I 
:iW 
threshing had provided. The spring of 1917 eas soaaewh&t late and farmers 
eeMseAcv by 
hy unfavorable weather at tbs time of outting. 
were hindered 
A 
These delays with the laoK of suffieiont threshing facilities threw the 
tiaw of threshing late in many oases. This was especially true near Stutt- 
gart and i}e tfitt where there was considerable shocked rice in the fields 
as late as Hoveaber 10. Oillett though only a short distance further south 
is reported to have a somewhat earlier season and the greater part of the 
rice there had been threshed by the end of October. 
hies is also grown in juonoke and Prairie Counties north of Arkansas 
County but no reports of serious damage by birds hare oome from these 
I 
areas as yet. , 
DAMAQh BY DHCiC:. 
It was reported that a cold wave with unfavorable weather ooming 
shortly before Thanicsgivlng made it necessary to postpone the completion 
of the rioo hai^est while at the same time many ducks came into this region 
and began at once to feed in the fields. . Accounts varied some as to the 
actual date on which damage from this source began but it appears from the 
meteorological report for Arkansas for the month of Hovember that there 
Vras a marked fall in temperature and general cold throughout the State from 
Kovember 23 to 26 and it seems probable that the duoks began to come at 
e 
this time. 
The first reports of damage to the ehooked rice by ducks oame from^^^ 
i,a*fleldthbout^tentic41o»..*below,,8tutt6art»-,beloaging«to Basye. On 
the following nights dnoks fed in other fields nearby and at the same 
