Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1903-09-10
THE WHEAT |: ! l. I::. :.
An Estimate of This Years
Crop In the West.
one OF THE LARGEST EVER GROWN

Winter Wheat to be GarHercd-Thc
Wealth Of Kansnx-Pronts OF the
Grower Selling Methods Heing
Revolutionixed.
Despite the foods, the rains, the fly
and the rust, the middle west is gath
ering one of the greatest wheat crops
in its history, says the special CORE
spondent of the New York Post ut To-
peka. Beginning ON the lower border
of Oklahoma in the middle days of
June and moving northward at the rate
Of twenty miles day, three weeks be-
hind its usual schedule, the ripening
tinge of yellow has made its way north
ward. So rapidly has the harvest come
on that there was not sufficient prepa-
ration for it, even With all the knowl-
edge of its vastness. There was over
the west, somehow, u sentiment that
the wheat would not be up to the usual
| standard.
The harvest i'll Oklahoma has grown
nightly. Fifteen years ago there was
not white snttler in the territory.
Ten years ago not 100000 bushels of
wheat were raised in the whole area.
This year more than 100000 bushels
were raised and large amounts Of it
produced Oh farms that did not cost
the owners cent. Little wonder that
farms of 100 acres sell for $4,000 to
$4,000 each. The average yield is often
thirty to thirty-five bushels an acre,
and the profits make the farmers we'll
to do. Some Of the large ranchers
farm the Indian lands on the adjoining
reservations and have become wealthy.
In Kansas is another wheat wonder.
The western third of the state has for
ten years been reviled as the "seat of
the busted BOOM" The land sold dur
ing the days of the middle nineties for
81 an acre. Now such has been the
added value given by the production
Of wheat and the raising Of cattle that
the same lands are worth S. to $40 an
acre. The first wheat ever sown in
Ellis county was q field of ten acres,
put in the ground in 1876. When it
was ripe the question was, how could
it be harvested? There was not reap
er within sixty miles. One day there
came to the owner the head of colo
ny of Russians which had just arrived.
II will reap your wheat" he said.
How can you do it,"
"With our women" The owner of
the field took up his ocIser. and the next
day fifty Russian women came into the
field. Each had short sickle, and they
cut and bound the wheat before the
second sunset. In Ellis county this
year 10000 acres were in wheat. The
yield was close to 100000 bushels
200 bushels for every man, woman and
child in the county. Thirty counties
raise more than a million bushels each,
and the total of the state is not fur
from 1OO,OOOOOO bushels.
The Nebraska harvest ends the Win
ter wheat cutting. Then begins the
spring wheat Of the north. The north
ern part of Nebraska is almost entirely
devoted to this sort Of grain. The eli
mate of the Dakotas is too severe for
the wheat to live through the winter,
hence the spring sowing. There the
spring was backward. and the straw
grew very short. There was fear for q
time that the crop would be exceeding
~ light, but later rains have made it
an average one in most sections. Ne.
braska will produce something like TO-
100000 bushels, but it is not yet ready
to turn in it's figures. The Nebraska
wheat grower labors under greater dis
advantages than his Kansas and Okla
homa brothers. In the more southern
sections there is the milder winter to
help, while the soil seems to be fitted
over considerable portion-known as
the wheat belt"-for giving harvest
Of exceptional size and regularity This
is what Kansas has done for fourteen
years:
Year. Bushels. Year Bushels.
1890. 8,801H4 1897. 81 026. 604
1891. ..:...... 58,550653 1893. 6O79O, O61
l892......... 74,538906 1899. 49, 6s7, Ol3
1893. 2,S27523 1900. 1888, 091
q, 205 700 1901. 3S3, 095
1885. 16,001060 1902.......... 1881 495
1886. q, 1888 1903 (est.) 100 600 900