BICE. 331 



I append a tabular statement of the yield in tierces for five years : 





Year. 



North 

 Carolina. 



South 

 Carolina. 



Georgia. 



Total. 







1871 

 1872 

 1873 

 1874 

 1875* 



tierces. 

 500 

 600 . 

 750 

 600* 



tierces. 

 42,842 

 47,240 

 43,067 

 47,268 

 50,000 



tierces. 

 11,250 

 19,874 

 23,702 

 21,671 

 23,000 



tierces. 

 54,592 

 67,714 

 67,519 

 69,539 

 73,000 





* Estimated. 



A larger area of territory is each year being brought into cultiva- 

 tion, and great improvement made every season in the quality of the 

 crop. Considering the impoverished condition of that section, and 

 the many disadvantageous surroundings, the advance of the five years 

 is remarkable. The following is the milled product of the three 

 rice-growing States, viz., Georgia, and North and South Carolina, since 

 the war: 



Lbs. Lbs. 



1866 7,500,000 1869 36,087,600 



1867 14,602,200 1870 40,641,000 



1868 18,477,000 1871 41,000,000 



The rice crop of Louisiana is an industry of increasing importance, 

 and particularly so from the fact that its cultivation exacts the 

 investment of but a limited amount of capital. When fields are 

 once divided by ditches, and a substantial culvert and sluice gate, 

 to admit the water from the river, are constructed, every preparation 

 for commencing the cultivation of this product has been made. The 

 entire cost for preparing the land and for seed is estimated at 

 3^ dollars per acre. Its cultivation and shocking amount to 

 13 dollars more, and the expenditure 6 dollars, for threshing and 

 handling, sums up 22 dollars for twelve barrels of rough rice, which 

 can be produced on one acre. Milling, freight, package, insurance, 

 drayage, and commission will amount to 3 dollars 40 cents more, 

 making a total expenditure of 36 dollars 40 cents for 1200 lbs. of 

 clean rice worth 84 dollars. It will be seen that a net profit of 

 47 dollars 60 cents per acre is thus given, making allowance for the 

 wages of labourers and every other expense. Heretofore 100 acres 

 has been considered the task of three men, which would pay each 

 1588 dollars 33 cents for six months' work, or salaries that at the 

 present time would be pronounced enormous were the talent and 

 muscular force invested considered. Really, however, their profits 

 would be much greater. Ploughing for rice entails scarcely any 

 labour, the earth being turned up but for a few inches, and by per- 

 forming their own work fully 3000 dollars could be saved. The 

 same is true of cultivation, the occasional flooding of the land being 

 the chief requisite. Only during the harvest season is a large 

 force required, and the adoption of the newly-invented labour- 

 saving machines would materially reduce the estimated cost. A 



