Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1908-06-25
HARVEST CROPS
THE YEAR ROUND
Some Where in the World
Grains are Beinu Gathered


The worlds ceaseleSS harvest is on now
in California, south of France, Italy
and Portugal according to data gath
cred by the Department of Agricul-
ture which shows that every month
is harvest month somewhere on the
globe, That data is enlivened by con-
trasts-the contrasts of methods and
fruits of the haryests-and also by &C
counts of the fetes that i'm some lands
follow the harvest.
In the fields of France the husband
men-and husbandwomen-a sing
ing the wheat song that has this re-
frain:
"Work on, work ever,
Oh, peasant poor!
Let slothfulness never
Stop thy endeavour-
Or thy ruins sure"
When the harvest is done the song
will cease and the harvest fete will
begin, with dancing and drinking,
NiUlI plCIlICo dili lIOllCS.
Australia, New Zealand and Chill
reap their wheat crops with sickle in
January. The be-turbaned swarthy
Egyptians NOW down the wheat with
iron scythes in February. In India
the harvest is in March with the
Scythe and sickle as a thousand years
ago. The Mexican and Cuban reaps
in April The states of Florida and
Texas clear their fields with modern
reaperS and harvesters late in May
Portugal France and California follow
and in Austria, Hungary, south of
Russia, Canada, Sweden, Norway and
the great winter and spring wheat
regions of the United States the har-
vest is in July, August and Septemb-
er. The women in Northern Russia
with the aid of scythe and sickle har-
vest their wheat in October, Peru and
South Africa in November, Argentine,
the young, vigorous and alert sister
republic of ours. comes last on the
list and harvests its wheat crop in
December.
This implies that while wheat is
sprouting in the field of the United
States the crop is being harvested in
India; that while the American crop
is passing through midwinter under
snow covering the agriculturist in
is preparing to reap the
ripened grain in the fields; that when
the cultivators of Austria and Hun
gary are gathering grain, their
brothers in Australia and New Zea-
land are engaged in sowing.
This also means that somewhere in
the world. during all months of the
year, wheat and other staple grains
are approaching the marketing stage,
to enter into competition with the
grain grown in our own country. Not
all the foreign farmers are able to
realize the full value for their crops.
Through one reason or another some
are obliged to sell for less than its
actual value, and such transactions
not only hurt them but the pocket
books of agriculturists of the United
States. The set back which the
farmer receives in distant India,
Russia or Argentina, in measure,
tells on the agriculturisti in the United
States: the farmers of all these
different countries send their quota
to the worlds markets,
From this fact of the Department of
Agriculture it is evident that the
farmers of some countries are left half
starved even at harvest time when in
the United States, Canada and many of
the continental countries the agri-
cultural community is prosperous.
but in a number of Asiatic lands and
in Russia, the lot of the agriculturist
is hard-he is virtually living year in
and year out on the verge of starva-
tion, because in the grip of the money
lender, who forces him to sell his crop
in many cases while it is standing on
the land. in Russia and India for in
stance the farmer is so indebted to the
money lender that he never is able to
get the real equity for his work in the
field. The grain secured from these
famishing farmers at cut-throat
prices when exported, tends to lower