Name/Title
StereographEntry/Object ID
2023.055.3.0356Description
A black and white stereograph. Image is of many people standing/riding on a raft loaded with harvested rice. Above the image "24" is printed, below the image "V23232 - A Rice Rafte with Plantation Hands, Near Georgetown, South Carolina." is printed, to the left of the image "Keystone View Company Copyrighted, Underwood & Underwood Manufacturers MADE IN U.S.A. Publishers" is printed, to the right of the image "Meadville, Pa., New York, N. Y., Portland, Oregon, London, Eng., Sydeny, Aus." is printed. On the reverse the following is printed:
V23232
A RICE RAFT WITH PLANTATION HANDS, NEAR GEORGETOWN
Lat. 33 (Degrees) N.; Long. 79 (Degrees) W.
Rice was introduced into the United States during the latter part of the seventeenth century. FOr about two hundred years its culture was limited to South Caroina although at the present time Louisiana and Texaa rank as the greatest rice producing states in the coutnry.
Rice requires a moist soil and is raised chiefly on lands which can be readily flooded or irrigated. Late in the fall the ground is plowed and flooded. In early spring the land is drianed by drawing the surface water off into ditches. InMay the planting is done, sowing usually two or three bushesl fo seed rice to the acre. The seed is covered iwth a light sprinkling of soil and the whole field is then thoroughly wet once more. Harvesting is done with the self-binder and threshing with the steam thresher. Rice in the husk is known as "paddy." It is usually freed from the husks and placed on the market as a pearly white grain. This picture shows a flat boat loaded with rice straw, which is used for fodder, bedding and making paper. This rice boat is on a small creek west of Georgetown, South Carolina, about sixty miles fromharleston. In this part of the state some of the best rice in the country is produced.
The bobolinks come formt he north to these fields as soon a summer is over. Here they are called reedbirds or rice birds, and feast upon the rice when "in the milk", destroying large quantities every year. It is no wonder that the planters despire them, though in the north they are among the most useful insectivorous birds. After the rice is too large to be attractive, those that escape the gun fly farther south for the winter ; but thousands are killed in the rice fields, and make a highly esteemed table delicacy.
Copyright by The Keystone View CompanyCollection
Photograph Collection