64 THE TEXAS RICE BOOK. 



LAND. 



The first essential in the cultivation of all crops is select- 

 ing land suited to the growing of the crop you desire to culti- 

 vate. In rice farming the lands must have a nearly level surface 

 so that the water will stand evenly on the land and enable large 

 fields to come under the smaller levees, which hold the water on 

 the land. The soil should be from four to fifteen inches in depth 

 under which must be clay so as to prevent the sinking of water 

 into the earth. There are also several other important reasons 

 favoring shallow soil. The growth is not so rank which gives a 

 better head and less straw, the ground dries out more rapidly 

 than deep soil and the harvesting is much easier. 



IRRIGATION. 



Probably the greatest element in the transformation of the 

 industry from a small and significant beginning to what is recog- 

 nized to-day as one of the leading and best paying industries in 

 the Southern States, may be found in the extensive system of irri- 

 gation that has been established in the last few years. The most 

 sanguine believers in rice culture never expected to see 

 the many inexhaustible streams and bayous, with which the prai- 

 rie region abounds and which connect the large bodies of fresh 

 water lakes and bays lying close to the Gulf coast, utilized for ir- 

 rigation purposes, on account of the high lift from these streams 

 which, in many instances, is from twenty to sixty feet. In conse- 

 quence, thousands upon thousands of acres of rice land that was 

 supposed to be inaccessible for this purpose have proven to be a 

 "bonanza" to their owners. They have on this account suddenly 

 developed an intrinsic value that readily places them by the side 

 of the most valued agricultural lands in the United States. The 

 development of rice culture requires considerable preparation and 

 goes much further than planting and harvesting. In the first 

 place, companies are organized to build the canals and put in the 

 pumping machinery. This necessitates an outlay of from $50,- 

 ooo to $300,000, according to amount of land to be irrigated. 



RICE CANALS 



are constructed by building two parallel levees over the prairie: 

 one hundred feet apart and varying from three to eight feet in 

 height. These levees are made the same as railroad dumps, ex- 

 cept not so wide. These levees often extend fifteen miles, and 

 from these main levees, smaller ones extend four to six miles and 

 are termed lateral canals. Some canals have as many as six and 

 eight laterals. The engineer in locating the main canal and 

 laterals selects the highest lands and hence some canals have 

 many different courses. The object in clinging t the moit ele- 



