The Washburn leader., 1904-04-16
FLOOD CHANCES DISAPPEARING
Present Conditions Make It Practically
Certain There Will Be No Great
Flood This Year

Present Conditions Make It Practically
Certain There Will Be No Great
Flood This Year.
The snow is disappearing in such
way as to make it practically certain
that there will be no great food this
year. During the past week alternate
freezing and thawing has been the
J rule, and snowdrifts have disappeared
| as II by magic, while the Red river
rises but gradually. In the valley
proper as far south as the vicinity of
Fargo, the fields are wet and in some
places they are flooded. To the north
and northwest there is an abundance
Of snow, and it will last for some time
yet. 1t is only within the past three
or four days that trains have been
running on the north branch lines with
anything like regularity. In many
places the trains still travel between
walls of snow eight or ten feet high.
This means late seeding there. and
plenty of water when the snow melts.
In few sections Of the state farm
ing operations have been begun on q
small scale. The southern tier of
! counties had practically no snow u1l.
| til February. and not much then. This
melted away some time ago. and many
Of the fields are quite dry. The wealth
er has not been warm enough to thaw
the ground to depth where it can be
worked. except where the land is roll
ing, and then only the most exposed
places. a little narrowing has been
done in Ricliand county, and some in
Cass. st!t;lIl2o county also reports
some ""l!: III progress, and this is
about all.
Wcst Of Jamestown. alone the
Northe":? Pacific the snow is quite deep
both on The farm lands and on the cat.
tie rang2:. The SNOW is deepest along
the northern boundary. from the river
west. gradually widening to the south
ward as the western boundary g ap-
preached The Mouse river valley is
we'll covered, and seeding is not an
ticiratcd there for some time, This
section is one into whic! the greatest
number of settlers have done during
| The past few years. The tide OF immi-
grafton has already started in the
same direction. Last year late snow
caused somc hardship, end tho foods
! which followed in@onvenio nced mans.
but tho people who settledf in the
Mouse river country We're not disco"I-
aged by tie somewhat chilly reception
that tie clements save them and they
! stayed where they were and did "en.
| Otheis are following them this year,
and many carloads of settlers and
their effects have already arrived
| Some of them were in transit WneTt.
the big blizzard struck, and the expe-
riences which the newcomers then had
we're not pleasant, but no one hears
any talk of going back.
The Ward county people seem to ex'
pect something of a food when the
Mouse river breaks up. 1t has broken
in places but is not yet running free.
Preparations are being made for hlgh
water, but it is not anticipated that
the river will rise as it lid year ago
Elevator men. agricultural college
men and others who make soeclaA
study OF the crops are warming the
farmers against sowing imperfect
seed. In many sections of the state
last fall the grain was wet in the
shock, in some cases in the stack and
in not few cases threshing was
done before it had an opportunity to
dry. Some of this grain was stored
damp, and. of course. it has been
frozen all winter. 1t is pointed out
shat this treatment destroys the germ
mating qualities o ia large percentage
of seed, and farmers who have such
gra::: are urged not to SOW it, but to
dispose Of it and buy seed that can
be dape'..'cG upon.
The sefc',n is too young yet to spec
ulate o.. ,sc c::c,:ity of any partieu.
i2r graz, ;:..a: -, be sown II the
seeding, G. : s"Torable for sowing
wheat there II be a larger acreage
of this grain ,i'"n for many years. The
price is faEo-dn,e and the feeling pre-
walls tnot tic Eastern war will con-
tinue long e:iuag!; to enhance the de-
mand TO: tho c:cr Of 1904. This will
tend To cause :. larger acreage of :
wheat to he sowr. and there is also
disposition 4; rt"ct from the anti
wheat scN.i;!le7.; ;nat was quite preva.
lent until recently. Flax has taken
the place of wheat as the great staple
in few sections. and it has been
grown liberaily all over the state.
Flax is no longer in favor. and many :
.ho"cands Of acres that have been
scwn with fax will be sown this year
Wi, wheat.
l!ow mich macaroni wheat will be
sown. this year is ali open question.
'i.ot there will be considerable goes
without saving. The macaroni movs;)
n'ent was originated by the agricul-
t'ral depaitnc,l: and tho people Of
N,n !, InI