The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-12-30
BUY AT .BLACH'S BROKEN STOCKS SALE TODAY Y---CLOSED ALL DAY MONDAY.
AGRICULTURAL.
AGRICULTURAL INFORMATION.

1 AGRICULTURAL INFORMATION. 1 With this article we close our work
 for 1905. It might be well for us to stop
 bur rush of business long enough to look
 at conditions as they exist and see If ] the past year has made the world better
 and If so. if each of us has done his part. 1 The object of this article is to look at
 our present conditions from an agricultur-
 al point of view and to present here some
 facts and figures which may be of inter i est to many of our readers.
 i Unprecedented Prosperity.
 From an agricultural standpoint, we are l enjoying today an unprecedented period
 of prosperity, something which the world l has never before known. The value of
 the agricultural products of our United l States farms for the year 1905 Is some
 thing astonishing to the world. Never
 before in our history have the farm pro- ducts of our country equaled what they
 have for this year, 1905. According to
 Secretary Wilson's report, the farmers l of this country this year have produced 1 s6 300, ,000, ,00O worth of farm products. This i enormous sum is divided as follows: Corn,
 s1 216, ,0O0, GOO; beef, ss62 000,0 ,000 dairy pro-
 ducts, s625 OO0, GOO; hay, s605, 1000; cotton,
 s557, ,000, ,OOO; wheat, s525, 100000, poultry,
 $500 900 900; sheep and hogs, s2S3.OOO,0Oo
 oats, s2s2, 900 0o0 potatoes, s13s, 100000; bar
 ley, $5s, GOO: tobacco, s52.Ooo,ooo; sugar
 cane and beets, s50000,0 GOO; rice sl3,S20,0O0.
 Now here is something suggestive, some 1 thing of interest, food TOT the careful
 consideration of every farmer in this 1 country. Before looking further Into these l figures I want to ask the reader to stop
 and think what have been the greatest l agencies in bringing about such re- 1 suit.
 ! Agricultural Information. 1 The rapid spread of agricultural educa-
 ton is the only answer to this question l Let us go back and review the weather
 conditions of tho past season, and as we
 do so. we find that they were not ideal l for the best results in farming. In the l great corn belt the season was late, wet l and cold and many crops had 10 pc re-
 planted It was late In the season when l the weather became warm and settled TOT l the crops to grow. The same cohditio,s
 also prevailed over large area or tue cotton states, and in some see.lohs 'iie 1 first planting of seed routed and was l clear loss in addition to the delay, extra
 work and expense in planting the seconu l erop In many sections it was idte III
 tho season before either stand Of cot i ton or corn could be secured. in .ne 1 wheat belt the season was not at all ia- I vorable for a good yield. III haany l i stances the hay crop was badly damaseo l ord much good hay lost. Neither was tle l saason favorable for fruit and vesetaple 1 ,nterests and thousands or dollars "e,o i 1ost from these industries by untavoraoie 1 weather conditions. 5,+iors
 Vet amid all these adverse cohoi'io,,o
 we have broken the record In me N.,iuu l at1 1 I want to ask if this country hSo p,e"
 aonrivad of the work of the farmers m
 sti.,,+es the work of the agricultural
 nress and agricultural colleges ana tne
 work of the agricultural lectures' Wouiu
 we have been able to accomplish sucn i' l suits? The answer Is no.
 The work of these agencies has mace
 ,,,an1, farmers of this country money
 lenders instead of money borrowers ana 1 if this work is continued for few years inc farmers in all sections or our cou"-
 try will have money to loan
 l But there Is another very Hlpor lan,
 matter in this connection not mehtioneu
 in this report of Secretary Wiison' n'
 is in the improvement Of our iarins.
 Taryoers are taking better care or tnelr
 I.nds in this country for the past year l and the improved condition or 1arm ianus
 will amount to millions of dollars. me
 producing power of the ~soii mas peen i greatly improved until IL IS ho' 'i' l nal thing to find farmers producing
 balo of cotton per acre and sixty, sev- l entv and eighty bushels of corn rer acre l The importance of rotation Of crops IS better understood than ever pelo'e III 1 the history of our country.
 will now take up some of these crops
 mentioned in this report and notice ie" l facts in connection herewith.
 ] The Corn Crop.
 1 ~,.. L. I,i,o, of oil grains. always has l heen and perhaps will continue to De TOT all time to come in this countr = AS l shown, we have produced this year s,zlo'- l ,.J GOO worth of corn. Corn leads nay the l next crop in line of value by me sum l of se11 900 GOO; leads cotton by soo9oeo'oVo'
 and wheat by s691 100000.
 l One of the first questions Is how large
 is our corn belt and what states are
 producing corn for export? We can soon name them Missouri. Indiana lliilois' Iowo, Kansas and Nebraska. ono. Ken
 lucky and Tennessee have a few pusneis
 each of corn to spare and this year TOT l the first time in her history, okiahofna 1 has corn 10 sell So we sec that six 1 states and one territory have produced 1 the greater part of this record-breaking l corn crop. Let us go back to the state
 ment as to what agricultural education
 and agitation has done for the corn crop. l Education on soil preparation, selection l of seed and seed corn breeding has added l to the corn crops of the six states named
 as the great corn center many millions | of dollars this year. These lectures on
 seed corn breeding and selection and | on seed bed preparation have been shown 1 to the farmers what 1t means to add
 even one grain to every ear Of corn
 grown and also not only how to put on 1 this extra grain, but in many sections l they have been shown how to make 1 the ears even an inch longer. The result
 of this teaching is shown by the corn I crop of this season.
 The Wheat Crop.
 1 The wheat crop should have been
 close second to the corn crop. But we have allowed our wheat to fall to $SOOO0,O OOO
 below our hay, $32,0O0000 below cotton and only $25, 0O0,000 more than our poultry. There are several causes for this falling off of our wheat crop. First, the season generally was very unfavbrable for wheat over a large range of the wheat bell.
 Second farmers find it more profitable 10 grow grass, stock and keep dairy cows. | This is shown by the fact that our dairy products lead wheat by $100,OOO,00o Ihere is great cause for alarm at the rate In which we are letting our wheat crop run down in both yield and quality We
 should be producing at least I,W0o0O00
 worth of wheat in this country. This is
 one of the crops that deserves better at tention from our farmers and one that is
 being badly neglected and one that should and must be more extensively grown if we
 are to hold our record as exporters of wheat and wheat products
 Our Hay Crop.
 The figures on hay may he surprise