Rensselaer Journal, Volume 12, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 October 1902 — GERMANY'S CHOPS BADLY DAMAGED [ARTICLE]

GERMANY'S CHOPS BADLY DAMAGED

Rain Causes Grain in Shock to Sprout, Rendering* It Unfit for Bread. SAMPLES ARE OF POOR GRADE Quantity ia of Usual Proportions, but Quality Is Inferior, Forcing the Output Into the Btill or to Be Used for Feeding. Germany may be able to maintain her embargo upon American meats, but the indications are that she will be a big purchaser of American breadstuffs during the coming year. Latest official crop bulletins from the empire, according to advices received at the state department at Washington, show that the cereal product of the empire has been very seriously damaged by excessive rainfall and cool weather. The conditions were favorable for an unusually heayy crop of all the cereals up until the end of July. Then, as the time came for the wheat and- rye to ripen, the cold, wet, cloudy weather kept back the harvest long after the usual date, and, when the work of gathering In the grain finally began, greatly complicated the task of saving the crops. Grain Is Exposed to Elements. In many fields the rye and wheat has been cut and laid in swaths or put up in shocks, exposed to rain and storm, until the grain has been seriously damaged by sprouting. The first samples of the new crop rye which have been received at the new produce exchange in Berlin are almost without exception damp, more or less unripe, And, even when artificially dried, of inferior grade. While, therefore, the German grain crop this year will be up to the full average in quantity, its quality has been more or less seriously damaged, and large quantities of rye, which should have been used as breadstuff, will now be distilled or used for feeding animals. Damage Is Great. It Is yet too early to estimate closely the extent of this damage, but accounts from all parts of the empire indicate that it will be considerable. The crop experts of tne agricultural department are keeping close watch upon the reports from foreign countries. The agricultural exports from the United States last year were about $100,000,000 in value less than in 1900. The certainty of a bumper grain crop in this country and poor crops abroad assures a strong demand for export grain and consequently good prices for the products of th& American farm for another year at least.