THE TEXAS RICE BOOK. 33 



poor sandy soil the average is about eight barrels per acre. Upon 

 river alluvial soil the average is about fifteen barrels per acre. 

 The average price of rice is $3 per barrel. It is planted the latter 

 part of May or the first of June, and ripens in September. 



It is evident if our Brazos River planters will now thus cul- 

 tivate their plantations in rice they will not experience any furth- 

 er difficulty in securing all the labor they require, because they 

 can afford to pay labor living wages and the work required of 

 laborers or tenants will not be one-third of the labor required to 

 raise a cotton crop, while the certainty of raising good rice crops 

 will be assured. Another great advantage over a cotton crop is 

 the fact that an overflow of the Brazos River, which has been so 

 disastrous during the past two years. When these overflows oc- 

 cur it is usually in June and July, therefore if rice is planted in 

 May it will be so far advanced when these overflows occur that 

 an overflow will not injure but benefit the growing rice. Not only 

 can our Brazos River plantations be thus cultivated in rice, but 

 they can also be flooded from the Brazos River and made into 

 the usual rice fields ; but this is expensive, because it requires 

 embankments thrown up around the rice fields and steam pump- 

 ing machinery to flood the fields and maintain certain depths of 

 water during the growth of rice. 



This will be expensive, for the Brazos River soil is so porous 

 it will absorb the water rapidly, and the soil is so fertile the rice 

 raised by this method will grow-'too high and likely to be blown 

 down and badly damaged before it is ready for harvest. 



By cultivating it with plows the stems grow thicker and not 

 so tall as when raised in water, therefore it is stronger and can 

 withstand heavy windstorms without injury. The Star flour mills 

 here have a first-class rice mill, and I am informed pay the high- 

 est market prices for all crude rice delivered to them at our 

 wharves, therefore our rice planters have a steady and permanent 

 market at home for all rice they can raise. All seed rice required 

 can be had here at lowest market prices. There is ample time be- 

 tween now and the 1st or 2Oth of May for farmers with small 

 capital to break up and prepare prairie lands to plant and culti- 

 vate rice in rows .thirty inches apart, and thus realize a sure crop 

 which gives them fair profit. 



I submit the above suggestions to readers of The Gaheston 

 News because I have evidence to believe that rice culture can be 

 made a sure and a profitable crop upon our coast prairie and 

 Brazos River alluvial lands. 



S. A. HACKWORTH. 



