The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1945-08-02
FARM HISTORY IS
ASSURED BY CROP
RECORDS THIS YEAR
Banner Season For Production
OF Practically Every Crop
Will Be Remembered
Phenomenal Grain Harvest Fol-
lows Good Hay Crop; Corn
Prospects Much Brighter

O. ~ AAoIC1S 10 b11AAE AAA0dI L1AC
Bluffton area this summer, and
record yields either already assured
or in prospect will long be remem-
bered as a banner season for the
production ii practically everything
put in the ground by farmers.
Years in which one or two farm
crops establish records are not un-
usual, but this summer for the first
time in the memory of the Oldest
old-timer yields for every crop,
without exception, are ranging from
above average to record marks.
Hay, the first crop to be harvest
ed this summer, was said to be $3.50
above the pre-war 10-year average
for this district. Favored thruout
the spring by abundant rainfall and
cool weather, the hay crop was the
second best in all history here.
This years wheat stands are Civ
ing an average return of more than
40 bushels to the acre, mark which
is double the longtime average of
20 bushels which farmers regard as
a fair crop.
60-Bushel Wheat
Yields are running upwards from
80 bushels to the acre this summer,
with most fields yielding DO bushels
or better. Fred Mueller, north of
Bluffton, had an average of 81
bushels to the acre, and Roy Cherry,
of near Pandora, established a record
for the district with 60 bushels per
acre.
With the success of the wheat
crop assured, farmers are now wor-
ried by the storage situation which
is assuming all the proportions of a
major problem.
Coincident with harvest of the
phenomenal crop, serious shortage
of freight cars available for ship.
ping purposes is now in its third
week.
Elevators are jammed with over
flow quantities of grain, and can buy
from farmers only sporadically when
railroads allot them a few cars to
move a part of the supply on hand
Most farmers have all their farm
storage space filled to overfowing
and there are reports of others who
have put their grain in chicken hous.
ses, silos or on barn floors.
Straw Unwanted
Straw from grain crops is an un.
wanted product on nearly every
farm, and its disposal is complicat
ed by the fact that there is no de.
mand for it and balers will not bale
it and take it away even when offer.
ed to them without cost.
Every indication points to g
record breaking oats crop. Complica-
tions also enter this picture, how.
ever, due to the fact that the straw
is so heavy that many fields have
broken down. In cases where the
crop has gone down, farmers plar
to cut the stand with mowers anc
thresh.
Preliminary tests indicate higl
quality oats on a plane commensur
ate with the quantity. A sample
recently tested "A at one of the loca
dealers, in comparison with tn,
general average of 80 in past years
Corn which started under decid
ed handicap because of delays il
seeding has made a spectacular
comeback, and there is every indica
tion of a bumper crop being harvest
ed in the fall. The stand has mad,
heavy gains during the last TIVE
weeks of hot, humid weather, aide,
by frequent rainfall, and most feld
now are in tassel.
Potatoes Look Good
Potato prospects are bright, an,
farm observers report the yield t
the acre will be good. The amour
of land planted to potatoes in thi
area, however, is less than in nor
NAL years, because of the acut
shortage of farm labor.
Soybean yields this fall shoul,
surpass those of last year, with tn
crop looking very promising at thi
time Acreage devoted to beans ais
has been reduced on most farm
this season.
This is the best summer in seve
years for milk production, largel
because of the fact that abundan
rainfall and cool weather have KEEP
pastures in unusually good condition
Bluffton's dairy plant operated b
the Page Dairy Co. is receiving
$4,000 pounds of milk daily in mid
summer, mark that ordinarily i
reached only during peak productio
in the spring. This mark of owe
rs tons daily is approximately l