The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-04-27
Condition of Kansas Wheat Is
76 Per Cent.
One-Third Was Killed by the
Severe Winter.
MANY ACRES ARE LEFT.
Placed at Four and a Half Mil
lions by Mr.. COburn.
Rap for the Pessimistic Kansas
Crop Killers.

The following Is a report issued to-
day by the Kansas board of agricul-
ture. the result of a comprehensive and
searching inquiry into conditions of
the states winter wheat and oats as
they were April 20. 1t is consensus
of opinions of the growers especially,
supplemented by those Of grainmen.
millers and orhers closely observant at
short range and well informed. IN
every neighborhood. particular atten-
tion having been given to those coun-
ties sowing the larger areas:
Reports OF correspondents indicate
that the area sown to winter wheat in
the fall of 1909 approximated 6,47S,Oo0
acres, or more by about $4,000 acres
than in the fall preceding. OF the
total area it appears from the reports
that 80 per cent is such failure that
the ground will be devoted to other
it being already sown to oats. De-
Quoting this 30 per cent leaves 4,532.-
600 acres standing, on which the con-
dition averages, for the state, 76 per
cent 100 representing a good average
stand and satisfactory condition.
This failure of nearly q third of the
area sown is ascribed principally to
winter killing" although there is
much diversity of opinion as to the
specific cause, some saying the wheat
was "smothered by the long continued
coating of ice," others that it was the
severe freezing when the ground was
oyersaturated,' and still others ascribe
it to the alternate freezing and thaw-
ing" upheaving the soil and leaving
the plant roots exposed or broken
These together with wind and dry
weather in some portions, constitute
some of the disadvantages the fall
sown wheat of 1909 has contended
with. A dozen reporters; all told. state
that some damage should be charged
TO the chinch bug.
Killing the wheat crop by gentle
men with whom killing is a business.
or who obtain sustenance. notice or
notoriety only through proclaiming the
discovery, invention or presence OF
some new destroyer, is now being in
dlstriously carried on by telegraph
AS a season progresses and the crop
killers discover themselve. lacking
other resources they proceed TO find
some alleged insect, such as the green
bug or maIodorous chinch. ready
across and lay wastet five or six
million acre wheat field. leaving
behind Gin the newspapers) little
but desolation and distress. These
and saddles for the chinch
bug brigade in Kansas. and
what they will intend as terrifying
yells are likely to be heard around
the world. The public will do we'll to
remember that while the yells of these
night riders may be disturbing they
never affect actual yield.
owing to dry weather in the fall
the sowing of wheat was delayed in
many localities. and considerable that
will now be given over to other crops
was that planted unusually late. and
on fields poorly prepared.
OF the notably wheat growing coun-
ties, Marion and Mcpherson report the
largest percentages abandoned, amount
ing in Marion to 95 per cent of the total
sown, and in Mcpherson so per cent.
Other counties in the so-called wheat
belt' that show large losses are Dick
inson rs per cent, Harvey 20 per cent,
Saline 81 per cent, Rice 5S per cent,
Clay 81 per cent, Ellsworth so per cent,
Sumner 40 per cent, Ottawa As per cent
and Sedgwick 43 per cent. These are
located in or near the central third OF
the state, a region excellently adapted
to corn and oats, and these two crops
will OCCUPY most of the abandoned
wheat ground. Mention of sowing
spring wheat where the winter varie-
ties proved failure is made in about
a dozen counties, and peculiarly enough
10 of these counties are in the eastern
part of the state, where spring wheat
is admittedly unsatisfactory and re-
garded with disfavor. What incentive
there could be for sowing spring wheat,
with its unrehability and undesirable
ity, rather than planting corn in such
premier corn growing counties as Mar
SHALL Pottawatomie. Nemaha, Shaw
nee, Atchison and Brown, as reports in
dictate has been done, in small way to
be sure. is not made apparent
A block of about a dozen counties
in the northeastern part of the state,
not however, conspicuous for their
aggregates of wheat, experienced very
discouraging conditions, resulting in
complete failure in manV neighbor-
hoods amounting to 96 per cent of the
area in Jackson county. Generally
the smaller losses were in the western
half and southwestern corner of the
state, as are. likewise. the better aver
age conditions of the growing wheat.
the highest being 95 in Comanche.
followed by "a in Clark and Seward,
and 90 in Edwards and Hodgeman.
In the main. soil conditions are re-
ported moderately favorable for spring
planting although reporters In eight
or ten counties in the northeastern
quarter of the state. and perhaps half
as many more in the western portion.
say that the situation is unfavorable
on account of dry weather.
While no figures are available at
this time on the area Of oats sown.
their condition for the state is SO per
cent.
The table below shows BIZ counties
the probable area of Winter wheat
sown In each last fall. the per cent
estimated as a failure. and the per
cent of present conditions (based on
1O0) for the remainder:
Prob. Fail Remain
Counties. acr. ure. der.
Allen ............... 1e.474 25 81
Anderson .......-.. 5.619 80 66
Afchis.ln .. 81 456 20 6f