Imperial Valley press., 1915-04-07
(By a United Press Staff Correspon-
dent)


Washington, April THAT 1000
600 bushels of wheat a day can be
exported, in addition to supplying this
country's needs, is the reassuring
statement from the Agricultural De-
partment. Before July /, the depart
ment points out, the new wheat will
be coming in, so there need be no fear
of a shortage which will actually de-
prive the people of this country OF
bread.
Had it not been for the war, with
the closing of the Dardanelles, which
locked up Russia's surplus, and had Il
not been for worlds shortage, out
side of the United States, estimated at
400, 100000 bushels, the farmers of the
United States, instead of selling their
wheat at high prices, would really be
III a serious condition, the department
experts say. They would be looking
eagerly for buyers of their wheat,
with prices probably way down below
the cost of production.
The 1914 crop of the United States
was estimated at S9l 100000 bushels.
In addition to this it was estimated
that the amount of wheat carried over
from the 1913 crop was 76,000,000
bushels, so that there was on hand d
total of about 967 100000 bushels. The
normal consumption of wheat in this
country is about 5.3 bushels, so that It
would require 520,000,O0O bushels to
supply the food requirements of the
United States, besides about 90000,-
900 bushels needed for seed
j SO that the surplus remaining for
export was, roughly, 357 100000 bush
els. On January 80 about 21O,000,0OG
bushels had been exported, which left.
at that time, 40,000,000 more bushels
available for export than the average
at that time during the last years.
SO that Mr.. Farmer, much as he
may deplore the war and the slaugh-
ter, may at least be thankful that
something prevented him from find
ing himself with what would have al
most been drug on the market ON
his hands. Instead he finds himself
with the highest price in years for
+ his big money crop.
How general the peach industry haa
become is brought out strongly in
bulletin just issued by the Department
of Agriculture, in which it was shown
that 80 of the AS states have peach
orchards of commercial importance. 1t
was pointed out that peaches do well
ON a wide range of types of soil, in
Guiding even some of the moderately
heavy clay loans and clays. A prime
requisite, however, is that the soil be
well drained. Peaches will not grow
successfully on poorly drained soils
While requiring a fairly fertile SOIL
peach trees do not particularly require
Il very large amount of nitrogen. Soil
very rich in nitrogen is not to be de-
sired as a general rule, since it is
likely to induce an excessive growth
of foliage. Alkali soils are not suit
able for peaches. though a small
amount of alkali will not necessar-
lily be dangerous. 1t is safer how
ever, to avoid them as a general rule
as far as possible.
Ground that is higher than the sur
rounding country is usually desirable
for peach orchards, since frost is no
so likely to injure the trees. Height
above sea level is not so important
in this particular as height above the
surrounding country, on account of
the tendency of cold air to settle to
the lowest levels. Danger of frost is
also minimized if the peach orchards
are near a large body of water. Due