Milford chronicle., 1895-12-13

me TESSSft ""teS' =
,caxAex LIBERAL oNE-UAusEs ,
LEADING UP TO THIs-coNDITIoN OF
PLANT NOT ESPECIALLY PROMISING.
The acreage sown to winter wheat
east Of the Rocky mountains is APP
parently 9.5 per cent. larger than
was harvested this year, according
IN the exhaustive returns direct
from the fields and made exclusively
to this journal, and the total breadth
ia fully as large as was seeded last
fall California seeding is only be-
Ginning and no estimate of the total
breadth can be made until the acre
ACE there is determined, but indica-
tions point to an area between 26'-
100000 and 26.5OO,O0O acres in win
Tor wheat. The heaviest increase is
IN Kansas and Wisconsin, where the
unharvested area the past year was
the greatest, but there is an increase
in every state of Importance except
Missouri. Last year Kansas seeded
more than 4 200. 900 acres and har-
vested less than 100000. The
area seeded in that state this year is
apparently 25 per cent. less than the
seeding last fall a decline due mainly
n the drouth and difficulty in Sc
curing good seed. After rains came
seeding in that state continued al
most mp to now and it may be found
next spring that the present esti-
mate is too conservative.
The increase in area, however, is
not entirely due to the fact that last
YEARS breadth was reduced by win
ter killing and abandonment There
has been quite a general enlarge
ment. even in those districts which
suffered no winter killing of the last
crop. In Michigan, Ohio, Indiana,
and Illinois there is an increase over
the area seeded last year. This in
crease is largely due to the fact that
a considerable part of the excessive
corn acreage Of the present year has
been reseeded to meadow, wheat be-
ing sown in the grass in order to
keen the land III crop during the
transition. In addition. winter
wheat is scarce, commanding rela-
lively higher price than many other
farm products, and the systematic
rotation of crops practiced in the
winter wheat states has tended to
an enlargement in wheat breadth.
The condition of the crop is re-
turned at s5.3, figure very low for
December. During the season for
seeding and first growth, the whole
breadth was suffering from drouth
which delay ed planting, retarded
examination and caused slow growth
and poor stand. In many fields
seed lay in the ground from early
sowing until started by the Noyem-
her rains. Under these conditions,
when the rains began, the plant was
small. lacking in vigor and root de-
velopment and over considerable
area had not even sprOuted. The
change during the past three weeks
has been remarkable, the plant TAX
ing on good color and recovering
growth and stand rapidly. The long
drouth was generally broken last
month, rainfall being not only album
dant but of such a character as to do
the most good. Rains were well
distributed, gentle in character, Civ
ing opportunity to soak into the
ground and November closed with
mulch of wet snow, condition for
wheat which could not be bettered.
The long drouth had dried the soil
to an unusual depth, and while ordi-
nary rains would suffice to moisten
the surface, no other condition
would drive the moisture into the
subsoil where needed so efectually
as the blanket of wet snow now ~
ing over a large part of the winter
wheat area.
While the figures of condition
now returned are low, the outlook
is improving with every dsy Of open
weather, and should severe freezing
temperatures be delayed two or three
weeks longer the crop may go into
winter quarters in reasonably good
condition. A special inquiry devel-
ops the fact that in the opinion of
most observers the ground now
holds enough moisture to safely
carry the plant through to spring
unless the winter is deficient in
snowfall and unusually trying. The
only previous season when Decem-
Der condition was as low as now
was '9l, the general average being
exactly the same. The season was
very similar to the present, a severe
drouth being ended by November