Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1912-09-26
Much Grain Not Harvested Suffer-
ing From Long Wet Spell.
Dry Days Needed.

weather comes very quickly and the
best Of conditions prevail for sew
eral weeks longer than usual. Dis
couraged by the long wait without
work, many men are leaving the
country for the lumber camps; the
grade of the grain is being lowered
by the wet weather, the grain is
bleaching, and also some has
sprouted. However, it is hoped that
the equinoctial storms will soon blow
over and North Dakota will enjoy
the usual fine fall weather; though
it will be several days before grain
will be dry enough to permit thresh-
ing, yet with the return of dry
weather, a big proportion Of the
crop can still be saved, as this is
only Sept. 23rd. Some southern
and eastern counties report about
rs per cent threshing completed. but
the greater part of -,he seate has
from 60 to rs per cent of the grain
still in shocks, while much remains
to be cut in the western tier Of
couhties.
The Weather and the Farmer.
Under the above caption one
North Dakotan makes the following
pertinent observations: $
Every sort of weather brings
with It's own morals. The sort Of
weather that We have been having
may bring many morals. One Of
them. is that the mixed farmer" oc-
cupies by far the most Independent
position. It is now past the middle
Of September, and in many sections
all outstanding grain is soaked,
wringing wet. 1t has been in this
condition, OF and on, for weeks. It
deteriorated greatly in quality.
Practically all of it is bleached,. and
much of It is sprouted. That which
is bleached is impaired in quality,
and will bring much lower price
than it should have brought. That
which is sprouted is ruined except
for feed. Fortunately this condi-
tion is not universal, for many far
mers have their threshing done,and
even our most general rains have
been somewhat local in character.
But with the farmers who live in any
Of the wet belts. and whose grain is
still in the shock, the outlook is any
thing but pleasant one. The days
are getting short, and the air is
growing cold, SO that ordinarily the
process of drying requires more time
than it would need earlier in the
season, and not many weeks remain
before snow. If the weather from
now on until the ground freezes
should be all that could be desired,
farmers whose grain is still in the
shock will have suffered great loss.
and their fall work will have been
greatly delayed, which will impair
their prospects for, another year.
There has never yet been q sea-
son when we did not have good
weather enough TO ripen and save- .
grain crop, IL the grain could be han
died while the grain was in the
proper condition. The present sea-
son in many places has been fully as
catchy as any. and shocks which are
now soaked wet have been dry half
a dozen times only to become wet
again. The farmer whose grain crop
is properly proportioned to the ca
pacity5 OF his force to handle it, can
save all his grain in good shape ev-
cry year. It is not within the pow
er Of the farmer always to have
horses and men and machinery
enough to handle big crop Of grain
and &. ordinarily It does not pay to
farm that way. It is possible. how
ever, for every farmer to SO adjust
his operations that the quantity Of
grain that he has to handle viii be
within his working capacity. This,
Of course. means fewer acres Of
small grains. per farm. more pas
.ture. more corn and potatoes, more
cattle and sheep and hogs and poul-5
\ try. Thus organized, the work OF
the form can be performed With q
/ force which need. not be large at any