Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1919-06-06
The Crop Outlook Bright.

Maryland's crop prospects. on the whole.
DR.. A. F. Woods. president Of the State
College Of Agriculture and executive Off
Ger of the State Board Of Agriculture,
stated the probability being that there will
be bumper yield Of wheat here, as else
where. But. strange as it may seem, with
people talking about the danger of I'M
employment and working upon ways to
give the returning soldier jobs, the labor
situation on the farms is still acute, being
no better. according to DR.. Woods infor-
nation, than during the wartime stress
last year
THE whole country promises a bumper
crop Of wheat" DR.. Woods said. Il should
say that the yield will be about l,000.-
100000 bushels Some estimates have
placed it at 1.2OO,000.00O bushels. but
conditions seem likely to reduce that. The
farmers are having some trouble with leaf
rust, which reduces the quality OF the
wheat, but this trouble is not serious. 1t
is not the dreaded stem rust. There 10
also some evidence of moldy head, which
causes shriveling Of the grain. But the
worst trouble is Of the leaf spot, which at
tacks the head and reduces the yield. That.
| fear, will cause some trouble. Allowing
for it, however, the yield, should say, will
be 1.OO0,O00,0O0 bushels.
Maryland will play her part in pro-
ducine this yield. The acreage this year
will be rs per cent. greater than In 1918,
lust before we went to war; when planting
was being stimulated by heavily increas-
ine demand. In 1915, Maryland planted
$50 900 acres in wheat. This year ! cal
culate the acreage to be little better than
100000 In 1915 the yield in Maryland
was 100000 bushels. The yield this
wear ought to increase over that figure in
proportion to the difference in the acreage"
Selling that wheat at the guaranteed
price of S2.25. will the farmers make
money. in spite of the high cost Of opera
toni" DR.. Woods was asked.
There are different opinions about that"
he replied. The costs Of labor, of fertil-
izer and Of general operation are high.
But think the farmers will make more
money than they have been accustomed
to make on wheat in other years. You
know, for some time, wheat brought so low
a price that money was lost on it. That
was the reason for the turning from wheat
to corn"
How is the corn situation this year,
Corn was late getting started. The wet.
cold weather held back the farmers. How
ever, the general climatic conditions are
promising, and ! think Maryland has a
stand Of corn better than the average.
Now" continued DR.. Wood. the hog
yield is making fine progress. The State
has been so well organized against hog
cholera that the farmers no longer fear it.
For years the hog cholera was the bane Of
efforts to produce large amounts OF pork.
Last year the hog yield showed an increase
of S per cent. over the preceding year, and
this year the prospects are that we will
have another increase Of S per cent. That
will help our food situation"
Is there any hope Of better things in the
dairy situation2 DIR. Woods then was asked
There is this improvement" he replied
THE herds are being brought to hiehel
standard. The dairymen are wedding GU
the poorly producing cows and are substi
tutine better GRADE. That makes for in
creased production. Of course, and increased
production makes for better condition
Generally in the trade But the dairymel
still are paying very high prices for mill
feed, and their labor costs remain high.
at is hard to understand, but the dairy
men and the farmers as a class are havin
as much trouble getting labor. and ar
paying as much for what they get, as dur
ine the war. We supposed that when tn
men were brought home and demobilizet
and when the great war industries eithe
shut down or slowed down, there woul
be movement of labor back to the farm
But il is not so as yet. and the dairymen an
the people they serve must take that int
account. So must all other farmers.
so far as canning products 81" sal
DIR. Woods in conclusion, 1.-THE situation
Maryland is in good shape, except on tn
Eastern Shore. In the Baltimore distrit
and other parts Of the Western Shore, tn
producers and the Gamers have eotte
together on prices for tomatoes and oth'
canning products Prices have been agree
upon through various farmer and trad
organizations and are expected to give tn
farmer a fair return and at the same tim
enable the Gamer to meet Western con
petition. But on the Eastern Shore, effort
to reach such agreements have failed ger
orally. and the result seems to be relativel
moor acreape."