The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-06-18
TRUCKERS HAPPY;
q A M AGE SLIGHT
oat Crop Curtailed-W h T.
Yield Is Good Tobacco Grow
ers Overworked Resetting
Plants, but Have Good
Stands Greatest Farm
ing Land in World.
By FRANK S. wooDsoN,
iH industrial EtlItnr

agricultural Department or Nebraslka
Is credited with the statement that
nine out OF ten OF the farmers In his
part OF the country do not know what
erect unusual weather has on the
crops, and he then goes on to say:
Nine out of ten OF them will exaK-
gerate damage Their eXaggeration
passes on to the business men, and by
then II is passed on to the railroad
people and to the markets. That is
the reason we have our crops ruined
half a dozen times every summer and
are then surprised TO find afterwards
mat We have done pretty we'll after
ALL" ~. $3.50
IT is not that bad in virginia and
Y North Carolina. The farmers in this
region of the country know a little
more than that about weather condI-
lions OF the unusual as well as the
usual kind. but there can be no DENY
ing Of the fact that our farmers, above
all men. are easily frightened. and in
bad weather are more or less susceptt.
I bic TO severe attacks Of the blues"
Ihus II often happens that they give
out exaggerated reports OF bad weather
conditions. and especially OF dry wea-
thcr effects: not that they mean to ex-
nKgerate for the purpose of affecting
the market, for they have long since
delegated to the towt folks the regu-
iation OF the markets. They have per-
maps made too much OF surrender
along this line. but that is another
subject. They just get scared and a.
little tdemoralized, particularly when
the rains refuse to fall at the desired
time. @
Lnst Springs Drought.
a The long continued drought the past
spring and in the carly days Of juno
vas undoubtedly frightful thing to
DO contemplated. and no one can Won
der that Il scared the Virginia farmers
almost out OF their boots. and no one
can blame them for stretching the
* blanket little al to the amount OF
damage done. for there was a good
deal OF damage and considerab BILE
shortening OF "a few OF the crops. but
the rains came In the nick OF time
much OF the damage has been repaired.
and the outlook at present IS promis-
ms, SO promising that 1t now appears
mai old virginia Is going to show up
fine crops OF all the good things she
is In the habit OF growing. and I
would not be at all SURPRISED If when
the tillers of the soil gather the COM
Ing fall at the State Fair and at the
s county fairs and the local corn shows
to swap notes they will be vieing with
each other as to which can tell the
biggest yarn about the bumper crops
they gather this good oar OF 1911.
AS 60 Oats md Wheat
have been making considera BILE
Inquiry since the rains and the good
seasons came. and in Il general way tho
information gathered is to the effect
that there is much life in the old land
yet, and that the good farmers all
over the state and all over the South
ere smiling again.
FROM six TO four weeks ago there
were predictions OF an almost total
failure OF both the wheat and the oat
crops. but the harvesters. who are
now at work In the fields, are fndine
q plenty to do. It is true that in osme
sections the oats have come around
1ittle short OF an average crop. and I
have seen some few small fields not
very lar from Richmond that are not
worth the cutting. and the s, ock are
I. being turned In on some of II I'm. but
I taken as whole the oat Gro of the
y State is a pretty fair one this year.
have letter from Henry county.
which says the great oat grover, j.
81. Barker. is cutting a fine crop. and
all OF his neighbors are doing pretty
much the same thing not as large Il
yield as they have made III some good
years in the past, but profitable crops
all the same, and the awful results
looked for some weeks ago are not.
on the record Similar reports come
from various parts of the State.
The wheat makers all along the
James River. all up In the Valley, and
all along the hillsides between arc
cutting more wheat than they looked
X for several weeks ago. before the rains
came. Grt 53es i5j a
ErstwhlIe Blue Tobacco ,,en Are
Smiling.
M The bluYst folks In the whole State
two months ago. and up to three weeks
ago, were the men who grow tobacco
Tor a money crop. They certainly did
have bad seasons for the setting out
of the plants. and In all of the toha Geo
growing counties of Virginia and North
Carolina. and away down in South
Carolina, where they ought not to
raise tobacco anyhow, at least not a
I. long as cotton keeps SO high and SO
much in demand, the farmers had to
do more resetting of plants than they
have had to do for many long years,
but In the end they got good stand
In the Old Bright Belt. in the dar k
shipping tobacco lands and In the
glorious country where they grow the
famous sun-cured stocks. t t5.H.
In South Carolina and in Eastern
sections of North Carolina. where they
have to start early with the setting
out of the plants that make the flmsy
Il bright smokers and cutters, the rains
~ did not come soon enough, and the fact
Il Is that the crops in those sections will
II; be cut short, In South Carolina fully
80 per cent. and the Eastern part of
North Carolina about 25 per cent, pos
stbly IS.
But the farmers who grow the weed
( in the Old Bright Belt and those who
make the dark shipping stocks and
the sun -curers I on the north side Of
James River. have put in large crops
4 have a good stand, and II the trosts
lff7-E9.T 0ContInued on Seoond Page.1 1900