The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1909-01-22


about $45000,0OO. About 100000 short
tons of raw cane sugar We're produced
this year an amount perceptibly great
er than the high production figures Of
four or five former years.
The sugar beet and sugar cane crops
are together worth about $4,000 900
to the grower. The sugar made from
cane and beets, the pulp, the syrup
and molasses or cane and sorghum,
and the maple sugar and syrup, it is
estimated, are worth this year 1884,
100000.
Fewer Potatoes; Worth More.
Unfavorable weather made the
potato crop only 275,OOO,OOO bushels,
or per cent below the five-year aver
age, although the value, $l90,000,0O0,
is IS per cent above and was never
equaled by any former crop.
Tobacco production is still low in
comparison with recent years, but the
price is probably a little above that
of 1907, 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.
On account of the extremely low
price of hops in 1907, the average pro-
duction and value of 1908 are low and
have been exceeded in many former
years.
For the first time this year the
value of all farm crops exceeds $4,000
100000, 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 near
ly one-third.
Balance in Export Value.
, The exports of agricultural products
in the fiscal year 1908 were valued at
S1,017, 100000, an amount greater than
for any year except 1907, the reduction
Of $37,O00,OO0 under that year being
chiefly due to the falling off in value
of cotton exports.
The exported cotton was valued at
s43S,0000O0, the grain and grain pro-
ducts at $215,OOO,OOO, and the packing
house products at $196,0O0,000.
The imports of agricultural products
Of 1908 were valued at $540000,OO0 in
the countries from which exported, a
reduction of $S7,OOO,OO0 below the
value for 1907. Imports are mostly
silk, wool, hides, coffee, various vege-
tables, fbres and oils, fruits, sugar
and molasses, tea, and tobacco. The
exports of forest products are begin
ming to decline, chiefly in lumber and
| timber. The imports of such products
declined in 1908 mostly because of
India rubber, but there were gains in
imports Of pulp wood and wood pulp.
The total exports Of the United
States in 1908 were apportioned IN
value as follows:
Animals and animal products, 16
per cent; cotton and cotton produces,
II per cent; grain and grain products,
II per cent; all other products chiefly
sustained by agriculture, 6 per cent;
forest products and other products
chiefly dependent upon them, 8 per
cent; exports that are not agricultural
nor of forest origin, either fully or in
principal degree, 81 per cent
Secretary's Message of Cheer.
Secretary of Agriculture Wilson
says that the magnificent figures
of the farmers contribution to
the exports of this country
and to the favorable balance of
| trade are maintained in spite of this
country's immense growth in popula-
ton and the extraordinary immigra-
ton and non-agricultural peoples, and
also in spite of the diminishing frac-
ton of the population that is en-
gagged in agriculture; and that no
analysis could more strongly indicate
the progressive efficiency of the farm
er's labor and capital and of the tell
| ing effects of the agricultural sciences.
Secretary Wilson reviews in detail
the work done by his department to
benefit the farmers and closes his re-
port as follows: "The farmer had
many reasons for his Thanksgiving in
1908, as he did in recent years. He
has reaped as we'll as he sowed. He
has obtained more of the means with
which to improve his farm, to in.
crease his capital, to become more
generous consumer of the goods of
other producers, and to add to the
things that count for a better living
and a more pleasant life"
The following statement is being
credited to President Stanley Hall,
of Clark University: Woman is
much more susceptible than man.
There is a good reason for this. We
know that she has two or more souls.
II. -