Edible Products, 



[November, 1909, 



in the hope that rice-growing may once 

 more figure in the settled industries of 

 the State :— 



EICE-GKOWING IN THE LOGAN DISTBICTt 

 AND ITS PREPARATION FOR MARKET. 



By Fred. Wm, Peek, Loganholme. 



Introduction and Early Cultivation. 



In writing up this article (by special 

 request), I will endeavour to make the 

 information contained as intelligible as 

 possible to the ordinary farmer and 

 agriculturist. Of the value of rice there 

 can be no two expressions of opinion, as 

 this cereal forms the chief food supply 

 of over one-half of the entire human 

 race, and certainly there is not another 

 product or cereal that, commercially or 

 economically, obtains the same value 

 as rice. 



The varieties of rice to be obtained 

 from the various countries where rice 

 forms one of the staple crops for food 

 supply, are innumerable, running into 

 several hundred varieties, particularly 

 where it is grown largely, as in India, 

 China, Japan, Siam, West Indies, and in 

 other parts of the world, and it has been 

 found that local names have been given 

 to rice of the same variety and quality. 

 For general purposes and distinction, 

 rice has been classified into three distinct 

 varieties or classes. These are known 

 to us as the " Aus," or upland rice ; the 

 " Aman," or swamp rice ; and the 

 " Boro," another swamp rice, or a variety 

 requiring inundation, warm climate, and 

 rapid growth, and producing a large 

 coarse grain, but which, so far as I have 

 been able to ascertain, has not been 

 tried or cultivated in Queensland up 

 to the present. The portion of the 

 Logan district where rice is now being 

 extensively cutivated is known as 

 Pimpama Island, which is situated in the 

 south-eastern portion of the State, in 

 153 degrees east longitude and between 

 27 and 28 degrees south latitude, and is 

 approached from Brisbane by means of 

 the South Coast Railway as far as 

 Beenleigh, thence by well-formed roads 

 for a distance of twelve miles crossing 

 the Albert River and skirting round the 

 base of Mount Stapylton or what is 

 known locally as Yellowwood Mountain, 

 which presents to the visitor's gaze one 

 of the prettiest views in the Logan dis- 

 trict, dotted from base to summit with its 

 settlers ' homes and splendidly laid out 

 farms. The dark-green patches of sugar- 

 cane, bananas, maize, and other crops, 

 strongly contrasting with the rich red 

 volcanic soil visible here and there, make 



a picture of agricultural industry both 

 pleasing and effective, and one of which 

 the district is justly proud. 



What is known as "Pimpama Island " 

 is the land lying between the Logan, 

 Albert, and Pimpama Rivers, which are 

 connected by a series of creeks and 

 swamps with a long frontage to the 

 Pacific Ocean or Moreton Bay, contain- 

 ing several thousand acres of rich coastal 

 land, interspersed with large areas of 

 ti-tree swamps, the water of which is 

 brackish and undrinkable. The soil 

 cultivated, and which has proved itself 

 best adapted to the growth of rice, is of 

 a sandy, loamy nature in appearance, 

 but containing in a remarkable degree 

 the constituents most suited to the 

 nature and requirements of the plant, 

 being easy of working, although slightly 

 tenacious in wet or showery weather, 

 but of very shallow depth in some places. 

 Layers of decomposed marine shells are 

 found in rather large quantities, pointing 

 out that the lands were once ocean- 

 washed, and the receding water have 

 left valuable deposits of lime and other 

 constituents in the soil, which, together 

 with the rich humus formed by the 

 decaying foliage of scrub vines, palms, 

 ferns, &c, of rank tropical growth, have 

 left these patches of soil of varying area 

 between the swamps most suitable for 

 rice culture. 



The value of the land averages from 

 £2 10s, to £6 per acre without improve- 

 ment, and very little, if any, remains 

 unalienated, it being so close to Bris- 

 bane, and the Logan district being one 

 of the first settled districts of the 

 colony. All the best lands were early 

 availed of for cultivation. Who first 

 introduced the rice seed of commercial 

 value to Queensland appears to be un- 

 decided ; but our State Botanist, Mr. 

 F. M. Bailey, has described a species of 

 wild rice (Oryza sativa), a native plant 

 of North Queensland, growing in the 

 swampy lands there, as being indigenous 

 to this State ; also, the Chinese have 

 grown rice rather extensively on the 

 North Queensland river banks, parti- 

 cularly near Cairns, in patches for many 

 years past, and which has met with a 

 ready sale when placed on the market. 



But it is to Mr. A. J. Boyd, the present 

 editor of the ''Queensland Agricultural 

 Journal," that the credit is due of the 

 introduction, in 1869, of rice-growing in 

 the Logan district— he having procured 

 the seed and planted it as an experi- 

 mental crop at his sugar plantation, 

 Ormeau, which he then had at Pimpama. 

 The seed was one of the Japan varieties, 

 with which he met fair success as re- 

 gards the grow oh and result. Since 



