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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 
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OCT    2  i   1916 

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