The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1895-08-02
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ISSUED FRIDAY MORNING.
IA WARDwELL. G.G. THOMPSON
WARDWELL T. THOMPSON.
TERMS. 1900 PER ANNUM
FRIDAY, AUGUST 2, 1895.
WHEAT TALK.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 2, 1895.

FRTDAY, AUGUST 2, 1885.
WHEAT TALK.
Weather and conditions permitting.
svs- -va'trOTr- tiCfiV piIfS StHSUfr
on record. There are no reliable
statistics as to acreage. Assessors
, tatistics are of little or no value. In
round numbers there are over 7OO,OCo
acres Of land in the county. We
think it safe estimate to say 1000
acres are under cultivation of which
thrce.fourths, or about 3OA,'0) acres,
are in wheat. While it is true that
there is a much larger acreage of bar
lev, oats, potatoes, etc, than usual,
1t is also true that each year there
has been u little more brcaki"s of
new land done, and that the total
acreage OF wheat is now probably
nearly as large as ever it was. This
Is all the more likely to he true from
the fact, that the early spring and
long season for sowing oats, barley,
etc, has caused the farmers to put in
all the land available TO the latter
crops. The yield pc. acre promises
to be the greatest known. 4 poor
field of wheat. one that will go less
than fifteen bushels of wheat, is some
thing We have not heard of. From
present appearances, thirty bushels to
the acre will be common thing and
almost everybody expects twenty
five bushels or over. Twenty bushels
to the acre on 25O,0Co acres is five
million crop. Twenty-Five bushels
yield will make six and u quarter mil
ions. If there are 800, OCo acres (three-
seventies Of the county, andrau aver
age of twenty-five bushels, it would
make the enormous total of seven
and half millions of wheat, and the
latter figures are not impossible.
BUTT is ut this writing,at least ten
days to the beginning of wheat har-
vest; cool, rainy weather will delay,
hot, dry weather will hasten. There
Is still time for hail or frost to de.
stcoy, hot winds to blast, or wind and
rain to lodge the wheat and damage
to a greater or lesser extent, and we
have none Of us forgotten that much
of the best previous crop to this, q
few years ago, was destroyed in the
stack for the want Of fail threshing.
But we already have a great dam.
age present with US. tits impossible
to yet say with certainty, the actual
per centage of smut, but that there
is much more than ever before is GER
tain. We cut all the wheat from
about a square foot of ground in JOLT
cite on Sunday, which counted twen-
ty-nine heads of smut to about forty
seven heads Of good wheat. There
are many fields of this sort in'this end
of the county.
But not all are thus. On the same
farm, in another field about twenty
or thirty rods away. sowed with
identically the same kind of seed as
the former field, very little smut was
to be found, and In a specimen sheaf
cut from foot OF ground, no smut
head at all was seen.
In passing, we may say, that the
above facts. do not seem to prove
that "thc seed makes the smut"
We however commend to the perusal
of our farmers, the article by the
Minnesota state grain inspector pub.
lished In this issue. 1t may be quite
possible for some farmers 10 sort their
grain for and from the thrcshlng ma
chine 10y making thorough examina-
tion while growing.
Besides smut damage, the quality
of the grain in SO heavy a crop is not
likely to be SO uniformly good as In
lighter yields where each head has
soil and sunlight sufficient for mature
development. The mere presence of
smut however will e'-e the buyers
the opportunity Of running down the
grade on nearly all wheat offered, and
will prove serious loss to the county
as a whole, aud the shrunken grains,
which fail to fill from too much
crowding on the land, will also assist
in lowering the grade.
When we come to talk about prices,
then it seems to be pretty near pure
guess, work. Really, at present, it
looks like good prices for the fall.
Winter wheat is almost i total fail
ure in this country. On the other
with spring wheat is an enormous
crop. South Dakota, while a portion
Of her territory very poor, yet has
prodigious yields In other places and
claims a 10000, 900 crop.
But we believe that 81 cents here,
Is about the true value of wheat one
year with another, and when wheat
is below 60 cents, 1t is as likely to rise
as to fall. 1t does not pay for a farm.
er to speculate. II he can get good
fair price he should sell as soon as
possible, not wait for something high.
er. Ii wheat is low, there isn't much
chance of losing great deal by hold
Ing on. So far as studying the' mark
ct by newspaper reports is concerned,
there's many people who have MOTH
Ing else to do, and have much more
Information available than any farm
er can, who go broke ON what they
think prices Of wheat are going to be.
SMUT,
How to reduce injury to the least