The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-03-13
PROMISE OF BIG CROP.
The Wheat Lands of the PalOuse
: Country in Prime Condition.
MANNERS PREPARING TO PLoW.
n Harvest Will Probably Ne the
Gssssest Known in Tears-Hight-
ing the Ground squirrsls.

eCorsAx, March l2.-TSpeciaa. 1.-The pros
r.ct 10 that spring will Be unusually late
throughout the Paiouse country. as there
i9st,II much snow on the ground and it 10
rasIsing very slowly. At this place the
ssosfaIl during the season has been five
Hts four inches, but there has never been
afre than eighteen inches on the ground
s.ons time, as nearly every heavy snow
r,srm has been followed by warm weather,
chinook winds or rain. The snowfall for
ne season has been the heaviest for many
yesr. and this, added to the rainfall dur.
ia the fall and early winter months,
vbeh vas the heaviest for sixteen years,
rdkes the ground wetter than IL has been
ante this became an agricultural country.
1n{mers say the prospects for large crop
ectAd not be better, and the heavy SHOWS
II de mountains around this country in.
srrs plenty OF rain during the hot
vAfeher, a. the melting snow always
b,stgs rain. Heavy snow in the noun
sara always insures rain in June through
cot the Palouse country.
CIV inconvenience from which the farm
On sill suffer this spring is the heavy
sscv drifts on the north side of steep hills.
In afany places these drifts are from ten
70 ef2een feet deep. and being where the
sun Gannot reach them except at noon, the
suoxswill remain on the ground until the
middle of April or first Of May unless
there;is enough rain to melt it. The farm
en- =, u be compelled to pillow around the
driftss - they were compelled to pillow
srourA low spots which were too wet to
euitivAte last year. Last year these spots
we're sown to hay, as they did not dry out
In tina for the crop to mature had they
brei, sSwn to wheat or other grain.
VITA the most favorable weather 1t will
b. ct isast two weeks before blowing can
done snd may be not before April L This
vouli ;be unusually late and the farmers
viii lave to rush work. As they did no
ploW;nk last fall, whereas half the acreage
Il usually plowed during the fall and
winter :months. Farm hands will DO in
demand as soon as the spring work opens,
q the reason will be late and the acreage
larger tsaan usual, necessitating extra help.
Grain saould be sown not later than May
!, bat tbs season hundreds of acres will DO
sovn in May.
OWN to tho brilliant prospect for .
large yield the acreage will be large.
Much nsw sod was broken last season, and
the gent.,al belief in n big crop will prevent
much Lad being summer fallowed. This
large &C cage. coupled with the late season.
vii caa:.s the greatest rush ever known
among She farmers here when work is
once beeAn. and the towns will be practic-
ally deseSted during the seeding season.
for few fArmers will como to town after
they begin spring work until tho crop Is
oovn.
One o. She great problems that confront
the FARMERS of the Palouse country is.
"whst SHALL We do with the squirrels?"
These pests have ruined hundreds of acres
ofsrain every year and many methods Of
sxtefmins ting them have been tried in
vain. Paison seems the only way by
which their ravages can be in any way
checked. cad this is only partial success.
il 10 said shat about every third year the
rodents are unusually bad. and last season
ths vas :Ae case. 1t is hoped they will
not Be 20 destructive the coming summer,
and manySpredict that the long, hard win
tsr has K; Jed many that hibernated early
aud will hSve starved to death before the
weather he,omes such that they can come
out Of theie holes In search of food. This
b PARTIALLY substantiated by the fact that
during few warm days the last week of
February they came out of their holes on
oil points where there was no snow, and
close observers say they are lean.
The commissioners of Spokane county
have decided to purchase strychnine and
present il to the farmers whereby the
squirrels m he killed. 1t was suggested
that this pl:n instead Of a bounty be tried
BY the conf issioners of Whitman county,
but the latter thought the farmers of this
county werc. sufficiently wealthy to buy
their own atrychnine. Last season the
farmers Alliance looked after this mat
ef. and purchased for its members 5000
ounces OF strSchnine ut 81 cents per ounce.
Ills estimated that 10. 600 ounces of strych-
nine we're used in Whitman county alone