CULTIVATION OF RICE. 
73 
ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE. 
We would call attention to the suggestions of 
Dr. Cartwright in the excellent article which fol¬ 
lows, particularly in the sixth paragraph, where 
he explains how unhealthy stagnant waters, bogs, 
and marshes, may be converted into fruitful rice- 
fields. We are also of opinion with him, that 
rice may be cultivated to advantage much farther 
north than has ever been attempted. A fair, wild 
variety grows abundantly on the shores of Lake 
Superior; and why may not rice be acclimated 
from one degree to another north, as far as corn, 
which is evidently, originally, a tropical production ? 
For the American Agriculturist. 
CULTIVATION OF RICE. 
Natchez , March , 25, 1843. 
Mr. Allen, Dear Sir : In answer to your in¬ 
quiries about rice and the comparative product of 
what is called upland and lowland , I can not give 
you much information. What little I have is at 
your service. Together with many others, you 
seem to have taken for granted, that there is a 
variety of rice adapted to upland cultivation, and 
another to lowland. Certainly, there are many 
varieties of rice; but I am induced to believe that 
they are all essentially aquatic. All the varieties, 
yet discovered, flourish best under the inundation 
system of culture; yield more to the acre, give 
less trouble, and require less labor. Nevertheless, 
each variety grows pretty well on light, moist up¬ 
lands, without irrigation, when cultivated with the 
hoe or plow. The product, however, is so much 
less than that by the irrigation system, and the 
labor of tillage so much more, that the upland pro¬ 
ducer never can compete successfully with the 
lowlander. The former may curtail his expenses 
by growing rice for domestic uses, but he can not, 
very profitably, produce it for sale. Besides the 
ten-fold labor, which rice on uplands requires, in 
comparison to that cultivated by the irrigation sys¬ 
tem, it can not be sown thick enough to make a 
larger yield per acre. Space must be left for the 
plow or hoe to till the rice, which is not necessary 
in those localities where it can be overflowed at 
will, and the water drawn off as occasion may re¬ 
quire. 
The method pursued on the rice lands of the 
lower Mississippi, is to sow the rice broadcast, 
about as thick as you sow wheat at the north, and 
harrow it in with a light harrow having many 
teeth; the ground being first well plowed and pre¬ 
pared by ditches and embankments for inundation 
at will. It is generally sown in March. Imme¬ 
diately after sowing, the water is let on, so as 
barely to overflow the ground. The water is with¬ 
drawn on the second, third, or fourth day, or as 
soon as the grain begins to swell. The rice very 
soon after comes up and grows finely. When it 
has attained about three inches in height, the wa¬ 
ter is again let on; the top leaves being left a 
little above the water. Complete immersion 
would kill the plant. A fortnight previous to har¬ 
vest, the water is drawn off to give the stalks 
strength, and to dry the ground for the convenience 
of the reapers. j 
A different method is practised in the northern 
part of Italy. The seed is sown in April; previ¬ 
ously to which it is soaked a day or two in water. 
After sowing, about two inches of water is let in 
upon the ground. The rice comes up through the 
water, which is then drawn off to give the plant 
strength, and after some days, is again let on. . The 
rice is more apt to mildew under this practice, than 
our method of letting the water on about the time 
the Italians draw it off. Mr. Jefferson, in his 
memoranda of a journey into the northern part of 
Italy in 1787, published in 2d Yol. of his corres¬ 
pondence says, that in the neighborhood of Milan, 
“ they first plow the ground, then level it with a 
drag-harrow, and let on the water; when the 
earth has become soft, they smooth it with a 
shovel under the water, and then sow the rice in 
the water^ The same measure of ground yields 
three times as much rice as wheat. The only la¬ 
bor, after sowing, is to see that the rice is properly 
irrigated, except in some localities where aquatic 
plants prove troublesome, the water effectually de¬ 
stroying all others. 
The rice-grounds of the lower Mississippi pro¬ 
duce about seventy-five dollars worth of rice per 
acre. The variety called the Creole white rice is 
considered to be the best. In the eastern part of 
the State of Mississippi, called the “ piney woods,” 
rice is very generally cultivated on the uplands. 
Although it can not be made a profitable article of 
export, yet it affords the people of that interior re¬ 
gion an abundant supply of a healthy and nutri¬ 
tious food for themselves, and a good provender 
for their cattle, and makes them independent of the 
foreign market. Unlike other kinds of grain, it can 
be kept for many years without spoiling, in a warm 
climate, by simply winnowing it semi-annually, 
which prevents the weevil and a small black in¬ 
sect that sometimes attacks it. It is cultivated 
entirely with the plow and harrow, and grows 
well on the pine barrens. A bull-tongued plow, a 
kind of shovel-plow drawn by one horse, is driven 
through the unbroken pine-forest; not a tree being 
cut or belted, and no grubbing being necessary, as 
there is little or no undergrowth. The plow 
makes a shallow furrow about an inch or two deep, 
the furrows about three feet apart. The rice is 
dropped into them and covered with a harrow. 
The middles, or spaces between the furrows, are 
not broke up until the rice attains several inches in 
height. One or two plowings suffice in the piney 
woods for its cultivation—weeds and grass, owing 
to the nature of the soil, not being troublesome. 
A similar method of cultivation obtains on the 
prairie land of the northwestern states. 
Rice, like hemp, does not impoverish the soil. 
On the contrary, it is a good preparatory crop for 
some others, as Indian corn. The pine barrens of 
Mississippi would produce rice ad infinitum, if it 
were not that the land, after a few years, owing 
to the sandy nature of the soil, becomes too dry 
for it. It has been ascertained by Arnal, that 12 
pounds of wheat-flour and 2 pounds of rice will 
make 24 pounds of an excellent bread, very white 
