The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1930-01-23
MAINTAIN ACREAGE
OF SPRING WHEAT
Railroad, Warehouse Commits
siOner Jacobson Disagrees
with Farm Board
WEATHER TO GOVERN
Conditions of Red River Val
ley Covering Period of
Many Years Reviewed

Wednesday Railroad and Ware
hosue Commissioner o. P. B. Jac-
| OLSON made public the following
statement relative to the acreage
: of hard wheat in Minnesota
1 have been extremely interest
ed in the suggestions that have
been made to the farmers OF the
Northwest to reduce the acreage
for spring wheat and the COM
| ments in respect thereof. 1 do not
for moment question the integ-
rity of these people and believe
they are sincere, but unfortunately
there are many things that must
be taken into consideration in a
plan of this kind.
Zone fact which is necessary to
face is that the large majority CT
our people understand that wheat
is of single characteristic, and
to them it covers the whole field.
To us who have been in the buSl-
ness it means much more. The
wheat raised in the Northwest is
of the variety known as hard
| Spring, and is a very choice berry,
while that raised in the territory
| south of us is of the winter wheat
type, and is a soft wheat of a
quality, for milling purposes, in
ferior to our product. In order to
produce high grade -four, winter
wheat must be blended with spring
| wheat.
II have been a resident of the
Red River Valley since 1884 and
have had opportunity for observing
the great difference in crops from
year to year. The difference in
the yield on the same farm as be-
tween succeeding crop years has
convinced me that the advice which
has been given to the farmers at
different times to curtail produc-
ton was based entirely upon tech
nical conclusions. It may be that
I belong to the old school, but 1
have always felt, and see no reason
now for changing my mind, that
! the farmer is the best judge OF
how much grain he should sow OF
the various kinds. .E.
'Let us take for example, farm
of 100 acres planted to wheat
This field, one year, may only yield
from z to 10 bushels to the acre
due to unfavorable weather. This
same field next year, planted in
the Identical way, may yield from
Is to 20 bushels per acre. The
farmer uses the same seeder, and
/ the same harvester, the only diff
ference would be that when the
yield is greater he would use more
binding Irvine. Suppose a farmer
has 100 acres suitable for wheat
but to follow the advice of these
reductions he only plants 40 acres
leaving the balance for hay or pas
ture. He certainly would be- out
of considerable profit. Therefore
it seems to me that the farmer
certainly knows how much grair
he needs for feed, and would be ir
the best position to know how
much land he should sow to wheat
IT very we'll remember, some
years ago, the farmers in Red Riv
! er Valley were advised to reduce
their wheat acreage and raise 20
atoes. One man in particular, liv
ing near Sabin, owned land very
| we'll adapted to potato raising
sandy soil. He became known very
quickly as the Potato King He
raised potatoes in large quantities
and despite unfavorable freight
rates, sold his output to the south
western states at considerable pro
fit. The other farmers in the terri
tory commenced to raise potates
In some years they had big yields
but unfortunately the yield wa:
big all over the country and there
WIS a very material loss to thu
Northwest farmers. But thos'
farmers, who in the same years
raised wheat, got fair price for il
and were money ahead.
"Three years ago a farmer from
Polk county was in my office ant
I asked him about his crop. HI
made this statement: "This year
have made some money because
did not plant more than 10 acre
of potatoes; the rest of the lan'
/ sowed to small grains. I did no
buy any new machinery because
had an old harvester, and Will
the yield was not so big it aver
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