Edible Products. 



214 



[March 1908. 



BRITISH GUIANA RICE INDUSTRY. 



In a report of an interview with Sir 

 Daniel Morris on November 16 last, the 

 Demerara Argosy publishes the following 

 remarks made by the Imperial Commis- 

 sioner with reference to the rapidly 

 extending rice industry of British 

 Guiana : — 



Dining my visit to Canada, said Sir 

 Daniel Morris, in order to impress the 

 people of the Dominion with the resour- 

 ces and possibilities of the West Indies 

 and British Guiana, I cited the remark- 

 able development of two new industries 

 which had been called into being practi- 

 cally during the last five years. 



One was the Sea Island cotton industry* 

 started at St. Vincent, Barbados, and 

 the Northern Islands in 1903, and which 

 is now of the annual value of nearly 

 quarter of a million sterling, or $1,200,000. 

 This Sea Island cotton is still capable of 

 further development, and the fine spin- 

 ners of Lancashire are satisfied that they 

 can look to the West Indies for their 

 supply of this particular class of raw 

 material. The other development to 

 which I drew attention was the singu- 

 larly interesting one of rice growing 

 in British Guiana. This has been called 

 into existence on a commercial scale 

 within the short period of ei^ht years. 

 The yield of rice in 1899 was under 5,01)0 

 tons ; in 1902 it had increased to nearly 

 16,000 tons, and according to the returns 

 published by the Government last year, 

 it had reached a total of 30,000 tons. 



In addition to rice, the colony can look 

 forward to a considerable extension of 

 the lime, coconut, cacao, and rubber 

 cultivations, so that these subsidiary 

 industries may ensure the continued 

 well-being and prosperity of the colony. 

 From the returns of the rice industry 

 it would appear that whilst seven years 

 ago the imports into British Guiana were 

 a little over 25,000,000 lbs., last year they 

 had fallen to 6,000,000 lbs., showing that 

 during a comparatively short period the 

 imports had shrunk more than 75 per 

 cent. It is gratifying to learn that 

 though a considerable revenue may have 

 been lost by the falling away in the 

 imports of rice, this has been practically 

 made up by the larger imports of dry 

 goods and other commodities. 



British Guiana has arrived at the posi" 

 tiou that while enormous quantities of 

 rice are being produced locally, which 

 are caking the place of grain formerly 

 imported, it has also begun to export 

 rice to the neighbouring colonies in the 

 British West Indies, and to French and 

 Dutch Guiana. As far as I am able to 

 gather, the first rice exported from 

 British Guiana amounted to 10,506 lbs. in 



1902-3 ; this was of the value of $290. In 

 1904-5 the exports reached 61,225 lbs., of 

 the value of $1,709, while last year the 

 increase was considerable, the exports 

 amounting to 3,474,512 lbs., of the value 

 of $89,078 (£18,000). 



It would appear from a question asked 

 at the address delivered by me on 

 Friday, that -ome of the growers are 

 concerned as to the be-t means of dis- 

 posing of rice straw. It is true that rice' 

 straw is capable of being made into 

 paper ; on the other hand, if it is to be 

 shipped out of the colony, it will have 

 to be pressed into compact bales and the 

 freight would be considerable as com- 

 pared with the intrinsic value of the 

 material. It would not be a difficult 

 matter to send sample bales of rice straw 

 from British Guiana to be tested and 

 reported upon by paper makers in 

 Europe or in Canada. In the meantime, 

 the Board of Agriculture would do valu- 

 able service if it could persuade the 

 small growers to use the rice straw as 

 fodder and bedding material for their 

 animals, and return the straw in the 

 form of manure to the land. It is a ter- 

 rible waste of good manure to burn the 

 straw, as 1 understand some of the small 

 growers are doing at present. It is 

 absolutely necessary for lands under 

 cultivation to receive back a proportion 

 Of tiie vegetable, material taken from 

 them ; otherwise they lose their fertility. 

 Rice straw might also We ut ilized as a 

 mulching material in all kinds of cultiva- 

 tion. It would keep land in good con- 

 dition during prolonged periods of 

 drought, and it would also keep down 

 weeds and maintain for long periods the 

 productivity of areas under cultivation 

 in limes, cacao, rubber, and fruit trees, 

 without the use of artificial manures. — 

 Agricultural News, Vol. VI., No. 148, 

 28th December, 1907. 



REPORT ON THE RICE INDUSTRY 

 IN THE UNITED STATES. 

 By Mr. E. Seymour Bell , 

 British Commercial Agent in the U. S. 

 (Concluded.) 



Progress op Cultivation.— It is said 

 that the first growers of rice in Loui- 

 siana and Texas were the Acadiaus, 

 French settlers of Nova Scotia. 



Judging by the returns, early rice 

 growing in Louisiana offered little 

 attraction for that capital which, in 

 recent years, has developed so much of 

 the land not formerly cultivated by the 

 Acadians, but adjacent to their little 

 fields, and which were believed by them 

 to be almost valueless. Their methods 



