September i, 1891.J THE TROPIOAL AQR!©ULTU^fST,' 
and also of the attendant " servitudes," as Colonel 
Boreven aptly styles them, coastantly menacing 
the planter. Nor is it surprising that in 1860 some 
rice lauds were held as high as two hundred 
Uollars au acre, and paid an excellent per cent, 
on that figure. Today, owing to the difference 
in the price of labor and the corresponding profits, 
these lands could be purchased for much loss, 
and in every instance at a figure greatly below 
the original cost of construction. 
The equipmeut of a rice plantation varies with 
its size and location. From ihree hundred to 
five hundred acres is about the average size. It 
scarcely pays to cultivate less than one hundred 
acres. On a place of average size, sufficiently 
hear a city or town, a rice mill is now a rare 
adjunct. Previous to the war nearly every large 
planter milled his own rice, doing toll work as 
well for his neighbors. Now it is found more 
convenient to carry the rough rice or paddy by 
boat to the big steam mills m the nearest city, 
A thresher, however, is necessary on every plantation 
of any size. In addition to the common laborers 
who are employed by the day, and engaged and 
discharged as convenience requires, a well-appointed 
plantation generally has an overseer, a trunk minder, 
who is always a carpenter, and a foreman or 
" leader" for the negroes, besides a few regular 
hands to care for the stock, all of whom are en- 
gaged by the month or year, 
As many mules are necessary as on a ootton 
plantation of the same size ; for although at 
times they have nothing to do and enjoy altogether 
an easy life, nevertheless, when they are wanted 
badly and in considerable numbers, as is the 
case during "rolling lime" in sugar planting, in 
order to hurry through a certain process by a given 
time. 
The planter's busy season commences with 
the new year. The squares are cleared of stubble, 
ploughed, and harrowed. The stubble is in some 
oases ploughed in, but is commonly burned on 
the land. Tbe ditches are cleaned out annually, 
as they foul quite rapidly from abrasion, silt, 
and water vegetation; and the stuS so thrown 
out of the miiiu aitohes is laid on the banks. One 
would thiuk that in course of time the latter would 
become considerably tnlarged by the accumulation of 
vegetable matter and ditch mud thus piled on them 
year after year ; but in jaany instances, so light and 
porous is the original soil d£ which they are com- 
posea, and so spongy and liable to rapid decay is 
the added trash, that the banks are annually shrink- 
ing and growing smaller under the process of gradual 
couBoliuabion, so much so, indeed, that in even on a 
well-kept plantation it is frequently the case that 
two or more squares temporarily join their waters by 
portions of the bank giving way, 
fciingle-horse plows are generally used in breaking 
up, but successful attempts have been made to 
introduce BUlky and gang piuws and screw pulverizers. 
The fields, howevar, aie so cut up by the quarter 
drains that commonly light, portable bridges have 
to be employed in crossing tiie ditches, and heavy 
machinery, in consequence, is not always convenient. 
BeBideB, the soil, coutrury to the necessity in 
sugar planting, does not require deep breaking. 
As a rule the land is not lertilized, although 
it will not be long before the contrary will become 
the common practice. Many plantations that 
have been under uonstant caiture since colonial 
times still yield good harvests^; but the land is 
gittdual.y, though fortunately very slowly, losing 
Its nuLive power. UsutiUy the older fields produce 
rice of superior quality though less in quantity 
than the fresher lauds. 
Wbeie a field| baa reoeatly been "t^ken iQ," 
and is consequently composed of light, porous 
soil, it is not productive on account of the absence 
of mineral matter. On such a field phosphate and 
potash salts are used to advantage ; on some of 
the older fields ui.,rogenous fertilizers are oc- 
casionally applied, but not with as satisiactory 
results as in other crops. 
The paddy is sown from the second week in 
March to the middle or end of May. March sown 
rice will mature in about five months and fifteen 
days. Later plantings sometimes mature in ad- 
vance of the earlier. 
The principal motive of the planter, aside from 
important cultural objects in selecting the period 
of sowing, is to avoid harm upon the visuution 
of that vicious pest yet succulent dainty, the 
rice-bird. He comes in swarms twice a year — in 
the late spring and early fall — and the rice must 
be planted at such intervals as to be protected 
from his ravages. And here another factor comes 
in, available spring tides. 
Both the early sowed rice and that planted 
later are protected by the " sprout" and " stretch" 
waters when the birds come in the spring. The 
former is harvested and safe from their visitation 
in September, and the latter is not fully ripened 
until after they have taken their flight furthes 
southward. 
Should a mistake be made in regard to either 
of these conditions, the riQ6*bir(J to the unpro-^ 
tected crop is as disastrous and annihilating a^ 
the torch or a tornado. Therefore, if the plante - 
misses one spring tide, he must wait ana care 
fully make his calculations bo as to be able to 
utilize another for flowing. 
Before the war the variety commonly used on 
the coast for seed was known as " gold-seed." 
At that time white rice was planted almost ex" 
olusively in the interior. This has now generally 
superseded gold-seedj on account of its more 
certainly yielding a superior pearly luster, because 
it is more reaauy cleaned, and because of its 
earlier maturity. Bearded rice is sometimes used, 
but never on the tidal lands. 
The process of seeding is very simple ; grain 
drills, similar to those in use for wheat the 
country over, with .a slight adaptation suiting 
them for rice, are employed. The drills are set 
fifteen inchea apart, and the land is tsowed a 
Uttle more heavily than for wheat. It is a noted 
fact that the white rice of the uplands affords 
better seed for wet culture than tidal-raised seed, 
and is preferred by planters. 
As soon as the rice is plantett the "sprout water" 
is turned on to swell tne grain and force ger- 
mination. It is allowed to remain, according to 
temperature, from forty-eight hours to fifteen Jays 
and then drawn off. 
Now comes a picnic for the birds. The grain 
is only slightly below the surface, soft and sue- 
oulent ; and crows, jackdaws, blackbirds, and 
sparrows know when the sprout water is off as 
well as does the overseer, and they flock to the 
fields like school-boys on a holiday. 
Each square, according to size, is guurded by 
one or more dusky Nimrods, and from liawu to 
dark the constant popping of the old army musket 
sounds like a regular skirmish. It is nothing unusual 
for one planter to use eight or ten kegs ui powder 
year. Strange to say the negroes do nou relish 
this employment. It keeps their attentive Uculities 
on the alert all the time. Not for a mouuut can 
they relax their vigilance, for the birus wili be 
down on the fields, and yonder is the overseer's 
horse on the canal bank, outlined against the 
sky, and detection will follow instantiy. Your 
geuuiQQ iatikey igres tg FlQUgbj (he oouupaiiou 
