early farming methods ; highland farming ; sugar cane ; corn ; poverty of farmers ; increase of soy farmers ; farming ˆ la part ; sharecropping ; describing housing conditions of sharecroppers ; shortage of drinking water ; market crash ; description of terrain near China, TX ; China marsh ; sandy land ; Texas longhorn cattle ; Cajun cowboys ; preferred language for doing business ; Natchez canal ; Sabine River ; rice belt near Crowley and Abbeville ; making homemade whiskey ; illegal alcohol transport during prohibition ; construction of first church in China, TX ; anti-alcohol priest ; high school graduation rates ; raising funds for school ; problems in school with native French-speaking students ; South Pacific railroad being completed before the Civil War ; illiteracy among older family members ; great storm in 1915 ; rice farming ; thrashing rice ; rice combine ; extracurricular activities ; cooking tournaments in Texas ; processing and shocking wheat ; fertilizer manufacturing ; prewar methods of sowing rice ; International Harvester Co. combine