61 



grains broken in the process of milling or preparing the grain for 

 market was very large, and the proportion of " head rice," made up of 

 unbroken grains, was low. The difference in wholesale price between 

 head rice and broken rice is about 2 cents, per pound. When the 

 broken rice ran up to 40, 60, or even 90 per cent., and in the face of a 

 close market, the whole industry was menaced. 



On the 1st of July, 1898, an appropriation for the introduction of 

 valuable seeds and plants from foreign countries, a^ked for by tiie Sec- 

 retary of Agriculture in his estimates of the preceding year, became 

 available, and on September 1, 1898, Dr. S. A. Knapp, of Louisiana, 

 was appointed bv the Secretary as an agricultural explorer, with in- 

 structions to visit Japan, investigate the rices of that country, and pur- 

 chase a stock suited to meet the requirements of the American probl'^m. 

 Dr. Knapp returned in the early spring of 1899 with ten tons of Kiushu 

 rice, which was distributed to experimenters in southw^estern Louisiana 

 and elsewhere in the rice belt. The result of the milling tests are now 

 awaited. If the high milling quality of the Kiushu rice is maintained 

 under our cultural conditions, the last apparent obstacle to the complete 

 success of an American system of rice cultivation will be removed. 



The accompanying report by Dr. Knapp, been prepared for the 

 purpose of diffusing information on the new American system of rice 

 culture and its relation to the general question of rice production.] 



INTRODUCTORY. 



Rice forms the principal tood of one-half the pop-alation of the 

 earth. It is never the exclusive food of a people except under necessity 

 for short periods, but it has just claims to a wider and more general 

 use as a food material than any other cereal. 



Where dense populations are dependent for food upon an annual 

 crop and any consider ihl^ diminution in the supply would result in 

 starvation for many, rice has been selected as the staple food wherever 

 the climate permits its cultivation. Among dense populations certainty 

 of supply is of first importance. 



The luxuriant growth of leguminous plants at all seasons in tropical 

 climates provides the necessary nitrogenous food elements. Nitrogen- 

 ous foods are more economically provided in this way than in the form 

 of meats as used by the European races. 



A combination of rice and pulses is a much cheaper complete food 

 than wheat and meat, and forms a food ration which may be produced 

 oil a smaller tilled area. The individual workers in densely populated 

 agricultural countries are forced to depend on the cheapest suitable 

 rations ; hence, the popular dependence on rice and legumes in such 

 closely-settled lands as Japan, China, and India. 



VARIETIES OF RICK. 



There is an immense number of varieties of cultivated rice, differing 

 in length of the season required for maturing, and in character, yield, 

 and quality. Their divergence not only extends to size, shape, and 

 colour of the grain, but to the relative proportion of food constituents 

 and the consequent flavour. South Carolina and Japan rices are rich in 



