 18 inches above the water; and for a time it grew 

 with almost equal vigor in each of these situations. The principal 



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