Oakes Republican., 1899-08-18
OUR WHEAT CROP.


Dakota and South Dakota have
apparently raised a }2oo,00o,0oo-bush
el crop of wheat in 1889.
The Journals figures make the es-
timated yield l95,ooo,oc) bushels,
against a yiel of lbo,ooo,oco in 1897
and 225,0co,oCo i4 1898.
The Journal la# year estimated the
yield at l9o'o00,9o with the acreage
l3,20O,co0 for thf three states. The
distribution of lsst years crop shows
the yield to hayb been close to 225,-
oo9,oco bushels. This discrepancy
can be accounted for only on the
basis of short acreage, for all estim ates
agree in the main as to average yield
and no estini fate used higher acreage
than the Jd durnal. The government
report is not greatly in error on aver
age yield, put it is short ia acreage.
l's hguresscall for about 12,C1J 900
acres in the three states, when the
distribution of northwest wheat sug-
gests l4,D0,00o acres as reasonable
total for the last two crops.
The Journal in it's estimates this
year arbitrarily raises the northwest
acreage TO l4,3Co,C0O for the three
states and estimates thereon an aver
age yield this year of 1873 bushels as
againstsl5.7 bushels last ye,.r f ,r the
same acreage. This change is in a
sense an experiment, but it is made
with the idea of testing the matt er in
the hope that a practically correct
basis of acreage may be secured.
This increased acreage should have
been used last year and on this basis
the estimate of a year ago would
have been 2l0,0O0,OoO.
The addition of 100000 acres
this year places the total much high
er than any yet used, although there
is now practical agreement ia the
northwest that the acreage ranges
from l4,0o0,ccco to 100000 based
on crop distribution.
This increase suggests that on the
basis of average the northwest no
longer raises bumper" crop at
&C lOco,C,0 } bushels. The future
'bumper" limit must be 250,Oo0,C.) }.
The immigration into the. three
states is heavy. Thousands OF new
acres are under cultivation this year
foathe first time. The tendency of
THIS new land is toward wheat. On
ths other hand, for the poor wheat
lands of the older cultivation there is
a tRndency to decrease wheat pro-
duttion by the substitution of cattle
grszing. Large herds of cattle and
shsep are now seen in central South
akota and other sections of the
noEt Ethwest, where wheat raising has
be4n unprofiitable, while in other
se1 lions diversified farming is crowd
nyA he wheat area and the cultiva-
tioH Of corn and other cereals is
incseasing. Flax has become an inn
port amt crop in the three states.
I1 spite of the large increase in
whett acreage since the "bump err
crop pof 1891, there is little probabil-
ity II further large increase in the
futuIe. The breaking up of the
bonabza Red river valley farms will
tend 10 greater variety of production
therethan is now the case; within a
few u bars there will be disappear
ance If many of these farms as at
prese& conducted.
spea aking in general for the wheat
crop o the three states, it can be said
that tH yield is uneven and sutBci-
emily Fixed to make it difficult to
arrang4 an estimate in advance of
threshi18.
Thre4 weeks ago, when observa-
tions fd this summary were first
made, II p crop of central and south
ern Minnesota was unusually even
and of good promise. Hot weather
in July rtpened the wheat unevenly
with thief result that it was cut In
central N lnnesota a week earlier than
the SOUTH (rn tier of counties. This
uneven rib bening affected the berry
unfavorabk and the quality of one
half of theScrop was settled by the