People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1899-04-27
Crop Conditions.

Crop Conditions.
A report on the acreage and present
condition of winter wheat in Kansa.
is issued today by the state depart
ment Of agriculture. 1t Is compiled
by counties aud is the concensus Of
statements by extensive, Observant
wheat growers in every neigbbOrhoOd
supplemented by those of millers
dealers and elevator men, especially
close attention having been given tC
territory where the greater bulk Of
the crop is produced.
The department has not made
earlier announcement OF the wheat
conditions because of a conviction
that few days Of continuous settled
and reasonably warm, growing wealth.
er were essential before any intelli.
gent and reliable estimate of the
situation could be reached; in other
words that an accurate judgment Of
wheat plant conditions is not best
arrived at by use OF pick and spade, 10
Ice, snow and frozen earth. At all
events the Kansas agricultural le.
pdrtment does not seek, publish or
stand sponsor for information thus
obtained, nor does it accept as final
the positive knowledge" Of the
states conditions obtained by the
we'll meaning and all wise observer
who lbs "ocen out over the state" on
railroad tour from Alma to Wa
megO,
The area sOwL for the crop of 1898
was returned by assessors a 1906, 459
acres. 1t was estimated by the de-
partment's correspondents in Novem.
Der last that the area Sown for the
1899 crop would be 3 per cent greater;
at the present time their estimate is
that the increase amounts to rather
more than per cent.
1t is an Interesting fact that 81 OF
the lO5 counties have 80 per cent of the
wheat acreage, and constitute practic.
ally the wheat field of Kansas. the
area sOwn in the remaihingt 81 cOun-
ties being less than the acreage sowu
in the two counties Of Sumner and
Barton. 1t is likewise of interest to
know that one half of Kansas winter
wheat acreage is in a block of l6
counties, comprising the southern
two thirds of the central third of the
state, or the counties of Barton,
Dickinson, Ellis, Ellsworth, Harper,
Marion, Mcpherson, Pawnee, Reno,
Rice, Rush, Russell, Saline, Sedgwick,
and Sumner. In these cOuu.
ties the reported Increase in are
'own amounts to I per cent; q L
cent Of their total sowing W PEI
De plowed up, and the ~ III iiAely
lion OF the remaindp' -'eSeuC Conul-
N the basis Of u is 81 per cent,
factory cona. u as a good, salts
For IT, .liOn.
,ror &c state the estimate Of the
PORTION sOwn which from the
severe winter, unfavorable, long pro-
tracted spring and other causes now
seems failure and likely to be plowed
up or devoted to other crops, is rs per
cent. The condition of the remainder,
or about 3,5l5,2l6 acres, is 6S per
cent.
Generally throughout the state the
soil is 10 excellent condition as tU
subsurface moisture, but the chilly,
drying winds of the past four or five
days have by no means been helpful
to and may destroy many wheat
plants of low vitality, which Will
cOngenial weather would have sur
viyed. While this is true, and on The
whole, conditions might be more
favorable, they could be now, ant
have been in other years decided!
worse, and there is no occasion a
this date for fearing that Kansa
will not in the aggregate have larg
output Of winter wheat,
A table of counties accompanie
the report, in the order of their rank
giving the per cent Of estimated in
crease or decrease sown for this year.
crop. Sumner county heads thi
table. 1t shows an increase of pc
cent in acreage over last years acre
age, which was 3O0,63l.
Fakes and Takers