The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-06-08
WORK FOR THE MONTH
THE SOUTHERN PLANTER
WORK FOR THE MONTH
(The Southern Planter.)

''AO PAoSi ~ lll1 1IOpS dITod0N
planted as was the month OF April.
The weather has been fine but dry.
no rain having fallen over the greater
part of the State since the month
came in until today .(21st), the conse-
Quence has been that growth has been
SLOW, and from manvs sections we have
reports that bOth wheat, oats and
grass have practically ,come to a
'standst1n, and the and has, beconl so
hard that blowing had to be suspend
ed. The nights also have been cold.
n condition. has not been peculiar
to this State. hut more or less general
over the whole of the Southern States,
and more intensely SO Over some of
the middle States. There is cOnsid-
able complaint of injury to the wheat
crop from these States, and planting
of the cotton and corn crops is being
delayed. Today, 21st of May, we
have had a fine rain, which contin-
ues, and we hope will continue for
another a 1r two. If 50. great good
will be done and the work of plant
ing the crOnS can be resumed with
a prospect Of quick growth, as the
ground is now warm. Over the whole
country the season is late. In the
spring wheat belt the seeding Of the
crop is two to three weeks behind
normal, and the yield will much de-
pend on a late fall. The area planted
has been increased about 1000, 600
acres over thar harvested last year,
but even with this increase the area
Of the wheat crop-winter and spring
is still more than 100000 less
than that harvested last year, assum-
ing hat an>the spring wheat seeded
comes to maturity. The winter wheat
area to be harvested is about 27.S71.-
coo acres, or 2,475, 900 acres less than
the area harvested in 1908. The eff
feet of this shortage in production
coming upon an existing shortage,
both here and in Europe has had the
effect of pushing up the price of wheat
on the market to near S1.oo per
Dushel. A leading member of the
Mark Lane Exchange Iondon) has
recently stated that the available
wheat in England is more than l.
600, 900 bushels less than it ought to
be to enable current requirements to
be met as they arise, and that millers
secure prompt delivery OF
grain at even the increased price now
Much severe has
been made With reference to the
in wheat which has recently
squeezed a large number of operators
the market. but this could never
have occurred but for the fact of the
conditions operative IN the
Those who engineered the
corner had better gagged actual
and realized that demand
had overtaken supply, n whether
had operated or not the prlce
Of wheat was bound to a We
predicted this more n a year ago.
have been gradually coming TO
his for several years. AS Mr.. James
]. Hill pointed out more than a year
ago, we have got either to grow a
much larger area of wheat or to make
more to the acre. or the time VIII
soon be here When this country VIII
nave to depend upon other countries
% feed the people. We nave not IN
creased the area or the production
population of the country, and the
natural result is now being reaizeu:
The laws OF supply and demand VIII
control whether corner makers ope-
"ate or not. We do not see any Ita-
nab probability of wheat selling
below q dollar a bushel AGAIN Tor
ears to come. The average condition
the present crop is $50 compared
With SO on May J., 1908, and SO the
tVerage for the past ten years. 1Ills
With the decreased acreage indicates
normal conditions OF WeatneI
ID to harvest of less than OO.OOo,eo
of winter wheat. IN Virginia
he condition is SO. or ten polnts
tbOVe the ten-year rag III ~
it is 90. or o points ABOVE
he ten-year average. In South Car-
I is the same as North Carol1na,
n Maryland it is SO, or Z points apoNo
he ten-year average. Ia 1e1flle9oes
+ js %. or 8 pcints above the ten-year
e These figures go to snow
hat our prospects for q wheat clSp
wear are good, though we are
raid some damage has been doie
NICE these figures were fixed by the
inv weather we had in a out We j,
10 not think this will be large aha =,
: not likely to be increased, as W. {
had good rains IN time " NJ
urther injury. The time is propltlouS $
or q great Sxtention of wheat grow :
in the South. We do not now /
enough to feed our own people, /
we ought at least to do TINS ano |
With the prospects for continued soou 2
Drices-indicated above, steps snouiu 6
t once be taken to p lol ~ t
.Xtension. What our soils neeu - g
make wheat production proItdpls - {
more humus in them and better piep S
ration of the land before seedllS. Y