Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 July 1901 — SAYS CORN ISN’T YET RUINED. [ARTICLE]

SAYS CORN ISN’T YET RUINED.

Secretary Wiigpa -HoMe Oat Hope to Farmers of the West. A dispatch from- Washington smys: Mr. Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture, does not take so gloomy g view of the agricultural prospects between the Allegheny and the Rocky Mountains as do some of ■the so-called experts who are not connected with the government service. Nor •yet does Mr. Wilson attempt to minimise the injury already done and that will increase unless there U a great precipitation of moisture during the next few weeks in the vast stretch of country between the continental mountain ranges. While he acknowledges that the hardwheat belt of the Northwest has been damaged, he does not yet despair of an average yield of com in the corn belt, which he defines as extending east from the Missouri river to the Alleghenies, embracing the States of lowa, Wisconsin, the northern part of Missouri and all of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. The Secretary is especially hopeful of an average corn crop. Mr. Wilson said: “If something could lie done to Induce the farmers in the corn belt to extend their period of cultivation about two weeks this year beyond the usual limit I would look for a big crop. But the usual season for cultivation is rapidly drawing to a close, and J fear that with comparatively few exceptions the farmers will ‘lay by’ their corn at the regular time, regardless of drouth. In the entire corn belt, with the exception of Missouri, which has a shallow soil, thirty inches of rain during the year is all that is needed to produce a crop. If even only twelve or fourteen inches of this falls during the four months of production a good yield can be counted on. The corn belt soil, with the exception noted, is deep and holds moisture well. To utilize this conserved moisture to the best advantage in the absence of rain the soil should be continually stirred, so as to make what we call a ‘mulch’ until the crop is matured.