Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1895-08-28
CONDITIONS IN NEBRASKA.
Corn Promises Large Yield. Except IL

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the States Garden Spot.
McCook, Neb., Aug. 26.-On crossing
the Missouri River running to Lincoln,
the Burlington land agents party
found prospect which, from an agri-
cultural standpoint, could not be ex-
celled. Corn is luxuriant and sturdy
and every stalk shows large-sized ears
sticking out from it. 1t is so far adj
vanced that the uninitiated could be
made to believe very readily that it is
past all harm from any source. Not
withstanding its fine appearance, how
ever, it is not yet out of danger of frost,
and will not be for at least two weeks.
A fine crop of oats has been reaped in
this section. Much of it is still in the
shock and a good deal of it has been
stacked. 1t is thrashing out from
thirty to fifty bushels to the acre and
will average about forty. The wheat
crop has all been harvested, and farm
ers are now busy blowing their land
preparatory to putting in another crop
of winter wheat.
Leaving Lincoln the outlook is much
less promising. Between Waverly and
Fairmont, a distance of sixty miles, is
a stretch of country which has usually
been described as the garden spot of
Nebraska. Crops have always been
abundant here, however poorly they
may have been in other parts Of the
been the only known exceptions to this
rule Somehow this belt has suffered
severely this year. 1t has rained copi-
ously on all sides of it and all around
it, but the clouds refused to give it
drop of moisture until too late to save
the corn crop. For a stretch of coun-
try sixty miles long and sixty miles
wide the corn crop is a comparative
failure. 1t will only run from quarter
to half a crop, averaging as whole
about one-third an ordinary crop.
Oats have not faired so badly They
are thrashing out from thirty-five to
forty bushels an acre. Heavy rains fell
over this section at the end of last week
They came too late, however, to save
the bulk of the corn. Very much of it
Is wilted beyond redemption and a good
deal of it has already been cut for fod-
der. Wheat in this section is thrashing
out fifteen bushels to the acre.
West Of Fairmont the scene again
changes and an ocean of waving corn,
strong and luxuriant, is to be seen as
far as the eye can reach in every direc,
ton. The crop from Hastings to the
western boundary of the state is prac-
tically made, and nothing but killing
frost can now blight it. 1t will average
not less than sixty bushels to the acre,
and very many large fields will yield
fifty bushels.
Around McCook is where the disas-
tiers of last year were most severely
felt. The gains of this year have more
than made up for the losses then sus-
tanned. The whole section of country
looks like a veritable' garden, and the
people feel buoyant beyond expression.
Winter wheat is thrashing out about
twenty bushels to the acre and the best
fields are yielding thirty bushels.
Spring wheat is running from twelve
to eighteen bushels to the acre. Oats
average from fifty to sixty bushels. the
best fields thrashing out leo bushels.
Alfalfa is new crop here with
which the people are delighted. All
kinds of live stock eat it with relish.
and it is proving to be fattening fodder.
The first year it yields one ton to the
acre, but after the third year it yields
three crops a year, which foot up seven
and one-half tons to the acre. It is
worth in the market SIS per ton, but to
feed cattle the results have shown it 10
be worth $40 per acre. It is the coming
crop all along the the flats of the Re-
publican valley.