Lib. AGRIC, DEFT.

if-/ SUNSET
1 ROUTE

t HE ONLY RAILWAY

TRAVERSING THE GREAT SOUTHWESTERN

BELT F"PM

IS IT

Rice OR Oil?

You can find both

XT',

$ on the line of the

Southern Pacific

, .SUNSET ROUTE, <\; .,:.

In Louisiana and Texas.

The only line traversing
the Rice and Oil Belt
from end to end *****$*

Write for Information to

./

F. S. DECKER,

Assistant Genial Passenger and Ticket Agent,
IXEW ORL.EAIVS, LA.

S. F. B. MORSE, L. J. PARKS,

Assistant Pass'r Traffic Mgr. Gen'I Passer and Ticket Agt.

HOUSTON, TEXAS.

THE TEXAS RICE BOOK.

INFORMATION FOR THE PROSPECTIVE SETTLER,

"WHERE SHALL I LOCATE IN TEXAS?"

Is a question often asked by those who contemplate moving
to the State. Texas, being equal in territory to six of the largest
states in the Union, we have within its borders a great variety
of soils, climates and seasons, and a greater variety of crops are
grown in Texas than* in any state of the United States, f

When coming to locate in Texas a great deal depends on the
man ; what means he has and what he is best suited to ,
the kind of crops he has been accustomed to raising and whether
or not he has been living in a prairie or timber country. It is
best for the man to bend to suit the soil, climate and seasons than
to try to bend the country to suit the man. In o.her words, it is
much easier to go with the tide than against it.

For those of limited means, and who have been accustomed
to living in a timbered country, the counties of Eastern and
Northeast Texas offer the best inducements, as the lands are
cheap, ranging in price from $2 to $6 per acre, and a great va-
riety of crops can »be grown in that . part of the State. Fruits,
vegetables, corn, cotton and ribbon cane can be grown side by
side. Hogs do well, also cattle, and one can have his own meat,
and a few acres of Bermuda grass will carry cows enough to sup-
ply the family with milk and butter. One acre of Bermuda grass
to the cow, with some forage, is all that is necessary.

For those who have a taste for growing rice or sugar cane,
with some fruit and vegetables as a side line, and have the means,
I would unhesitatingly recommend the counties in the Texas
Coast Country lying between the counties of Orange and Vic-
toria, between the Sabine and Guadalupe Rivers. This strip of
country lies in the agricultural and rain belt of the Coast Country
of Texas, and a large per cent of it is well adapted to the grow-
ing of rice and sugar, and when better drained, will no doubt
produce other crops successfully, but we have every evidence now
that rice and sugar are the best paying crops for this strip of

272217

2 l THEV TEXAS RICE BOOK.

country. Unimproved lands are held at from $6 to $15 per acre
in the country named, and improved farms 'from $15 to $25 per
acre. Stock, also, does well in this section. Rice straw, rice bran
and low grade rice make good feed for all kinds of stock. The
low grade or inferior rice is crushed before being fed. This,
mixed with rice bran, is good hog and cattle feed.

Those who desire to engage in the stock farming business,
the raising of good stock and feed for them will find the coun-
try west of Guadalupe River, and also west of San Antonio and
Beeville an excellent stock country. That section of Texas is
very healthy both for man and stock. The winters are mild, and
grass is, generally speaking, good and nutritious, and one can de-
pend on growing feed stuff such as sorghum, kaffir corn and mil-
let for feed. As compared with the States of Tennessee, Missouri
and Illinois, very little feed is required to carry stock through the
short winters of West and Southwest Texas. Unimproved lands
in the sections named range from $1.50 to $5 per acre, depending
on the distance from towns and railroads. Improved, from $5 to
$10. Cotton is also grown successfully for from 70 to 100 miles
west and northwest of San Antonio, and for about the same dis-
tance west of Victoria and Beeville.

To those who wish, and are able financially, to locate in
Central and North Texas, the country lying between Denison,
Greyson County, on the Red River, and Bremond, in Roberts
County, on, and tributary to the line of the Houston & Texas
Central Railroad, where corn, cotton, wheat and oats are success-
fully grown side by side, can do so by paying from $10 to $20
per acre for unimproved lands, and $20 to $50 for improved land.
The country from Bremond, south to Hempstead, is adapted to
the growing of cotton and corn, fruit and vegetables, but not to
small grain, and unimproved lands can be had at from $5 to $10
per acre, and improved land at $10 to 20 per acre. From Hemp-
stead, south to the coast, the soil is best adapted to the growing
of rice, provided an ample supply of water can be secured, of
which there is little doubt. Stock also, does very well in this sec-
tion. The unimproved lands from Hempstead to the Coast Coun-
try are held at from $5 to $35 per acre, and improved at $10 to
$50. The country lying between Bremond arid Waco is a very
rich, productive soil. Corn and cotton are the principal crops
grown ; however, fruits, vegetables, melons, etc., do well on the
sandy land. In the vicinity of Waco, wheat and oats are also
produced. Lands are held at from $10 to $40 per acre, depend-
ing on distance from railroad, improvements, etc.

From Hempstead to Austin there is some fine country — as
rich as there is in the State. A great variety of crops are grown
corn, cotton, oats, fruit and vegetables, also good stock. Lands
are held at from $10 to $40 per acre.

Those in search of health and who are afflicted with lung
troubles, bronchial diseases, catarrh, etc., will find the country
around and west of San Antonio beneficial — it is considered to be

THE TEXAS RICE £6ok.' ' 3

as healthy a country as there is in the United States. The air
is dry, pure and bracing, and very healing to the lungs.

There is considerable country in Texas classed as the "dry
country." While this is true, there are tens of thousands of peo-
ple in the United States who are looking for a dry country, and
would extend their lives many years by moving to that portion of
Texas. This so-called "dry country" is not only a good place
for those who are run down in health and need a change of cli-
mate, but it is also entitled to the name of the Beef Belt in Tex-
as, for, as we have said, as good stock as can be raised in any
State in the Union can be produced in that section, and when we
consider the price of lands and the small amount of feed required
to carry the stock through the short, mild winters, no State in
the United States can compete with the "Dry Country" of Texas,
in producing beef, mutton, mules and horses. It would be well
to note the fact in passing, that we have an area IN TEXAS
that is larger than any two States in the Union (outside of
Texas), that is, within the Rain Belt, and can be depended on to
yield crops equal to that of any State in the United States, with
a greater variety of crops than are grown in any other State.

Texas offers a good field for men who wish to engage in
manufacturing, working up the raw materials, such as cotton,
wool, hides, etc. There are ample railroad facilities and over
3,000,000 consumers in the State to be supplied, to say nothing of
the States and territories tributary to Texas. To those who un-
derstand the canning business — canning of fruits and vegetables
— Texas is an exceptionally good field. East Texas and portions
of the Texas Coast Country, as well as some counties in Central
Texas, can produce fruit and vegetables to supply the wants of
the people of Texas and several other States. There are but few
canneries in the State, but those that are here, we are informed,
are paying investments, and they are finding ready markets for
their products.

Those who 'have a taste for hunting, fishing, for fish and
oysters, will be very hard to please if the Texas Coast Country
does not come up to their expectations. Texas has about five
hundred miles of coast country, which is from twenty to forty
miles in width. — John Howard.

RICE CULTURE IN THE. SOUTH.
By Prof. S. A. Knapp.

We are rapidly approaching the area of a universal density
of population. To the people of the United States it has hith-
erto seemed a remote problem. The revelations of the last census
show that within the present century we shall be confronted with
the problem of a sufficient home food supply, instead of sending
an enormous surplus to the old world. Thus far we have paid no

4 THE TEXAS RICE BOOK.

attention to the economic value of food nor its digestibility in our
efforts to gratify the appetite. In fact, fifty years ago such val-
ues were unknown to the scientific world. Now we realize the
amazing waste resulting from the selection of food on the basis
of tastes instead of the amount of nourishment contained. As
seven-eighths of the food consumed is on an average expended
in the production of energy, the value of foods should largely be
based on the amount of energy they will produce in the human
body. It is interesting to note what a revolution in prices this
would produce. On the basis of the amount of energy a food
will impart, taking wheat flour as a standard at 2 1-2 cents per
pound; good beef steak (round) should be sold at i i-io cents
per pound; porterhouse at i 66-100 cents; turkey — the edible part
— at 2 cents; chickens — broilers — at 3-4 of a cent; Irish potatoes
at 3 i-io of a cent; butter at 5 1-2 cents; cream cheese at 3 i-io
cents; red snapper at 4 i-io of a cent; corn meal at 2 47-100
cents; oat meal at 2 80-100 cents; invalid food, such as malted
milk, at i 6-10 cents, and rice at 2 52-100 cents.

Three articles in this list are superior to rice, to-wit, oat-
meal, butter and cheese, but their superiority is due solely to the
large portion of fat in each. The consumption of fat in the body
is like burning pitch pine under a boiler. It makes steam, but it
soon burns out the shell. Fats make too hot a fire for warm coun-
tries. If perfect consumption and slight tax upon the system be
considered rice again takes rank among the first of foods in val-
ue. Where rice is the principal food dyspepsia and other forms
of indigestion are rarely found, and there is perfect health and
great endurance.

In Japan it is a common saying among resident American
women, "I could do that if I had a Japanese back," referring to
the strength of loin possessed by the native women. Every trav-
eler in that distant land has noted with surprise the eas.e with
which a jinrickishaw boy will draw a man six miles an hour
along the streets of Tokio. In the late rapid advance upon Pe-
kin it was found that the Japanese could outmarch all the armies
of the Occident. With full equipment they advanced all day at
double-quick and repeated it till even the Russians fell behind ex-
hausted. These women with backs, these jinrickishaw boys with
the speed of a horse, and these double-quick soldiers, live on rice,
bean soup and fish. The Chinese coolie works in the rice marsh-
es of Siam, under a tropical sun, breathes malaria, drinks stag-
nant water, and remains in perfect health. He lives on rice.

In selecting food for dense population certainty of the crop is
an important consideration, especially where-^ny considerable
failure is significant of the death of a portion of the people.
Rice, when properly cultivated, is the most certain crop of all the
cereals. In the Orient it has been bred and trained to withstand
the sweeping monsoon and the furious tornado. Last spring a
farmer on the Lower Colorado River, in Texas, planted 150
acres with imported Japan seed rice. The Galveston tornado de-

6 THE TEXAS RICE BOOK.

stroyed all of his cotton, but his rice successfully withstood the
storm and yielded seventeen barrels per acre. Given a suitable
soil, plenty of water and intelligent husbandry and the rice crop
may be depended upon with a greater regularity than bank divi-
dends.

A third reason for adopting rice as the staple food supply
in countries of dense population is that the annual crop does not
exhaust the soil as rapidlyas other cereals, the water of irrigation
furnishing a material amount of plant food, and in some coun-
tries a winter renovating crop, as clover in Egypt, is used, mak-
ing it possible to continuously crop a field in rice for an indefin-
ite period. Further, a staple food for a warm climate must be
one that can be easily preserved from one season to another. In
the tropics corn and wheat cannot constitute the staple food, ex-
cept in sparsely settled sections where corn can be held in the
shuck. Corn meal and wheat flour are soon spoiled, weevil and
must speedily make them unfit for use ; but rice can be stored
with -reasonable safety. It can be prepared and cooked with the
crudest implements, and is a healthful food for people of all ages
and all conditions. It is fair, therefore, to assume that the con-
sumption of rice in the United States will increase more rapidly
than the population, all other things being equal. A dense pop-
ulation will demand it.

Fifteen years since it appeared highly improbable that rice
would ever occupy any commanding position in the food mar-
kets of this country. Wheat and corn imperially controlled the
situation and were dominating the markets of the world. The
spinning jenny and the power loom did not do more to enthrone
the cotton industry than the machine seeder, the twine binder and
the steam thresher did to make wheat chief of cereals. Rice, in
all this period of the evolution of wheat, remained stationary.
Fifty years ago it was planted, harvested and milled the world
over precisely as it was 2000 years before America was discov-
ered and to all appearances there would be no improvement for
the ensuing twenty centuries. One day some bold optimists con-
ceived the idea that improved farm machinery could be adjusted
to the rice industry. After many trials and failures it was a suc-
cess. The gang plow, the horse drill and the twine binder and
the steam thresher took possession of the rice fields. This in-
volved a revolution, to-wit, the Southern States would become in
the near future large contributors to the world's food supply as
well as to her fiber supply.

I have digressed somewhat from the topic assigned me,
"Rice Culture in the South," to discuss some of the general pro-
positions relating to rice but necessary to a full understanding ^of
the situation. It is needless to enter into an account of the in-
troduction of rice into the United States. It is sufficient to state
that its cultivation, until recently, was along old lines, and that
ks production appeared likely to decrease, owing to the stronger
competition from India and Siam, due to the construction of the

THE TEXAS RICE BOOK. 7

Suez Canal and the employment of larger steamships in the Ori-
ental service, greatly reducing the cost of transportation. Until
1885 rice production in the United States was practically limited
to the alluvial lands of the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida and Louis-
iana, and it then appeared that the industry could not successfully
meet the competition of the bonanza wheat farms of the north-
western prairies on the one hand and the low priced labor of In-
dia on the other; but when machinery was adjusted to rice pro-
duction and it was discovered that the prairie lands of South-
western Louisiana and Southern Texas, with their impervious
subsoils, would dry out before the rice harvest sufficiently to hold
up machinery, rice began to assert the supremacy which she held
as a world's food, while the use of machinery in the fields of hus-
bandry was unknown. This coast rice belt in Louisian and Tex-
as includes over 12,000 square miles of fairly level and very fer-
tile prairie. Prior to the invasion of this territory by rice the
land was regarded as almost worthless except for stock range.
Subsequently it was ascertained that the soil was rich in plant
food and that its non-productive condition was due solely to the
lack of drainage. This rice belt is bisected by ten navigable riv-
ers and by many smaller streams ; all conveying fresh, soft water
comparatively free from silt. Prices of land were barely above
the cost of government entry. Settlers from many sections of
the country 'began to camp upon this territory with improved ma-
chinery. Some people shook their heads but they shook out their
plows, their drills and their binders and went to work.

In nearly every township there are, one or more ridges slightly
above the surrounding land. On these surface canals were built
from 20 to 150 feet wide, according to the area to be watered.
The sides of the canals were raised from 4 to 5 feet with plows
and scrapers, or with grading machinery. Laterals were run
from the main canal to accommodate remote farms. Powerful
pumping plants were located on the banks of the river at the head
of the surface canals. These canals, when well constructed and
operated, proved entirely successful and made the rice crop a
practical certainty over a large section of the country.

Scarcely had the surface canals been accepted as a success
when Southwest Louisiana was startled by the announcement
that there were strata of gravel at 125 to 200 feet under the sur-
face of the entire section, containing an unlimited supply of wa-
ter, which would, of its own pressure, come so near the surface
that it could be easily pumped. This was received with incredu-
lity at first, but repeated tests proved that there is a bed of grav-
el nearly fifteen feet in thickness underlying this section of Louis-
iana and Texas which carries a large amount of soft water.
Pipes of 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 and 10 inches in diameter have been sunk to
the gravel and pumped continuously for months without diminu-
tion of supply. The water is soft, at a constant temperature of
about 70 degrees, and absolutely free from all seeds and injuri-
ous minerals. Such is the facility with which these wells are

8 THE TEXAS RICE BOOK.

made that a 6-inch tube has been pu!; down to the full depth re-
quired— -200 feet — in 14 hours.

The total cost of a well or wells and pumping outfit sufficient
for 200 acres of rice is from $1500 to $2000, and for 500 acres
about $3500, or $7 per acre. It is probable that over 50,000 acres
of rice will be irrigated by wells the ensuing season. The cost
of such irrigation is from $i to $2 per acre for the season, de-
pending upon the cost of fuel and other conditions. Where plan-
tations are remote from timber and the railroad, the gasoline en-
gine will be used. Since it has been found possible to transmit
electricity with very small loss to distant motors the plan has
been in contemplation to equip ten or twenty thousand acres with
wells and electric motors, and furnish power from a central plant
using the same power for milling the rice, when not in use for
pumping.

The evolution in milling rice has been as great as "he pro-
duction.

PRIMITIVE RICE MILLING.

The primitive method of milling rice was to place a small
quantity in a hollow stone or block of wood and pound it with a
pestle. The blow with the pestle cracked the hull, and the fric-
1ion created by the sliding motion of the rice under the blow re-
moved the hull and the cuticle. The bran and hulls were then
removed by winnowing. The first advance upon this primitive
mechanical process was to take the receptacle for the rice out of
a short section of a hollow log, using a heavy wooden pounder,
bound to a horizontal beam 6 to 8 feet long, resting on a fulcrum
4 to 5 feet from the pounder. The pounder was raised by step-
ping on the short end of the beam, and by suddenly removing the
weight the pounder dropped into the rice tub and delivered a
blow.

As one passes along the street in an oriental city, a peculiar
sound is brought to the ear as of a blow delivered upon some
yielding substance. Looking to the right or left one sees a rice
mill, consisting of a one-man power, jumping on and off the
beam of the pounder and one one-woman power at a crude fan-
ning mill cleaning the grain. Such a mill cleans about 11 bush-
els (a trifle over 3 barrels) of paddy rice per day, at a cost of 6
cents (gold) per barrel.

Where practicable water power is used to turn an over-shot
wheel, which is geared to a long horizontal shaft with arms at
distances apart equal to that of the rice pounders.

In every mountain village in Japan such mills may be found
preparing the rice for local consumption. They usually have
about eight pounders and mill 96 bushels daily, or 26 2-3 barrels,
of paddy rice, at a cost of about 2 cents per barrel, which is more
than paid for by the offal. In cities steam power is used, ar-cl the
number of pounders greatly increased, but the process is practi-
cally unchanged.

THE TEXAS RICE BOOK. 9

Our modern rice mill is an automaton of complicated ma-
chinery, into which the rough rice passes and finally appears,
ready for market graded, sacked and weighed, at the rate of
20,000 to 200,000 pounds per day, according to capacity.

Thus far the evolution of rice in its production and milling
processes have gone forward with perfect success upon South-
ern soil. The problem now widens. It is one of economic distri-
bution. The producer of wheat in Dakota receives within a third
of a cent per Ib. of the sum the consumer in Louisiana pays for
the flour. In case of wheat, transportation, milling and profits
are kept within a third of a cent per pound. Reversing it, the con-
sumer of rice in Dakota pays five cents per pound more than
the farmer in Louisiana receives at his home market. That is, it
costs fifteen times as much to mill and market rice as it does to
mill and market wheat. When I was a boy I held my atlas on an
incline in front of me, and somehow the idea took possession of
me that it was always uphill toward the north pole. Transporta-
tion lines must have arrived at some such conception, and are
charging for heavy grades in moving freights toward the North.
However, the battle of the toiling millions for cheap food will
soon arbitrate the question in favor of rice, and the two great
staples, wheat and rice, will be placed upon the same footing
commercially. With transportation and other questions of eco-
nomic distribution adjusted, the producers of rice will enter upon
a battle royal with the producers of wheat. With what result?
In India, China and Japan, which contain about one-half the pop-
ulation of the world, wheat and rice have been produced for
centuries under similar conditions. Both are cultivated
and harvested by the crudest hand processes. There, under sim-
ilar conditions, the result has been favorable to rice. In the Unit- ,
ed States both are machine products, upon a parity. Rice has
against it the greater cost of irrigation and of cutting. It has in
its favor a larger yield per acre, a more certain crop, and an adap- !
tation to rich low lands unsuited to wheat. The by-products of j
rice are fully as valuable as those of wheat. The straw is supejj=J
ior as a stock food. , Thousands of tons of rice straw have been
sold this year in Louisiana for $4 to $6 per ton to stockmen.
Rice bran and rice polish rank for food with wheat bran and
wheat middlings.

It should be noted that wheat production in the United
States has passed the meridian of its vigor. Many States that
were once large contributors to the wheat supply do not now pro-
duce enough for -home consumption. Wheat was fortunate in
finding wonderfully favorable conditions on the prairies of the i
Northwest, but it exhausts the soil rapidly; ten to fifteen years .•
continuous cropping reduces the annual yield per acre to scarcely
paying quantities. The center of wheat production is moving
steadily to the North. There is little remaining territory for it
to devastate. Already it is a giant with paralyzed limbs.

THE TEXAS RICE BOOK. 11

Another question to be considered. Can the rice farmers of
the United States, with their improved agricultural machinery,
compete with the cheap labor of the Orient ? On the prairie rice
lands of Louisiana and Texas, one man with a four-mule team
can plant and harvest one hundred acres of rice. He will require
an additional man in harvesting and stacking, and, of course, help
for two or three days in threshing. Well tended, his crop will
net him 1000 barrels. He may do much better than this, and he
may do worse. In Japan, one-third of an acre is a reasonable
rice farm for a man. In China and India, the water buffalo is
Ui>ed in preparing the land, which .enables one man to cultivate
one-half an acre to two acres, depending upon the amount of
additional help employed. With our improved machinery, there
is no known country where a dollar will produce as many bushels
of rice as in the United States. The indications are that rice pro-
duction in India and Japan will decrease. These countries show
remarkable progress in textile manufactures. This indicates that
much land in the near future will be devoted to the production of
fibre. Every acre devoted to fibre must be withdrawn from the
cultivation of rice or wheat, for every available acre in China,
India and Japan is now under cultivation. It should be noted
that the increased production of rice in Southern Europe, espe-
cially in Italy and Spain, has been considerable within the past
thirty years, and wheat, oats and barley have yielded ground.

The increase of the world's population in the next 30 years
will not be less than four hundred millions, and the food for this
immense number of people must be drawn from new fields. Be-
fore the expiration of that period, India, China and Japan will
become importers of rice, and the rice of Siam will find markets
at neighboring ports. The markets of Europe must then be sup-
plied by American rice, and the American consumption in the
United States in the mean time will have more than doubled.

Let us take account of stock. Suppose our product last year
to have been two hundred million pounds of cleaned rice (this is
above the general estimate). We imported two hundred and five
million pounds, and Porto Rico, with an annual demand for
about seventy-five millions has been added to our markets. Cuba,
just at our door, will soon require one hundred million pounds
annually, and the Philippine demand will be a'bout one hundred
and thirty-five million pounds. These islands are all importers
of food products, because they find other crops more profitable
under their conditions. The Hawaiian Islands formerly sent to
this country about five million pounds annually, now they im-
port from us large amounts. With an annual production of about
two hundred million pounds, we have present and prospective
markets demanding seven ^hundred and twenty-five- million
pounds, with the probability that the demand will be more than
doubled in thirty years and (the markets of Europe added.

Some will ask, "If such is the rice situation in the South,
what is the necessity of any tariff on it?" For several reasons.

12 THE TEXAS RICE BOOK.

First. The question of economic distribution has not yet been
settled. Second. Many things are yet to be learned auout rice
in connection with machine production. As yet it does no. take
as high a polish as hand-produced rice. It has what is known as
the chalky edge, which reduces the price of the finished product
fifty cents per hundred. The price of rice at present is based on
fashion and not on food value. It is the problem of finish or
shine it takes and not on what it is. This chalky edge is due to
careless management in producing large crops, and will soon be
remedied. Credit is due to the United States Department of
Agriculture for prompt and valuable assistance in overcoming
some very serious obstacles in the way of economic rice produc-
tion. Another thing to be learned is better cultivation, as neces-
sary to quantity and quality of product. Third. Rice farming
on our system is in its infancy. Many farmers have recently
commenced with small means, and are not in circumstances yet
to make a crop at the greatest profit, which requires ready cap-
ital. Fourth. The greatest danger from Oriental competition
is what is known as dumpage, i. e., after home consumption has
been supplied the remainder is sold for what it will bring, regard-
less of cost of production. This occasional dumping of a sur-
plus on our markets utterly demoralizes home prices. In the
United States, when an enormous crop of grain gives us a cheap
surplus it is fed to cattle and hogs. In Oriental countries it must
be sold, because they do not have the stock to which it can be fed
and hence is exported at any price it will command. It is like
eggs, the surplus is sent to market, whether the price is four
cents or forty cents per dozen. These are the reasons for a tariff.
I have thus far discussed rice almost entirely from its com-
mercial standpoint. This is not its most substantial and attrac-
tive feature for the South. The paramount demand of the South
is for some good, small grain crop, which will furnish food for
the people and a profitable surplus for export, leaving upon the
farm abundant and nutritious by-products for the maintenance of
stock, and thus utilizing the luxuriant pasture lands now classed
as waste. Cotton and pasture do not co-operate. The sole bi-
product of cotton is worth too much commercially to be generally
left upon the farm. The full resource of the average farm can
never be developed with cotton as the main crop. Corn is a grand
grain, but its stalk is too woody, and has lost much of its value
before it is required as a food for cattle. The plant that meets
these requirements is rice. It has a wide habitat, and can safely be
planted from the equator to the thirty-sixth parallel of latitude.
South of this line most farms have a creek or river bottom, eas-
ily flooded, which might be devoted to rice. One hundred acres
of rice furnishes at least 100 tons of straw superior to native
prairie hay, and twenty-five tons of bran and polish. This pro-
vides for the wintering of 100 head of stock. Some plan will
soon be devised for the use of agricultural machinery on bottom
land, as well as on the firmer soils of the prairie. The future of
this industry is full of interest.

THE TEXAS RICE BOOK. 13

The chief interest, however, in the general planting of rice
in the South lies in the fact that it will make the Southern States
resourceful and independent. In the nature of things there will
ever be a struggle for empire, and survival of the most powerful.
The decisive battles of the future will be won, not by serried ba-
talions with emblazoned banners amid the rattle of the rifle and
the roar of the cannon, but by the industrious millions on the
farms and in the factories. It is a battle to the finish for the most
economic production and distribution of the world's food sup-
plies. War has become a problem of the exchequer, based upon
industrial resources. A bread line 1500 miles long is improvident
if safe. Economic forces are opposed to it; especially when we
have a cereal at home, hardy, enormously productive, better suit-
ed to the requirements and can be milled upon the farm for home
use at trifling expense.

I have heard with pleasure in this convention speeches and
resolutions in favor of establishing cotton mills in the South un-
til every pound of cotton produced within her fair domain shall
be transformed by the magic of spindle and loom into fabrics of
value for the marts of trade. Did it occur to the eminent speak-
ers that, however desirable such a result, its achievement is im-
possible under present conditions. Why? Because we now im-
port from the North immense quantities of wheat, beef, pork, but-
ter, cheese and other food products. The question is simply this :
Is it cheaper to transport the food for the operatives in cotton
mills from its Northern base to the cotton centers of the South,
or to ship the cotton bale to the food centers of the North. Cot-
ton is the cheaper freight. If, however, we shall become a great
food producing people, the whole problem will be changed. Gen-
eral cultivation and use of rice in the South will solve the fac-
tory problem.

To affirm that rice in the South can occupy the vantage
ground of wheat in the North, both in extent and economy of pro-
duction, is equivalent to a commercial declaration of independ-
ence. It means that we shall feed our own rice people with a:
home-grown cereal,and that with by-products we shall produce-
the pork, the beef, the butter and the cheese required for home
consumption. It means a better grade of cattle and horses, bet-
ter beef and stronger teams. The substitution of rice for corn and
wheat as the principal food for Southern people will tend to the
development of a hardier race. It will decrease dyspepsia, mala-
ria and mortgages. It will strengthen and fortify every line of
industry and give us support at our weakest point, a lack of a
proper ratio between the food and the fiber products. By general
consent cotton is recognized as the best material to clothe the
nations, and iron occupies a peerless position in all mechanical
and structural works. In both these world necessities, the South
has no successful rival. With the home production of food her
commercial independence will be complete, and her conquests in
the domains of industry will be a series of brilliant triumphs.

14 THE TEXAS RICE BOOK.

Foundries and factories will come to her unsought; her cit-
ies will broaden to meet the demands of an increasing commerce,
and her marts of trade will teem with merchants from every land.

Thus far it appears to me that this convention, from an in-
dustrial standpoint, has 'been apologetic and penitential for the
neglect of its past opportunities with promises of reform and
good resolutions for the future. I do not think Louisiana and
Texas require any apology. For the past fifteen years they have
embraced every opportunity for industrial improvement, and
have gone into every battle for the commercial and industrial ad-
vancement of their people with the flags of their States spiked to
the staff.

Speaking for the rice section, fifteen years since there was
scarcely a barrel of commerical rice produced in what is now
known as the prairie rice section, which extends 400 miles along
the gulf coast, and contains some of the most fertile lands on
this continent. These lands were then valued at 25 cents to $1.50
per acre. There were few settlements and no rice mills. To-day
it is the rice-producing center of this country. Unimproved
lands are worth on an average of $12.50 per acre. There are
thousands of improved farms and happy homes. Within the ter-
ritory are twenty-seven rice mills, with a daily capacity* of over
20,000 barrels of rice. A score of young cities have sprung from
the prairies, are clamoring for harbors and public bulidings, and
are heralding themselves as the future urban centers of the South.

To illustrate the momentum of progress, it may be stated
that one firm has sold in a retail way over 20,000 acres of land
for actual settlement since last July. Within the past ninety days
over $10,000,000 of new capital have been invested in the rice
industries of Louisiana and Texas. I can not say we are exactly
in line, but we shall be when the rest double-quick for a few years.

RICE CULTURE IN EAST TEXAS.

(By G. McManus, at the Texas Farmers' Congress, A. & M. Col-
lege, College Station, July 5th, 1900.)

My friends, you may have been reading the cyclopedias, or,
perhaps, newspaper correspondence from the Philippines, or your
friends from the Carolinas have told you all about rice growing
in their quags. But none of them knew about our methods in
Southern Texas or- Southwest Louisiana. Let me tell you of them.
We cannot use a marsh or swamp for rice growing. We must
have high, smooth (not necessarily level), well drained land. We
plow the land for rice just as we would for wheat or oats, with
ordinary sulky or gang plows, cut the sod with a disc harrow, and
sow about one-third of a barrel of rice seed per acre with press
drills. The land must be as dry for sowing as any wheat land.
Then while the seed is sprouting and growing its first six or

16 THE TEXAS RICE BOOK.

eight inches, levees are made to hold the water. These are sim-
ply constructed by plowing along the levee line a'bout twelve fur-
rows wide, the earth is thrown up to the middle by a scraper
about one foot above level of field. Over a mile of such levee
can be built in a day by one man and a four-horse team. The
levee lines are always carefully staked out by an engineer, and
must be so placed that there is no more than three inches of fall
from levee to levee — so that if water is three inches deep at the
upper edge of the field it will not be more than six inches at
the lower edge. When rice is six inches high or more, and lev-
ees all properly constructed, water is turned on at the highest
point on the land, and by temporary cuts through the levees is
delivered from level to level till the lowest is standing in three
inches of water, and so it is kept flooded for sixty or seventy
days. When rice is ready to harvest, the water is drained off,
and one can't very well drain water off a marsh or swamp; we
never use a marsh for rice growing. Harvesting is done with the
latest improved self-binders; grain is shocked and stacked like
wheat or oats, and threshed with a steam threshing machine. All
this, you see, is quite an improvement on the Filipino method.

We do not suffer from malaria. I am a native of Canada,
and lived nineteen years in Minnesota, but never have I enjoyed
such continuous good health as I have in the past five years in
Southeast Texas. Besides, our farmers have all the usual social
advantages of farm life. Schools and churches are not every-
where as conveniently situated as we feel sure they will be later
on. We are as near a railroad station as you, and far nearer mar-
ket than are most of you. Our rail travel is therefore much less
and we pay less for freight. A majority of our rice farmers can
afford to send their growing boys and girls to the near-by schools
and colleges at Galveston, Houston or New Orleans. Oh, the
poor rice farmer is not so badly off after all.

You may have a notion that Southwest Louisiana is the only
rice country ; you have good reason to think so, for this year they
have over 250,000 acres in rice. No, sir; I can't take a single
naught from those figures; and that means they will raise this
season about 2,500,000 barrels, or nearly 8,000,000 bushels of
Tice. I know that up to November 23rd, 1899, there were mar-
keted at the little city of Crowley alone 628,000 barrels of rice
for that season. This was about two and a half million bushels.
T admit Louisiana has 300 miles of main canals and 500 miles of
lateral, and thef canal companies have invested over two and a half
million dollars. I admit that' Louisiana has more than 160 irriga-
tion wells with pumps and engines costing an aggregate of $260,-
ooo, and irrigating probably 30,000 acres. But I wish to remind
you that Louisiana has had fifteen years start of us, and, anyway
we're "not so few." Listen, for I know I am going to surprise
some of you. Texas — South Texas — has in rice crop this season
approximately seventy thousand acres, and has eighty-six miles
of irrigating canals and twenty irrigating wells. These 70,000

THE TEXAS RICE BOOK. 17

acres should produce 700,000 barrels, and give the rice farmers 0f
Texas two million, one hundred thousand dollars for their crop.
How does this compare with some of the other important crops of
Texas ? One of your leading sugar planters was at College Sta-
tion yesterday. He told me the sugar acreage of all Texas was
about 15,000, and a successful crop would bring the planters
$900,000 gross.

Don't you think it probable that it may pay you to further in-
vestigate an industry in which capital (mostly Northern capital)
has been invested to the extent of $800,000 in your own State
alone? For we are surely going to equal and later excel the de-
velopment already made along these lines in our neighboring
State. I do not approach the figures of many of our rice enthusi-
asts when I state that we have in the Texas Coast Country not
less than two million acres of available rice land. And when I
say available, I believe I speak advisedly. And the knowing
ones will promptly inform you that "available rice land" means
available water, and plenty of it. And he is eminently correct.

The canal is always built like two parallel railroad embank-
ments on the highest ridge of the prairie, the surface of the ridge
being the bottom of the canal, so that all water, once in the canal,
will flow out and down, upon the surrounding lands. Many
smaller laterals are constructed to convey water at the same level
to more distant fields. The canal company charges a toll of two
sacks (or barrels) per acre for water supply. Sometimes the toll
is one-fifth of the crop, and some of the companies give the
planter an option to pay either one-fifth or two sacks, proving
that they regard ten barrels per acre as a safe average yield. Un-
less one sees it, I don't think any words of mine will give a proper
conception of the vast amount of water sent surging out of these
mammoth pumps, through the canals and on the rice fields. The
canals, of course vary in size, length and capacity, watering from
4,000 to 22,000 acres. The pumps of the Trinity Rice Land and
Irrigating Company (Stowell, Texas) have a capacity of 80,000
gallons a minute. A river on which a coasting schooner, or small
river steamboat might float, is sent whirling through the flume.
And all this water is used up on a little over 7,000 acres, al-
though it is estimated the same supply will cover 10.000 acres
next season, when the old levees will be thoroughly puddled and
water laid, and seepage stopped. Evaporation during the dry
season is estimated to be one-half inch in twenty-four hours. This
will require a water supply per acre of 13,000 gallons per day,
540 gallons per hour, or nine gallons per minute. Loss of water
from any cause other than evaporation is so slight as to be hardly
appreciable.

But what of these 2,000,000 acres of available rice lands I
mentioned? Is water available? And if not, why do I classify
them as rice lands? Canals cannot reach them all. Now we
come to a problem — that was a problem. But, it is answered,
lands "under" canals cannot be bought for less than $15 to $30

18 THE ^TEXAS RICE BOOK.

per acre. Equally good lands, yes, even better lands, in many in-
stances— 'beautiful smooth lands, with fine drainage, close to
railroad station, etc., can be bought at from $6 to $10 per acre,
because they cannot be reached by water from the canals or
bayous. They are worthless for rice growing unless water can be
had. What were we to do for water for these hundreds of acres
of lands, ideal in every other respect for rice growing? And again
the answer came from Louisiana, and the answer was

IRRIGATION BY WELLS.

At slightly varying depths at various places, 150 feet, 165
feet. 1 80 feet, 200 feet, or 206 feet deep, a thirty to forty foot
stratum of water-bearing sand was found. The water slightly
flowed over the surface at some wells, at others rose within two,
four, seven or nine feet of the surface. Six and eight-inch wells
were bored to this stratum — were bored by rotating the
casing which had a thirty-foot wire wrapped strainer at the bot-
tom, and a bit, a little wider than the casing, at the bottom of the
strainer. A two-inch pipe down the middle of the casing, con-
nected with a steam pump, was made to throw a strong stream of
water at the bottom of the casing and washed and drove the
earthly core outside the pipe up to the top. When the strainer
was sunk thirty feet or more into the water-bearing sand stratum
the well was complete. Centrifugal or propeller pumps were ap-
plied to the wells, and driven by twelve to sixteen horse-power
engines, night and day for sixty to seventy days. Each well irri-
gated successfully from 150 to 250 acres of rice. This was done
last season (1899), the driest summer ever seen in the coast coun-
try. Only ninteen wells, that I know of, were bored and used for
irrigating rice last year. Not one of them was a failure. No
diminution in the water supply could be observed. Wells bored
fifty feet or more apart did not draw from one another. These
first wells were scattered all along the line of the Southern Pa-
cific Railway from Crowley to Lake Charles. In nearly every in-
stance the yield of rice grown "under" we'll water was greater
than that of the nearest fields watered from canal. The planter
found that, allowing 20 per cent of the cost of his plant — well,
pump and engine — 'for interest and sinking fund to replace it —
after paying for oil, fuel, engineers, the cost of watering his
lands from the well was less than 40 per cent, of canal tolls. Be-
sides his experience happened to be in the driest of all dry sum-
mers, when he had no advantage of seasonable rainfall upon his
crop. Had it been a wet season, so that his rice had been flooded
from the clouds occasionally, he could have stopped his engine
during such periods, and saved fuel and labor. Canal tolls are
collected just the same, even if it rains enough to make a crop
without their supply. Again the man with the well feels more in-
dependent in many ways. He can use his portable pump-driving

THE TEXAS RICE BOOK. 19

engine to thresh his crop or saw his fuel. He can deliver his
water on his land right where he needs it without expensive later-
als. If his land be early seeded and ready for water he need not
wait till his rice is suffering bcause the average planter Bunder"
the canal is not yet ready for water. He can feel certain if his
land be clean that no foul seeds are carried to him. And he is
pretty sure that his small plant, in case of break-down, can be
quickly repaired, while he knows of instances where a break in
the great pumps of the canal company have caused a calamitous
delay to farmers "under" it. The above are some of the causes
for self-congratulation the well man himself has given me. But
there is another reason for congratulating the coast country on
this important discovery. The great canal companies tend to in-
crease the landlord system — to people the rice country with ten-
ants. Among people who are willing to be tenants there are many
excellent farmers and citizens, but as a class those who are will-
ing to become and remain tenants, are not as good farmers nor
citizens as those who insist upon owning and cultivating their
land. And the best class of citizens is none too good for us.

To return to the wells; they were found to be such a good
thing that they have increased their number to over 160 in Louisi-
ana this year. Most of the later wells are eight and ten inches
in diameter. The California propeller pump seems to exceed the
centrifugal in popularity. Batteries of four and five wells have
been bored, operated by one fifty-horse power engine, and will
irrigate from 500 to 1,000 acres.

We find it costs us in Southeast Texas about as follows:
Ten-inch well complete 200 feet deep, $650 ; California propeller
pump in place in well, $250; twenty horse-power engine, $700;
total for plant, $1,600. This should water 250 acres of rice land
for sixty days at a total cost for fuel, oil and engineers, of $400.
What is there in it? I had almost forgotten to tell you that,
Well, there's 'money in it. More money than in any other field
crop grown. The average yield is ten barrels per acre, and that
average is made when the crop of the ne'er-do-well, the fishing,
hunting farmer, who puts his crop in any old way, and leaves it
to take care of itself till it is ready for harvest, when his crop, I
say, is averaged with that of the careful farmer, it makes ten
barrels per acre. The better farmers get sixteen barrels. But
call it ten. The average price again is $3, or a gross average for
the crop of $30 per acre. It costs $3 per acre more to raise rice
than to raise wheat. A total of $10 per acre should cover all ex-
penses, including your work and that of your teams. One man
with a good team of four horses or mules can care for 100 acres
of rice. He should not try to do much more. So one man with
four mules should count safely on making $2,000 for his sum-
mer's work. If he is a good farmer, a careful, industrious farmer,
he is more likely to make $3,500 net than $2,000. I won't take up
your time to tell you all I know about rice — of the number of peo-
ple of my acquaintances who have made little fortunes in rice

THE TEXAS RICE BOOK. 21

raising in the past four or five years. I'll give you a few very
representative crops I know of. Albert Anderson, of Jennings,
La., on ninety acres raised sixteen and two-thirds barrels per acre,
and sold his crop for $6,800. He watered it from one eight-inch
well. £. S. Abbott, of Welsh, La., flooded 250 acres from one
eight-inch well. Crop paid for land, teams, tools, seed and all im-
provements and $1,300 besides. George Mound, of Jennings, La.,
sold his crop of 126 acres for $7,200. John Robinson, of Welsh,
La., sold his crop of 196 acres for $6,500 — watered by eight-inch
wells.

Now gentlemen, I hold that no other section of Texas offers
such inducements as does the coast country. Its climate, in con-
sequence of the proximity of the sea, is always equable. I'm sure
it is most healthful. For rice growing it offers better and cheaper
lands than can now be had in Louisiana. The rice grower is sure
of his climate, for he practically makes it himself. He is certain
of a good return for his investment and labor, and he can make
more money in return for intelligent farming in cultivating this
staple than in any other crop grown.

I wish any of you who may be interested in what I have said
would send a postal card to John Howard, Immigration Agent
of the Southern Pacific Company, Houston, Texas, and ask him
to send your their pamphlet called "Southwest Louisiana Up-to-
Date." It will give you more accurate information about rice
growing than any other publication I have ever seen.

S. L. CARY.

THE RICE FIELDS OF TEXAS.
From Farm and Ranch.

BEAUMONT, Tex., July 7, 1900.

Modern rice growing is no longer an experiment in Texas,
as the results obtained last year have proven. No longer does the
citizen of this section look forward, dreading the time when the
timber would be all cut and the land become useless for habita-
tion, for the rice-growing industry will abide as long as time it-
self, because so long as people live they will consume rice. Under
the modern method of flooding the fields and regulating the sea-
sons, using improved machinery for harvesting and threshing,
other rice-growing countries cannot successfully compete with
American farmers and the staple can be grown here and exported
at a price for which they cannot produce it, with all their cheap
labor. Rice-growing in Texas is on the increase. Where there
was one acre last year there are six acres this. The area has ex-
tended as far west as Raywood, while there is a large acreage
at Orange, and the increase in this vicinity is about 200 per cent

Prominent among the promoters of this industry is the Beau-
mont Irrigating Company, which flooded last year 4,500 acres of
rice, and this year have over 4,000 acres of their own land, while

22 THE TEXAS RICE BOOK.

they are flooding over 12,000 acres. Other irrigating companies
have a like increase.

As last year was the first of this new method of raising rice
by flooding they had many things to learn, and consequently the
yield was not so great as it would have been with more experi-
enced men, yet the results secured were so satisfactory as to war-
rant the tremendous increase in acreage.

The average yield last year was ten sacks per acre, which
sold for an average price of $2.50 per sack. As one man can
cultivate 100 acres of rice, even this yield appears to be a more
paying crop than cotton.

The question of what is to become of the renting class of
farmers in Texas seems to have been solved by this new industry,
for to my mind it presents the greatest possibility with the least
risk to the man without money to make a stake and finally secure
a home for himself. To the renters, these land and irrigating
companies furnish land, water and seed for one-half the crop,
and also furnish a house to live in during the time they are en-
gaged in making the crop. If the renter makes only eight sacks
per acre (and no one has gone under that), and secures $2. 50 per
sack, he has made $10 per acre for himself and the same for his
landlord. Estimating that he can cultivate 100 acres, he will have
$1,000 for his services for six months' time, less the expense for
harvesting and threshing, which will probably be about $300,
leaving $700 net profit for his services. This is putting the esti-
mate at the lowest possible figures, while it might run much
higher — as much as twenty-five sacks per acre having been made
by the more experienced rice-growers.

Rice lands that are close enough to the canals to be furnished
water by the companies sell at from $10 to $25 per acre. The
owner of a rice farm pays one-fifth of his crop for water rent,
and thus takes the company into partnership and makes it to their
interest to see to it that he has sufficient water to properly flood
his fields.

Texas is at present the greatest cotton-producing State in the
Union, and as the cotton acreage in Texas is the main factor in
setting the price of cotton, the indications are that in ten years
the market value of rice will depend largely up>pn the acreage of
this State. As rice can be produced at a profit of 75 cents per
bushel, there appears to be little danger of this industry being
overdone for several years at least. But let not the reader of this
article think that rice-growing is all sunshine, as the rice farmers
tell me it is a very disagreeable pursuit. However, the results
obtained appear to justify the privations one is compelled to en-
dure.

Truck farmers and horticulturists are learning that this part
of the coast country is well adapted to their specialties, and
there is no doubt that many will engage in fruit-growing and
truck-gardening, who prefer that method of tilling the soil to
rice-growing.

M. C. SCOTT.

THE TEXAS RICE BOOK. 23

GREAT ARE RICE AND SUGAR^

On the Wing, in the Coast Country of Texas, Dec. 28, 1900.
— To The News : In traveling over and through the counties of
Wharton, Matagorda and Colorado, we find that hope is fast
taking the place of disappointment with the people in the counties
named. While there was no loss of life during the severe storm
in these counties, there was considerable damage done to property,
also to crops. However, the rice and sugar crops came through
the storm much better than was expected. Quite a good percent-
age of the rice was planted late, and this was very much in its
favor, as the early rice was more damaged than the late. There
was little or no damage to the sugar cane, and those who were
fortunate enough to have a sugar cane crop came out very well.
As high as $50 per acre has been paid this fall in Wharton and
Matagorda counties for sugar cane standing in the fields by those
who own the sugar mills. They have paid the growers this sum
per acre and then harvested the crop at their own expense. I
have met and talked with a number of people who have received
from $50 to $65 per acre for their sugar cane after paying all ex-
penses. It has been demonstrated beyond a doubt that the best
of our prairie lands will produce sugar cane profitably, and it is
said that the cane grown in the prairie lands has a greater amount
of sweetness to the acre than that grown on the valley lands.
In a dry year it would probably be necessary to have water to ir-
rigate the cane on the prairie lands. This past year there was
plenty of rainfall, and cane did well where it has been tried on
the prairie lands.

Caney Valley, as you know, is said to be as rich land as there
is in or out of Texas, and I don't think there is room for an argu-
ment on this question.

In going over the new extension south from Wharton to Van
Vleck, the terminus of this branch of the New York, Texas and
Mexican, we cross the Caney Creek eleven times, passing through
sugar cane plantations, corn fields, cotton fields and big patches
of sweet potatoes, The cotton crop this year in this section of
the State was what might be called a failure. Many men who in
a good season marketed from 1,800 to 2,000 bales of cotton, this
year did not market over 18 to 100 bales. This, of course, was a
great disappointment. But like many other disappointments in
life, it looks very much as though the people of the coast country
were going to profit by the failure of the cotton crops during the
past few years. Their attention is now turned to the growing of
rice and sugar cane, and many are of the opinion that the raising
of good stock will mix well with the culture of rice. Rice straw
rice bran, rice polish and rice stubble make excellent feed for
stock. On the Lovell farm, convenient to Crowley, La., Mr.
Lovell has thoroughly tested the raising of good stock of all kinds,
and feeding them on the by-products of rice and pasturmg- them
on the rice stubble. Mr. Lovell has an excellent grade of cattle,

24 THE TEXAS RICE BOOK.

fine Berkshire and Poland China hogs, good sheep, fine mules
and horses, all fat and sleek. What Mr. Lovell has been doing in
the past for several years and is now doing in stock farming in
connection with rice growing can and no doubt will be repeated
in the Counties of Colorado, Matagorda and Wharton.

Judge J. H. Barbee, formerly of Wharton, but now living at
Van Vleck, the terminus of the. new road, is good authority on
this section of the country. Judge Barbee informs me that there
are three water-bearing sand strata within 100 to 150 feet from
the surface and that an ample supply of water can be had for
growing rice by the deep well system. The water from the Colo-
rado and Brazos rivers will supply irrigation for a large acreage
of land convenient to the rivers, and outside of that wells will
have to be depended upon. During the past two months there
have been quite a number of large land sales to parties who are
now preparing their land for the coming rice crop. Canals are
being -built and as I have said, hope is fast taking the place of
disappointment. The Caney Valley is capable of producing an
immense amount of sugar, and there are several good openings
along the valley and on the line of the railroad, between Eagle
Lake and Van Vleck, or Bay City, for sugar mills.

I am informed that arrangements have been made to erect
a $160,000 sugar mill at Wharton. There is a rice mill being built
by Capt. Donovant at Eagle Lake.

Speaking of farms and farmers, I can not help mentioning
the farm of Taylor Bros., which is located about half way between
Van Vleck and Wharton. This is what can be called a model
farm, and in taking a survey of it from the car windows one can
see that there are practical men in charge of that farm. Sugar
cane, cotton and sweet potatoes are grown side by side, and the
land is free from weeds, the crops well cultivated, fences and
ditches all in good repair,the stock speaks well for their keeping :
in short, it is a model, up-to-date farm, and those who are inter-
ested in this section of the country could not do better than to
visit the Taylor Bros.' farm. They can see what can be done by
good management.

The experience of Mr. A. P. Borden, of Pierce, Wharton
County, Texas, in the culture of rice this last year is not only in-
teresting, but very encouraging. Mr. Borden's patience and his
rice crop were put to a very severe test. It seemed as though the
elements were against him. His 160 acres of rice was planted
in the mud, and had it been any other kind of grain I doubt very
much if there would have been any signs where the seed had been
sown. But the rice not only stood the unfavorable weather for
planting, but it also stood the severe storm. Mr. 'Borden, not be-
ing an experienced rice grower, had, of course, a great deal to
contend with. Notwithstanding all this, he succeeded in harvest-
ing 10,000 bushels, or 17 sacks to the acre, of as good rice as any
country can produce. Some of his rice he has sold for seed at
$4.50 per barrel. His rice crop will pay all expenses and the cost

26 THE TEXAS RICE BOOK.

of the machinery, which was about $3,000, and a net profit of 25
per cent on the original investment. Mr. Borden planted Japan
rice. He finished planting his crop June 20, and his rice was
about ready to harvest when the September storm struck it. It
weathered the storm all right. The experience of Mr. Borden
this year will no doubt benefit the people of this section very
much. Mr. Borden is going to increase his acreage this coming
season. He says: - "We have the land, water and climate, and
all we need is people and capital to cultivate it."

In the vicinity of Eagle Lake there was this year about 5,000
acres of rice in cultivation. The lowest yield I have heard of per
acre was five barrels, and from that up to ten and twelve barrels
per acre were made. The storm damaged the crop considerably
in this section of the country, but even at five barrels to the acre,
and $3.50 per barrel, which is the price received, makes a return
of $17.50 per acre, which is not bad, all things considered. I un-
derstand the acreage in rice in the Eagle Lake district will be in-
creased the coming season.

Convenient to Chesterville, in Colorado County, Mr. Linder-
holm has been experimenting in the growing of rice by the deep
well system and he is encouraged enough to increase his acreage
this coming year. Mr. George Vick, living two miles east of
Eagle Lake, irrigated last season (1900) from one well, 150 acres
of rice. This year, being a wet season, did not require as much
water as would a dry season, but it is pretty safe to say that in
a dry year this well would supply water enough for at least fifty
or seventy-five acres. Mr. Vick uses the traction engine that he
uses to run his rice threshing machine for pumping purposes.

It is proper to state that portions of the counties named are
well adapted to some kinds of fruit and nearly all kinds of vege-
tables. Melons, etc., do well, and when our Texas truck and fruit
growers are organized and stand together marketing their pro-
ducts at the depots instead of consigning, the products of the
orchard and garden will add considerably to the wealth and pros-
perity of the people of this section. We have soil, seasons and
climate, and if we can reach the consumers with a profit to the
producers we can secure practical gardeners to locate on these
lands.

The firm of Vineyard & Walker of Eagle Lake had 200 acres
of rice this year. The storm damaged their crop considerably.
The lowest yield they had, however, was five barrels to the acre,
which is equal to $17.50 per acre. They turned a lot of hogs in
on the rice stubble, and Mr. Vineyard informs me that the hogs
are doing well on the rice that was beaten down by the storm.
Vineyard & Walker will increase their acreage in rice this coming
year. They secure their water supply from Eagle Lake and have
the Colorado River to draw from should they need more water.

I learn that among recent enterprises in Matagorda County
are the following :

Moore-Cortes Company, 20,000 acres, East Texas and Lou-
isiana capital.

THE TEXAS RICE BOOK. 27

The Matagorda Rioe and Irrigation Company, home capital.
Expanded from 600 acres in 1900 to 10,000 acres in 1901.

Dr. G. W. Collier, W. H. Turner and T. J. Hookes, of Beau-
mont, 6,000 acres.

R. W. Warren & Son, East Texas, 2,000 acres.

Le Tulle & Vaughan, home capital, 2,000 acres.

Sig Brown, Louisiana, 1,280 acres.

Bay Prairie Rice Company, Houston and LaGrange capital,
23,000 acres.

Several home people are sinking wells, a test well having a
depth of 102 feet struck a sheet of water-bearing sand through
which the pipe dropped eighty feet and the water rose to within
four feet of the surface.

Now that the people of the Texas coast country are going to
profit by the experience of the people of Southwestern Louisiana,
the future of the Texas coast country looks bright. I believe that
rice and sugar mixed with stock farming will do a great deal for
the further settlement and development of the coast country dur-
ing the next five years, provided those who own the vacant lands
do not ask too much for them, and provided warehouses, rice and
sugar mills are erected to care for and manufacture the crops by
the business and monied men.

The counties of Colorado and Matagorda and Wharton are
among the best in the State, provided the lands are used for the
purposes to which they are best adapted. But let us bear in mind
that only a very small percentage of the lands in these counties
are yet occupied or cultivated by actual settlers. It is safe to say
that at least 65 per cent of the lands in Wharton and Matagorda
Counties are yet vacant, and in Colorado County probablv 4° Per
cent of the land is yet undeveloped.

Speaking of Wharton County, permit me to say that in the
vicinity of El Campo there is quite a thrifty settlement of North-
ern people. The success of such communities as that at El
Campo means much for the business men and railroads of the
Texas coast country, whereas, if they should fail, it will not only
be a disappointment to the settlers, but also to all others inter-
ested in the development of this part of the State. There _ is room
for at least 200,000 people between Houston and Victoria along
the line of the Southern Pacific and New York, Texas and Mex-
ican railways. This being the case, I can see no good excuse for
our large land owners raising the prices of their lands as they
have done in the past on the strength of securing a few settlers.

Yours truly,

JOHN HOWARD,
Immigration Agent Southern Pacific Ry.

28 THE TEXAS RICE BOOK.

THE VALUE OF WELLS.

WHAT A SIX-INCH WELL AND I2O ACRES WILL PRODUCE.

[Written expressly for Jennings Times by S. L. Gary.]

In the childhood of the old century (just passed away) a
great writer, one Horace Greely of agricultural memory, wrote
a famous book entitled "Five Acres Enough." Another writer,
after a hard, practical trial, wrote a humorous article entitled
"Five Acres Too Much," in which he seemed to have the better
of the man who said, "Go West, young man, and grow up with
the country." And now in the early infancy of the twentieth cen-
tury we are telling young and old to go South and get a farm
in the rice belt, and a very common question is, "What can be
done with 120 acres of rice land to support a family and a home?"

The 120 acres cost $20 per acre; buildings and fencing $500;
one 6-inch deep well, 180 feet, $360; 5-inch pump, $125, making
a permanent investment of $3,485, at 6 per cent, $209.10; taxes,
$20; seed, $125, and sacks, $70; $600 for fuel and engineers for
pumping would represent the cash outlay, to which must be
added the use of machinery and labor to put in, care for, harvest,
thresh and market the crop.

Now what can be reasonably expected from a rice crop of
120 acres, well put in with clean seed and plenty of water at the
proper time ? There should be harvested in good condition at
least ten sacks per acre of good grade clean rice, making 1,200
sacks, which for the past 18 years has averaged $3.50 per sack —
say $3.00 per sack; from this deduct $1,024 for interest, seed
taxes, fuel, engineer, sacks and twine, leaving for labor and profit
$2.576; from this deduct for plowing $120, seeding $60, watch-
ing levees $50, harvesting $250, threshing $300, marketing $120,
making a total for labor of $1,000, leaving $1,576 to the profit
side of the account, being over 40 per cent on the permanent capi-
tal invested, which if land is worth all it pays, 5 per cent, will
be 5 per cent upon $250 per acre.

Such a home, with this climate and the most favorable con-
ditions, would not be on sale. Homes can be made in the rice
belt more attractive and profitable than elsewhere, more cheaply,
easily and in less time. Nature is more generous ; humanity is
at its best. It is the last best work of the great Creator of all
things, and to be a land-owner, a freeholder, with such surround-
ings, is a position to be proud of ; and such is the position of hun-
dreds of families in the rice belt at the begining of the twentieth
century, to be followed by thousands more.

Why there is so great a difference between prices and the
value of land in the rice belt is easily accounted for. Early teach-
ing and a lack of correct knowledge of this country by our only
customer, the man of the far-away northwest, coupled with the
traditions of the Acadian settler, who was perfectly happy and

THE TEXAS RICE BOOK. 29

satisfied with the pastoral condition of the fertile prairies of the
Attakapas. Cultivation, wire fences and agriculture were an
abomination to him and any change was dreaded. Now the
stranger has come ; his once beautiful pasture is the home of
thousands, who partition the land among them and set a price
upon each acre of his once unlimited pasture. And the stranger
has come to stay ; he has stuck his stake, built his roof-tree, made
a home, and must have his price, which will be its true value,
reckoned by the interest it will pay upon the money invested, and
when all agree upon that, and they soon will, the price will repre-
sent the rate of interest it will pay.

ONE GRAIN OF RICE.

One grain of rice produces on being sown, the first year,
sixty bunches, or heads, of rice, each bunch giving 250 grains,
thus yielding the first year 15,000 grains of cereal.

These 15,000 grains on being sown the next year, will yield
one and one-half (i 1-2) barrels of rice, and i 1-2 barrels of rice
sown the third year will give six acres of rice, at twelve barrels
an acre, amounting to 72 barrels.

Thus the conclusion is reached that one grain of rice will
yield at the end of three years, 72 barrels, and still there was a
time when rice lands went a begging in our parish. — Plaquemines
Protector.

PREPARING FOR RICE CULTURE.

CANE AND RICE WILL LEAD ALL CROPS AROUND WHARTON.

Wharton, Tex., December 2. — Active preparations for rice
farming are taking place on the 8,ooo-acre farm belonging to
Moore and Cortes. Dirt has been broken on the large canal,
which will be used to irrigate the rice. The lumber used in the
building of the canal will be floated down the river from Whar-
ton. Wharton planters are also going largely into rice, though
the great adaptability of the soil for such numerous varieties of
product will prevent any one industry becoming predominant.
Cane and rice will lead all crops next season.. — From Houston
Post, Dec. 3rd, 1900.

THE SEASON'S RICE CROP.

Gustave A. Jahn, a New York rice authority, builder of rice
mills, owner of the new plant at Beaumont, and an importer and
exporter, was at St. Charles Hotel Saturday, after three weeks in
the rice belt of Louisiana and Texas.

"What is my estimate of this year's rice crop?" repeated Mr.
Jahn, after the reporter, and he stood for a moment, tapping one
shoe on the tessellated floor of the hotel corridor.

THE TEXAS RICE BOOK. 31

"I think it fell a shade under last year's crop. I believe this
season's output has been a little overestimated. The yield for
Louisiana and Texas one year ago was 2,000,000 sacks. In my
judgment, after being in the belt for three weeks, this year's crop
will be about 1,800,000 sacks for Texas and Louisiana, which
means a shortage of 200,000 sacks.

"But the quality is fine. I cannot remember the year when
the general average was so good. The better grades predomi-
nate. There is, in fact, very little red rice. The heavy rains the,
forepart of the season seemed to drown it out. The low grades
are scarce and are in demand. They are bringing good prices."
— Picayune.

RICE CULTURE.
Galveston News, Feb. 3, 1901.

Stowell, Tex., Jan. 27. — S. A. Hackworth, Esq., Galveston,
Tex. — Dear Sir: In reply to your favor of the 25th will say:
We raised 6,000 acres rice last year. We harvested five sacks
per acre — six barrels. It requires from 50 to 60 pounds of seed
rice per acre. Seed rice domestic, such as raised from imported
seed sown last year on virgin soil, is worth from $4.50 to $5 per
barrel. We sold our rice at from $3.05 to $4.50 per barrel, ex-
cept some that was damaged by rain, which sold for less.

Very respectfully, F. W. SCHWETTMANN,

Secretary.

Wallisville, Tex., Jan. 29.— S. A. Hackworth, Esq., Galves-
ton, Tex. — Dear Sir: In reply to your inquiries of recent date
concerning rice culture, I will say : That myself and other farm-
ers of Chambers County have made good profits by planting rice
in drills, and cultivating same, like corn without irrigation, and
I find rice so cultivated will yield as many bushels as rice raised
by irrigation, the only difference being that one field hand can
not cultivate over 40 acres 'by plow, while one field hand can cul-
tivate loo acres by irrigation. In this coast country, owing to
our heavy dews and frequent rainfalls, it is a sure crop, but it
will stand a drouth as well as corn. I have seen it grow five feet
in height and the heads of rice seem fuller and larger than when
raised by irrigation. About two and one-half pecks per acre is
sufficient to sow it into drills. We plant seed rice raised from
our own crops and find it just as good as imported seed rice.
Upon rich river bottom lands I believe 40 bushels per acre can
be easily raised by cultivation. On low, wet, flat prairie lands
it can be sown like wheat, and raised without irrigation or culti-
vation. As evidence of this fact, the Trinity River Irrigation
Company, this county, last year sowed 6,000 acres of newly bro-
ken prairie land in rice, and was unable to irrigate a large part

32 THE TEXAS RICE BOOK.

of it, but raised as much per acre from land not irrigated as it
did from the irrigated portion. If you will write the company
at Stowell, Chambers County, the manager will give you all the
information you desire. Rice can be planted at any time between
the first of March and the first of June, and I advise where it
is sown in drills that it be planted early in the spring, like corn.

Yours truly, N. V. WALLIS.

Dickinson, Tex., Jan. 28. — S. A. Hackworth, Esq., Calves-
ton, Tex. — Dear Sir: Your letter of 23rd instant received on
26th. I have pleasure in writing what experience I have had in
Texas, as I have never planted except on a small scale to prove
how profitable the crop might be made. In drills 30 inches is cor-
rect, so is easily worked with bull tongued plow or cultivator.
With the land well prepared and frequent cultivation upland rice
will yield, with my experience, 25 to 30 bushels per acre. Either
variety of rice will produce a profitable yield here without irri-
gation. My experience in rice culture extensively cultivated was
in Carolina Cooper River; 5,000 to 20,000 bushels was the crop
on large plantations, and 50 to 60 bushels per acre was the aver-
age. The tide ebbed and flowed regularly and the fields could
be plowed if necessary to the depth of 4 to 6 feet. Mr. Brown
sent me seed of Japan high land rice. I planted in drills 30
inches, some three feet. The growth and yield were fully satis-
factory. It can be planted in March ; in fact, as early as corn,
and when cultivated will stand a dry season equally with corn.
Half a bushel will plant an acre. If not sown too thick the grain
will be heavier and stand a dry season best. Will be pleased to
hear from you again, and will write more fully. I notice your
article on fig culture. Charleston, S. C, my native home, is the
home of every variety of fig, where the production is regular and
large. I have over a hundred bearing trees here of different va-
rieties. Rich ground and cultivation they require.

C. M. DESEL.

RICE CULTURE.

Galveston, Tex., Jan. 18. — To The News: A rice farmer of
Chambers County recently informed me that he has, during the
past five years, averaged a net profit of $18 per acre by thickly
sowing rice in drills thirty inches apart and cultivating like corn.
He says in this moist climate, where the dews are heavy and
rains frequent, rice can be profitably grown on any of our coast
prairie lands without expense of flooding the rice fields, the only
difference being that it must be cultivated and all vegetation kept
down by plowing between the rows, and thus stirring up the soil,
so all moisture in the soil will go to the rice. One ordinary field
hand can easily cultivate forty acres, and the average will be
upon black waxy or black sandy loam soil twelve barrels per acre,
or sixty bushels; five bushels in one barrel of rice measure. 'Upon

THE TEXAS RICE BOOK. 33

poor sandy soil the average is about eight barrels per acre. Upon
river alluvial soil the average is about fifteen barrels per acre.
The average price of rice is $3 per barrel. It is planted the latter
part of May or the first of June, and ripens in September.

It is evident if our Brazos River planters will now thus cul-
tivate their plantations in rice they will not experience any furth-
er difficulty in securing all the labor they require, because they
can afford to pay labor living wages and the work required of
laborers or tenants will not be one-third of the labor required to
raise a cotton crop, while the certainty of raising good rice crops
will be assured. Another great advantage over a cotton crop is
the fact that an overflow of the Brazos River, which has been so
disastrous during the past two years. When these overflows oc-
cur it is usually in June and July, therefore if rice is planted in
May it will be so far advanced when these overflows occur that
an overflow will not injure but benefit the growing rice. Not only
can our Brazos River plantations be thus cultivated in rice, but
they can also be flooded from the Brazos River and made into
the usual rice fields ; but this is expensive, because it requires
embankments thrown up around the rice fields and steam pump-
ing machinery to flood the fields and maintain certain depths of
water during the growth of rice.

This will be expensive, for the Brazos River soil is so porous
it will absorb the water rapidly, and the soil is so fertile the rice
raised by this method will grow-'too high and likely to be blown
down and badly damaged before it is ready for harvest.

By cultivating it with plows the stems grow thicker and not
so tall as when raised in water, therefore it is stronger and can
withstand heavy windstorms without injury. The Star flour mills
here have a first-class rice mill, and I am informed pay the high-
est market prices for all crude rice delivered to them at our
wharves, therefore our rice planters have a steady and permanent
market at home for all rice they can raise. All seed rice required
can be had here at lowest market prices. There is ample time be-
tween now and the 1st or 2Oth of May for farmers with small
capital to break up and prepare prairie lands to plant and culti-
vate rice in rows .thirty inches apart, and thus realize a sure crop
which gives them fair profit.

I submit the above suggestions to readers of The Gaheston
News because I have evidence to believe that rice culture can be
made a sure and a profitable crop upon our coast prairie and
Brazos River alluvial lands.

S. A. HACKWORTH.

34 THE TEXAS RICE BOOK.

GREAT RICE PLANTATION.

ESTABLISHING A PLANT IN AUSTIN COUNTY TO COST $5O,OOO.

Sealy, Tex., Dec. 20. — Though wet weather, boll weevil and
the September storm have almost ruined this country it seems a
new era is dawning. Bottom farmers are to a great extent going
to raise sugar cane and the vast prairies will in the course of a
few years be converted into great rice fields.

Messrs. G. Frank Rossire, of New York, E. Peperkorn, civil
engineer of the Beaumont Rice and Irrigation Company, with
Mr. A. Ludwig and his surveying corps, have been busy for a
week or more laying out reservoir and canals on the lands owned
by G. A. Jahn & Co. and G. F. Rossire on the Bernardo River.
These two firms own over 5,000 acres of land near here. They
will build a reservoir with a capacity of 100,000 gallons of water
which, with the additional flow of the San Bernardo, will enable
them to flood all their land and probably two or three thousand
acres more. The pumping plant will handle 30,000 gallons per
minute. Cost of the plant will reach over $50,000. The canal
will be 100 feet wide, three feet of water constantly to enable
them to float barges up and down from their siding on the Cane
Belt Railway. It will probably be five to seven miles long. Work
is to begin at once.

Messrs. Rossire and Peperkorn leave to-night for Beaumont
to confer with Mr. G. A. Jahn,xand will return in a short time.

These gentlemen say the prairie lands adjacent to the San
Bernardino are as fine rice lands as any in the State.

Messrs. Magruder, Hamby, Menke, Hill and several others
are going to try their luck at rice also the coming season and
have commenced work.

RICE GROWING IN TEXAS.

BEST LAND ON EARTH FOR THE CROP, SAYS PROF. A. S. KNTAPP.

Beaumont, Tex., Dec. 24. — During the course of a conver-
sation which took place Saturday night at the Crosby House be-
tween Prof. A. S. Knapp, who is connected with the Agricultural
Department of the United States, Mr. Gustave A. Jahn and The
Post correspondent, Prof. Knapp said that the best piece of ad-
vice he could give the rice farmers of Texas was to plant only
the best seed.

"I find," said Prof. Knapp, "that the Texas farmer has the
best soil on earth for raising rice, and being new soil he has every
advantage over the farmers in the older rice sections like Louis-
iana and the Carolinas, but he is recklessly regardless of the seed
that is planted. I can not understood why a farmer will plant
poor seed and reap a crop of poor grade rice when, if he would
use care and judgment in the selection of the seed, his crop would
be worth thousands of dollars more to him. If they plant domes-

36 THE TEXAS RICE BOOK.

tic seed every grain of it should be selected with the greatest care,
but my advice would be to buy the very best imported seed. With
good soil and plenty of water there is no reason on earth why
there should be a particle of red rice in the whole Texas crop."

Mr. Jahn here cited an instance where a rice farmer in this
country, after saving his seed for the coming year and selling
his rice at an average price of from $3.40 to $3.50 per barrel, was
offered $1.50 for his seed rice. The illustration pointed the mor-
al of Prof. Knapp's advice. The farmer should have saved the
$3.50 rice for seed and sold the $1.50 rice.

Prof. Knapp is making a tour of the Texas rice belt an
spent Saturday in this city. He visited the rice mills in this ciH
and examined closely into the grade of the rice which was raised
in the county. His conversation quoted above was the point he
most desired to impress upon the farmers, and one which he said
he would bring before the Department of Agriculture in his re-
port. He will deal at length with this question in his report, and
by the circulation of this report he expects to influence the farm-
ers to give more attention to the grade of the rice. He will also
endeavor to impress upon the department the necessity of en-
couraging the raising of a higher grade of rice in the United
States. He sees no reason why the imported cereal should be a
better grade article than the domestic if the farmers in this coun-
try will investigate and study the means to reach a perfect grain.
— Houston Post.

OPENING A RICE FARM.

Wharton, Tex., Dec. 3. — Hon. G. W. Collier, with Messrs.
T. J. Hooks and W. H. Turner, all of Beaumont, who have pur-
chased a tract of Matagorda rice lands, comprising between five
and six thousand acres, are in the city to-day, returning from a
view of their purchase. They say that the greater part of the
tract will be put in rice, and are arranging for a speedy setting
to work on the canaling and plowing. The water of the Color-
ado River will be used for irrigation. The Cane Belt Railway
will be the shipping line. — From Galveston News of Dec. 4th,
1900.

A RICE GROWERS' EXPERIENCE.

A. P. Borden, of Pierce Station, in a communication says:
"I purchased a gasoline engine and centrifugal pump to fur-
nish the water supply and had to buy a quantity of farming ma-
chinery such as harrows, drills, threshing machines, self-binders,
etc. Also had to build a canal three-fourths of a mile long, throw
up levees, etc., which was expensive work owing to so much wet
weather.

THE TEXAS RICE BOOK. 37

"I finished planting June 20, and my rice was about ready
to harvest when the storm of September struck it. It weathered
the storm well, and I threshed and hauled something over 10,000
bushels, or seventeen sacks per acre, of as good rice as any coun-
try can produce. One car I had milled and it netted me $3.65
per barrel of 162 pounds, or 98 1-2 cents per bushel, free on
board cars here. Two cars I have sold for seed purposes at $4.50
per barrel, free on board here.

"Taking the balance of the crop for what it will net for mill-
ing purposes, free on board here, it will pay all expenses and cost
of machinery, which was about $3,000, and a profit of 25 per cent
net on the original investment, which I consider a good profit,
considering the distance from railroad, cost of hauling, etc.

"I shall put every acre in rice next year that I am able to,
and if anybody has land that they can flood, I think it is far the
best crop to plant."

Mr. Borden had in 160 acres of land and was located twenty
miles from the station, on the line of the Gulf, Western Texas
and Pacific Railwav.

BIG DEAL IN RICE.

TEN THOUSAND SACKS SOLD IN ONE LOT BY A BEAUMONT COM-
PANY THE RICE COMBINE.

Beaumont, Tex., Nov. 30. — The Beaumont Irrigating Co.
last Wednesday sold to the National Rice Mills of New Orleans
10,000 sacks of rough rice in one lot, which is one of the largest
deals ever made in rice in Texas. The agent who made the deal
for the New Orleans mill said that the rice is graded better than
any he ever saw before. The irrigating company is particularly
pleased with the deal, and the price was better than has been
paid for any considerable amount of rice in the market this sea-
son. The price is private, but the 10,000 sacks will bring between
$30,000 and $40,000. The sale was made at a moment when the
market was very favorable, anl the Beaumont Company is con-
sidered very fortunate in the deal. This is about one-half the
rice owned by the Beaumont Irrigating Company, nearly all of
which is stored in three large warehouses in this county. Ship-
ment on the 10,000 sacks began yesterday, and will be pushed as
fast as the railroad can handle it.

Gustave A. Jahn, President of the Rice Mill Co. of this city,
arrived in the city to-day from New York. He was asked of the
condition of the rice combine, and said the matter was being
closed as rapidly as possible. Arrangements are being made to
buy all the cleaned rice now in the mills in Louisiana and Texas
in order to make the object of the company operative. The com-
pany expects to operate this season.

38 THE TEXAS RICE BOOK.

THE RICE CROP.

Beaumont, the hustling capital city of Jefferson County,
with a population of 12,000, is now and for a great many year*
past has been the recognized lumber center of the Southwest.
Till two years ago its whole business depended upon the lumber
trade. Railroads came to it because of this trade. New mills
sprung up in the grand virgin long leaf pine forests near it, and
Beaumont became the great distributing depot of their piney pro-
ducts, as well as commissary supply store for a territory extend-
ing over 150 miles north into the East Texas forests. The agri-
cultural products of the surrounding counties of Jefferson,
Chambers, Orange and Hardin were practically nothing until
about two or three years ago. In imitation of their Louisiana
neighbors across the Sabine, these Southeast Texas farmers be-
gan to plant rice.

Although so new a Texas industry its success was so re-
markable and the rapid increase in acreage and output of rice so
astonishing as to gain the immediate attention of most readers
of The News, through whose columns they have learned all ma-
terial facts concerning it. For the benefit of more careless read-
ers the salient facts of the rice industry in Southeast Texas may
be given. About 55,000 acres were cultivated in rice in 1900,
There are 125 'miles of irrigating canals, and twenty-four irrigat-
ing deep wells. These irrigating plants have cost an aggregate
of $850,000. The total Texas crop of 1900 was over half a mil-
lion bushels. Its total value was more than one and a half mil-
lion dollars. And last, but by no means least in its significance,
at Beaumont have been built three large rice mills, at an aggre-
gate cost of over $200,000, whose total daily output of finest
grade milled rice is 350,000 pounds. One is ready to believe the
statement that Beaumont has doubled its population in the past
two years, and the prophecy that it will probably double itself
again in the next two.

As to the effects of the storm in these eastern counties, an
interview with Mr. George J. McManus, formerly of Galveston
but now at Beaumont, elicited the following :

"I was at Minneapolis at the time of the big storm. Read
of it in morning papers of the 9th of September, and started
within an hour for Galveston. Reached Beaumont evening of
nth, to learn that I was not needed at Galveston; could do noth-
ing there and would better not go. From the Minneapolis, Kan-
sas City and St. Louis papers I had been led to believe there was
not a house or tree standing in East Texas, to say nothing of
such a puny plant as rice. From the I2th till the i8th of Sep-
tember I interviewed every rice planter I saw, and visited more
than twenty plantations. I have been familiar all my life pre-
viously to the past five years with the cultivation of wheat, oats,
barley and rye. I knew that any one of those crops after such a
wind storm would have been flat upon the ground, and the loss

THE TEXAS RICE BOOK. 39

total and irretrievable. But the rice crop was not beaten down.
Here and there a patch of it heavier than the rest, was pretty
badly broken. Much of the ripe Honduras was whipped out by
the wind. Japan stood the storm best. The farmers estimated
their losses by the storm variously at from 5 per cent to 25 per
cent. The harvest weather of the following two months was per-
fect, and the threshing machine in most cases discounted the
estimate of the farmer as to his loss. Most of these farmers
are northern men who never raised rice before, and many of
these, paradoxical as it may seem, are actually cheered rather
than discouraged by the results of the storm. One said, 'What a
bonanza we have in this rice crop ! Notwithstanding all the vi-
cissitudes of the worst season ever seen here, long delayed seed-
ing, fifty days' continued rainfall with this final hurricane to
blow it down, we have threshed out a greater and more valuable
crop to the acre than ever we raised of wheat, corn, rye or barley
on the rich prairies of the Northwest !' And this about expresses
the sentiment of many of these farmers from the North.

"What effect had the wind on cotton? Why, blessed if I
know. We raise no cotton, and mighty little corn. Too expen-
sive, too hard work. No Negroes in the rice fields. We raise a
crop on which we make horses and mules do all the heavy work.
I can give you names of several planters, their acreage, opin-
ions, etc/

"J. A. Lambert, the Beaumont rice buyer, though no planter,
is very well informed. He says storm damage was 15 to 20 per
cent and that crop averaged 8 to 10 barrels per acre. Japan rice
stands storm best. Rice under wells was fully as good as that
under canals. A deep well, pump and engine will nearly pay for
itself in one year by difference saved in canal tolls. There will
be 50 per cent larger acreage in 1901 than the past season.

"E. Goldsmith, manager of the Hinz Milling Company of
Beaumont, visited nearly all the rice country after the storm.
He says the 7,000 acres of rice under the Raywood Canal in Lib-
erty County was not damaged at all by the storm and made a
good crop. Nearly 25 per cent of the 11,000 acres of the Beau-
mont Irrigating Company was lost, 'but still the average yield
was very good, being nearly 10 barrels. Under the Arthur
Canal the storm damage was about the same, maybe a little
worse. If the storm had not occurred they would have had an
enormous crop. Acreage will perhaps be increased 50 per cent
next year. Is not acquainted with any discouraged rice planters.
They must increase their warehouse capacity for next year. Now
full to the doors.

. "F. W. Schwettmann, Secretary of Trinity Rice and Irri-
gating Company of Stowell, Chambers County, says of the 7,000
acrtes under -their canal : The danger by storm was not more than
10 per cent. About 70 per cent of their rice was Japan ; 30 per
cent Honduras. Hardly any blown down by the storm. The
wind threshed out the ripe Honduras to considerable extent. Will

THE TEXAS RICE BOOK. 41

increase their acreage to 10,000 next year. They are going to
dig a slack water ditch from Lake Charlotte to Turtle Bayou.

"Stagg Brothers (four families of them, eight miles west of
Winnie, under Trinity Canal, were rice planters for twenty-two
years at Crowley, La. They had 1,100 acres of rice in 1900
and are well satisfied with their new crop and location. They will
plant i, 600 acres next year.

"John Stewardson, six miles west of Stowell, had 100 acres,
all Honduras. Not hurt at all by storm; yielded u 1-2 barrels
per acre. His rice took the first premium at the Houston fruit
and flower festival. He will double his acreage in 1901.

"J. S. Jordan, 120 acres, one mile north of Hamshire, on
Gulf and Interstate Railroad. Water furnishd by one 8-inch well.
Not damaged at all by storm. Yielded 1 1 barrels per acre. He
will plant 250 acres next season.

"Governor H. C. Wheeler, 100 acres, two miles south of
Hamshire, watered by one 8-inch well, yielded n barrels per acre
of fine rice. He will bore six more wells and plant 1,000 acres
on his old dairy farm next year.

"George Gill, 700 acres, four miles east of Hamshire, under
canal from Taylor's Bayou. Not damaged over 10 per cent by
wind. Yielded over 10 barrels per acre. Will plant 1,200 acres
next season.

A few important lessons may be learned from the experience
of our farmers this year.

1. Seeding can not be too early done. It is desirable to fin-
ish by April 15 to 30 if possible. Sow Honduras rice for the
earlier crop and if forced to seed later than April, sow Japan rice
last, as it stands autumnal storms, late summer drouth and gen-
eral "grief" better than Honduras.

2. To be sure of water for irrigation is not the only desider-
atum. Perhaps drainage is absolutely necessary -twice in the life-
time of each rice crop, at seed time and at harvest. Very few rice
farmers have the perfection of drainage necessary, but it can be
obtained in every instance with as great certainty as irrigation.
A dyke can be built around boundaries of each farm high enough
to surely exclude all storm or back-waters. This would not usu-
ally need to be more than three of four feet high at its highest
point. All levels on the farm could then be readily made to drain
to the lowest point along the dyke, where an ordinary
pump, lifting three or four feet driven by a portion threshing
engine, could be made to pump out in every few hours all the
water that might fall on the farm or any seepage the result of
crawfish holes or imperfect dykes.

3. In case of storm, which has heretofore and no doubt will
again beat down, or lodge grain, so that a binder may not get it
all, we should remember that the crop is valuable enough to pay
for extraordinary methods of saving it. If it can not be cut and
bound by binders cutting the field on one side only, then it can
be cut with ordinary mowers, cutting field on one side only, witk

42 THE TEXAS RICE BOOK.

seven or eight men behind the mowers to pick it up and bind it.
And when all machinery fails on down grain, then the supple-
backed reapers, with the hand sickle of our forefathers, can
save it.

AS TO THE RICE INDUSTRY.
Houston Post.

The rice industry has come to Texas to stay. In the past
two years the crop has grown from a few thousand acres in Jef-
ferson County to hundreds of thousands of acres located in a
dozen counties. The rice crop is a costly one to get started, owing
to the necessary preparation for irrigating — which involves the
machinery for pumping, the digging of canals, the building of
flumes and levees — and the costly machinery for harvesting and
threshing. A number of companies have recently been organized
to undertake the cultivation of rice on a large scale and the cap-
ital of each ranges from $50,000 to $300,000 ; some of these com-
panies will put in only irrigating plants to furnish water to the
farmers, but others will or have purchased land and will them-
selves cultivate rice as well as furnish water to others. These
figures apply to the industry on a large scale.

Matagorda County has shown the greatest development of
the rice industry ; if all the plans now in contemplation or under
way are carried to completion, the acreage will amount to 15,000
or 20,000, as against 750 for the season just ending. The increase
for the year following will be enormous, though not now estim-
atable.

Jefferson County farmers have developed the industry be-
yond the realm of speculation; they were the pioneers and have
reaped a rich harvest. Beaumont now has two rice mills and an-
other building, and draws rough rice from all portions of the
section engaged in its cultivation. The increase in acreage will
be very large the coming year, but exact figures are not obtain-
able. The growing of rice is not carried on as an experiment,
but is an established business and one which is as certain to re-
turn a profit as any other sort of business.

Below will be found reports from the different rice centers
of Southwest Louisiana and Southeast Texas ; these reports also
contain estimates of the cane crop, which is generally cultivated
in the same section with rice. The cane industry was once a
great one in the coast country of Texas, and is now being revived
with every promise of growing to greater proportions than it
reached "before the war," when this section of Texas was popu-
larly known as "the sugar bowl." In Brazoria County the cane
industry is going to be a most important one ; the new State farm
and refinery at Brazoria will give it a great impetus. The State
has already arranged to put in 1,200 acres in cane for this sea-
son, and the refinery will be built in time to handle this and all
that can be raised by the farmers in the vicinity.

THE TEXAS RICE BOOK. 43

RICE PROSPECTS, AC ADI A PARISH, LA.

TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND ACRES CAN BE PUT
INTO RICE.

Houston Post.

Crowley, La., December 8. — Acreage in rice the coming sea-
son, based upon the average amount irrigated by the different
canals, is as follows :

Acres.

Lechtenstien & Hechinger canal 20,000

Abbott Duson canal 20,000

Acadia canal IS*000

Abbott Bros, canal 12,000

Crowley canal 10,000

Railer canal 10,000

Morris Miller canal 12,000

Ferre canal 12,000

Midland canal 10,000

Hurd & Wright canal 4,000

Numerous smaller plants 20,000

Total 145,000

Amount of rice land covered by these different canals will
equal 250,000 acres, but more or less of it is left out each year.

In the east and northeastern portion of this parish some cot-
ton is grown, possibly 15,000 to '20,000 acres.

Cane, about 500 acres in small patches. The production of
cane and rice does not effect the cotton acreage in this section.
Rice can not be produced to advantage on cotton land and vice
versa. On account of price of cotton there will very likely be a
15 per cent increase in acreage of that staple.

Rice, the increase largely depends upon the planting season.
On account of increased immigration it is possible there will be
an increase of 10 per cent in the acreage.

CALCASIEU PARISH, LA.

THE WELL SYSTEM WILL CAUSE INCREASED ACREAGE.

Welsh, La., December 8. — The acreage in rice planted this
year was 50 per cent increase over last year, the yield varying in
increase from 50 per cent to 75 per cent over last year. The deep
well system proved a success last year and insures still an in-
crease of 75 per cent or 100 per cent acreage for next season.
Homeseekers are flocking into our town. Lands that were of-
fered* two years ago for $10 and $15 per acre are now being
rapidly taken at $38 and $40 an acre. On 270 acres one farmer
raised 2,700 sacks or barrels of rice, realizing in proximity of
$8,000. These are figures, not fiction.

44 THE TEXAS RICE BOOK.

JEFFERSON COUNTY, TEXAS.

BETWEEN FIFTY AND SEVENTY-FIVE THOUSAND ACRES IN RICE.

Beaumont, Tex., December 8. — It would be difficult at pres-
ent to give anything near a reliable estimate of the number of
acres that will be planted in rice in Jefferson County in 1901.
This year there were 30,000 acres, and conservative men figure
between 50,000 and 75,000 acres next year. In all probability the
acreage will reach 50,000, but if it exceeds that the planting sea-
son will have to be favorable and the irrigation plants now in
course of construction will have to reach a point where water
can be guaranteed to farmers when it is needed. It would prob-
ably be safe to estimate the rice crop for 1901 in this county at
500,000 sacks, which, at the present market price, would be
worth nearly $2,000,000.

ORANGE COUNTY, TEXAS.

MANY NEW RICE FARMS WILL BE OPENED.

Orange, Texas, December 8. — Inquiry among the rice farm-
ers of this county develops the information that the rice acreage
in this county will be increased fully three times next season.
This year the acreage was in the neighborhood of 5,000 acres,
and for the season of 1901 a conservative estim-ate places the
probable acreage at 15,000 acres. The Cow Bayou Rice and
Trust Company is preparing to dig an irrigation canal six miles
in length and expects to put in 4,000 or 5,000 acres. The Orange
County Irrigation Company will extend its canal four miles and
contemplate putting in 4,000 acres. The Des Moines Rice Com-
pany will also put in an increased acreage. All who were in the
rice business this year will continue in it, and many new farms
will be opened up. It is reported that the Magnolia plantation,
which was not cultivated this year, will be purchased by other
parties and cultivated next season, and, if so, the acreage will
reach nearer 20,000. Very little cotton and cane are raised in
this county, 300 bales of cotton being average crop, and it will
hardly go above that next year.

MATAGORDA COUNTY, TEXAS.

ACREAGE WILL REACH FIFTEEN THOUSAND AND PERHAPS MORE.

Bay City, Texas, December 8. — The increase of acreage put
in cane for 1901 over 1900 will be about 400 per cent.

There were about 750 acres of rice grown in this county this
year and from present appearances there will be 15,000 acres or
more planted in 1901. The probable increase of rice acreage for
1902 will be very large, and can not, at the present time, be es-
timated.

46 THE TEXAS RICE BOOK.

COLORADO COUNTY, TEXAS.

INCREASE IN BOTH RICE AND CANE FOR THE COMING YEAR.

Eagle Lake, Texas, December 8. — There will be about 1,800
acres planted in cane in this vicinity this next season, of which
amount about 1,200 will be on the Wm. Dunovant plantation.
A slight increase over last year.

There will be about 10,000 acres planted in rice in this vicin-
ity this next season, an increase in acreage of about 80 per cent
over last season.

Lots of good cotton land will doubtless be idle for want of
tenants able to furnish themselves. Owing to the two succces-
sive failures in the cotton crop in this community and the fear of
boll weevil the landlords are weakening on cotton and will not
furnish so extensively, in advance, on cotton crops as heretofore.
They are turning their attention to the raising of rice. This will
have a tendency to lessen the acreage of cotton probably 25 per
cent, but it can not be reasonably estimated with any certainty
yet. Good bottom lands heretofore renting for $4 and $5 per
acre are now down to $2 and $2.50 per acre, and not finding
ready renters at that.

Freisburg, Texas, December 8. — The rice industry is the
talk of the day in this county. This community will not have
an acre in rice, as the land is not suited for rice culture, being
hilly and very uneven. However, a great deal of land is being-
prepared in the southern part of this county and after a thorough
investigation The Post's correspondent is not booming the enter-
prise to any extent in saying that 20,000 to 40,000 acres will be
planted in rice next year. The crop this year yielded enormous
profits, and it encouraged individuals to abandon cotton to a
great extent and plant rice ; besides there have been several stock
companies organized to cultivate several thousand acres each.

Weimar, Texas, November 30. — From the best information
to be had on the subject there will be about 10,000 acres planted
in rice and 4,000 in cane in Colorado County this season. That
will be done southeast and south of Columbus. No cane of con-
sequence and no rice will be grown in any other portions of the
county, though north of Weimar is as fine a section for rice cul-
ture as is in the county. The planting of rice and cane, however,
will make no change in the usual acreage for cotton, as just that
number of acres, in addition to the old cotton acreage, will be
taken in as new lands.

It is thought that the acreage to be planted in cotton the
coming season will exceed that of last by 10 per cent.

THE TEXAS RICE BOOK. 47

BRAZORIA COUNTY, TEXAS.

CANE AND RICE WILL TAKE THE PLACE OF COTTON.

Angleton, Texas, December i. — There will probably be
planted in Brazoria County next year about 8,000 acres in cane,
2,500 acres in corn, 2,000 acres in rice and 4,000 acres in cotton.
This shows a large increase in rice and cane, and, a small de-
crease in cotton and corn. There will be some shortage in truck
farming also.

Velasco, Texas, December 8. — The Post correspondent met
Mr. Allen Barbee from the Gulf Prairie neighborhood, who gave
the following information which is considered reliable. Mr. Bar-
bee stated that he did not think any cotton or rice would be
planted in his neighborhood, but that an increased acreage in
cane, say 75 per cent more than last season. He says the reason
why the people have abandoned cotton for this year is on account
of the boll weevil, which, lie says, can be found at this time in
every field that had cotton planted this year. He thinks that the
percentage in cane will be about 50 per cent more throughout
the whole county than was planted last season, and that the cot-
ton will be cut 50 per cent, at least.

WHARTON COUNTY, TEXAS.

Wharton, Texas, December 8. — Wharton County as a rice
county is forging rapidly to the front. A few years ago a few
enterprising farmers near El Campo planted several acres in rice,
using the "craw fish flat" land, with quite imperfect irrigation.
They succeeded in raising first-class, thickly fruited rice, and
now the larger farmers will include many acres of rice on their
plantations watered 'by wells. Near the Embry place, not far
from Louise, a well was sunk about forty-five feet, which irri-
gates loo acres of rice. At the Kountz ranch last season, experi-
ments with wells were found to be highly successful. The cray-
fish flats, which have been heretofore regarded as only fit for
pasture land, which bears a close resemblance to the rice lands
of Louisiana, were found, when watered by wells, to produce rice
of the best quality.

HARDIN COUNTY, TEXAS.

Kountz, Texas, November 30. — The acreage of cane in this
county will not be increased. Rice probably one-third more. It
will not affect cotton crop, the acreage in which will be about
the same.

48 THE TEXAS RICE BOOK.

RICE FARMING.

AN ALPHABETICAL LIST OF REQUISITES TO SUCCESS.

Texas Industry.

A. — A warm and salubrious climate.

B. — Be sure of plenty of fresh water and a certain way of
getting it on the lands when wanted. About 1,300 gallons per
acre per day will be required.

C. — Clay subsoil that will hold water is a pre-requisite to
success.

D. — Don't go off half cocked at the start and expect impos-
sibilities. Don't assume that water will run up hill except as it
is forced by proper appliances, or that it will be confined with
slipshod, illy-constructed embankments. Don't select land that
is not comparatively level. Don't fail to subdivide it into cuts or
fields from five to twenty acres each. Don't figure on having
over ten inches on the lower side when the upper or high side of
cut contains above two inches.

E. — Each cut should be leveled and ditched so that complete
drainage can be had — you must be able to get the water off as
well as on.

F. — Foolish and inexperienced people plow deep for rice.
Those who know how and are wise plow shallow — not exceeding
2 1-2 to 3 inches.

G. — Ground should be harrowed and seed drilled in same as
wheat. Broadcasting is practiced by some, but the best results
are had from use of the drill.

H. — Harvest rice same as wheat, using a rice harvester.

I. — Irrigate from 70 to 90 days, beginning when the rice
stalks are from six to eight inches high. Insist on the "irriga-
tor," whether with well, reservoir or canal, being ready for the
work when your crop demands it.

J. — Just thresh same as wheat, of course using a rice thresh-
er.

K. — Know and realize that you can plow all winter. Plow-
ing wet don't hurt and the ground never freezes.

L. — Let your drill be guaged to put in from 54 to 8 1 pounds
of unhulled seed to the acre — about one and a quarter bushels.

M— Must sell in the rough. The mills take off the hulls
and put the polish on the rice grains.

N. — Note that 162 pounds of rough rice makes a barrel. A
sack is an indefinite quantity, like a sack of wheat. Ordinarily
a "sack" means a barrel of rice — 162 pounds. A bushel is 45
pounds and 100 pounds cleaned rice a pocket. It takes about a
barrel of rough rice to make a pocket.

P. — Properly harvested and marketed rough rice brings
from $2 to $5 per barrel, depending upon general prices, grade,
etc.

THE TEXAS RICE BOOK. 49

Q. — Quite satisfactory profits are had in well managed rice
growing. Quietly quit raising precarious and unprofitable crops,
we should say, and try rice — provided you are in shape to do so
properly.

R. — Rice is one of the surest crops raised, not being subject
to drouth, if water supply is sufficient, and little injured by ex-
cess of rain. It has been known to yield as much as 30 sacks or
barrels to the acre.

S. — Sacks cost about eight cents a piece and hold from 170
to 200 pounds. The rice mills and buyers furnish sacks when
they are the purchasers.

T. — Threshers charge ten cents per sack for threshing.

U. — Unless you can sow in March or April do so in May —
usually the earlier, when the season permits, the better. Much
the past season was not sown till June, on account of the continu-
ously wet weather of the spring months. -It is yielding well,
though earlier sowing is preferable.

V. — Very likely you can begin harvesting in August and
maybe the work will continue on through September well into
October.

W. — When ready for market the market will be ready for
you.

X. — Xmas times should find you in a happy frame of mind
and easy in your bank account.

Y. — You will learn, among other things, that rice straw
makes good roughness for stock and that horses and cattle will
keep in good order on it. It will yield from two to four tons per
acre and is worth baled in the market, from $5 to $8 per ton.

Z. — Zeal in proper quantities is essential to success in rice
farming, as in every other business. Zealously pursued and
backed with good judgment and industry, rice farming in the
Texas coast country promises good profits and happy results.

&. — & you will find, too, that rice stubble will fatten hogs,
cattle and horses until the winter frosts, which sometimes fail
to come, destroy it. And, this closes the alphabetical list of rice
raising requisites we started out to give you.

In conclusion, we beg to submit an estimate of Mr. T. F.
Cooley, of Houston:

ESTIMATE.

Average yield, 12 bbls., at $3 $36 oo

Deduct water and land rent, 4 sacks $12 oo

Deduct for other expenses 10 oo 22 oo

Total net profit per acre $14 oo

This estimate includes land, rent of two sacks, or $6 per
acre. Add this, and the land owner has a clear net profit, af-er
paying a two-sack water rent, of $20 per acre. Where else, and
with what crop and with greater certainty can you beat this?

\

]

THE TEXAS RICE BOOK. 51

A NEW TEXAS CROP.

WHAT RICE CULTURE WILL DO FOR THE COAST COUNTRY.

Port Lavacca, Texas. — One of the most interesting fea-
tures of the meeting of the Texas Real Estate and Industrial As-
sociation at San Antonio, June 27th and 28th, was an address by
Mr. S. L. Gary, of Jennings, La., on the subject of "Modern Rice
Growing in Texas." In reviewing the history of rice culture,
Mr. Gary said:

"Modern rice growing is something new under the sun. Rice
has fed the world from Adam to McKinley, with little or no im-
provement in its growing or its preparation for market from cre-
ation until A. D. 1884 ,when Maurice Brien brought his twine-
binding harvester from Delaware County, la., to Jennings, La.,
where it was used successfully in the rice fields.

"Fifteen years ago a few of us were growing one to five
acres of rice in some low spot, trodden in the ground by Creole
ponies or cultivated with a wood tooth harrow, harvested with
the sickle, threshed with mules, and cleaned with a club. To-day
gang plows, press drills, 6,000 twine binding harvesters, thresh-
ers and the largest and best mills on earth are placing on our
home market the finest rice the world has ever seen ; and all this
was accomplished by immigration from the Northwest of people
too poor to live there longer. They brought their poverty, their
day's work, their knowledge of machinery and a laudable ambi-
tion to get to the top in any line presented.

We have in Louisiana forty rice mills, with 300,000 acres in
rice ; Texas has one or two small mills at Beaumont, one at Gal-
vesion and one at Houston, with over fifty thousand acres in
rice, and with two very large mills building at Beaumont by the
largest importers of foreign rice on either side of the continent,
and more to follow. Now capital is freely offered at reasonable
rates."

"If the man who makes two blades of grass grow where one
grew before is a public benefactor, what shall be said of the man
who puts down a well and makes a farm? Two hundred such
•wells are already in use, and it is found that for a hundred and
fifty miles East and West, by fifty North and South, in South-
west Louisiana and Southeast Texas, these conditions exist. How
much further, will soon be determined. One six-inch well, a five-
inch pump, with a fifteen horse power engine — cost of all $1,200
to $1,500 — will flood from one hundred to two hundred and fifty
acres of rice at a cost of $1.50 up to $3.50 per acre and with re-
sults fully equal to the canals.

The most noted artesian wells of history, of great depth ,could
not furnish the amount of water we get from our shallow wells.
The noted Crenelle, near Paris, 1798 feet deep, only furnishes
516 gallons a minute, while we get from 500 to 3,500 gallons m
the same time Seventy-five wells in the great Sahara yield 600,-

52 THE TEXAS RICE BOOK.

ooo gallons an hour when united, while one of my pumps in
Southwest Louisiana gives 1,000,000 gallons in the same. Who
can imagine the beauty and value of such a country, every acre
a garden and every garden capable of almost perpetual cultiva-
tion ?"

Mr. Carey told many instances of remarkable success.

"I know," he said, "of boys who have been working for from
$5 to $20 per month who last year cleared from $500 to $2,000
each, and to-day are wearing store bought clothes. I know of
single farmers who last year bought and paid for farm, improve-
ments and machinery, and had enough money left to last until
next harvest. Albert Anderson came from Maryville, N. D., one
year ago, bought 195 acres in corporate limits of Jennings for
$2,500, put in one eight-inch well and ninety acres in rice. The
crop paid for the whole land, all improvements and expense of
crop. He has bought and put into rice three hundred acres and
three more wells, and gone back to North Dakota after more peo-
ple. The Mayville canal plant sold last year from 2,000 acres
$75,000 worth of rice and have 6,000 acres for 1900, including
3,700 for the company." — Farm and Ranch.

RICE GROWING.

The recent combinations by which a capital of $15,000,000
was added to the vast sum already interested in rice and the
recent wonderful increase in Texas acreage devoted to the culti-
vation of the pearly grain has drawn general attention to the
crop throughout the State. About thirty-five years ago the
quantity of rice raised in Louisiana began to be worthy of at-
tention and a considerable yearly increase was made until in
1896 the State produced 127,600,000 pounds of clean rice,
which is a little more than was raised last year. Rice has been
and is grown also in Georgia, North and South Carolina, as
well as Texas and Louisiana. Any land in the latter State that
can be irrigated will grow the crop.

The manner of cultivation changes with conditions and
soil. The seed is usually sown broadcast the latter part of
March or early in April. In wet culture the fields are flooded
and plowed in water, the rice is sown and harrowed in wet, aft-
er which the water is withdrawn and germination ensues. In
alluvial sections drainage ditches run from the levees through
the fields 100 to 200 feet apart, the ground is plowed in fall and
winter, harrowed, and the seed sown either with a drill or
broadcast. After the plants are up the ground is gradually
moistened and the water kept from covering the top of the
plants until a good size is reached, then the field is flooded and
kept so until the rice is ready for harvest. Weeds are gotten
rid of either by hand pulling or with a scythe. Before harvest

THE TEXAS RICE BOOK. 53

the water is withdrawn. The crop is generally ready for gar-
nering in August. In many alluvial sections machinery can not
be used on account of the character of the ground and the crop
is cut with sickles, laid upon the stubble to cure, then shocked
and threshed.

Prairie rice lands in Louisiana and Texas have become,
within the last ten years, an important feature. Owing to plenty
of water, these lands have been very heavy producers. Gang
plows, harrows, seeders, self-binders and the different sorts of
machinery used in wheat culture in the Northwest are profit-
ably used in the rice fields and, with exception of the flooding
of the fields, the culture and care of the two crops have much
in common. The Louisiana experiment station collected the
expressions of a number of the most prominent rice growers,
who agreed in the main on the following methods : The land
is broken with four mule gang plows, reaching about three
inches, although two to two and one-half inches is deep enough
for sod. Disc and spring tooth harrows are used ana, where
necessary, complete pulverization is secured by the use of a
smoothing harrow. Should the ground be too hard, water is
turned in to soften it. The stand is found more uniform where
a drill is used, although the rice may be sown broadcast. In
moist, warm weather, water is not turned on for from four to
six weeks and then care is taken not to cover the tops. An av-
erage season requires three months' flooding.

The water is withdrawn from the field when the heads begin
to turn and the rice is passing into the "dough" stage. This is
usually from 10 to 14 days before harvest begins.

Three horses with a modern self-binder will harvest from
five to twelve acres daily. The same thresher used for oats
will thresh rice. Where the farmer supplies the hands the
thresher usually charges two and one-half cents a bushel. In
threshing from the shock something like seventeen men are re-
quired. No fertilizers have been used thus far in rice culture,
some claiming that after several years of rice growing, land
shows no deterioration. The price of rice lands runs all the
way from $20 to $100 per acre, and the yield per acre runs
from 1,000 to 2,000 pounds. The prevalence of. weeds is one
of the most serious drawbacks to the cultivation of rice. — Texas
Stock and Farm Journal.

RICE CULTURE.

While scores of people throughout the length and breadth
of our State and the United States hear of rice culture and read
of the great profits and plenty it pours into the laps of the for-
tunate producers thereof, still these same scores of people are
m blissful ignorance regarding the mode, methods and general
details of this "king of all crops." -

64 THE TEXAS RICE BOOK.

LAND.

The first essential in the cultivation of all crops is select-
ing land suited to the growing of the crop you desire to culti-
vate. In rice farming the lands must have a nearly level surface
so that the water will stand evenly on the land and enable large
fields to come under the smaller levees, which hold the water on
the land. The soil should be from four to fifteen inches in depth
under which must be clay so as to prevent the sinking of water
into the earth. There are also several other important reasons
favoring shallow soil. The growth is not so rank which gives a
better head and less straw, the ground dries out more rapidly
than deep soil and the harvesting is much easier.

IRRIGATION.

Probably the greatest element in the transformation of the
industry from a small and significant beginning to what is recog-
nized to-day as one of the leading and best paying industries in
the Southern States, may be found in the extensive system of irri-
gation that has been established in the last few years. The most
sanguine believers in rice culture never expected to see
the many inexhaustible streams and bayous, with which the prai-
rie region abounds and which connect the large bodies of fresh
water lakes and bays lying close to the Gulf coast, utilized for ir-
rigation purposes, on account of the high lift from these streams
which, in many instances, is from twenty to sixty feet. In conse-
quence, thousands upon thousands of acres of rice land that was
supposed to be inaccessible for this purpose have proven to be a
"bonanza" to their owners. They have on this account suddenly
developed an intrinsic value that readily places them by the side
of the most valued agricultural lands in the United States. The
development of rice culture requires considerable preparation and
goes much further than planting and harvesting. In the first
place, companies are organized to build the canals and put in the
pumping machinery. This necessitates an outlay of from $50,-
ooo to $300,000, according to amount of land to be irrigated.

RICE CANALS

are constructed by building two parallel levees over the prairie:
one hundred feet apart and varying from three to eight feet in
height. These levees are made the same as railroad dumps, ex-
cept not so wide. These levees often extend fifteen miles, and
from these main levees, smaller ones extend four to six miles and
are termed lateral canals. Some canals have as many as six and
eight laterals. The engineer in locating the main canal and
laterals selects the highest lands and hence some canals have
many different courses. The object in clinging t© the moit ele-

56 THE TEXAS RICE BOOK.

vated land is that all land will be below the level of the water in
canal. Now, get pictured in your mind these parallel levees of
the main canal and branching off therefrom, the lateral canals, all
of which penetrate, say twenty thousand acres of land. The
levees of the main canal begin on the bank of some inexhaustible
stream, or its tributary, at which point the immense pumping
plant is located. Whenever it becomes known that a rice canal
is going to penetrate a certain territory, there is a rush for lands,
and by the time the canal is finished, houses are completed and
many farmers are engaged in breaking the sod. The two-ten
gang plows and four large mules do the work.. After plowing,
the disc harrow is needed to cut the sod and in April and May
the sowing commences and is done after the manner of wheat,
oats and similar grain. The press drill or seeder can be used, but
the drill is preferable, for it gives a more regular stand and ripens
more evenly.

THE PUMPS

started and a regular stream is sent boiling and foaming through
the levees, filling them bank full. The flood gates to the lateral
canals are loosed and they are soon filled. You will note the
water is now from one to six feet above the lands to be irrigated.
You behold field after field of rice, which resembles so many
wheat fields in appearance and which are now ready for the
water. The canal superintendent goes from farm to farm and
the flood gates from the main and lateral canals are lifted and
thousands of gallons of water go pouring into the fields, which is
held on the land by small levees constructed for this purpose and
with a view to have the water stand as evenly on the lands as pos-
sible.

The rice farmer from this time until harvest begins, has only
to watch his levees and cry out, "Give me water, water," which
he keeps up for about seventy days, the usual period of irrigation.
The flood gates are now closed and the drainage gates opened.

HARVESTING

begins as soon as the field dries sufficiently to permit the har-
ester to enter, which is from ten to fifteen days. The rice self-
binder is identical with other grain harvesters, except stronger,
heavier and with broad wheels to prevent cutting into the soft
earth. The rice straw is larger and the yield of grain greater
than wheat, hence the increased strength of machinery. Rice is
shocked and permitted to stand for about twenty days, when it
is either stacked or threshed from the shock.

THE TEXAS RICE BOOK. 67

THRESHING

proceeds just as with wheat or oats. There is but little difference
between the rice and wheat thresher. The charges per bushel are
practically the same. Riceis sacked at the machine and the aver-
age weight is one hundred and eighty pounds. It is not unsacked
until emptied into the bin at the rice mill for the reason, each field
may have a different grade, and hence it is sold in lots. The un-
loading of a field of red rice into an elevator of pure white rice
would depreciate in value the entire lot, hence the handling of the
crop in sacks. Rice is sold by the barrel, which weighs one hun-
dred and sixty-two pounds.

THE YIELD.

It is difficult to determine the exact average yield of rice for
the reason some farmers adhere to the ''providence system,"
which means maybe fifteen barrels one year and five barrels the
next season. It is safe to calculate, however, when an abundance
of water is at hand, the average yield will run quite twelve bar-
rels per acre. Some farmers greatly exceed this and I shall show
herein some top crops as a possibility to those who have the best
seed, land and plenty of water. .

MARKETING.

Rice warehouses are found in all the towns in the rice grow-
ing territory, for the farmers who desire to ship to the larger
markets. This method, however, has been largely superseded by
the rice mills, which have located in the towns and either buy the
crops or mill and sell the rice for which they charge forty cents a
barrel and also retain the bran and polish. The rice planter has,
therefore, the opportunity of milling and selling his own crop,
or the mills will do it for him, or he can dispose of it to the high-
est bidder "in the rough."

PROFITS.

Now we have reached the vital part of rice culture and
which, of course, influences all business enterprises. The first
consideration is given to calculating the cost and the profit. No
wise man ever embarked in an undertaking without weighing-
well these two points. One man can easily handle one hu'ndred
acres of land. Some handle a hundred and fifty. The cost per
acre, including water rent, is about $10 per acre. If you are a
tenant add $7 more for land rent and your total cost is about $17.
The average price of rice is $3 per barrel and with an average
yield you have $36 an acre, or $19 profit per acre, of $1,900 from
one hundred acres. These figures are conservative, and many far-
mers make much more. Having recently obtained some state-

58 THE TEXAS RICE BOOK.

merits of last year's crop, I give a few of them in this article to
show the possibilities where all conditions are favorable and the
best seed is used.

Mr. Bob Andrews planted rice in Jefferson County in 1899,
and from forty acres of Japan rice, he harvested twenty-three
barrels per acre and sold it for $3.40 per barrel, making $3,128,
or $78.20 per acre. He also harvested from ninety-six acres of
Honduras rice, thirteen barrels per acre, for which he received
$3:60 per barrel, or $46.80 an acre, making a total of $4,492.80
from the ninety-six acres.

Mr. William Day is from Illinois, but is living in Jefferson
County, Texas, along the Beaumont Irrigation Canal, and last
year, 1899, planted a crop of rice, and reports that from sixty
acres of imported Honduras rice, he made the following sales:
Four hundred barrels at $4.50, 150 barrels at $5.00, 75 barrels at
$5.00, 100 barrels at $5.00 and 175 barrels retained for seed to
use on his farm, which is worth $5.00 per barrel, making a total
of 900 barrels from 60 acres, with a total value of $4,300, or $70
an acre.

D. C. Turner, living in Jefferson County, Texas, at China
Station, writes as follows: "I only had thirty-five acres of last
year's crop sufficiently watered. It made sixteen sacks per acre,
averaging one hundred and eighty-seven pounds per sack. Ten
acres were seeded with pure seed, second year from importation,
which I sold for $5.00 per barrel. The other twenty-five acres
were seeded with rice which had red in it. I sold it to the Beau-
mont Rice Mill for $3.55 per barrel. You can make your own
figures and see what it is worth per acre. I farmed rice in Louis-
iana four years."

Mr. Frank Hammond, manager of the Port Arthur Rice
Canal, which is located in Jefferson County, under date of April,
1900, says: "We planted here last year 750 acres of ground, from
which we harvested 9,627 sacks. This amounted to 10,500 barrels
of rice, making an average of 14 barrels per acre. We had one
piece of new land amounting to no acres, upon which I planted
imported Japan seed. We harvested from this no acres about
2,270 sacks of rice, which averaged 193 pounds each, making
making about 2,700 barrels. I have sold this rice at an average
price of $4 per barrel for seed purposes. This makes 10,800 gross
receipts from the 1 10 acres of ground. I fully expect to repeat
the operation this year."

The difference between rice culture and other agricultural
pursuits is, that a rice planter grows nothing else. He does not
want to do so, for the product from one acre of rice will buy sev-
eral acres of corn, oats, hayseed. Therefore, he buys all his feed-
stuff, except, possibly, a portion of his rice straw, which, when
properly saved and cured, is used instead of hay. The rice farmer
is not a competitor, as regards any other crop grown in our State.
In fact, he has gone on to lands heretofore unoccupied, and being
a good consumer, he is creating a market for great quantities of

THE TEXAS RICE BOOK. 59

corn, oats and hay. In fact, he goes further than this, and buys,
practically everything to eat and wear. He can afford to. Rice
farming also takes just that much corn and cotton land from use
for these crops, and pushes up the notch of diversification as re-
gards this State.

The increase in Southeast Texas this year will probably
reach 60,000 acres, and preparations are now under way to in-
crease it to 100,000 acres next year, which will represent an out-
put of not less than $3,500,000 worth of rice. Every indication
points to the maintenance of present prices, which are quite satis-
factory to the producers.

Thousands of acres are rented to tenants for crop rent, and
there is no crop grown that pays them so well. There is no road
to a home quicker than rice farming. It is nothing uncommon
for tenants to buy their own farms with the result of one year's
work. W. C. MOORE.

THE GROWTH OF TEXAS.
,
A THIRTY YEARS' VIEW OF THE LONE STAR STATE BY JUDGE z. T.

FULMORE, OF AUSTIN.

DATA FROM OFFICIAL SOURCES.
Judge Z. T. Fulmore in the Current Issue :

The closing month of the closing year of the century affords
the proper occasion for a partial review of the material growth of
Texas since she resumed her place in the Union in 1870 under the
changed conditions brought about by the great Civil War.

No comprehensive summary would be practicable in a paper
of this sort, even though the data were available ; hence this re-
view will be limited, in the main, to our growth in population,
wealth, agriculture — our main pursuit, and the transportation fa-
cilities, which have become so necessary to our development. The
data has all been obtained from official sources of the State and
United States, and embrace the period from 1870 to 1900, with
just enough from the reports of 1860 to give a proper under-
standing of some conditions existing after the war.

That due allowance may be made for what might seem ex-
travagant estimates of United States agencies, the statement is
made that they underestimate our resources in important particu-
lars. For example, the census of 1890 credited the State with
only 6,201,552 cattle. In the same year there were actually as-
sessed for taxation 7,378,203, with 3,354,658 sheep, when our tax
rolls showed 4,281,812; with 1,253,494 horses, mules and asses,
the tax roll showed 1,528,819. The rice product of the State has

THE TEXAS RICE BOOK. 61

been regarded as of too small moment to be mentioned at all in
the year book of Agriculture, while other States producing less
than half the product of Texas are listed as among the great rice
producing States of the Union.

In his visit to Texas in 1899, the Secretary of Agriculture
made several public addresses, one of which was before our Leg-
islature, in which he urged the necessity for diversification in
agriculture. In each of these addresses he stated that Texas ought
to be producing as much as 2,000,000 pounds of butter.

The census reports of 1870 showed the product of that year to
be 3,712,474 pounds. The report of 1880, 13,899,320 pounds, and
the reports of 1890, 21,100,500 pounds, and if the rate of increase
sin.ce 1890 had been the same as in the previous ten years, was
producing over 50,000,000 pounds in 1899.

Up to this date the greatest quantity of rice ever produced
in the State, according to United States estimates, was less than
110,000 pounds, when all know that the most conservative esti-
mates will give us all the way from 25,000,000 pounds up.

These illustrations are not cited to disparage the great value
of the Agricultural Department at Washington, but rather to for-
tify the estimates based upon its reports.

In order to get some idea as to the changes brought about
by the results of the Civil War, we may note that the assessed
valuation of all property in the State in 1860 was $294,315,639.
The first assessment after that war was in 1866, which showed
a shrinkage of $122,749,233. Among the items of assessed values
in 1860 was $106,698,920 of slave property. This was, of course,
a total loss, but in addition to this there was a shrinkage in other
property of $64,977,596. It took the State eleven years, or until
1877, to gain sufficiently to overcome tHis loss in property values.

The cotton product of 1860 was 431,463 bales, and it re-
quired seven years to reach that point after the war.

It is a fact worthy of notice that those counties which had
an excess of negro population in 1860, and maintained that excess
up to 1890, with an increase in white population of 61 per cent,
and an increase of 114 per cent in negro population, produced 31
per cent less cotton and other crops in 1890 than in 1860. To be
more specific, the Counties of Brazoria, Fort Bend, Grimes, Har-
rison, Marion, Matagorda, Walker, Washington and .Wharton
had, in 1860, a white population of 30,746, and a negro population
of 39,939, and made 124,417 bales, or about one-third of all the
cotton produced in the State. These same counties, in 1890, had
a white population of 49,649, and a negro population of 85,520,
and made only 93,148 bales, or about one-fifteenth of the State's
product for that year, or about one and three-quarters of a bale
per capita in 1860, and about two-thirds of a bale per capita in
1890, the disparity in other products being still greater.

The State started out in 1870 with a population of 818,579,
an increase of 36.47 per cent over 1860. In 1880 the population
was 1,594,749, an actual increase in numbers of 773,170, the ratio

62 THE TEXAS RICE BOOK.

being 94 per cent. In 1890, 2,235,523, an actual increase of 640,-
874, or 40 per cent. In 1900, 3,042,828, an increase of 807,305, or
36 per cent, the number of the last increase being only about n,-
ooo less than the entire population of 1870, and the largest in the
State's history.

The ratio of increase in population for the thirty years end-
ing in 1900, has been 274 per cent. The growth of other import-
ant factors in our progress has been much greater : For example :

In cotton production the increase has been 800 per cent.

In corn production the increase has been 425 per cent.

In wheat production the increase has been 3,754 per cent.

In oats production the increase has been 2,653 Per cent-

In taxable values the increase has been 430 per cent.

In railway mileage the increase has been 1,323 per cent.

The cotton product of 1870 was 350,628 bales, or about one-
ninth of the total crop of the United States — 3.011,996 bales. Of
1880, 805,284 bales, or about one-seventh of the total crop — 5,-
755*359 bales. Of 1890, 1,471,511 bales, or about one-fifth of the
total crop. In 1894, the product reached 3,154,000 bales, or about
one-third of the total crop, and since that date has alternated
around the 3,000,000 mark, and this may be estimated as the crop
of 1900. The increase in Texas has been over six times as great
as in the balance of the country.

The large increase in 1894 was followed by a corresponding
decrease in price, which arrested progress in cotton culture and
turned attention to other crops, so that the corn crop, which was
69,112,150 bushels in 1890, reached 107,905,565 bushels in 1895.
This in turn was followed by a corresponding increase in the hog
product, which went from 2,252,476 in 1890 to 3,035,119 in 1895,
ranking the State in 1895 and 1896 fourth among the great hog-
producing States of the Union.

The corn product of 1870 was 20,559,538 bushels.

The corn product of 1880 was 29,065,772 bushels.

The corn product of 1890 was 69,112,150 bushels.

The corn product of 1900 was 100,000,000 bushels, estimate.

The wheat product of 1870 was 415,112 bushels.

The wheat product of 1880 was 2,567,737 bushels.

The wheat product of 1890 was 4,238,244 bushels.

The wheat product of 1897 was 9,342,464 bushels.

The wheat product of 1900 was 16,000,000 bushels, estimate.

The oats product of 1870 was 762,663 bushels.

The oats product of 1880 was 4^93,359 bushels.

The oats product of 1890 was 12,584,310 bushels.

The oats product of 1897 was 21,121,639 bushels.

The oats product in 1900 was 20,000,000 bushels, estimate.

The assessed valuation of the State in 1870 were $170,473,-
778.

The assessed valuations of the State in 1880 were $311,-

470,736.

THE TEXAS RICE BOOK. 63

The assessed valuations of the State in 1900 were $914,-
080,403.

The only time during the history of the State since 1870
when values decreased was from 1893 to 1896, when there was a
shrinkage of $35,886,149.

Railroads have played such a conspicuous and necessary part
in the development of the State and are such a reliable guide to
our increase in wealth, as to justify their being ranked as one of
the most important factors. The largest increase in railway mile-
age in the history of the State during any four years was between
j88o and 1884, when there was a correspondingly large increase
in values. That increase was from 3,224 miles in 1880 to 6,198
miles in 1884, and in taxable values from $311,470,736 to $603,-
060,917, or an increase during the four years of 92 and 93 per
cent respectively.

In 1870 the total railway mileage of the State was 711 miles,
or one mile to every 1,151 inhabitants, and 373 4-5 square miles
of area. In 1880, 3,224 miles, or one mile to every 439 inhabit-
ants, and 82.43 square miles of area. In 1890, 7,810 miles, or one
mile to every 256 inhabitants, and 30 5-1 square miles of area.
In 1900, 10,124 miles, or one mile to every 300 inhabitants, and
26 2-5 square miles of area.

The actual miles increased and ratios by decades are as low-
lows:

From 1870 to 1880, 2,513 miles and 353 per cent.

From 1880 to 1890, 5,486 miles and 170 per cent.

From 1890 to 1900, 1,414 miles and 16 7-3 per cent.

In 1860 the value of all farm products was $104,610,281.

In 1870 the value of all farm products was $49,186,170.

In analyzing this shrinkage, it must not be forgotten that
cotton was worth twice as much in 1870 as in 1860.

In 1880 the value of all farm products was $65,204,329.

In 1890, the value of all farm products was $111,699,430.

In 1890 Texas ranked sixth among the States of the Union
in the value of her farm products — Illinois leading with a valua-
tion of $180,431,662.

Estimating the cotton crop of 1900 at 3,000,000, worth an
average of 8 i-2c per pound, and 1,500,000 tons of cotton seed
at $i 1.50 per ton, the value of the crop of 1890 is $144,4750,000.
Add 100,000,000 bushels of corn at 40 cents per bushel, $40,000,-
ooo; 16,000,000 bushels wheat at 65 cents per bushel, $10,400,-
ooo ; 20,000,000 bushels of oats at 35 cents per bushel, $7,000,000,
makes the value of these four crops in 1900 $202,150,000.

If to this is adde'd the value of the products of sugar, molas-
ses, sorghum, rice, hay, potatoes, fruits, vegetables, with butter,
eggs, chickens, turkey, tobacco and various other products, the
value of all the farm products of 1900 will be considerably in ex-
cess of 100 per cent over the values of 1890.

The relative position of the citizen of 1870 and of 1890, with
reference to these conditions, may be stated as 'follows :

64 THE TEXAS RICE BOOK.

There was, per capita, in Texas in 1870 25 bushels of corn.

There was, per capita, in Texas in 1900 32 2-3 bushels of
corn.

There was, per capita, in Texas in 1870 2 1-3 pecks of wheat.

There was, per capita, in Texas in 1900 5 bushels of wheat.

There was, per capita, in Texas in 1870 3 7-10 pecks of oats.

There was, per capita, in Texas in 1900 6 3-14 bushels of
oats.

There was, per capita, in Texas in 1870 214 pounds of lint
cotton.

There was, per capita, in Texas in 1900 500 pounds of lint
cotton.

Cotton seed which had no market value in 1870, equivalent to
20 per cent, or 100 pounds more.

Assessed wealth, per capita, in 1870, $208.25.

Assessed wealth, per capita, in 1900, $310.94.

To these should be added the annual products of horses,
mules, sheep, cattle and other domestic animals, as to which no
reliable data are available.

If we estimate the annual beef product of the State by the
number of cattle other than milch cows and oxen, it will be seen
that it is about equal to that of all the Atlantic and Gulf States,
with Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia added.
The number of cattle other, than oxen and milch cows, as shown
by the census reports for 1890, for Maine, New Hampshire, Ver-
mont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York,
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia,
North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mis-
sissippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky, was 7,-
048,606. The number assessed for taxation that year in Texas,
including milch cows and oxen, was 7,378,203. If we add to this
10 per cent as the number which the Tax Assessor failed to reach,
and deduct the proportion for milch cows and oxen, as shown by
the census, it can be readily seen that the beef product of Texas
is equivalent to that of these twenty-three States combined.

The increase in cotton production during this decade has
been 104 per cent, corn 44 per cent, wheat 274 per cent, oats 58
percent, taxable values 16.83 Per cent> and railway mileage 16=23
per cent; whereas, in the two previous decades the increased
ratios were the reverse.

Progress in agriculture, during this generation, at least, can
not be arrested by exhaustion of the area of soil.

There are twenty-five counties of the State, extending from
Travis to Grayson, intersected by the Houston and Texas Central
and the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railways, with an aggre-
gated area of 22,626 square miles, or 14,480,640 acres, about one-
twelfth of the State's area, capable of producing as^ much cotton,
corn, wheat and oats as is now produced in the entire State. As
far back as 1894 one of them produced 120,470 bales of cotton.
2,311,626 bushels of corn, 582,271 bushels of oats, 69,398 bushels

66 THE TEXAS RICE BOOK.

wheat, 56,647 bushels of sweet potatoes, 5,777 bushels of Irish po-
tatoes, 2,513 tons of millet, 6,723 tons of hay, besides the other
crops. The total value of these products at present prices is $7,-
093,444.75. The county's area is 969 square miles and the popu-
lation in 1890 31,174, one-fifth of which was urban. This crop
was produced on less than two-fifths of the county's area.

Without consuming the space to itemize, the value of the
products of this county exceeds by nearly $500,000 the entire cot-
ton, corn, wheat, oats, sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, hay, rice,
sugar, molasses and sorghum crop of the State of Florida, to pro-
duce which required an expenditure for fertilizers of $857,327.
This group of counties produced 657,989 bales of the 1,471,279-
bale crop of 1890, and more than 49 per cent of the 3,i54,ooo-bale
crop of 1894.

Several things must be noted among the changes in the rate
of progress made by these several factors in our growth. The
wealth of the State, according to the Comptroller's report, has in-
creased during this last decade only 16.87 P61" cent- Population
has increased twice as rapidly as either, and the value and quan-
tity of agricultural products has increased over 100 per cent. This
is, of course, the gross income of the farm, and would indicate
that the results have not added to the wealth of the State as would
naturally be expected. This is doubtless due, in the main, to the
low prices which have ranged for cotton from 1894 to 1900. If
the price of this product can be kept approximately near the rul-
ing prices of 1900, the increase in the taxable wealth of the State
maybe expected to increase proportionately. With the large in-
crease in other products, which will doubtless continue, the gen-
eral addition to the wealth of the State is assured from this
source. With a tonnage of something like 100 per cent greater
than in 1890, an increase in passenger traffic commensurate with
the increase in population and the improved financial conditions
of the people, the outlook for the profitable operation of railroads
is better than at any previous stage of our history. The railroad
is the boldest pioneer among all the factors in our industrial de-
velopment, hence we may reasonably expect a large addition to
railway mileage in the near future.

While agriculture is rushing ahead at such gigantic strides,
the probability of <a relapse in its profitable pursuit should, if pos-
sible, be anticipated and prevented.

It may not be hazarding too much to predict that by the time
1910 rolls around Texas will be producing more than half of all
the cotton in the United States, and enough wheat, corn, rice,
beef, mutton and pork to sustain 12,000,000 people. These by no
means represent all the food products of the State, and^a slight
digression will be made to illustrate. The sweet potato is one of
the staple products of the South. It is probably the most prolific,
the most certain and the most easily cultivated of all our products.
Its value as a food product in the North is indicated by the fact
that the State of New Jersey annually produces about 2,250,000

68 THE TEXAS RICE BOOK.

bushels for consumption in New York City and other markets.
Excluding .New Jersey from the computation, the product of the
whole United States north of parallel 36 degrees 30 minutes in
1890 was only 2,278,591 bushels; including New Jersey, 5,532,935
bushels. The Texas product for the same year was 5,505,452
bushels, virtually all of which was consumed or wasted in the
State. The Irish potato is equally prolific and certain. The pro-
portions in the peach product were about the same and its disposi-
tion about the same.

If the value of our farm products increases within 25 per
cent of the ratio of increase during this decade, and prices are
maintained at anything like the ruling prices of 1900, the values
of 1910 will reach $400,000,000. If all the cotton mills now in
operation in the United States shall double their capacity during
the next ten years, they will not be able to manufacture the Texas
product. More than half of all the wheat, one-fourth of all the
corn, four-fifths of the beef, one-third of the mutton and porkr
three-fourths of all the horses and mules must find outside mar-
kets.

Without this, such products as potatoes and peaches must
continue to be consumed or wasted at home.

There are no waterways to the sea, and unless Congress
comes to the rescue the transportation of this immense mass of
product must devolve wholly upon the railroads and their expor-
tation upon the facilities afforded by a single seaport.

INDEX.

Introduction, .... ... j_j

Rice Culture, (Prof. Knapp) .... . 3-14

Rice Culture, (Prof. Knapp) .... 34-36

Rice Culture, (G. McManus) .... . 14-18

Irrigation by Wells, (S. L. Gary) - - - 18-21

Rice Fields of Texas, (M. C. Scott) • • 21-22

Rice and Sugar, (John Howard) .... 23-27

Value of Wells, (S. L. Gary) - 28-31

Rice Culture, (C. M. Desel) 31-32

Rice Culture, (S. A. Hackworth) - ... - 32-33

Rice Growers' Experience, (A. P. Borden) • • 36-37

Big Deal in Rice, '37

The Rice Crop, .... . 38-41

Rice Industry, (Houston Post) .... - 42

Arcadia Parish, La. - 43

Calcasieu Parish, La. 43

Jefferson Co. Tex. ..... . 44

Orange Co. Tex. ....... 44

Matagorda Co. Tex. ---... . 44

Colorado Co. Tex. ----... 46

Brazoria Co. Tex. - 47

Wharton Co. Tex. - -47

Hardin Co. Tex. - 47

Requisites For Rice Farming, ... 48-50

What Rice Culture will do for the Coast Country, - 51-52

The Growth of Texas, (Judge Z. T. Fulmore) - - 52-68

.-v •

70 THE TEXAS RICE BOOK.

TEXAS LANDS!

J. S. DAUGHERTY,

ORGANIZER AND MEMBER OF "THE BEAUMONT OIL EXCHANGE/'
Refer to any Texas Bank or Banker.

, HOUSTON, s

OFFICES-. B^AXJAtOIVT, 1 TEXAS.

' RICHMOND, '

Have bought, sold and located millions of acres of land in differ-
ent portions of TEXAS, and if you wish to buy or sell Lands in
any part of Texas, I am in position to serve you.

RICH UAINDS

If you wish to engage in Rice Culture, send for my Pamphlet giving
details as to mode of cultivation, money required, and results obtained

OIL, L.ANDS

Before investing, write me, enclosing Post Office Order for $25, and state
the amount which you wish to invest, and I will furnish you my opinion as to
how best to invest; or if you have invested, will advise you whether to hold
or sell. To enable me to intelligently advise my clients, I am having the
property owned by each Company located as fast as I can, and abstract of
titles to their lands made, so as to be able to determine whether or not they
are good— some 1 know now have disputed titles, and it is important to avoid
such Companies — or, if you have already invested in them, to sell before the
public in general becomes aware of the true situation.

1 own stock in no Oil Company, to bias my judgment. I believe that
for one to invest in an industry, and lose money, damages the industry and
the State at large; and will use my best endeavors to protect the interests of,
and make money for those who entrust their business to me.

J.

Post Office Box 71, HOUSTON, TEXAS.

" " 14, BEAUMONT, TEXAS.
" " B, RICHMOND, TEXAS.

The railroad system of Texas, having brought into easy access the lands origin-
ally granted the Houston & Texas Central ; Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio;
Texas & New Orleans, and Gulf, Western Texas & Pacific Railway Companies, they
are now offered to the public on terms and at prices such as to put them in reach
of every person desiring to own his own homestead.

Lands for the farmer, the planter, the gardener, the stock-raiser and millman,
which will be sold at reasonable price, on long time and at low rate of interest.

Theie is a wide field here from which to select, embracing such a variety of
lands, that there is no reason why all should not obtain locations suitable to their
particular ideas and desires. There is ample room for an almost unlimited num-
ber of energetic people, as Texas is a State that cannot be equalled in the pro-
portion of acreage adopted to the highest degree of cultivation ; all it needs is
population. The low price of lands, great fertility of soil, low rates of taxation and
munificent educational endowments, are inducements that no other state can offer.

For detailed terms of sale, prices, information, maps and pamphlets, address
C. C.^GIBBS, Land Commissioner, SAN ANTONIO, TEX

AGENCIES.

I H. W. NATHAN Commercial Agent

ATLANTA, GA., j \V. R. FAGAN Traveling Passengtr Agent

_,,_ ( F. A. LEOV Y Division Passenger and Freight Agent

BEAIMONT, TLA., | j F RYAN Traveling Passenger Agent

BALTIMORE, MD , 209 East German Street .. B. B. BARBER, Agent

f E.E.CURRIKR New England Agent

BAOTAB mfia a fit * «tr«t J E.C.CAMPBELL Traveling Passenger Agent

BOSTON, MASS., 9 State Mreet, < FRANK PATRICK Traveling Passenger Agent

I W. F. HILL . City Passeneer Agent

KROW\SVILLE TEX M. B. K1NGSBURY, Agent

( W. G. NEIMYER . . .General Western Freight and Passenger Agent
CHICAGO, ILL., 2B8 Clark Street, ] R. D. WILLIAMS Passenger Agent

( B. H BULLARD Traveling Passenger Agent

CINCINNATI, OHIO, SO. 53 East Fourth Street $• »; g£?gg' \\\ ."• ' V.V. Traveling Pas^

CITY OK MEXICO, 13 San Ju -n De Lehan G. R. HACKLEY , General Agent, 1 raffic Department

IIANVILLE VA ••- A. E. WOODELL, Traveling breieht Aeent

A. G. NEWSUM, :

WM. K. MCALLISTER

G. F. KUHNS Traveling Freight and Passenger Agent

DURANGO, MEX A. GREGORY, Commercial Agent, Mexican International K. R

A. E. WOODELL, Traveling r-reight Agent

DALLAS TEX A. G. NEWSUM, Division Passenger Agent

. •-*•. M * { WM. K. MCALLISTER General Agent

DENIER, COL., 1112 l<tl Mreet,

EAGLE PASS, TEX C. K. DUN LAP, General Freight and Passenger Agent Mexican International R. R

___ ) Division Passenger and Freight Agent

EL PASO, TEX. > J. A. SPELLICY Passenger and Ticket Agent

( S. F. BOOTH District Freight and Passenger Agent

FRESNO, CAL < WM B. MAY Tiaveling Passenger Agent

™,«« ™T < T. R.CHRISTIAN, T. & N. O.. G. H.&S. A Commercial Agent

GALAESTON, FEX., J j H MILLER, T. & N. O., G. H. & S. A Division Passenger Agent

t GALBAN & CO., General Agents

HAVANA, CUBA, 36 San fenaei Street ] \'^"m™\\\ W. L. SAUCIER, Passenger Argent

HELENA, MONT E. I. STIEFEL, Traveling Passenger Agent

ruT«T«K TI Y J H. C. REESE, T. & N. O., G. H. & S. A Ass't Gen. Frt. Agent

HOUSTON.TEX,, | JOHN HOWARD Pass, and Immigration Agent

JENNINGS, LA S. L. CARY, Immigration Agent

KEY WEST. FLA LAFLIN & CO., Agents

KANSAS CITY, MO., Exchange Building .. C. C. CARY, Northwestern Passenger and Immigration Agent

'..ft « +i. s«,!». at $ G. W. LUCE Ass't General Passenger and Freight Agent

LOS ANGELES, CAL., 229 South Spring St. j N R MARTIN Traveling Passenger Agent

MONTEREY. MEX H. N. GIBSON, Commercial Agent, Mexican Internat onal K. R

MONTGOMERY, ALA G. W. ELY, Traveling Passenger Agent

HIWIMIIIL TLVV *[„ i KAfli pin-ir J R. O. BEAN, Traveling Passenger Agent

IASH\ILLE,TEHN.,So.4 Soel Block j G. WALDO, Traveling Freight Agent

NEW IBERIA, LA., CHAS. B. ELLIS, Division Passenger and Freight Agent

viva ii \ H.B.ABBOTT City Passenger Agent

NEW ORLEANS, LA., j L.YAMSAN Chinese Passenfer Agent

•uu'VARir v v 9i«n^«<i«,o, ann IR,**,,,.PI . i E. HAWLEY.. . Assistant General Traffic Manager

IEW YORK, N. Y., 849 Broadway and 1 Battery Place, | L H NUTTING Eastern Passenger Agent

PASADENA,CAL I. N. TODD, Commercial Agent

PHILADELPHIA, PA., 109 South Third Street,) £ L^O™ ACRE '. "i:"'.::: ^.Traveiing Passenger A^enl

PiTTsuiiBC PI -IIP t R iHin, i GEORGE G. HERRING Agent

PITTSBURG, PA., .11 Park Building, j j. STANLEY ORR Traveling Passenger Agent

. \ C. H. M A RKH AM.... General Freight aud Passenger Agent
PORTLAND, ORE., 265 W ashington Street, | j. B. KIRKLAND, 3rd & Alder Sts., District Passenger Agent

PORT TAMPA, FLA JNO. BRADLEY, Agent

RIVERSIDE, CAL G. F. FORSYTHE, Commercial Agent

8ACKAMENTO, CAL S. S. FULTON, Traveling Passenger Agent

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, 214 Dooly Block D. R. GRAY, General Agent

,«,A ™,ov J J- McMILLAN, G. H. & S. A -: Division Passenger Agent

SAS ANTONIO, TEX., { C. FAHEY, G. H. & S. A Division Freight Agent

8AS DIEGO, CAL., 869 Fifth Street G. H. McMILLAN, Commercial Agent

G.W.FLETCHER General Agent

. B. McCORD ...................... City Passenger Agent

SANTA BARF ^A, CAL ................................ ...... F. M. FRYE, Commercial Agent

SAN LUIS OBISPO, CAL ............. .............. J. L. BUELL. District Freight and Passenger Agent

SAVANSAH, GA., 18 East Bryan Street ................ C. W. MURPHEY, Traveling Passenger Agent

ST LOUIS, MO., 421 Olive Street, (Bank of Commerce Bldg.) ..... L. E. TOWNSLEY, Commercial Agent

SYRACUSE, S. Y., 129 South Franklin Street ...................... F. T. BROOKS, New York State Agent

SEATTLE, WASH., 619 First Avenue ................... ........... E. J. STEEPLE District Passenger Agent

TAGOMA WASH., 1108 Pacific Avenue .......................... E.J. STEEPLE, District Passenger Agent

WACO, TEX ........ ...................... T.J.ANDERSON, District Passenger Agent

WASHINGTON. D. C..51I Pennsylvania Avenue ............ A. J. POSTON, General Agent Sunset Excursions

HAMBURG. GERMANY, 6 and 8 Karlsburg. . .
LONDON, ENGLAND 49 Ladenhall Street and

Water 'Street! '. ... RUDOLPH FALCK. .General European Passenger Agent.
ROTTKRDAM.NETHKRLANDS,92 Wynhaven.SS;
ANTWERP, BELGIUM, 11 Rue Chapel ledefiraw

THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE
STAMPED BELOW

OCT 2 i 1916

SEP 17 \9\9

NOV 1

... C-

SEP 22 1929
MOV 6 1920

Si

MOV 171111

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307n-l,'15

YC 60442

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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY