Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-03-05
FARMING WORK HAS
STARTED IN EARNEST
Prospects Are Encouraging, But
EverythingDepends Upon Hold
ing on to Farm Help.
Special Correspondence of Every Evening

Special Correspondence of Every Evening
Middletown, March 5.Farm work
began in earnest here, yesterday. The
! hired help reported for work IN the morn
! ing and indications are that the farmer
J in this section of Delaware has hard
| year in front of him, While last year was
! the most prosperous ever known mere
among the agriculturists, help was scarce,
| and the work was done under great DIM
| ClIltIes, and at an enormous expense. Az
| the end of the year much of the regular
! fall work was unfinished, and many
farmers still have parts OF their helds
| of corn uuhuskcd This corn must hc
| huskcd and the fodder gathered before
/ the regular seasons work can commence.
Some farmers have been fortunate
| enough TO secure help sufficient To tllI
! their land. if they will stay at work, but
there is ever the fear that they will leave
their Jobs on the farms to take the better
paving ones in the cities, Wages are
almost double what they were, and most
farmers here are compelled To pay from
S35 to SIS per month with board Also,
in almost every case they are required to
keep horse for each man, and with the
present high price OF grain the boarding
of the horses amounts to considerable
sum of money each month,
As TO TOMATO PRICES.
The farmers are very much agitated
over the talk of the Federal government
fixing the price of tomato toes to the growers
NJ S2l per ton. They all insist that ut that
price the tomato crop would not pay ms
we'll rs corn, and the indications are that
very few acres Of tomatoes will be planted
here unless there is more latitude as to
price With the high cost Of labor, and the
baskets having increased in price from So
tn Sl6 per hundred. and the cost of fer
tillzers almost doubled; also, the fact
10 bC considered that tho tomato crop
ripcns Just at time when the corn needs
cspcc iai attention, many OF the larger
growers arc talking seriously of cutting
tomatoes out altogether The few growers
who did not contract last wear realized as
high ms Sl.lO per basket from their crops
and many had visions of q good clean
up on them again this year, but these
hopes would he dispclcd by the proposed
government action bv setting a price Of
$2l per ton.
Sugar corn Gamers have not vet made
any oiicr TO the farmers near Niddlctown,
but It IS said, at Odessa, that Watkins d
SO. have contracted with some farmers
at s22.j per ton
WORKING HARD FOR MILK
Nlllk has been one of the greatest helps
TO the farmers hero. during tho past year,
and they are trying their hardest to pro-
duce as much Of it rs possible Great inn
provemcnt has been made IN the cattle
here during the past wear or 50, on ac-
count Of the high priccs Of milk The re-
ceivIng stations arc now paving about
$500 per hundred pounds, which amounts
TO about : p cents per quart Several
leading dalrymen Of this section will leave
during tho latter part of the week tor
Michigan. where they will huy q carload
Of purc-bred HolStcin cattle County
Farm Agent Il q Bausmau viii accom-
pany them
The present prospects for wheat are tho
poorest known here for many years The
wheat was sowed late owing to rainy
weather and labor shortage, and the cold
weather came on sooner Than usual The
wheat came up thin on the ground, and
has not vet recovered. Some of thc older
farmers say the crop may yet come out
and produce fairly well, but the chances
arc against It,