Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 July 1896 — HOPE FOR FARMERS. [ARTICLE]

HOPE FOR FARMERS.

PROSPERITY IS IN STORE FOR TILLERS OF THE SOIL. Wheat to Yield Heavily—Total Larger than the Average for Sixteen Years —West Chiefly Affected —Outlook Par- * ticularly Good in Mississippi Valley Comparison of Crop Values, There is hope for the farmers. The year 1896 promisee. to bring them rather better returns for their labor than last year and better than the year before. The wheat crop of the country is sure to be the largest since ■ 1892, and larger than the average of the last sixteen years. This year’s wheat crop is unofficially estimated by the Department of Agriculture at 475,000,000 bushels. This has been ex- > ceeded only six times since 1880. lu millions of bushels the crop was as follows for the years named: 1880 49811889 490 1881 88811890.:.. 399 1882 504 1891 611 1883 40111892 515 1884 ......512 1893 396 1885 .857 1894 . .460 1886 457 1895 467 -188T-.vrrV7...... .456 1896 .475 1888 415 The importance of the wheat crop > to the farmer is not so much in the total yield as in its market value. According to the present outlook, the value of thia year'! wheat crop will greatly exceed that of the last three years. The Department of Agriculture does not presume to estimate the pricey of any commodities in advance of the market, but unofficial information is to the effect that the average value of wheat this year is likely to be about 57 cents, against 51 cents last year, 49 cents in 1894, 54 cents in 1893 and 62 cent! in 1892. Jf the estimate of 57 cenfis far this year’s crop be borne out by the market quotations’’ I ’during "the remainder of the year, the total value of the 1896 wheat crop $270,000,000. The value of the wheat crops of recent years, as given by the Department of Agriculture, is as follows: 1892 ..«322,00CL900| 1895 $238,000,000 1893 .... .213.000:000 1896 279,000,000 1894 226,000,0001

These figures seem rather small compared to those of 1891, when the total value of the wheat crop was $513,000,000, and .when the value of the corn crop rose io < ihe_enormaua..totaLoX..sß^6.QQQr.... 000, the greatest value ever known for that crop in this country. Though 1896 cannot by auy possibility be such a "boom” year as 1891 was, nor yet quite as good as 1892, it promises to yield much better results for the farmers than ’93* ’94 and ’95. The wheat outlook is particularly good in the Western States, taking them as a whole. Encouraging Harvest Reports, Reports from the winter wheat harvest, now is progress, are very encouraging. The' wheat acreage is given by the Department of Agriculture as follows: WINTER STATES. California 3,011.000 Kansas 2,684,000 Ohio 2,422,000 Indiana ‘4294,000 Illinois 1,906,000 Missouri 1,418,000 Pennsylvania 1,239,000 Michigan 1,202,000 Other States.... 6,618,000 Total winter area. .. .22,794,000 Total last year. 22,609,000 SPRING STATES. Minnesota 3,200,000 North Dakota.:. 2,530.000 South Dakota...: 2,463,000 Nebraska 1,224,000 Other States.... 2,408,000 Total spring area 11,825,000 Total last year 11.438,000 The net increase in the combined acreage is 572,000 acres, or the total of 34,619,000 for 1896. against 34,047,000 last year. The condition of spring wheat indicate! a prospective yield that closely approximates a full or normal crop, the average for the country being 99.9 per cent. The average for the year 1895 was 97.8. Averages for the principal spring wheat States are as follows: Minnesota 92 South Dakota 11l Wisconsin 110 North Dakota 103 lowa 103 Washington 86 Nebraska 105 Oregon 96 The percentage of the combined winter and spring wheat acreage is 101.7, and the condition of all wheat is 87.6. As yet the Department of Agriculture has no official returns on the corn crop, but unofficial advices indicate a normal crop, probably equal to last year's large yield of 2,151,000,000 bushels. Prices are stiffening up a trifle, and the outlook for a greater total value than last year is counted good. The outlook for oats, rye and barley is good, and in the Southern States there is a renewal of confidence in the future on account of the fine outlook for cotton. » *