and Magazine oj the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— Dec, 1910. 501 



RICE GROWING IN BRITISH GUIANA. 



British Guiana, a few years ago, was a con- 

 spicuous example of a colony with only one 

 important agricultural industry ; in addition 

 to sugar and its by-products there were no 

 other exports, except a small amount of cacao, 

 obtained by cultivation. Today sugar easily 

 maintains its premier position, but there is 

 also an important rice industry yielding suffi- 

 cient to supply the large local demand and to 

 leave a considerable and increasing surplus for 

 export. So promising is the industry that 

 hopes are entertained that British Guiana, in 

 the not distant future, may become " the gra- 

 nary of the West Indies." Before entering into 

 any detail regarding the change which has been 

 effected in British Guiana it will be well to 

 refer briefly to 



DEVELOPMENTS IN OTHEB PARTS OB' THE WORLD 



Rice, the staple foodstuff of more people than 

 any other cereal, is native to South-Eastern 

 Asia. For many centuries the countries to 

 which it is native and the adjacent regions 

 maintained a monopoly of the cultivation ; they 

 are still far ahead of all competitors. Other 

 countries, however, are steadily increasing their 

 rice output, and some which at one time im- 

 ported the grain now raise sufficient to leave a 

 surplus for export. 



Various causes have contributed to this result. 

 In the United States rice was introduced some 

 '250 years ago. For a long time Carolina and 

 Georgia remained the chief producing regions, 

 the crop being grown and harvested under con- 

 ditions not differing essentially from those ob- 

 taining in Asia. The swampy lands forbade the 

 use of labour-saving machinery and the crop could 

 not be produced at as low a rate as where cheap 

 tropical labour is available. In about 1880 prairie 

 regions in Louisiana and Texas were opened 

 up, and by extensive iirigation works land, 

 normally dry, is artificially flooded so as to per- 

 mit of growth of rice. By subsequent with- 

 drawal of the water the crop is harvested under 

 conditions permitting of the use of modern 

 machinery. The economy thus effected, to- 

 gether with the introduction of improved 

 varieties, revolutionised rice cultivation in the 

 States, and Louisiana and Texas now produce 

 80 to 90 per cent of the rice crop of the country, 

 which in 19U8 amounted to some 301,786 tons, 

 or about 75 per cent of the total consumption, 

 whereas prior to 1880 the proportion was only 

 about 60 per cent of the then much smaller 

 consumption. Rice production in the United 

 States has much more than kept pace with the 

 growth of the demand. 



Europe in the same year produced about 

 598,000 tons, chiefly in Italy and Spain. Africa 

 follows next with 555,000 tons, Madagascar 

 being by far the chief producing region. In 

 Egypt the industry is large and of especial in- 

 terest, inasmuch as in the lower delta rice is 

 one of the chief crops employed in the recla- 

 mation of waste alkali lands. Amongst British 

 possessions in tropical Africa, Sierra Leone, and, 

 last year, for the first time, Nyasaland, also 

 had surpluses for export, whilst rice is widely 

 grown on a small scale by the natives in other 



colonies and protectorates. British tropical 

 Africa, however, as a whole, does not yet grow 

 all the rice it consumes. 



The totals of production in various regions 

 given above, large as they are, pale into in- 

 significance before 



THE PRODUCTION OF ASIA, 



which is estimated at some 82,000,000 tons. 

 The introduction of Asiatics into other regions 

 has been an important factor in spreading rice 

 cultivation. This is well seen in the British 

 West Indies, where rice is grown by coolies 

 in Trinidad, Jamaica, and St. Lucia. It is, 

 however, on the mainland of South America, 

 in British Guiana, that we find the greatest 

 development of recent years in rice cultivation 

 in this region. For the beginnings of this now 

 important enterprise we must go back nearly 

 half-a-century. 



Rice was introduced into British Guiana from 

 Georgia in 1853. It did well, and some of the 

 crop was sent to England, where, as cleaned 

 rice, it realised 30s. per cwt., or 5s. more than 

 the ordinary Carolina rice at the time. A sub- 

 sequent introduction appears to have been made 

 from Carolina in 1865. An industry began to 

 grow up and a company was formed, butowingto 

 large crops in India, combined with a local scar- 

 city of labour, the venture proved unremunerative. 



The cultivation lingered on until, in 1902, a 

 shortage of Indian rice, with a consequent rise in 

 price, gave it an impetus, and the area under 

 cultivation was increased. 



About this same period the industry was 

 seriously taken in hand by the Agricultural De- 

 partment, and experiments were made to test the 

 value of introduced varieties from the United 

 States, Ceylon, Java, India, &c, in comparison 

 with the varieties early introduced, but now 

 naturalised, which are spoken of as Creole or 

 native. To foster the industry, seed of the 

 more promising varieties was distributed free 

 to planters. Of 



THE INTRODUCED RICES SO TRIED 



three stand out conspicuously as of equal or even 

 higher value than the creole rice. Two are 

 varieties of Ceylon upland rice known as Nos. 3 

 and 6, whilst the third (No. 75) is an Indian 

 rice called Suthra dhan. The average yields of 

 these three rices in the period 1905-9 have been 

 respectively (in bags of rice of 120 lb.) per sere 

 —38 3, 37 '2, 36 3, whilst the Creole has given 

 35'3 bags. It was at one time considered a point 

 against the creole rice that it took five or six 

 months to come to maturity, and it was expected 

 that advantage would accrue from the growth of 

 some of the introduced varieties which ripened 

 within four months. Curiously enough, how- 

 ever, these varieties have altered, and now no 

 longer mature appreciably earlier than the 

 creole. The Agricultural Department has also 

 carried out very useful work in making 



MANURIAL TESTS, 



from which it appears that there is no ne- 

 cessity for the planter to incur expense on this 

 score. "On well cultivated rice land properly 

 drained and satisfactorily irrigated with creek 

 water little advantage is likely to be gained by 

 manuring with the mineral constituents of 



71 



