Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1891-11-19
FARM WORK way BEHIND.
Crops Were too Big This Year
to Permit Much Progress
in Other Directions.
A Review of the Situation in this
County as it Appears ut
Present.
A Washington Dispatch Gives
Some Details Of the Wal.
lace Tax Case.

lace Tax Case.
Men Needed For Spring Farm Work
1t is painfully apparent that farm
work Is way behind where it should be
on the setting IN of winter. An early
freeze-up after a most untoward fall il
the cause. The farmers have had bigger
crops to care for with less favorable
weather than usual, and the result is
that o large proportion OF the threshing
and an unprecedented percentage of fall
plowing must 60 over until spring. In
some localities work is further advanced
than others-and the reverse-so that
few people know what is the real condi-
ton of this county, taken as whole.
A resident business man who has just
completed thorough investigation of
the situation in Stutsman county for an
eastern firm, gives The Alert the result
OF his inquiries and observations. His
figures will be found interesting and in
structlve. He finds that % per cent of
the whole crop is still unthreshed, and
per cent of it Is still in shock; that
only % per cent Of the whole crop has
been marketed and that only Is per
cent of the fall blowing has been done.
The yield averaged about 20 bushels to
the acre and the total yield was over
100000 bushels. Another gentleman
to whom The Alert submitted the fig
ures revised them somewhat. He
thought 25 per cent of the grain was un.
threshed; that quarter of the un.
threshed was in shock; that one.half
OF the grain threshed had
been marketed and the other
half wasln store; and that about 20 per
cent of the plowing had been done. The
Alert does not profess to know, but sug-
gests that the mean between the two
estimates u light be about the real situ-
alton.
1t is said that IN the Pingree and Cor
inne nelghborhoods there is good deal
Of grain in snock aud The Alert is in
formed that nearer town there Is one
field Of 800 acres still in shock. There
were about 30 threshing machines at
work IN this county when it froze up. II
the season had lasted 10 or IL days
longer, or it there had been that many
LEES rainy days, threshing would have
been ell done. This years experience,
however, ought to convince the farmer
that he should follow the example of
eastern farmers and stack more Rener-
ally. Unless he is sure OF making con-
nections with threshing crew he is
taking great risk in leaving his grain in
shock. The small per cent OF the total
crop still remaining in shock should be
at once stacked. A number Of farmers
who have done stacking this week claim
that shocked grain is not much injured
yet, and that by shaking the snow out of
the sheaves and stacking it, it can be
saved. The experiment is worth trying.
The stockman was likewise unpre-
pared for winter. He had not hauled bis
hay, or. in many cases, even provided his
shelter. The losses in this county have
been few, but during the first storm they
were common in some of our neighbor-
ing counties. The Dunseith Herald,
published in the Mouse river country,
reports one loss OF 1900 sheep and an
other Of 700. This promises to be hard
winter and unless sheep owners exercise
the utmost care and precautions North
Dakota's reputation as sheep country
is liable to suffer.
One thing is certain, North Dakota
will need men to do her threshing and
plowing next spring and the newspapers
had better commence to make the fact
known right away.