Jasper County Democrat, Volume 13, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 April 1910 — STORM DAMAGE IN THE CENTRAL WEST [ARTICLE]

STORM DAMAGE IN THE CENTRAL WEST

Loss to Fruits and Crops Estimated at Millions.

The territory covered by the severe storm and freezing weather reaches from St. Louis to the Canadian line and beyond, and from the great lakes to the eastern slope of-the Mississippi valley. Immense damage has been done to grains and garden truck in many sections and fruit has suffered greatly. Total loss of the entire fruit crop of the central lake region, extending westward to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and southward into Kentucky and Tennessee, was adjudged a certainty by Prof. Henry J. Cox, weather forecaster for the United States government in Chicago. After observing the progress of the wintry storm, with its biting frost, which projected itself against and obliterated the unseasonable warmth of the last few weeks, the forecaster said he could see no hopes for peaches, pears, plums, cherries, strawberries, apples and other small fruits which usually are so plentiful and cheap in the summer months. The monetary loss may reach twenty or thirty millions of dollars, and in view of the high cost of living will have a far reaching influence, inasmuch as it will increase the prices of canned goods, because there will be no 1910 crop of fruit to can. The forecaster said he could see no hope for better weather during the nett few days. If any fruit has been left with the germ of life in it by the frosts that already have occurred, he says, coming frosts show every prospect of wiping out the last chances of a crop. The crop of tree fruits, such as apples, peaches, pears, and cherries In southern /Illinois and the lower part of Michigan will be a total loss if present returns are at all reliable. The cold weather was general over Indiana and reports show that no section escaped the damage. Fruit growers made strenuous efforts to save the smaller fruits and hundreds of them burned straw under trees and resorted to other expedients, but the efforts Were in vain. The grape crop will be reduced to one-third of the normal, while cherries, peaches, apples, plums, strawberries and other small fruits are killed. Hundreds of gardens planted in March will have to be be replanted. The fruit crops in normal years in Indiana are estimated to be worth about $5,000,000 or $6,000,000 and it is safe to say that the loss will be fully $5,000,000 this year.