Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1883-05-31
COUNTY CROPS.
Careful ssrvey OF the Agricultural Situation
BY q herald Correspondent.

A Careful ssrrsy OF the Agricultural Situation
BY herald Correspondent.
Spring wheat 10 doing reasonably
well and should the weather continue
cool without too much wet the prospect
il good yield 10 fattering at most
points. The acreage is however quite
small and even with good crop the
whole number of bushels raised in the
county will be comparatively slight.
Fall wheat suffered considerably from
the dry weather in April, and this. in
connection with the fact, that in many
places it WAS partly winter killed, will
tend to make the average yield per acre
small. Patches that were we'll protect
ed. and such are few. look quite prom
ising. The present weather does much
to ietard the ravages Of the chinch-bug
which has done more to discourage the
farmers from this branch of agriculture
than any other ono thing-in fact al
most entirely caused wheat raising in
this section to be one of the things of
the past. Rye,which was generally sown
in the northeastern part of the county
only, looks well and promises good
yield. 1t has already commenced to
head in some places. Taking the coun-
ty over the acreage is very small, since
rye in any other than the liquid state is
not very popular. Barley was quite
commonly sown in some parts of the
county, and at present promises fair
if not large yield. Many farmers
sowsd this grain because their seed corn
would not grow and it wa. not an easy
matter to procure seed that would.
Their intention is to use it to fat
their hogs, and fer this purpose there
is nothing better. Many of the Eu-
ropean countries use barley almost
solely for this purpose and the results
are most satisfactory in every way.
Corn must soon cease to be " King in
this country, since its universal guilty.
alton keeps the surface of our fields in
such condition that the frequent heavy
rains wash out great bitches and carry
of vast quantities of the very best soil
that can never be replaced and
consequently this washing can not fail,
in very short time, to seriously and
permanently impoverish the land. That
farmers already see this alamity ahead
is plain from the fact that year by year
the amount of clover and other grasses
sown is materially increased and more
attention than formerly is now given to
raising cattle.
That the methods of agriculture are
continually changing will be readily
conceded since at the opening up Of
this country, wheat was the great crop,
then during the rebellion oats became
the principal staple. Corn has occu-
pied the principal attention of our farm
ers for the last few years and now graz
ing and dairying are beginning to grow
in Importance and to take the lead.
The acreage of oats in this county
this year is large and the prospect of a
good crop, fair at least. although the
continued cold and wet weather has af-
fected the stand slightly and its growth
has been slow. Grass is excellent al
though its growth has been slow. The
seed that was sown this spring has
made good catch and promises
most satisfactory stand. Corn has been
the ozark despair" of the farmer this
season. In the first place the last years
crop did not ripen at all WE'LL and seed
that was not selected and cared for in
the most careful manner has failed to
terminate with any degree of certainty.
This circumstance added to the very un-
favorable weather for planting, has pro-
duced general feeling of uncertainty
and dependency. Much of the ground
that was planted two or three weeks
ago has been or is to be replanted and
great difficulty is experienced in obtain
ing good seed. The outlook for a good
corn crop is anything but encouraging
and, unless the weather soon becomes
warmer, corn will not be more than one
half of an average yield either in
quality or quantity.
Small fruits look well and will pro.
baby be good crop in spite of the late
severe frosts and continued wet weat her.
P!ums that have almost uniformly failed
us during the past few years do not APP
pear to be injared to any serious extent,
and if nothing more than at present
occurs. fair yield may be looked for.
Grape vines that were left unprotected
last winter suffered severely and many
are dead. Those that were laid down
and covered. even slightly, are all right
and will most likely yield satisfactorily.
What is true of the grape is also gener-
ally true of raspberrics, strawberries
and blackberries.
Apple orchards appear to be in sad
| condition from some cause, undoubtedly
the unusually long and severe winter
| coming after a very backward sea-
son last year. 1t appears that very
| few trees, except the hardest varieties,
| ripcned their wood well last fall and
consequently the winter was too much
for them, freezing and killing very
many and severely injuring others
Very few trees have put out many bios
SONS and the crop will, without doubts
| be slight if not a total failure. Ifapples
are to become to any degree a staple
crop in this county, it is evident that
some steps must be taken to protect
trees from the effects of extremes of
temperature and long winters. The
cheapest and most convenient plan per
haps is to wrap the trunks and largest
lower limbs with ropes made of straw
twisted either by machinery or hand.
This is not nearly so much of task as
it at first appears and will, if persist
emily followed up. pay ten-fold for all
outlay of time and money.
The following is the order of exercises
which will be observed at the memorial
a