428 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



cost of labor. The rice fields are located along the low alluvial bottom 

 lands where the greater part of work must be done by hand. This 

 leaves only a small margin of profit at present prices, and the danger 

 of this being occasionally lost through breaks in levees or river Hoods 

 has tended to retard a revival of what was once an important and 

 valuable industry. 



There seem to be two or three questions which this investigation 

 can properly deal with. One is to what extent State or Government 

 aid is required to assist in the regulation of streams, and to stud}' the 

 topography and watersheds of streams to ascertain what measures may 

 be taken to furnish a supplemental water supply through storage. 



The growing of rice on the uplands in Louisiana and Texas presents 

 an entirely different condition of affairs. Here the industry has been 

 from the first unusually successful, and it has increased until it has 

 assumed a national importance, promising to make the United States 

 an exporter instead of an importer of this staple product. 



Aside from the agricultural questions peculiar to rice farming, the 

 irrigation of these uplands presents new problems in canal construc- 

 tion and the lifting of water. In the arid region streams as a rule 

 have a heavy fall, and it is therefore eas} T to get water onto the lands 

 to be irrigated by gravity. In the rice districts the water supply is 

 below the lands to be served, in streams which have hardly enough 

 fall to produce a perceptible current, and the water must therefore be 

 raised by pumps. Even witH this expense, rice growing has proven 

 remarkably profitable. The rice lands, which were formerly worth 

 from $1 to $3 per acre, and used only for grazing, now sell for from 

 $30 to $50 per acre, and yield an annual return equal to the value of 

 the land. About 250,000 acres of these lands have already been 

 devoted to rice culture, and much more is capable of the same use. 



Along a few of the streams used more land has already been devoted 

 to rice than the streams can properly water, and the question of pro- 

 tecting the early users against the demands of those coming later is 

 pressing for settlement. Louisiana has no laws or customs affording 

 this protection. The publications of this Office place at the command 

 of the canal owners and lawmakers of that State the results of the 

 experience of other States and countries, and will afford them the means 

 of enacting a just and intelligent law governing water rights whenever 

 such action becomes necessary. 



A report will soon be published showing the methods used in irri- 

 gating rice and discussing the problems which have arisen in the rice 

 districts. This investigation should be continued by the experts 

 employed by this Office, whose familiarity with conditions elsewhere 

 makes them especially fitted for the solution of the problems arising 

 in this new field. 



