The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-05-27
No Truth to PesSimiStic Stories
From Kansas.
Statements Collected by j. f.
FARRELL of Santa Fe.
NOW FOR A LITTLE Rain
Wheat Then Would Make a
Tremendous Yield.
Reports From Frizell, FitZger-
aid, LObdelI, Dawson.

4
which the Kansas crop killer flour
| ishes. A score or more of men have
in the last few days been quoted as
! saying western Kansas had gone to
the demnition bowwows on account
of spell of dry weather, but most of
them deny that they found any such
| condition. ]. F. farrell, publicity
! agent of the Santa Fe railway, is cred
! tied as with a sorrowful statement
| alleged to have been made at Dodge
| City regarding the condition of wheat
| in that section. farrell says the con-
! dition in that section is much better
than reports indicate, and so far as he
| is concerned, he made no statement at
Dodge City.
However" Mr.. FARRELL continued,
| Il believe I am ia miliar with cOndi-
tions in Ford county, and l cleaned
my information as a reporter, not as
a wheat expert. l was fortunate last
Sunday in obtaining the opinions of
such men as G. ]. Stauth. president of
the farmers institute of Ford county,
w. ]. Fitzgerald, former lieutenant
governor, and an extensive farm OPP
| orator; H. B. Bell, mayor of Dodge
CITY; Andy Russell, president of the
Kansas State bank, and j. c. Denious
and Jack Schall, editors of the local
papers.
Mr.. Stauth, who prepares the Ford
county reports for the United States
that forty per cent of the wheat acre
age of Ford county would have to be
abandoned. The condition of the re-
mainder is eighty-five per cent. In
Mr.. Stauth's judgment. if rain comes
within week, and the weather con-
tinues cool till rain comes. there will
be a fair yield of wheat in Ford
county. He regards the condition of
sixty per cent of the total acreage as
equal to that of a year ago.
Stalks Are Healthy.
while the plant is turning brown
from the bottom. investigation shows
that beneath the brown wrapper the
stalk is healthy People riding on the
trains get the notion that the crop is
gone in many western localities. AS a
matter of fact. Mr.. Stauth says. the
worst wheat is along the railroads. The
condition is unsatisfactory, but 1T is
far from hopeless. True. said Mr..
Stauth, rain is needed to make wheat,
but that can be said any year. This
is not the first time Ford county has
had to contend with crop killers. and
afterwards harvested a lot of wheat.
Mr.. Strauth, and the other gentlemen
named, who agree with his views gen
orally would like to have judgment
deferred till the first week. in June.
Ford is not the only county that
has been ruined lately. E. J. Smiley
of the State Grain Dealers associa-
ton, is quoted as saying that Barton
enough wheat to harvest, that Ed
wards has poor wheat. and that
Hodgeman has none. E. E. Frizell, |
mayor of Larned, told me Saturday |
that with favorable weather Pawnee
county would harvest two and half
million bushels of wheat, and would |
need two thousand harvest hands |
Fully half the acreage of Pawnee
county is in good shape, Mayor Frizell |
says. The other half must have rain |
T.nhdpl1
the First National bank of Great |
Bend, says that it is still possible to |
have more wheat in Barton county |
than was raised last year. He said |
week. He talked to me Saturday. |
Last night rain came. There were |
showers from Great Bend almost to |
the Rush county line.
Acreage in Edwards.
81. G. Bridwell, cashier of the |
Farmers State bank Of Belpre, in Ed
wards county, told me, after spending |
two hours at the telephone talking to |
farmers, that the wheat acreage in the |
eastern part of Edwards county is 80 +
per cent greater than taht of last year,
with prospects a little better. The
western part of Edwards county is |
badly in need of rain. The opinion |
of Edwards county farmers generally |
is their wheat has been damaged
about 25 per cent.
Mayor Dawson of Great Bend was
in Ness county Saturday, driving from
Ness City through the southern part
of Rush county and the southwestern
part of Barton. He saw fine wheat in
Ness and Rush, where there have been
late rains. His information is that
the wheat in the western part OF
Hodgeman county is in good condition.
THE general opinion of farmers in
the counties | have named is that if
rain comes within a week, they Will
harvest a fair crop of wheat II the
rain does not come, very large acre
age will be plowed up and planted to
feed But this is the same story the
newspa pers have been printing every
spring for fifteen years. Most of the
wheat in the counties mentioned is IN
the boot, and farmers say that if it
stays there till rain comes, it will yield
bountifuIly. If the head breaks
through without rain, hot weather and
high winds will dry up the milk In
short order.
From St John, Stafford county, and
Ellinwood, Barton county, east the
wheat condition is as nearly perfect as
;& ~ DO