THE TEXAS RICE BOOK. 53 



the water is withdrawn. The crop is generally ready for gar- 

 nering in August. In many alluvial sections machinery can not 

 be used on account of the character of the ground and the crop 

 is cut with sickles, laid upon the stubble to cure, then shocked 

 and threshed. 



Prairie rice lands in Louisiana and Texas have become, 

 within the last ten years, an important feature. Owing to plenty 

 of water, these lands have been very heavy producers. Gang 

 plows, harrows, seeders, self-binders and the different sorts of 

 machinery used in wheat culture in the Northwest are profit- 

 ably used in the rice fields and, with exception of the flooding 

 of the fields, the culture and care of the two crops have much 

 in common. The Louisiana experiment station collected the 

 expressions of a number of the most prominent rice growers, 

 who agreed in the main on the following methods : The land 

 is broken with four mule gang plows, reaching about three 

 inches, although two to two and one-half inches is deep enough 

 for sod. Disc and spring tooth harrows are used ana, where 

 necessary, complete pulverization is secured by the use of a 

 smoothing harrow. Should the ground be too hard, water is 

 turned in to soften it. The stand is found more uniform where 

 a drill is used, although the rice may be sown broadcast. In 

 moist, warm weather, water is not turned on for from four to 

 six weeks and then care is taken not to cover the tops. An av- 

 erage season requires three months' flooding. 



The water is withdrawn from the field when the heads begin 

 to turn and the rice is passing into the "dough" stage. This is 

 usually from 10 to 14 days before harvest begins. 



Three horses with a modern self-binder will harvest from 

 five to twelve acres daily. The same thresher used for oats 

 will thresh rice. Where the farmer supplies the hands the 

 thresher usually charges two and one-half cents a bushel. In 

 threshing from the shock something like seventeen men are re- 

 quired. No fertilizers have been used thus far in rice culture, 

 some claiming that after several years of rice growing, land 

 shows no deterioration. The price of rice lands runs all the 

 way from $20 to $100 per acre, and the yield per acre runs 

 from 1,000 to 2,000 pounds. The prevalence of. weeds is one 

 of the most serious drawbacks to the cultivation of rice. Texas 

 Stock and Farm Journal. 



RICE CULTURE. 



While scores of people throughout the length and breadth 

 of our State and the United States hear of rice culture and read 

 of the great profits and plenty it pours into the laps of the for- 

 tunate producers thereof, still these same scores of people are 

 m blissful ignorance regarding the mode, methods and general 

 details of this "king of all crops." - 



