HEARINGS BEFORE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE. 195 
This year we had a man in Russia studying flax. He has secured 
many fine varieties, which will be planted during the coming year. 
We have worked on macaroni wheat until that is practically finished. 
We are putting on the market, dates. The rice work is very well 
along, and this year there will probably be 500,000,000 pounds of rice 
in this country, just about what we consume. We will begin to 
export rice next year. There are many questions in connection with 
rice that we can work out in our own way. We are trying to demon- 
strate that we can grow our own rice seed in this country. 
Mr. Henry. How large an increased area has been grown this year? 
Mr. Gattoway. Probably 100,000 acres; there are about 200,000 
acres of rice land put in Texas this year alone. It is the most profit- 
able sos they have down there. It has taken the place of cotton in 
the southern section of that country, where cotton has been wiped out 
by the boll weevil. It nets them about $20 an acre. 
Mr. Bowre. Is it as expensive to cultivate as cotton? 
Myr. Gattoway. Not nearly. The rice work in Texas and Louisiana 
has been made successful from the fact that the methods of growin 
wheat in the Northwest have been introduced there—self-binders ani 
all such things are used. 
Mr. Bowis. Have we any suitable rice land in Alabama? 
Mr. GatLoway. Yes, sir. Weare growing some upland rice which 
is proving quite successful. 
Most of you are familiar with the methods we adopt with new and 
rare cotton seed and new and rare tobacco seed. If we find a variety 
that has a good record we endeavor to get up a stock of that—it may 
take a little time—and we distribute that in a limited way the first year, 
and if we find it effective we distribute it more extensively the next 
year. We have distributed a number of cottons, and pick out five or 
six new ones each year, and get up enough to make a general distribu- 
tion, and we send out with each package of seed that goes out, one of 
these circulars, which describes the length of the fiber and a descrip- 
tion of the variety itself, so the planter himself can go ahead and get 
up a stock of seed. And we do the same thing with tobacco. In that 
way we are gradually diverting more and more df the general Con- 
gressional fund—rather in that direction than with miscellaneous garden 
seeds. 
The suggestion has been made—and probably we will put it into 
operation in many cases—that the members will prefer to have these 
special things rather than these miscellaneous things. That is wholly 
optional with them, but we will have to know it a year in advance. 
Mr. Scorr. How have you been making that distribution this year? 
You stated a moment ago that the members did not want their 
special seed. 
Mr. GatLoway. I meant special garden seed. They were not spe- 
cial field seed, or anything of that kind. 
Mr. Scort. These varieties of cotton, tobacco, etc., are distributed 
to the member in the usual way ? 
Mr. Gattoway. Each member living in the cotton belt gets 80 pecks 
of this cotton seed. With tobacco growers we divide the country up 
into districts, and we send to each district the type of tobacco that 
ought to succeed there. We send 110 packages such as this [exhibit- 
ing] to each member, and one of those packages will plant about a 
quarter of an acre [showing package]. This happens to be Sumatra 
