The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1908-12-29
GREATEST CROP in COUNTRY'S
HISTORY VALUED At $S,OOO,OOO,OO0

per cent above. Both have been ex-
ceeded only once.
Rye remains in the notch it has
occupied in production in recent
years, but its value, $22,0O0,OOO, is II
per cent above the average.
The largest crop of rice eve raised,
$4,000, 900, is this years, with a value
Of about SIS, 100000. the crop being 20
per cent above the five year average
and its value % per cent above.
Vast Outturn Of Cerfals.
All cerials aggregate 4,329,000, 900
bushels, a total that has been exceeded
three times, but the value reaches 3d.
694, 000, 900, or more than $3O0,000,O 900
above that of 1907, and exceeds still
more the totals of former years. Com
pared with the proceeding five years,
the number of bushels is higher by
|O.2 per cent and the value is higher
by 80 per cent.
The sugar beet crop has never been
SO large or SO valuable as it is this
year. The rapid development of this
crop for sugar making appears in the
statement that the production of beets
in 1908 is As per cent above the aver
age OF five years. The plantation value
Of sugar cane, molasses, and syrup,
not including factory products, is es-
timated to be $4,000, 900, a value x
ceeded only in 1904, and greater than
the five-year average by 10 pei cent.
Nearly 100000 short tons Of beet sugar
will probably be made from the crop
of this year, and the factory value of
this and of the beet pulp is about $45,-
900, 600. About 4O7, 900 short tons Of
raw cane sugar were produced this
year, an amount perceptibly larger
than the high production figures Of
four or five former years. The sugar
beet and sugar cane crops are to-
gether worth about $56,0O0,00 to the
grower. The sugar made from cane
and beets, the beet pulp, the syrup and
molasses of cane and sorghum, and
the maple sugar and syrup, it is esti-
mated are worth this year 1914, $1,000.
Uufavorable weather mads the pota-
to crop only 275, O0O, 900 bushels, or
5 per cent below the five-year average,
although the value, $%19O.000,0OO, is Is
per cent higher and was never equalled
by any other former crop.
Tobacco Still Behindhand.
Tobacco production is still low in
comparison with recent years. but the
price is probably "a little above that
of 1897, when there was a decided in
crease above former years. The value
Of this crop is about the same as for
1907 and is higher than at any time
before that year.
For the first time, this year, the
value Of all farm crops equals $5,OOO,-
000,0 600, and of this total the value of
the corn crop is about one-third;
wheat, hay, and cotton, combined
make more than another third; and
the smaller crops the remainder, or
nearly one-third.
Although the farmer gets hardly 20
cents a pound for his butter, between
8 and 4 cents a quart for his milk,
and about III cents for each egg, vet
the value of the farm products of the
dairy cow is getting close to $s00,0O0,-
900.
The aggregate value of animals sold
and slaughtered and of animal pro-
ducts at the farm amounts to about
three-eighths Of the value Of all farm
products, estimated upon the census
basis, and is getting nearer and nearer
to So, 5000. 900.