Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 May 1887 — FARM PRODUCTS. [ARTICLE]

FARM PRODUCTS.

TTheat in Michigan Shews No Im* provement—A Slight Advance in Illinois. The Country’s General Acreage Nine Per Gent Less than at This Time Last Year. National Department Report. [Washington telegram.] The report of the Department of Agriculture for May relates to the condition of winter grain, the progress of spring plowing. and proportion of the proposed cotton area already planted. It indicates a decline in the condition of wheat of two points since April 1, the general average for the whole country being 86, against 95 at the same date in 1886, 70 in 1885, and 89 in 1884. The changes in condition have not been uniform throughout the winter-wheat region, some States showing an increase, the majority a slight decline, and a few a heavy falling off. The States of the Middle Atlantic coast from Pennsylvania to North Carolina show some improvement. In New York and New Jersey the amount of winter-killing was not fully known on April 1, and this, with cold, unfavorable feather during the month, has caused a serious reduction of condition. Drought has reduced the average somewhat in the Eastern Gulf States, and has wrought very serious damage in Texas and Arkansas, lowering the condition during the month nineteen to ten points respectively. Favorable temperature and seasonable rains have improved the prospect in Tennessee, West Virginia, and Kentucky, the condition being considerably higher in those States than it has averaged in May for the past live years. The most serious reduction of the month is in Ohio, where there is a falling off of eight points since the Ist of April. Michigan and Indiana show a slight decline, while in Illinois and Missouri there is a gain of one point. Unfavorable weather in Kansas and California has caused a slight falling off, while in Oregon the prospect has advanced, it being the only State in which condition reaches 100. The averages of condition by States are: New York, 86; Pennsylvania, 72; Maryland, 84; Virginia, 80; North Carolina, 90; Texas, 60; Arkansas, 93; Tennessee, 96; West Virginia, 89; Kentucky, 95; Ohio, 71; Michigan, 90; Indiana, 87; Illinois, 93; Missouri, 96; Kansas, 81; California, 89; Oregon, 101. Rye has suffered from the same condition which has seriously affected wheat, but on account of its hardier nature the general average is considerably higher, standing at 90.8 against 92.5 April 1, and 05.7 at the same date in 1886. The condition of barley is low. the average being 87.8 against 96.7 in May, 1886. and 82 in 1885. The season has been more generally advanced in all parts of the ■country than usual, spring plowing being seriously behind only on the Atlantic coast south to Pennsylvania and on the Pacific slope. The proportion of cotton already planted amounts to more than four-fifths the proposed area, and is slightly greater than at the same date in any of the preceding five years, but is a little less than the proportion returned by the correspondents as the average planting at that date. Reports from Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. [Springfield (Ill.) special.] Advance sheets of the May crop report of the State Board of Agriculture show the condition of winter wheat in Illinois May 1 to be 92 per cent, of an average. This is an advance of 2 per cent, over the previous month. It is still 6 per cent, less than the average condition of May 1, 1886. In the northern and southern counties the average condition is 88 per cent., and the central counties 101, (Indianapolis special.] Reports from every county in Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio state that the wheat crop has been damaged somewhat by the spring rains, and the average per cent, of condition during was 83 in Indiana and Illinois and 79 in Ohio. The acreage of oats is 97 in Indiana, 104 in Illinois, and 98 in Ohio. The fruit crop promises to be larger than for several years past. [Lansing (Mich.) special.] The Michigan crop report for April shows severe drought in all parts of the State. On sandy soil wheat has made good growth, but on clay soil the growth has been unsatisfactory. In the southern tiers of counties the condition is 87 as compared with average years. The central counties show 94 condition, while the northern counties return 93. But little of the grain will be plowed up. There has been marketed 54,891 bushels of wheat. Clover is badly injured, and in many sections it will be plowed up. The condition of horses and other stock shows but little change since last month.

Injury from tile Drontli. (From the Chicago Tribune.] Drouth in the grain fields of the Mississippi Valley was the one great topicof conversation in commercial circles Tuesday, and it materially influenced the course of prices for the leading cereals. The ground is very dry in the Southwest, and to this is superadded the appearance es the chinch-bug in Kansas, while the news from the great spring- wheat regions of the Northwest was very bad, the crop prospects in the fertile Red River Valley being described as poor indeed. Grass seeds and hay, as well as oats, corn, and wheat, promise but a scanty yield, unless there be a speedy change in the conditions. And in some cases the season is too far advanced to permit reasonable Jiope of a full crop. The time for spring showers has gone by, and the good, vigorous root, which is possible only when moisture has been supplied during the early stages of growth, is hardly to be expected now, the indications being regarded as decidedly unfavorable to an average yield in proportion to acreage. Our street markets show the effects of the unusual dryness in other directions. The strawberry patches in Mississippi are desiccated to the extent of rendering the fruit unmarketable, while the dusty appearance of the berries received from Tennessee tells of almost equal drouth in that State.