Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1901-07-30

damage to the corn crop will exceed
week it will be much less than that, "
said Director Sage, of the Iowa wealth
er and crop service, Thursday "The
damage thus far has been eXaggerat-
ed. If this week goes by without a
general rain / think that the damage
may amount to one-third of the crop.
A good rain now would help out a
great deal, however, and il it Comes
the damage will not reach onethird.
Our reports now are to the effect that
the late crop is being damaged as well
as the early. In some places the tas~
sells have been dried up. This means
that the ears will have few grains on
them and will be little more than nub-
bins. Indeed, if there should be a
good rain in some places now the re.
suit might be that the cobs would
grow to the full size with no grains.
l understand, however, that the ears
are not shooting on account of the dry
weather. This is a bad sign and if
rain does not come soon localities
where these conditions prevail will
have little or no crop.
A Valuable Crop.
Assuming, however, that we only
have two-thirds of crop, / think that
it will be more valuable than the full
crops of last year was This assertion
is, of course. based on the condition
that all of it is saved A great part
of last years crop was wasted and the
corn crops in Iowa have been wasted
in part for many years. The fodder is
not saved. The only way this can be
done is to cut the corn. All of the
fodder is saved in this way and makes
good feed. Every farmer should cut
up his corn this year if the drouth
continues. Even if it does not the
value of the crop will be greater if
this course is pursued. Hay will be
scarce and high in price and corn fod-
der will be in great demand among
the stock feeders. This is another
thing that is not taken into considera.
ton generally. The corn crop in To-
wa is not marketed out of the state
except in small quantities. The great
majority of it is fed here
Bad for the Corn.
The last two days have been very
injurious to the corn, in the opinion
of Mr.. Sage. In fact the whole week
has been bad one. Rains have fall
en- in some sections. He estimates
| that Wednesdays rain benefited at
least one-third of the state. In some
sections the benefit was slight howev-
er, The general opinion among grain
men is that unless general relief
comes soon the crop will be ruined. Mr.
Sage does not agree with this. howey-
er, and thinks there will be some corn
at any rate He does not attempt to
estimate the exact damage, however,
saying that it is impossible at this
time.
Northwestern Iowa Favored.
| H. w. Liebbe, architect for the state
board of control, paid an official visit
to the Cherokee hospital this week
| He reports that crops in the north.
western part of the state are looking
better than in the central counties
The corn in Cherokee county and
that section of the state" he said. sis
of good color and healthy, though it is
not growing. 1t will be late,h but ap
parently has not been hurt Nearer
Des Moines the corn shows that, it is
drying. up and has been badly burned
The pastures are. generally all gone
and the grass land looked like it would
burn over at touch of the match. But
on the whole there is much better
crops in the northwestern portion oil
the state than here
G. S. Gilbertson, treasurer of state
has information from his county tc
the effect that the crops are in pretty
good condition in Winnebago county
From his best information he is salts
fed that the northern counties of the
state have been injured much less
than those in the southern and centra
portions.