56 THE TEXAS RICE BOOK. 



vated land is that all land will be below the level of the water in 

 canal. Now, get pictured in your mind these parallel levees of 

 the main canal and branching off therefrom, the lateral canals, all 

 of which penetrate, say twenty thousand acres of land. The 

 levees of the main canal begin on the bank of some inexhaustible 

 stream, or its tributary, at which point the immense pumping 

 plant is located. Whenever it becomes known that a rice canal 

 is going to penetrate a certain territory, there is a rush for lands, 

 and by the time the canal is finished, houses are completed and 

 many farmers are engaged in breaking the sod. The two-ten 

 gang plows and four large mules do the work.. After plowing, 

 the disc harrow is needed to cut the sod and in April and May 

 the sowing commences and is done after the manner of wheat, 

 oats and similar grain. The press drill or seeder can be used, but 

 the drill is preferable, for it gives a more regular stand and ripens 

 more evenly. 



THE PUMPS 



started and a regular stream is sent boiling and foaming through 

 the levees, filling them bank full. The flood gates to the lateral 

 canals are loosed and they are soon filled. You will note the 

 water is now from one to six feet above the lands to be irrigated. 

 You behold field after field of rice, which resembles so many 

 wheat fields in appearance and which are now ready for the 

 water. The canal superintendent goes from farm to farm and 

 the flood gates from the main and lateral canals are lifted and 

 thousands of gallons of water go pouring into the fields, which is 

 held on the land by small levees constructed for this purpose and 

 with a view to have the water stand as evenly on the lands as pos- 

 sible. 



The rice farmer from this time until harvest begins, has only 

 to watch his levees and cry out, "Give me water, water," which 

 he keeps up for about seventy days, the usual period of irrigation. 

 The flood gates are now closed and the drainage gates opened. 



HARVESTING 



begins as soon as the field dries sufficiently to permit the har- 

 ester to enter, which is from ten to fifteen days. The rice self- 

 binder is identical with other grain harvesters, except stronger, 

 heavier and with broad wheels to prevent cutting into the soft 

 earth. The rice straw is larger and the yield of grain greater 

 than wheat, hence the increased strength of machinery. Rice is 

 shocked and permitted to stand for about twenty days, when it 

 is either stacked or threshed from the shock. 



