The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-08-02
WHEAT IN THE DAKoTAs LATE.
Chicago Expert Says This and Also
That Smut Exists.

JAMESTOWN, N. d., Aug. 1.-The
we'll known crop expert, John Inglis, of
Chicago, who has been remarkably
successful in giving preliminary esti-
mates of the yield and probable results
of the wheat crop of the country for
the past sixteen years, was in James
town on his annual tour of inspection
of the spring wheat of Minnesota and
the Dakotas. He had been through
Minnesota and South Dakota He drove
out to fields near Jamestown and
gathered samples of the wheat heads
and inspected the straw, stand, the
condition of the berry and the various
details that go to make up an expert
opinion that is used by men of wealth
for purposes of their own in discount
ing the yield of wheat of the country
Mr.. Inglis has been through the win
ter wheat belt also this year and his
opinion on the results of that crop is
being borne out by the large receipts
of off grade wheat at Chicago In re-
gard to the wheat crop of the .Dakotas,
as far as he has examined it, Mr.. In
glis' opinion will be considerable of a
surprise. The general view has been
that with favorable weather North
Dakota was booked for a big yield of
wheat, and both the Dakotas' reports
have been made very rosy.
Mr.. EngliS says that the heads are
not well filled and that there lis "a good
deal of smut in every field where the
heads were examined. Two or, 8 per
cent of smut is enough to knpck off
a grade. He attributes the presence of
smut to the wet weather omore than
to any spore that is found on the seed
at termination. One of the remarkable
features of the present, wheat crop,
says Mr.. Inglis, is the length of the
head, and the smutty heads ARE as
long as the others, while usually they
are the shorter stools.
The crop is also from ten days to
two weeks late, and will have to have
very favorable weather to mature prop
erly The straw in most of the South
Dakota fields and those in athe south
ern part of North Dakota is not green
from the first joint to the ground, but
there is enough strength in the upper
part of the stalk to mature the head
if the right kind of weather prevails
for the next two weeks. At present
much of the wheat is only in blossom,
some in the milk and some in the
dough. While the heads are long, the
other conditions of the plant do not
warrant the view that there will be
the unusually large yield indicated by
the heads. .-@ - ss@
Another thing noted by Mr.7Inglis is
that the acreage of wheat in the Da-
kotas has been overestimated. In
South Dakota corn, rye, barley and
oats have taken the place of the wheat
crop in a large degree, and in this
state flax and the other grains have
taken the place of wheat. In riding
from Sioux Falls to Canton, s. D.,
Mr.. Englis made the following count
Of fields in a distance of about twenty
miles: Wheat, 81; corn. 46; oats, 26;
barley, "a; flax, 8. In another count of
fields in distance of ninety-fve miles,
he found the following Wheat, $50;
corn, 204; oats, -106; barley 102. This
decrease in the acreage Of wheat in
that state has come about in the last
three or four years and is owing to the
low price and small crops The acre
age of corn has increased largely and
the fields are as large as the wheat
fields once were. From his extensive
travels Mr.. Inglis believes that North
Dakota is the best all-round state in
the nation for the raising of food, sup
plies. 80 .v..,.1.