Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser, August 26, 1997

Solomon Wright was 'Burbank' of industry

Innovator developed seed rice that saved Acadia farmers

Born in Rockville, Indiana, on April 26, 1852, Sol Wright spent 10 years farming wheat at Albany, Oregon, before coming to Acadia Parish in 1890. He was successful as a rice farmer from his first year. The first harvest from his 320-acre farm five miles southwest of Crowley brought him $1,900 that year-- $400 more than he paid for the farm.

Less then a decade later, Wright was recognized as one of the leading farmers of the rice belt and as an authority on seed rice, solving a problem that plagued the Louisiana rice industry.

When Louisiana's rice industry began to grow, there were only two varieties of seed rice available: Japan and Honduras. Each of these did well for the first and second year, but new seed had to be imported for a third year's crop.

In 1903, Wright announced that he would raise only seed rice. He had been selling Japan solid since 1901, and would concentrate first on that. But he would also concentrate on developing a seed rice that would last long, and that did not have to be imported.

Wright was not a scientist. He was a farmer. In breeding rice, he followed the same principles as in breeding animals, first of which was to use the best breeding stock available.

To find that stock, he opened thousands upon thousands of grains of rice, carefully selecting grains that came closest to what he wanted. These he would plant the next day. When they bore fruit, it would be examined for the best grains to be replanted once again.

The result was Blue Rose rice, which, according to a contemporary description: "...not only made the highest yield per acre, but it stood the highest test in the mills. There was less waste and more clean product. A barrel of rough netted a hundred pounds of head rice, and commanded the highest price."

The yield was at least 25 percent greater than other varieties. The stalk was fuller and stiffer, that not only made it easier to harvest, but also itself provided a rich cattle feed.

Within a few years, Louisiana prairies were planted almost exclusively with Blue Rose rice. Farmers said he had saved the Louisiana industry.

This article is copyrighted © by the Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser and is used with permission.  This web site was originated through a grant awarded to Carencro High School (Joel Hilbun/Bobbi Marino, Grant Administrators) by the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education from the Louisiana Quality Education Support Fund - 8(g).