The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1923-11-09

tSE VOtt6Aakt0A WILL QGARAWs y
The ipfofmation upon which the
reports are based IL received from
thousands OF farmers Ia al parts
OF the country. Many OF these farm.
efs are regular members Of the de-
partment's crop reporting stan, who
have for years been reporting On
acreass aAe condition OF crops. ara
sa sSS ss aSss sfr9H ssy part sSsSs lea
IL based. The intended acreage as
published u reported BY these farrn-
ers for their own farmg.
It 81 also pointed out BY the de.
| partment that the intentions report
is neither . guess nor o forecast OF
the acreage that is to be planted. Il
Il q report OF what ID in the minds
or farmers 10 do In the way Of plant.
ing on their own FARMS; and lie pub.
nshed with q view 70 enabltns
farmers to make readjustnents %
acreage 70 prevent under or over
The department haA been com.
lmehded ia some quarters on the fact
that the report on intentions to plant
| cotton THIS year came within SIX.
| tenthS OF 1 per cent OF the actual
performance. Department officials
| state, however, that this 81 not an
Indication Of the value or the eerv.
| ice. the real test being that where
an intended increase Of IL per cent
in acreage was reported. individual
creasine their OWE. acreage, could
subsequently contribute toward .
total acreage that ID their Judgment
was warranted by the general eco
The value Of the service from this
standpoint Is brought out In a. COM
parison between the April inten>
i tons report and the July acreage
report published by the crop re.
porting board. The Intentions re-
port indicated . tobacco acreage 70
be planted Of ITO per cent Of the
1879 aersage: The acreage report ,, q
showed the acreage to be 1872 per
| cent OF the 1922 acreage. indicating
I In the opinion Of department off,
1 Gals, either that farmers regarded
| what they jptAnded 20 plant as too
high, or. that weather conditions
prevented them from carrying out
| their full Intentions. Had farmers
not had information Of what tobAe.
co farmers as a group intended 20
do, the actual acreage PLANTED might
well haye been consiasranl ply larger
LnRu lpSt ftuks AuS AOSo.f sSANp 80
sibiy an even larger tobacco CROP
than was actually grown, depending
Of course on weather and growing
A similar situation Is shown IN
comparisons IN connection with
oats. fiax irish potatoes. sweet DO.
| tsfces, and corn, Farmers intended
10 riant TO oats 102. 6 ref cent OF the
1922 acreage, whereas the pnoliea-
| ton OF this information may have
exerted some influence in inducing
them g Plan only l Sa:i - per .a. GEM &
| 1899 acreage was originally intend.
| ed bit the actual acreage was 1879
| IIer cent. but was subsequently re-
duced to $50 per cent. Ia sweet pc.
tatoes the actual performance
showed q cut Of more than z per
| cent from Intentions. and in corn
the, cut was approximately per
Id spring wheat and barley, farm.
i ers evidently regarded the intend
ed plantlngs as too low ana the ss ac.
/ the delartrient says. In spring
wheat an acreage s4.5 per cent OF
Last wear was intended, whereas
actual performance was e4.9 per
| cent OF 1922. The barley acreage
| was intended at 1927 per cent OF
ts22, hut farmers actually planted
| los per cent.
THE heavy losses to producers
| from. over production and 20 con-
sumers from Under produetion OF
i certain crops has created aem bala
disasters. the Department saws. The
Sotato crou OF 1929, for example,
VIA 40 large. 451. 600 900 bushels. that
| thousands of bushels were never
| dup This was one cause OF the pres
emit depression In the Northwest;
over production due to expanded
acreage Get, Be avoided by farmers
By giving due attention to the ca ~
intentions reports, say aeparEehhtt
officials, VINO point out t5as 9 Hngn s
tbe i,yodncersi prices without cor
responding eeaeft ~ consumers
Finding that the fields IN
which they desired to plant L.
grynes had acid soil, some $4,000
farmers in 1922 followed the re.
concentration Of their county
agent to apply lime on these
fields. They used for this PVT
pose, according to reports 70 tne
agriculture, about $4,000 tons Of
| lime or Limestone.
A total of 1856 miles of FED.
eral- aid roads was completed py
June 30, 1923, according to the
limited States Department OF
Agrieulture. Some $500 miles
OF federal aid highways OF dit:
ferent types were constructed
during the fiscal year ending on
that date. The projects under
construction at the close OF the
year totaled 14,772 miles and
were estimated as % per cent
Complete.
Considerable increase In the
degree of intestation by the
european corn bofer IN Ohio hae
been noted during the past
month ii the infested territory.
states d report 20 the United
States department Of agriculture.
One field has been observed
which Yielded as high as IL per
cent OF the stalks infested. NO
definite Indication has yet been
found that the insect will be
two -brooded this season under
Ohio conditions.
HONEY COLOR PRoBLEms
Problems involved In the COM
marcial ihandiing of honey have led