Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 95, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 August 1901 — CORN CROP'S ENORMOUS LOSS. [ARTICLE]

CORN CROP'S ENORMOUS LOSS.

Government Renort Show* a Decline of 27.3 Pointe. Instead of being reassuring, the government report of the condition of the corn crop on Aug. 1 is startling in its demonstration of the blighting effect of July’s rainless sties upon growing grain. Where an average corn crop means a yield in the neighborhood of 2.000.000 bushels, while the big yield of 1890 was 2,283,845,105, the government’s statement compiled from the reports of 12,000 correspondents indicates a_ total crop this year of” only 1,290,9(7,000 bushels. This is a shrinake og over 050,000,000 from the estimates , made July 1, 1901. For the States in the great corn belt the loss is shown in the following table of acreage’ and estimated yield compared with the yield in 1900: Acreage, Estimated, , Yield, July 1, yield, 1901, 1900. 1901. In bn. in bu. Ohio 2,616,000 53,380,000 106.890,188 Indiana .. .3,851’,000 65,310,000 153,200,806 Illinois ... .7,283,000' 107,618,000 264,176,226 lowa 8,370,000 138,356,000 305,639,248 Missouri . .6,323,000 53,193,000 180,710,404 Kansas .. .8,011,000 44,141,000 163,870,630 Nebraska ..8,013,000 83,646,000 210,430,064 The effect of the July drought was also felt by other cereals. A comparison of the crop promise July 1 with the prospect Aug. 1, thirty days later, as told iu the percentages of the Washington document, discloses why the West has been buying the coarse grain with such a frenzy for four weeks, and why the corn and oats prices are up almost 50 per cent iu that time: Aug. 1, bu. July 1, bu. Corn ?. 1,300,000,000 2,000,000,000 Oats 600,000,000 684,000,000 Spring wheat .... 230,000,000 276,000,000 The loss on potatoes means a great deal, the condition being only (52.3, compared with 88 last year. It means about 1(50,000,000 bushels, against 210,000,000 bushels last year. The advance in priees has offset these crop losses so far as the entire farming community is concerned. It is an economic fact that farmers as a whole get more in the aggregate for their short crops than for their big ones, but the benefit of this advance is unevenly distributed. Some interests get no benefit from the advanced prices. The railroads lose their tonnage and do not benefit. They get just so much less to handle. The following shows the advances in prices on corn and oats since the middle of June before the drought began: June 13 Aug. 10. Corn (December) 40 CO Oats (May) 28% 5®% Potatoes CO $1.40 Under the pressure of the extremely pessimistic report of the government of the condition of crops throughout the country markets on the Chicago Board of Trade Monday experienced a startlingly excited opening and prices went soaring upward. Wheat for September delivery took a jump of 2 cents during the first few minutes because of the alarming state of affairs acknowledged in the report, and corn was even stronger, showing a gain of 3 cents before the session was hardly well under way.