The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-04-07
CROPS ARE HURT
Kansas Wheat Damaged by
Freeze and Wind.
Conditions Not Altogether
Favorable Over State.
WHEAT is 88 Per CENT NORMAL
Green Bugs Make Appearance
in Southeastern Counties.
Farm Labor Supply Shows I'm
prOvement Over Last Year.

Conditions not altogether favorable
to the crop situation in Kansas on
April 1 are reported in the state crop
report issued today by E. c. Paxton,
statistician of the bureau of crop esti-
of agriculture.
The report is as follows:
Wheat IS Per Cent Normal.
The condition of Kansas wheat on April
1st is estimated as being IS per cent of
normal. This condition is predicated on
the assumption that all of the 10,367. 900
acres sown last fall will go to harvest.
Abandonment cannot be estimated until
next month, but from present indications
it is prospectively small except in a few
tions is likely to be below average for the
state. The condition on April 1st year
ago was 73 per cent and the 10year aver
age is so per cent
Damage by Easter Freeze.
1t is doubtful whether this estimate of
conditions reflects all the damage from the
Easter freeze of March 9th and 2Sth.
Neither the measure nor permanence of
that injury is as yet apparent. Correspon-
dents differ widely as to its destructive
ness and totality. While most of the wheat
west of the 9Sth principle meridian was
frozen to the crown and turned brown, the
majority are of the opinion that it will
grow again with an access of surface
moisture and warm weather. The moisture
was forthcoming on April 5th in those sec
tions of greatest need.
High Winds.
Considerable immediate damage to which
the Easter freeze was contributory cause
has resulted from high winds. The freez-
ing of the foliage gave the winds freA ac-
cess to the. loose surface soil and a hrge
area centering in Russell county has suf-
fered severe damage from the exposure of
the wheat roots. Spotted damage from
wind has occurred elsewhere.
Green Bugs Present.
bT1u fS Iy,o
rev southeastern counties, keen anx-
1ety Is as yet felt concerning its menace.
The green asphides reported in the alfalfa
and clover fields of eastern Kansas are
undoubtedly true 'clover aphis" and will
not damage grain crops, altho they may
severely tnjure the legumes.
Hessian Fly and Cut Worms
A source of much anxiety for the future.
hoth as regards oats. barley and corn as
wei as wheat, is the presence of numerous
mature chineh bugs that have survire,J tl,e
mild winter and are now finding barbor
and breeding grounds in the wheat fields.
In mhe Hessian fly may yet. prove serious in
many counties Wheat of early September
! lousy with fly" Such fields have very
small chance for maturing any crop Dam
age from some species of cut worm in scat
tered localities has been severe and is NOT
negneible. Generally speaking the Kan
Sas wheat crop is fairly high in promise,
put tbe present bears germs of high po-
, tentiality for future good or ill., 1t is still;
! three months till harvest
Rye Is Good
Rye is relatively unimportant in Kansas
put the 112,OOO acres estimated as now
growing in the state is reported as promis-
ing " per cent of a normal crop as COM
pared with rs per cent last April and n
ten-year average of So per cent on the
corresponding date.
More Brood Sows.
Estimates indicate that 273,OO0 breeding
sows are now held on Kansas farms. This
is 10 per cent more than one year ago
but still far below the number in former
years. The increase is not large enough
! to portend any radical over production of
swine in the near future. 1t is a natural
increase commensurate with the holdings
or last years corn crop, the surplus of
which is still largely held on the farms
where produced.
Labor Supply Improved.
Farm labor supply shows a real improve
rnent over last springs condition. Cor
respondents indicate that the present sup
ply in the state is "a per cent of normal
where as the demand is only SO per cent of
normal. The real cruN of the farm labor
situation is revealed by the direct ratio
/ between the percents of normal supply and
demand which shows the supply to be IL:
per cent of the demand. Farmers are re-
! luctant to hire except in cases of direct
/ to work at a wage scale from % per cent
1 to 80 per cent lower than prevailed a year
( ago.
! Winter Wheat Good.
| The average condition of winter whea,
| in the United States on April 1 was OF
! per cent normal. against 7j.6 on April Z
| 1920; 99.S on April l. 1919, and S3.6. the
average condition for the past ten years Oh
( April 1.