The Covington leader. (Covington, Tenn.) 18??-current, 1922-07-27

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(Bg Dixon Merritt. Division Of Crop
and Livestock Estimates, u. S.
Department Of Agrieulture.)
II you read the crop reports of the
United States Department of Agri-
culture you have noticed the express
ion, THE condition Of the corn crop is
IS per cent. Of normal" or the like.
The growing condition of all crops is
reported in per cent. Of normal, and
normal is not a hard-and-fast thing
like pounds or bushels or bales Still,
it means something that is fairly
clear in the minds of practical farm
ers, and it is the best measuring rod
that the department has been able
to find for crop condition.
Here is what it means: A normal
crop is the kind Of crop that, at
planting time, you have a reasonable
right to expect, if conditions are fay
orable throughout the season. 1t is
the sort of good crop you have harv-
ested from your fields in favorable
seasons. 1t is the typical crop rep
resented by the average of a series
of good crops, leaving out the, &C.
casiOnal bumper" crops and the DC
easional poor crops In short, it is
the kind of cSop that the farmer
knows his fields ought to produce if
they have a fair chance.
Now, the condition figures given
by the department for the state, or
for the United States, nearly always
show condition below normal. This
does not mean that all farmers have
crops that are below normal But,
suppose your are considering. only the
20 farms Immediately around yours,
would it ever happen that all of them
would have at the same time corn
crop, say as good as the normal :?
More than half of them would be
likely to be below the normal in any
particular season and, if only one Of
them fell below normal, this would
bring the average of the entire 20
below normal IA
Suppose 49, of them were normal,
but the creek overflowed the other
one and brought it's condition dow1llt0
so per cent. of normal, the condition
figure for corn on the 20 farms would
be SO per cent. of normal &
When the averages are made fer a
state or for the entire country, the
improbability of a normal condition
increases so tremendously that, in
practice, it may be said never to exist.
Tobacco, cotton, peanuts, timothy
these are the four crops in which
Tennessee farmers have planted more
acres this year than last. In a way
it indicates a return to old-establish-
ed. customs that were overturned by
the war and scrambled in the chaos
of reconstruction.
European markets, which used to
take the bulk of our dark tobacco,
were ruined by the war and are only
lust now beginning to "come back. "
The tobacco acreage this year is not
more than enough to bring Tonnes
see back to where it used to be.
Peanut production has fallen off
during recent years fer several rea-
sons. Though the acreage III Ten1
nessee this year is 152 per cent. of.
last years acreage, it is still far be-
low that Of 10 years ago.
The increase in the timothy acre
age is in line with the old system Of
keeping considerable part of each
farm in Middle and East Tennessee
at least in permanent pasture and
meadow.
The increase of the cotton acreage
to 1913 per cent. Of last year-but
nobody knows what an increase in
cotton acreage means, and probably
would not dare say it if he did.