The trees are planted on irrigated soil and the fruit gathered between November and August.
Of the total irrigated area for rice of 387,580 acres in 1902, 310,670 acres were in the parishes of Calcasieu, Acadia and Vermilion.
It is irrigated by an elaborate system of dams, cuts and canals in connexion with the rivers Cauvery and Coleroon, and the soil is exceedingly productive.
In 1902 nearly one-eighth of the acreage irrigated was by systems supplied from wells.
The soil of the sierra valleys is fertile, and when it is irrigated forage and cereal crops may be grown in abundance.