Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1879-07-03

the estimate of the total crop of wheat, gave
nothing in regard to the area upon which
the crop of 287, 745,OOO bushels of wheat for
that year was raised : ~ -. sr-..r
THE ONLY FIGURES
which have the semblance of anything ap
preaching information Oh the subject of the
total area of wheat planted are the estimates
of the increase of area planted in wheat each
year as given in the monthly crop report of
the department of agricu ltnre. These, it ia
true. are only guesses, but it is probable they
are not over ten per cent. out of the Wav
from the truth, and, as the amount of in
crease each year is small as compared with
the whole area planted in wheat, the .discre-
pencies might not be so very great if it was
only known that the original total of acres
(say in 1870) to which these yearly additions
have been made was correct. For instance.
it is toierably certain that the increase in the
area of wheat sown in 1873 over 1877 was
between 4, SOC, 900 and 5,0OOOO acres, and
further, that there has been no year since
1870 in which there has not been an in
crease in the acreage, unless it be the year
1877, which, according to the agricultural
department reports, showed decrease of
1,423, 900 acres from the area of 1876. This
reported decrease of area in 1877 was not
sustained by general belief, nor by anything
else very definite. Nevertheless, as we have
no other official data it must be accepted as
the only foundation upon which the estimate
for the expectation of the crop of 1879 can
be based.
:. The bulletin of the agricultural depart
ment for June, 1879, indicated that there
was an increase this year of about per cent.
in the total area of whest planted. Four
per cent. on the 3O,693, 4O7 acres planted in
1878, would give an increase Of 1,227,736
acres or total of say 81, 921 ,143 acres plant.
ed for the crop of 1879. This small increase
as compared with last year seems reasonable
from the fact that the low price of wheat
has discouraged it's prodution in the older
states where the yield per acre is small COM
pared to the crops on the virgin soil of the
far northwestern Territories and States. Rail-
way competition, with it's result of cheap
freight for long distances, is having the ef-
feet to push the territory of greatest wheat
production further and further west.
THE YIELD PER ACRE
of wheat in the whole United States in 1878
was an average of say 10 $500 bushels, OF
nearly 80 per cent above the average yield
of the six previous years. Had it not been
for the blight IN July of last year to the
spring wheat crops of MiDnesota, Iowa and
Wisconsin, which probably diminished the
total crop by 30,GOO,O0O bushels, the total
average yield would have been about II
bushels per acre, or about Is per cent. above
the average yield per acre of the six previous
years. In fact the yield of winter wheat was
currently estimated to be about Is per cent.
above an average crop, and this presumption
was sustained by the enormous quantity of
winter wheat which came to market. The
condition of the growing wheat which pro-
dueed the above results, was reported in the
bulletin of the agricultural department for
June l, 1878, at 101 for the whole winter
wheat region, and as late as July l, 1873, it
was reported by the bulletin of the depart
ment as high as 100 for the spring wheat
region.
THE EXPECTATION
for 1879 as compared with 1873 may be esti-
| mated from the fact that the bulletin of the
agriculture! department for June /, 1879, in
dicates the average condition of the growing
wheat crop throughout the United States by
the figures 80.
This indicates condition of the growing
crop at, say, 10 per cent. lower or more un-
favorable than last year. AS the expectation
Last year at this time was, say, 455, 0OO, 900
| bushels (this was before the damage to the
spring wheat in JULY, it would show that our
expectation now, from the same number of
acres. would be $3.50, 600 bushels less, or q
total crop of, say, 376, $780, 600 bushels, and il
we add ~ bushels per acre for the increased
area of, say, 122,773 628 acres, say Is, 600, 600
bushels. We have 800, 75O, 600 bushels as the
utmost expectation for the crop Of 1879.
This, compared with the 425, OOO, 900 raised
in 1878, leaves deficiency of, say, "a ,25O, 900
bushels, and as the decrease must all come of
the surplus available for export, 1t would
leave, at the utmost, only about III, 600, 900
bushels for export in the year to July l, 1880,
instead of the 150, 1000, 900 which has been
exported in the year to July l, 1879.
But even this expectation is based upon
the presumption that nothing will happen to
the spring wheat in July this year as there
did last. Twas after this time in the
summer that the spring wheat was damaged
last year, and, as the crops of both winter
ana spring wheat are more backward this
year. 1t Is fair presumption that blight,
rust, drouth, grasshoppers, chinch-bugs or
some OF the other numerous evils to which
wheat is liab BILE will reduce the above expecta-
ton at least 100000 bushels. Indeed,
the ravages vgrasshoppers in the extreme
northwestern corner Of Iowa and in the I'D:
jacent parts of Dakota and Nebraska since
the June report of the agricultural depart
ment has already Diminished the expectation
on the whole crop Of spring wheat.
A reasonable forecast of the crop Of 1879
would show that ID consequence of the
drouth which prevailed over the entire wheat
raising sections of the United States from
about the. 1st of March until about the 25th
of May, and also of the subsequent damage
by grasshoppers and other insects, the aver
!age yield of wheat IN the United States this
year will not be above IL y bushels per acre,
or say, at most, $4,000, 900 bushels, against
1926 100000 in 1878. .,$ : IA.
= a. THE EXPORTABLE SURPLUS Esgz
out of the crop of 1879 will therefore proba-
bly, be at least 5000, 900 bushels less than
that Of the crop Of 1878. Tho end of the
fiscal year, July 4, 1879, viii STOW that We
have, exported to foreign countries in it's Va
rious forms of grain,a -four and bread. dfust
about 150. OO0,O0 bushels of wheat The
stock of wheat nov .remaininR ii sight In
the United States Is somewhat larger than at
the corresponding timeS last year, but 1t ia
well understood that there il less wheat in
farmers hands at the present time than &C
the corresponding time Of last year. and
that the surplus now on hand sppears larger
than it really is.. Besides, 5there are the
larger demands for . population which ID
now Increasing morn rnniillv nv imr, tso,,