The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1918-12-19

the small acreage of a year ago, whe
a droughty fall prevented seeding. Tn
acreage is also greater than what i
sown in the usual year, which is ap
proximately 10000. The near fail
ure of spring wheat this year was
stimulus to the seeding of white
wheat wherever climatic condition
warranted and even where precipita
ton was light considerable acreag
was sown. Turnout Whitman count.
the amount of summer fallow acreag,
has been decreased materially from
that of the normal year due to thu
crowding for acreage for last year!
crop. However, on account of favor
able seeding conditions, excepting il
the southwestern area where the rain
fall was highest, nearly all available
summer fallow land was sown; where.
as in the average year portion is re.
tanned for spring crops. In addition
a percentage of the stubble was either
plowed or disced and sown, which is
true especially of pea and bean acre
age. Even in the southwestern part
of the county large proportion of the
growers seeded fall wheat in spite of
rather adverse weather conditions. The
desire to SOW all available acreage, as
sisted by favorable weather conditions
turnout the greater part of the coun-
ty and by the late, open fall, caused
sufficient acreage to be sown to over
come the decrease in summer fallow
in nearly all sections and the acreage
for the county as whole is slightly
in excess of the usual.
In the group of southeastern coun-
ties, Walla Walla, Columbia and Aso-
tin, an abundance of moisture early
in the season stimulated seeding of
fall wheat acreage, the unsatisfactory
yields of spring wheat being an addi-
tional incentive; and altho these coun-
ties were short of summer fallow land
they were able to increase their fall
wheat acreage over what is usually
sown by seeding greater than aver
age proportion of the fallow land.
Some barley acreage, where the crop
did not indicate sufficient returns for
threshing, was plowed up early in the
season and resown TO winter whe at
this fall in Columbia courtJ. The c,-
ly county in this part o. the state
where conditions were unfavorable
was Garfield.
Benton county, which normally seeds
a portion of it's fallow acreage to
spring wheat even in favorable years,
has sown the largest percentage of
summer fallow to winter wheat in
great many years, owing to sufficient
rainfall and the tendency to seed fall
wheat on account of the near failure
of spring wheat the past year.
Turnout Klickitat county conditions
have been unusually favorable. The
early rains were heavy, permitting
the seeding of not only all available
fallow land,' but stubble land which
had been fall plowed. Fall wheat
acreages in this county shows the big
gest percentage increase over the us
ual of any county in the state.
The growers in the Big Bend coun-
ties had anticipated sowing large
acreages of fall wheat on account Of
spring wheat failures; unfortunately,
however, these counties experienced
an unfavorable dry period early in the
fall. The lack of rains, combined with
the increased cost of importing seed
prevented many growers from taking
the risk of seeding. When favorable
rains occurred late in the season it was
too late for the moisture to stimulate
general seeding.
In spite of insufficient early rains
and later ovcrabundance of moisture
which prevented seeding, the counties
west of the Cascades have practically
all increased their fall wheat acreage,
owing to the better yielding qualities
of fall compared to spring wheat and
in their endeavor to produce
all possible foodstuffs to supply the
world demand. ...s...l
The condition of the fall wheat crop
IS very favorable in the Palouse, Wal
a Walla and adjacent counties due to
excellent early rains and an open fall
which permitted normal growth. The
,nly areas in this group of counties !