342 



BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Great Wheat-producing States, 1900 — Concluded. 



Rice. 



Rice, one of the valuable products of this country and 

 of the world, the principal article of food of half the hu- 

 man race, known to the ancients, cultivated on marshy 

 soil in warm latitudes, was introduced and cultivated in this 

 country in Virginia, by Sir William Berkeley, in 1647. 

 From a half bushel of seed he raised sixteen bushels. 



The first obtained in South Carolina was obtained from a 

 ship that put into Charleston, from the Island of Madagas- 

 car, in 1(394. From that source, and possibly others, its 

 production in 1698, four years later, had increased so that 

 sixt} r tons were exported to England. Its culture in Louis- 

 iana was begun in 1718. As a paper will be read before 

 this body on this subject, I shall defer further allusion to the 

 subject until that time, except mention of a novel use of rice 

 and old shoes at weddings, the significance of which is so 

 well understood that comment thereon seems unnecessary. 



There are other products of barley, rye, millet, buckwheat, 

 beans, peas, sugar, honey, butter, vegetables and fruits, 

 which form a part of the food of our people, and a profitable 

 business to the farmer who cultivates them, of which time 

 and space here do not permit a description. 



