Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-09-09
(By John H. Rich. Federal Reserve
Apenf

w SSA4AA IL 4S4C1ks al xSO6C1 NC
Agent.)
AS good a grain crop as the north
western states have ever produced
has been safely harvested. and the
way is now clear for the gathering of
a record corn crop. Throughout the
eastern half Of the district, the corn
harvest promises to be very large.
The quality : is. high and August
weather. although it brought a grea:
deal of rain, was, as a whole. favor
able to the prompt maturity Of this
important cereal.
Some reports have already been re-
ceived from seed samples of Argen-
tine, Northwestern dent and. Miner
varieties Of corn distributed for test
purposes by the Federal Reserve bank
In the spring. Preliminary reports
give reason to believe that the Argen-
tine variety may have a permanent
usefulness in these states. One test
plot showed corn that was fully ma.
tured and harvested on August IL, or
fully 80 days ahead of the earliest
half of the district. Other samples
are reported as fully matured and
ready to cut during the latter half Of
the month.
The most satisfactory feature of
the corn situation is that the crop is
probably safely out Of danger from
frcst. In the eastern half of the dis
trict, government records show gen-
eral killing frosts as follows for the
last ten years:
1907-May 20 and September 80.
190S-May 3 and September 20.
1909-May 3 and October IL.
191O-May 3 and October %.
1911-May 3 and October %.
1912-April 81 and September 81.
'1s13-April 81 and September %.
1914-May ~ and October 81.
1915-May Is and October 8.
1916-May Q and October 10.
1917-May % and October 6.
The earliest killing frost since 1898
occurred on September 10, 1902. In
the fall Of 1883 there were killing
frosts at st. Vincent and Moorhead on
September 8. with a light frost the
same date in st. Paul and Mime
apolis.
The satisfactory progress of che
corn crop is more thar usually i'm
OF a further seed shortage next
spring. Farmers are already taking
steps to select matured ears and put
them in safe storage. The substan-
tial supply of good seed which is now
available will probably result in a
large acreage in corn mex year.. The
crop is unusual, not only for
its uniformly good quality, but for the
satisfactory acreage that will be har-
vested in the face of the utmost diff
ficulty last spring in obtaining seed,
and the very poor terminating quail
ity of most of the seed that was then
'Threshing of small grains is in pro-
gresh throughout the eastern half of
the district and the yields are uni
formly good. In this general area the
returns from wheat. both because of
price and the yield, will be better than
the farmers have ever enjoyed before.
Threshing returns from other grains
are very satisfactory.
In the western half of the district,
and particularly in western North Da-
kota, the yield is proving to be
what better than promised. 80 days
ago, and the government price for
wheat will give the farmers a money
return that will compare ~favorably
with what they formerly received in
an average al r.,
The substantial rainfall during the
last half of August damaged the
small grain in the shock, but was of
considerable advantage to fax and
More or less Of the new wheat ar
at terminal markets shows
Business conditions throughout the
district remain about the same, ex-
cepting as war influences are making
themselves felt in a gradually in
creasing shortage of experienced help,
accompanying which there is a steady
growth in the number Of women en-
in clerical and office work and
in industry. Banks, in particular.
suffered severely through loss of
men. and are being COM
PEELED more and more to rely upon