Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 August 1895 — FUTURE IS BRIGHT. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FUTURE IS BRIGHT.

THE OUTLOOK FOR CROPS WAS NEVER BETTER. Moat Satisfactory Reporta from the Ore»t Grain Producing Tract—Oata, Rye and Fruit Flourishing Corn Yield the Greatest Ever Known. Bountiful Harvests. This is likely to be a phenomenal year for agriculturists as the indications for good crop* throughout the farming districts of the whole West have never been surpassed. Grain of every sort and all variety of fruits will be most abundant, and as the farmer looks over his fields of rich crops and his trees laden and weighed down with fruit his heart laughs aloud with joy. Kansas has this year raised nearly 7,000,000 bushels of Irish potatoes, the largest crop in the history of the State. In many instances 200 bushels have been raised on a single acre, which were sold on board the cars at 50 cents per bnshel. Taking the State as a whole, the yields of fruit and garden products were never so gpd the trees and vines were nevef before so laden. Conditions average 75 per cent, for apples, peaches, grapes and cherries, and in one-half of the State apples and peaches rate at 100 and about The stories of drought and distress which went forth from Nebraska last fall and winter will hardly be repeated this year, for, while farmers in many sections are on the anxious seat as to their corn crops, they are just completing what is probably the most satisfactory harvest of small grain in the history of the State. Indeed, the yield of wheat and oats may be said to be a record-breaker. The acreage of both these cereals this year, along with rye and barley, was less than that of last, but the production of all, according to estimates made, will be far above the average. This is all the more gratifying from the fact that the early drought was the cause of gloomy forebodings. In the Dakotas, the great wheat-grow-ing States, the crop is placed at 2,400,000 acres and the yield at about twelve bush-

els per acre, or a total of from 28,000,00 to 30,000,000. This estimate was made before thrashers got to work and on a basis of fifteen to eighteen bushels per acre in the southern and eastern counties. But since the actual test is being made, the yield in that section is going beyond the average, some fields thrashing out as high as thirty-five bushels per acre, while from twenty to twenty-five bushels is common. This may bring the total up to 35,000,000 bushels, while there was not over 7,000,000 or 8,000,000 bushels raised last year. The yield will be cut in the northeastern part of the State, where the prospects were good, by a heavy hailstorm, which destroyed 20,000 acres. Some smut is reported in the eastern part of the State, but not enough to do anygreat damage. The acreage devoted to the oat crop is probably about the same as in former years,' or 800,000 acres, and the yield is reported far above the average—twenty-five bushels per acre. Wherever the crop has been thrashed some fields go as high as eighty bushels per acre. In the southeastern part of the .State, where all crops are the heaviest,- the average this year may be safely put at thirty bushels per acre, or a total yield for the State of 25,000,000 to 30,000,000 bushels. The Corn Crop. The crop of corn of the country this year will be the largest that has ever been known. It is estimated at the present time that the yield will exceed by 200,000,000 bushels the record of any previous year. This condition did not exist a month ago. At that time continued drouth in nearly all the corn States made the outlook dubious for an average yield. But the rains came, copious, heavy, continued showers, just at the time most needeij, and to-day prosperity hovers closer over millions of homes than for many a year.

How much depends upon the corn crop is realized by few. The corn crop will bring more money, if marketed, than all other grain products combined, and potatoes may be counted with the grain to make good measure. The estimated yield of corn for this year is from 2,250,000,000 to 2,500,000,000 bushels. At the present price, which is 35 cents for December or May delivery, the ciop will be worth $800,000,000. To emphasize .the immensity of this product it may be said that the State of lowa alone will raise enough corn this year to supply more than bushels to every man, woman and child in the United States. Illinois, lowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and Kansas comprise what has been termed the corn belt. This section furnishes nearly, if not quite, twothirds of the entire corn product. The greatest yield of any year previous to this was in 1889, when the acreage was 75,319,651 and the yield 2,112,892,000 bushels. The following year brought a practical failure, which was again made up in 1891, when the yield amounted to 2,060,154,000 bushels from an acreage of 76,204,515. For the past three years the yield has been 1,628,464,000 bushels for 1892, 1,619,496,431 bushels for 1893 and 1,212,770,052 bushels for 1894. The indications at present, therefore, are that the 1893 crop will be nearly double that of last year. Tt will not all be turned into cash, but considered from the standpoint of value it will represent $400,000,000 more than the eeepof last year. John Hartman, Joseph Wilke and Alexander Wilke, j members of a New York pleasure party, were drowned.

ENTERPRISING FARMER.-I'm glad to see you and hope we shall be better acquainted.