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Wild Ducks and other Birds in Relation to the Rice Crop in Arkansas in 1918.

Introduction.

For the purpose of securing further information in regard to the status of wild ducks in relation to the rice crop in Arkansas I arrived in Little Rock, Arkansas on November 24, 1918.  From there I continued to DeWitt, Arkansas on the same day and using that town as a base worked through the surrounding rice district until Nov. 29.  E. V. Visart of our warden force worked with me from Nov. 26 to 28 inclusive.  On November 30 I returned to Stuttgart where the work was finished.

Travel in the country in southeastern Arkansas was difficult because of heavy continued rains that had put the roads in bad condition.  Thus on [[strikethrough]] e [[/strikthrough]] one occasion the Ford car that I used was stuck in mud holes five times in a distance of eleven miles; trouble of this sort was of daily occurrence.

Condition of Rice Crop.

In 1918, about 173,000 acres was devoted to the culture of rice in Arkansas, Lonoke, St. Francis, Pulaski, and Prairie Counties Arkansas.  Complaint of damage by ducks has come mainly from Arkansas County.  The dry summer here (of 1918) had caused a shortage of water for irrigation which had retarded the growth of the rice.  The heavy fall rains that had followed had hindered the harvest so that on November 26 it was estimated by Mr. Kennedy in charge of the Southern