Edible Products. 



42 



[Jan. 1908. 



He convened a meeting of ryots and other people at Otapidaram on the 

 evening of the 6th instant, and distributed to them cakes called Amavadai fried 

 exclusively in safflower oil. The people said that the cakes tasted as well as if they 

 had been fried in ghee. At Pothimuttur the cake was greedily eaten by bullocks. 



Eight measures of safflower seed generally give one measure of oil by the 

 boiling process. The proportion of oil obtained by milling at Pothimuttur was 

 slightly smaller. More oil could have been obtained by presenting a burning torch 

 to the crushed mass of seed in the mill round and round while the pestle was turn- 

 ing. This was not done lest the oil should acquire a smoky flavour. The seed 

 produced in the Tamil districts is small as compared with what is produced in the 

 Telugu districts. If good seed obtained from the Telugu districts be sown in the 

 Tamil districts, the safflower seed then produced would give a larger proportion of oil. 

 —The Central Agricultural Committee, Madras, Circular No. 23. 



REPORT ON THE RICE INDUSTRY IN THE UNITED STATES. 



By Mr. E. Seymour Bell, 

 British Commercial Agent in the United States. 



Area Cultivated and Yield.— Rice cultivation in the United States has 

 become an important industry. During the fiscal year 1898-99, the production of rice 

 in this country was 250,280,221 lb., the land under rice cultivation was 342,218 acres. 

 This year it is calculated that the yield will be about 470,000,000 lb., the land planted 

 with rice being 643,400 acres. 



Imports.— Notwithstanding this large increase it is still insufficient to meet 

 the home demand. The quantity of rice of all sorts imported during the last fiscal 

 year amounted to 154,221,7721b., chiefly through San Francisco and New York. 



Exports.— The exportation of rice has increased considerably during the last 

 two years. This is shown in the following figures : — 



Exports of Whole Rice. 

 Fiscal Year. Rate per Month. 



lb. 



1901- 02 ... ... ... ... 51,000 



1902- 03 ... ... ... ... 44,000 



1903- 04 ... ... ... ... 197,000 



1904- 05 (three months) ... ... 419,665 



Exports of Rice Bran, Meal and Polish. 



Fiscal Year. Rate per Month. 



lb. 



1901- 02 ... ... ... ... 2,414,000 



1902- 03 ... ... ... ... 1,601,000 



1903- 04 ... ... ... ... 2,228,000 



1904- 05 (three months) ... ... 1,686,000 



Cultivation.— Before 1860 the rice production in the United States was 

 practically limited to the alluvial lands of the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida and Loui- 

 siana. When labour conditions were altered after the Civil War the production in 

 the Eastern States decreased considerably. When machinery was adapted to rice 

 production, and it was discovered that the prairie lands of South-western Louisiana 

 and Southern Texas with their impervious subsoils would dry before the rice harvest 

 sufficiently to support machinery, there was a revolution in the rice industry. 



Fifteen years ago there was scarcely a barrel of commercial rice produced 

 in what is now known as the prairie rice section of Texas, which extends 400 miles 

 along the Gulf coast, and contains some of the most fertile lands on this continent. 



