America's Crop Heritage


historical records. Whatever the source, the tendency for the old
varieties to be replaced by new hybrids was accelerated after 1900.
 At the turn of the century, the Department of Agriculture was
giving attention to the improvement of the soft white wheats pre-
ferred in the Pacific Coast states. The best of these varieties were
introduced from Australia, Japan, China, and Europe to replace
the old varieties which were deteriorating. The variety Baart,
originally from South Africa and imported to Australia in 1880,
was introduced by the Department in 1900. Baart wheat was
first distributed by the Arizona Agricultural Experiment Station
in 1910. After becoming well established in Arizona, its cultivation
spread to the Pacific Coast states. In 1939, 890,000 acres were
grown on the dry and irrigated lands of the West.
 KNAPP
 Seaman A. Knapp, while working with a land development
company in Louisiana, became interested in rice production and
gained much experience in cultivation of the crop. Knapp made
two trips to Japan to secure rice varieties with milling qualities
superior to those commonly grown in the South during the 1890's.
The Kiushu rice he brought from Japan is the basis of the present
rice industry in Louisiana and Texas.
 The chief difficulty with the common Honduras or South
Carolina rice at this time was its poor milling qualities which
caused excessive losses to the growers. Knapp selected ten tons
of seed from the varieties grown on Kiushu. These seed were
allotted to selected rice farmers in Louisiana for trial. The Kiushu
rice was found to be 25 per cent more productive than the Hon-
duras, and milling losses were cut in half.
 This introduction was a brilliant piece of pioneering, for it
 opened up extensive regions in Louisiana and Texas to rice culti-
 vation-land that formerly could be used only for grazing.
 Texas increased its rice plantings from 8,711 acres in 1899 to
 376,500 in 1904. The production of rice in Louisiana soon was
 increased by more than $1 million a year. During the three years
 from 1899 to 1902, America's rice imports declined to less than
 half their previous figures, and today the United States exports
 rice.
 While in Japan, Knapp also procured five varieties of the
 Japanese persimmon, and varieties of alfalfa, plums, pears, oranges,
 and rare lily bulbs. On his second trip in 1901, Knapp obtained