32 THE TEXAS RICE BOOK. 



of it, but raised as much per acre from land not irrigated as it 

 did from the irrigated portion. If you will write the company 

 at Stowell, Chambers County, the manager will give you all the 

 information you desire. Rice can be planted at any time between 

 the first of March and the first of June, and I advise where it 

 is sown in drills that it be planted early in the spring, like corn. 



Yours truly, N. V. WALLIS. 



Dickinson, Tex., Jan. 28. S. A. Hackworth, Esq., Calves- 

 ton, Tex. Dear Sir: Your letter of 23rd instant received on 

 26th. I have pleasure in writing what experience I have had in 

 Texas, as I have never planted except on a small scale to prove 

 how profitable the crop might be made. In drills 30 inches is cor- 

 rect, so is easily worked with bull tongued plow or cultivator. 

 With the land well prepared and frequent cultivation upland rice 

 will yield, with my experience, 25 to 30 bushels per acre. Either 

 variety of rice will produce a profitable yield here without irri- 

 gation. My experience in rice culture extensively cultivated was 

 in Carolina Cooper River; 5,000 to 20,000 bushels was the crop 

 on large plantations, and 50 to 60 bushels per acre was the aver- 

 age. The tide ebbed and flowed regularly and the fields could 

 be plowed if necessary to the depth of 4 to 6 feet. Mr. Brown 

 sent me seed of Japan high land rice. I planted in drills 30 

 inches, some three feet. The growth and yield were fully satis- 

 factory. It can be planted in March ; in fact, as early as corn, 

 and when cultivated will stand a dry season equally with corn. 

 Half a bushel will plant an acre. If not sown too thick the grain 

 will be heavier and stand a dry season best. Will be pleased to 

 hear from you again, and will write more fully. I notice your 

 article on fig culture. Charleston, S. C, my native home, is the 

 home of every variety of fig, where the production is regular and 

 large. I have over a hundred bearing trees here of different va- 

 rieties. Rich ground and cultivation they require. 



C. M. DESEL. 



RICE CULTURE. 



Galveston, Tex., Jan. 18. To The News: A rice farmer of 

 Chambers County recently informed me that he has, during the 

 past five years, averaged a net profit of $18 per acre by thickly 

 sowing rice in drills thirty inches apart and cultivating like corn. 

 He says in this moist climate, where the dews are heavy and 

 rains frequent, rice can be profitably grown on any of our coast 

 prairie lands without expense of flooding the rice fields, the only 

 difference being that it must be cultivated and all vegetation kept 

 down by plowing between the rows, and thus stirring up the soil, 

 so all moisture in the soil will go to the rice. One ordinary field 

 hand can easily cultivate forty acres, and the average will be 

 upon black waxy or black sandy loam soil twelve barrels per acre, 

 or sixty bushels; five bushels in one barrel of rice measure. 'Upon 



