ravages of this bird are described in the report of the Ornithologist of the U. S. Department of Agriculture for 1886, from which the present account is condensed: The cultivation of rice in the Southern States is crippled and made precarious by the biannual attacks of birds. The name of the ricebird is familiar in the North, but the magnitude of its depredations is hardly known outside of the rice-growing districts of the Southern States. Innumerable hosts of these birds visit the ricefields at the time of planting in the spring, devouring the seed grain before the fields are flooded, and again at harvest time in the fall, when, if the maturing grain is "in the milk" they feed upon it to a ruinous extent. To prevent total destruction of the crop during these periods of invasion thousands of men and boys called "bird minders" are employed, hundreds of thousands of pounds of gunpowder are burned, and millions of birds are killed. Still the number of birds invading the rice fields each year seems in no way diminished, and the aggregate annual loss they occasion is about $2,000,000. The use of firearms has continued for more than a century, but has proved an expensive and inefficient remedy. Hence it is clear that some other means, consistent with reasonable economy, must be devised for the relief of the enormous losses now sustained by rice-growers from the depredations of birds. The annual consumption of rice in the United States is almost double the production (see Table IV, page 76, of this report), and in quality the imported rice is decidedly inferior to that grown in this country, and the price paid for it correspondingly lower. The duty, though lately decreased by the tariff of 1890, is still too large to allow the foreign cleaned rice to be sold at much profit in this country, although there is, as has been above stated, a profit in cleaning foreign rice, as at San Francisco. If, therefore, the bird plague can be abolished or reduced to comparative harmlessness, it is evident that great benefit will accrue both to the producer and to the consumer; for, the home demand being greater than the home supply, the planter will profit by increased production and lessened expense, while the consumer will gain by securing an uniformly good quality of rice, of much higher nutritive value than the imported rice. In reply to a circular issued by Dr. Merriam, the Ornithologist of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, requesting information about the ricebird and its depredations, numerous letters were received, extracts from which are here given. Col. Screven writes from Savannah, Ga.: The ricebird is strictly migratory. It appears on the Savannah River about the 10th or 15th of April, and remains, perhaps, until the 29th of May. It appears again about the 15th of August, when the early grain is hardened and is not so inviting to his appetite as when unripe and "in the milk." Therefore the planter seeks to seed his land and to have his young rice under the water before the spring flock arrives, and to have the grain ripened before the autumn flock returns. If his planting is not finished before the spring flock comes it must be delayed until late in May or early in June, when the birds have departed for the season. The planter also looks to the ripening and harvesting of such late crops when the fall ravages of the ricebird have either ceased or are much diminished. The practice of the " open trench" system of planting offers an especially tempting opportunity for the ricebird to pick up the seed. Though these ravages may be thus somewhat avoided the fields do not entirely escape, and the ruinous invasion goes on. The "bird minders" endeavor to drive the birds off by discharges of blank cartridges, ard sometimes use small shot, when incredible numbers of the birds are killed, but even such measures do not prevent great waste. The voracity of these birds seems so intense that fear is secondary to it, and they fly, when alarmed, from one portion of the field to another out of gunshot, and immediately settle down again. The preventives above mentioned are but pallia-. tive, are applied at great expense, and are without commensurate results, and, in short, no effort yet tried, consistent with reasonable economy, will drive the ricebirds from the fields or afford any well-founded promise of their reduction to harmless numbers. The bobolink.-Capt. William M. Hazard, of Annandale, S. C., writes in substance as follows: The bobolinks make their appearance during the latter part of April. At that season they wear their Northern plumage, white and black, and sing merrily when at rest. Their flight is always at night. The bird minders keep up an incessant warfare, to prevent their pulling up the young rice, until about the 25th of May, when the birds suddenly disappear. They next appear as the ricebirds, in a darkyellow plumage, and at this season have no song. Except when prevented by stormy south or southwest winds, they come almost punctually upon the 21st of August and the three following nights, settling upon the fields by millions, and apparently never flying in the daytime. They stay upon the fields until about the 25th of September, during which period every effort is made to save the crop. The loss of rice seldom amounts to less than 5 bushels per acre, and if from any cause there is a check to the crop during its growth which prevents the grain from becoming hard, the destruction of such fields is complete, it not paying to cut and bring the rice out of the field. Our present mode of trying to keep the pests off our crops is expensive, imperfect, and thoroughly unsatisfactory, yet it is the best we can do. The loss by birds and the expense of bird minders renders the cultivation of rice a dangerous speculation. One hundred bird minders will use from three to five kegs of gunpowder, weighing 25 pounds each, daily. Mr. Theo. S. Wilkinson, a planter upon the Louisiana coast, writes: The rice crop in Louisiana, from the time the rice is in the milk till harvest time and during harvesting, is much damaged by birds, principally the red-shouldered blackbird. Shooting is the only remedy thus far resorted to which is at all effectual, and it is only partially so. I have known rice crops to be destroyed to the extent of over 50 per cent, which is a loss of, say, $13 per acre. While this is an extreme case, a damage and expense of from $5 to $10 per acre is very common. The red-shouldered blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) comes next in importance after the rice bird as an enemy to rice, but though he does much harm he does at least some good by his destruction of insects. The large boat-tailed graple (Quiscalus major), called "jackdaw" by the planters, also does much damage.* The English sparrow.-In addition to his general destruction of our grain crops all over the country, and to his devastation among our fruit and shade trees, and to his persecution of our harmless native birds, the English sparrow (Passer domesticus), arch-enemy, it would seem, of all American agriculture, threatens to be almost as destructive to the rice fields in some localities as the rice bird himself, as he mingles with the latter, attacking the crops at the same time, and even attacks * Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture, 1886. Report of the Ornithologist and Mammalogist, "Ravages of Rice Birds," (pp. 246–249). the harvested rice in the stacks which the rice bird spares. Dr. Merriam says, in his Bulletin upon the English sparrow, 1889, p. 70: The habit of working around the edges of a field seems to be characteristie of the sparrow, and is mentioned in scores of reports. Blackbirds, rice birds, and others which damage grain, are more apt to avoid the edges of the fields and settle in the midst of the grain where they are less likely to be disturbed, but the sparrow scorns to seek safety in the same way, but feeds unmolested wherever he chooses. Again, page 76, he says: Wherever the sparrow has reached the rice-growing districts he has damaged the rice to a greater or less extent, but this crop annually suffers so severely from the attack of rice birds and blackbirds that the presence of a few English sparrows is often overlooked. In the Middle States the rice bird feeds largely on the so-called wild rice, and often the sparrow may be found feeding in the same places. Dr. Merriam also says: The losses occasioned to rice-growers by the depredations of migratory birds are so heavy already that many planters have preferred to abandon the culture of rice rather than keep up the expensive warfare which is necessary in order to save any large proportion of the crop. By early planting it is sometimes possible to harvest a part of the crop before the rice birds arrive from the North; but should the English sparrow once obtain a strong foothold in the rice districts, and increase as rapidly as he has done elsewhere, the rice-grower will be compelled to fight a species which is present the entire year, which multiplies more than twice as rapidly as any native bird, and which is so ravenous and at the same time so cunning that it can not be combated successfully with the same means employed against the native birds. Thus the rice crop is beset by enemies upon every hand, and at all times, from its earliest planting until the harvest or after. The rice bird, the water weevil, the stalk borer, the white blast, and again the rice bird, aided by the English sparrow, succeed each other throughout the season and descend in turn upon the fields, each doing its share of damage, in addition to the accidents of unfavorable weather, storm, floods, and salt water, so that the planter has more than the ordinary trials of the agriculturist to contend with, and is to be indeed congratulated should he brave them all and successfully conduct his crop to a profitable harvest. RICE IN Foreign COUNTRIES. ASIA. CHINA. This is probably the largest rice-producing country of the world, and the one which contains more land than any other suitable for its cultivation, but unfortunately no reliable statistics can be obtained, so that no estimate of area or production can be formed. Rice cultivation extends all over the southern and eastern portions of the Empire, as far north as the Yellow River, in 34° north latitude, and into the interior, prospering best among the lowlands about Canton and Kwangsi. Both lowland and upland rice are cultivated, but notwithstanding the vast area under cultivation the products fall far short of the home demand, and rice is imported from Siam and the Malay Islands if necessary. The exportation of rice from China has been forbidden by Imperial decree for several centuries. Generally the rice lands are in the hands of large proprietors who lease them out to the farmers. The Chinese are rather gardeners than farmers, and the rice fields are usually divided into small lots of not more than three or four "mao"* each, that is, of from half to twothirds of an acre, and often much less, though in certain localities holdings of from 100 to 150 mao (from 163 to 25 acres) are common. The rent is at the rate of from $7 to $10 per acre per annum, and payment is usually taken in kind, the landowner taking about a fifth of the crop, though in some districts a full half often falls to his share. The landowner in some cases furnishes the tools and fertilizers, while the farmer finds the labor, an ox for plowing, and the seed, and cultivates and gathers the whole crop. Laborers can be hired for from $8 to $12 per annum. The instruments used are, as they have been for a thousand years, of the most primitive description and modern instruments and machinery are unknown as Chinese conservatism and distrust of anything foreign have always prevented their introduction. The hoe is the implement most frequently in use besides the spade and plow, the latter of wood shod with iron, such as we are familiar with only in museums and only serving to scratch the soil to a depth of 3 or 4 inches. Inferior tillage, caused by these primitive instruments, is probably the reason why the soil of these rice fields, although naturally rich, needs a large amount of fertilization, and certainly the Chinese farmer places great faith in fertilizers and uses them unsparingly. The manure of horses and cattle is carefully collected, and a certain kind of oil cake is used, but the most esteemed fertilizer is the night soil from cities and large towns, which is constantly being carried to the neighborhood of the rice fields, where large tanks are constructed for its reception, in which it is allowed to undergo fermentation. China abounds in rivers and in small streams, and has numerous canals from which water may be taken for irrigation, though there is no regularly organized system of irrigation works such as has existed for centuries in Japan. In localities remote from a natural water supply the farmers unite and establish reservoirs or wells for use in common, the water being conveyed to the fields by water wheels through a system of bamboo pipes. Upon hillsides and slopes the land is terraced so that the fields may be level, and these are so arranged that when the water is at a sufficient depth for the needs of the crop upon the highest level it will flow upon the next below, and from this to the third, and finally to the lowest level. The system of cultivation of lowland rice in China, Japan, and India, * 66 and, in fact, throughout Asia, presents one important difference from the mode of cultivation practiced in the United States, namely, in the transplanting of the young plant when it is from 6 to 8 inches high, i. e., when it is from fifteen to thirty days old. The different steps in the process of cultivation in China are as follows, and do not generally vary throughout the country, except in a few minor details: A patch of ground, proportionate to the size of the field where the crop is to be finally grown and harvested, is liberally manured and is then broken up by the plow or spade, the manure being thoroughly incorporated with the soil and the whole being finely pulverized and made smooth, the rake being used for smaller and the harrow for larger patches. This operation takes place, according to latitude and the state of the season, from the middle of March to the middle of April. While this is being done the seed rice is also undergoing preparation, being placed in bags and soaked in water, running streams being preferred, until it commences to sprout, which is in three or four days. It is then sown broadcast and somewhat thickly upon the patch of ground prepared for it, and the water is let on to the depth of from 2 to 5 inches. The seed being already soaked will not readily float, and no attempt at covering it seems to be made. The water is kept upon the field until the young plant has attained a height of 6 or 8 inches, which will be in from fifteen to thirty days after sowing, according to circumstances of climate and weather. In the meantime the fields for final cultivation are being prepared. The general method of doing this is to break up the soil with the plow or hoe and to turn on the water to a depth of 2 or 3 inches, letting it remain upon the field for a few days, after which it is drawn off and the soil is again broken up and thoroughly pulverized by the rake or harrow. Fertilizers are at the same time applied and well mixed in. In the province of Ningpo, this work commences about the 15th or 25th of April, at which time the rice fields are covered by a rank growth of wild clover. This is cut down and removed, and the soil dampened and well plowed. The cut clover is then thickly scattered over the field and plowed under, and the field is flooded and raked or harrowed under water until the whole surface is knee-deep in mud.* As soon as the ground is ready and the young plants are sufficiently large the transplanting begins. The plants are carefully drawn from the bed, care being taken not to injure the roots, and are transplanted, two or three together, at about 6 inches apart, in rows 15 to 18 inches apart, this work often being done by women. Sometimes a second crop is set out, about three weeks later, between the rows of the first crop. The fields are then flooded to the depth of not more than 6 or 7 inches, this flow being sometimes continuous and sometimes intermittent in order to facilitate hoeing and weeding and lasting until about *Consular Report No. 96, August, 1888 (p. 215). |