July, 1911.] 



41 



Edible Products. 



immediately to adapt the agricultural 

 machinery to whiah they had been 

 accustomed to the rice industry. The 

 gang plough, disc harrow, drill and broad- 

 cast seeder were readily adjusted, but 

 the twine binder encountered a number 

 of serious obstacles. However, by the 

 close of 1886 the principal difficulties had 

 been overcome. Wherever prairies were 

 found sufficiently level, with- an inter- 

 secting creek which could be used to 

 flocd them, they were surrounded by 

 a small levee thrown up by a road 

 grader or by a plough with a strong 

 wing attached to the mold-board, ex- 

 tending it four or five feet. These 

 levees were usually .twelve to twenty- 

 four inches high, and the interior ditch 

 was twelve to eighteen inches deep aud 

 four or five feet wide. Very few interior 

 ditches were made for drainage. The 

 land was so level that fields of forty 

 and eighty acres were common. Large 

 crops were produced. The prairies were 

 practically free from injurious grasses, 

 and the creek or river was soft and bore 

 no damaging seeds to the fields. The 

 rice fields were handled like the bonanza 

 wheat farms of Dakota, aud fortunes 

 were made. Levees were cheaply con- 

 structed ; little attention was paid to 

 drainage, more than to remove the 

 surface water ; shocking, stacking and 

 threshing were done in a very careless 

 manner ; the main object being appar- 

 ently to plant a large acreage and 

 harvest a certain number of bushels 

 regardless of quality. Ultimate failure 

 was certain, but it was hastened by 

 drought. A succession of dry years 

 followed. The creek failed and reser- 

 voirs were found to be expensive and 

 unreliable. 



"The soil and climatic conditions in 

 South-eastern Texas are almost precisely 

 like those in South-western Louisiana. 

 Rice culture in this section requires no 

 separate treatment. What is applicable 

 to the one applies also to the other. 

 There is a belt of prairie land well-suited 

 to rice extending from the Sabine river 

 west for 250 miles or more along the 

 coast. Within a few years large farms 



have been opened and devoted to this 

 cereal with excellent returns." 



On speaking of the prospects of the 

 industry the Department says : — 



"The outlook for the further exten- 

 tion of rice culture is very promising. 

 According to the best estimates there 

 are about 10,000,000 acres of land in the 

 five States bordering on the Gulf of 

 Mexico well suited to rice cultivation. 

 The amount which can be successfully 

 irrigated by present methods, using 

 the available sui face and artesian flows, 

 does not exceed 3,000,000 acres. The 

 balance of the land could probably be 

 brought into cultivation were it neces- 

 sary, but the cost would, perhaps, be 

 prohibitive at present prices. Three 

 million acres is a conservative estimate 

 of the area which can be easily irrigated. 

 The best results require rotation of 

 crops ; consequently only one-half of 

 that area, or 1,500,000 acres, would be 

 in rice at any one time. At an average 

 yield of 10 barrels (of 162 pounds) per 

 acre, 1,500,000 acres of rice would produce 

 nearly 2,500;000 pounds of clean rice, 

 nearly six times the amount of our 

 present consumption. There is no satis- 

 factory reason why the United States 

 should not grow and mill all of its own 

 rice and become an exporter. 



"The employment of machinery in 

 the rice fields of the South-west similar 

 to that used in the great wheat fields of 

 California and the Dakotas is revolu- 

 tionizing the methods of cultivation and 

 greatly inducing cost. The American 

 rice grower, employing higher priced 

 labour than any other rice grower in 

 the world, in all probability will ulti- 

 mately be able to market his crop at 

 the least cost and the greatest profit. 

 If, in addition, the same relative im- 

 provement can be secured in the rice 

 itself, and it varieties which yield from 

 80 to 90 per cent, of head rice in the 

 finished product can be successfully 

 introduced, American rice groweis will 

 be able to command the highest prices 

 for their product in the markets of the 

 world." 



PLANT SANITATION. 



THE DEGREE OP VIRULENCE OP 

 FUNGUS ATTACKS. 



(From the Agricultural News, Vol. X., 

 No. 234, April 15, 1911.) 

 In these days, when almost everyone 

 connected with agriculture has had a 

 considerable, and often unpleasant, 

 6 



experience of the general effects of 

 fungus diseases on crops, it is hardly 

 necessary to point out that some fungi 

 are much more thorough than others in 

 carrying out their work of destruction. 

 It is only requisite to consider for a 

 moment the damage inflicted upon the 

 sugar-cane in the West Indies by the 

 rind fungus during the last decade of 



