The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1880-04-22
Crop Information.

the grain markets at the East is incompre.
hensible. Unfortunately, however, there
are such wide contradictions in the West
ern reports that they can not be depended
upon; and the dealers at this centre I'M,
doubtedly prefer to trust to their own pri-
yate sources Of information. There is,
however, a large interested class to whom
these private advices are not accessible,
and to them the incongruous reports that
come through some Of the Western papers
is very confusing.
As an illustration. Of this loose informs.
ton, we may take the Chicago Tribune Of
the 18th inst, which deyOtes some two
columns to reports from various points re-
spectIng the coming crops" The account
opens with letter from o correspondent
writing from Washington, Iowa, who says
he has spent two months In passing
through every county In Iowa, Missouri,
Kansas and Nebraska, for the purpose OF
inspecting the condition Of the crops. He
saws "the outlook at present Is far from
flatteripg." "There 10 no longer any
doubt that fully one-halt, II not three
iourths. Of the winter wheat is failure in
the Western States" "Kansas Is probably
| in the worst condition Of any Of the West.
ern States. The farmers have nothing
left but to plough up their wheat fields and
plant them to oats and corn.
i'Nebrasks farmers will not do any more
seeding this year than last, notwithstand.
ing the increased number OF farms that
have been opened up" . "There
will not be one.fourth crop Of winter
wheat in Missouri and Iowa. Both States
are in about the same condition in this
respect" This Is the gist Of this cores
pondent's account, interlarded with a
great deal Of emphatic description OF the
desperate condition Of the farmers.
These startling accounts are followed
by series ofindependent dispatches from
various points, with which 1t may be well
TO make comparison. Two OF the feur
States Of which the correspondent speaks
as having sustained loss Of three.fourthE
OF their winter wheat are not winter
wheat States at all. According to the last
census, Iowa produced only one bushe
OF winter to thirty Of spring wheat; and
similar rule applied TO Nebraska, which In
1877 raised less than 5000, 900 bushels OIL
wheat. Missouri is chiefly winter grain
State, and produced, In 1877, 10000, cog
bushels OF winter and spring combined
Kansas Is about evenly divided between
spring and winter, aud raised, in 1877
l4400,OO0 bushels. So that granting all
the correspondent claims as to these foul
States, it would not amount to very seri'
Gus matter in its relation to the wteat
crop ofthe country.
So far as respects Kansas specifically
the Tribune gives dispatches from twenty
one counties which on the whole fall fal
short OF confirming the foregoing state
, ments as to the condition OF winter wheat
, In that State; about one-half speaking Ia
reasonably favorable terms, while the
other half are respondent. 1t would
seem, however, that there Is little in the
condition OF the winter crop Of Kansa:
which might not be largely remedied BY
an early arrival OF growing weather.
As to Missouri, the Tribune has two
dispatches only; one Of which, from
Boone county, says; prospects for wintel
wheat better than last spring" while the
other, from st. Francis county, reports
winter wheat has never locked better
acreage 20 per cent better than last year.
These accounts, so far as they 60, ar.
strongly atyariance with the gloomy state
ments Of the Tribune, Iowa correspond
ent.
This correspondents general statement
that ~, II not iths, OF the winter wheat II
all the Western States Is q failure"-i
equally inconsistent with the Tribune
other accounts. Five dispatches are giyer
from counties in Illinois, four of which
present most fattering accounts ofthe con
dition OF winter wheat, as will be seer
from the following reprint:
CLAY CITI, Clay Co., April l6.-Winte
wheat 200 per cent better than at this tint
last year.
AsHMoRE, Coles Co., April 16.-winte
wheat all right and prospects, good for
heavy crop.
SuELBYy1LLE, Shelby Co., April 49,
Winter wheat Is looking well, except Oh
low ground. Acreage one.iourth larger
than last season.
MINER, Tazewell Co., April 16.-Wintel
wheat improved greatly within the last
two weeks. Probably as much alive as last
spring.
STERLING, Whiteside Co., April 49,
Winter wheat mostly killed. Average acre
age Of spring wheat sown.
From Indiana, which in 1877 yielded
25, 100000 bushels, one dispatch only i.
given, which reports, winter wheat e
per cent better than last year, largest
acreage ever sown." From Ohio, which
gave $4,000, 900 bushels in 1877, dispatch
says, "hsve had very cold and freezing
weather, hard to tell yet what effect will
be on wheat" which is very different
from saying that "one,halfi II not three.
ionrths Of this.is failure. From Michigan,
q dispatch Is given. dated Ionia county, al
the extreme north OF the grain.growing
section Of the State, which says,-"Wheat
does not look as well as last season on &C.
count oil frosty nights. Acreage one.hali
more than last season."
Thus 1t will be seen that the Tribune'I
own dispatches, from local points, for the
most part directly contradict the state.
ments made by It's Iowa correspondent,
who claims to have travelled two months
for the express purpose OF ascertaining the
condition OF the crops. Equally are those
statements opposed to the April report OF
the Department Of Agriculture, which
gives the average condition Of Western
wheat as 9S, the same as at this period
OF 1870, and estimates the increase in
acreage as Is per cent, compared with
last year. We have called attention TO
these Discrepancies because they represent
great deal OF the same sort Of thing in
Western accounts at large, and because
they show an evident desire in some quar-
tiers to put a coloring on the crop pros
poets that facts do not justify. Taking
the winter wheat crop as whole, we
should conclude, from the general tenor
OF Western newspaper reports and from
the detailed accounts sent by the BulLtin's
crop correspondent, that the condition Is,
about IN average one and that the acreage
is above an average.