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THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS. SATURDAY, MAY 25, 1907. 15 AMERICAN WHEAT CROP IN UNPROMISING CONDITION, The recent rise In wheat prices elves some promise of being maintained at a higher level than has been the rule for the greater part of the current crop year. The grounds for this advance are tw< fold. Firsts the unpromising condition i„ the American wheat crop, arising from lack of progress within seasonal limits, rather than from any final judgment as to the crop outcome. Secondly, on account of the more or less sudden development of Euro pean demand which has apparently only been discovered at the beginning of the fourth qnartcr of this crop year. Europe has been taking wheat freely, while using up her own supplies, ever since last harvest. Now that this has be come evident, the American market It re sponding to conditions, the appreciation of which has probably been altogether too alow for the good or tho market Since the beginning of March wheat haa moved on a much larger scale. On passage tor Europe there has been a movement of an average of little less than 60,000,000 bushels per week. In the beginning of January the quantity afloat was only about half that amount, so that the great impulse to Euro pean Importation from various parts of the world catno In the later rather than the earlier portion ef the current crop Yet Europe has been unusually drawing off American wheat ever since Au gust, l'JOC. In that month. American ex ports were three times as large os In Au gust, 1906. and in but one month, Decem ber, had tho total fallen below that of tho corresponding months of any of the three preceding years. For the first nine months of this crop year Europe took 111.404.000 bushels, whereas the average for the twelve months or the three preceding years was only 70,000,000 bushels. Indicating that this . year’s business for nlno months only in American exports of wheat and flour main ly to Europe were 46 per cent greater than tho average for tho three full years be fore. Of European countries whlrti are spe cially forehanded. Germany and Great Brit ain arc noticeable. The large Argentine shipments arc chargeable mainly to the Ger man and British demands. Argentina's weekly shipments are now twice what they were last year. Her exports for two weeks averaged 4,500,003 bushels against 2.264.000 for last week of May, 1906. In Germany the market for home wheat supplies has been pretty well exhausted, and It Is es timated that there will have been Imported between January and July, next, 30.000.000 bushels. For the United Kingdom, Broom- hall estimated that Uj®. * a ? , °* April imports were 840.000 bushels In ex cess of net requirements, giving the country a surplus stock of wbrat and flour not mueh short of 20.000,000 bushels, compared with 13.Wio.ono bushels in the corresponding period of 1900. The factors back of these conditions are found In the rather discouraging European crop outlook In which Russia and the lkinu- Wan provinces nre tho least Germany has suffered from winter killing. In both notitli Russia nod tho Balkan ataten tato seeding, lessoned aereaite on aecount of c x renal v o ra I □, and political disturbance have combined to prejudice tho outlook, lint here, aa In tho Wtod Mates. warmer weather Is likely to show that proopeet. have struck bottom and are apt to Improve with tho program of the rnihmer. The mar- ket at Itadnpeat baa. however, /'enwarn- lag which western Rurere follows and America emphasires In ealatlng options. There may he considerablei recession as the season ndvances, boeauaethe spurtto 5“ the market la now keyed Is too suddeni to he the product of well-lnfomed lenders. Nevertheless aa a tentative eatlmate It U not likely that wheat ralnea will aeo the low level of tho Brat thro, <!“ r ** r * °J„ current yonr, nnlosa the weather athorne and ahroad works wonders during tho next ten weeka. This has happened before. STANDARD OIL DISBURSED ^ $380/153,700 IN NINE YEARS Tho directors of the Standard Oil Com pany have declared a quarterly dividend of 19 per share, tha anmo amount that was paldln tho corresponding quarter last year. This compares with fttThreo months ago. Tho Standard,Oil dividend la payable June IS to atork of record May 20. _ The dividend record of the Standard Oil Company from 14M to the present followa- Amount Disbursed. J23.730.000 »2M,0» amoM 35.280.000 43.123.000 44.100.000 47.040.000 47.040.000 22.340.000 a,400.000 Year. Dividend. 1907.. .. J94 1904 40 1906 40 1901 9* 1909 < 44 1M*. « 1901 46 1900 12W S Total Tho fallowing table show* the quarterly dividends declared by the Standard Oil Com pany from 1W2 to the Brat quarter In 1907 In- Yaar. March. June. Sept Doe. Total. 1906 15 6 f » JJ 1902.. ..;..,.: 20 10 _ 6 10 4o Aa ahown by the foregoing flgnrea, the Standard Oil Company haa disbursed 6290.- 452,700 to shareholders over a period of nlae and one-half years. By the does of IMS year disbursements will have reached 64«.- 000,000, or four time* the outstanding capital of the corporation. FACTO RS AND GROWER8 LOST MANY MILLIONS OF DOLLARS. A special from Memphis «ay»: "f<J* stated that cattail f»ctor» andgrowersin the South lost between *16.000,000 and 62>.- 000,000 during the pant aenaon oo account of shortage of can. m . . . . ••Most of this loss was gmj of tho cotton to the element* hJMimgf of cotton centers like Memphis while awilt- ing Crnnaportatloo. Tby^rollny^d the country over, especially «n.i middle west. Is Named, pmuasds and thousands Of Mlj» rf I »T?nSiSnrS one place, after Nils at lad!BfJ*®*®lasted consigning It to all part* ••All winter long cotton haa been unsnei tcred In the streets. Bain, ball Mdwow have fallen, 11 tentHy aoakln' 1 until It has rotted like a decayed apple. Tho warehouse* were overcrowded. ••After the rush season this cotton has been spilled out Ud allowed to dry The very best that can be picked not bring more than 1 cent per pound and U low aa ft cent. That figures as low as THE WEEK REVIEWED. By JOSEPH B. LIVELY. actual cotton <£ tnrrent season, any one had stated that date fo£t£“SX? "mm!'*"* he would 1 " lvo tad no opposition as a candl- whleh*thSr i ^i7.fi?Jf®L hold th4t °P ,n ' on - ■* wan evidenced by the rapidity with Southern fvSim. c ! m around tho "bread and meat" Uno-lOc-flxcd by tho •n,e ** .«"■!■«<* Price for the crop, mum iv, Faraicra Union were apparently satisfied with tho mlnl- Dart^wIth^h/ti^KfxSii 0 ^ ***** association, as is evidenced by their willingness to par o»i5 Ul “ e A r b °Wings around that figure. brInc?nr C «?/l ??* oJ - the hands of the fanner and good cotton Is ?SSderod cbiS? r ^ U CD ° U * h 10 t”**™ 8plnuubl ° gradc8 ‘ wtSO** • c ® nc, ***▼• witnessed In the cotton exchanges of the world the past enUr ® control, and on no day has prices sagged only caslnn^wi/i?^ £ crcd * reaction healthy for speculative purposes. On these oc- ”£wi°£ ,net ?® rc «nall and quickly recovered. in<i wVin Si!?6. n ?^ a ^ da T during tho week. Fluctuation* have been rapid JjJu m2? tendency^upward. Tho South has been lined up on tho buying I>aw 9*9 JWgthi being favorites, the low condition of the growing crop 2$-iPf J certainty that much better prices would be obtained for It from start to 2™JS cSbSW": The W«tcrn operator, convinced that the crop Is serious!; forces with the Southern operator, and together they have boost- 11,0 y®®** natural reactions occurring one or two days. #K _ V 1 ,® * wo hurines* days of the week under review—Saturday and Monday— Jg* *H arkct - wa " closed on account of tho Whitsuntide holidays. Satur- wfZliS 08 f ? day of evening up aud light trading, was the busiest day In many jnoojhs *na furnished excitement of all kinds, and for tho first hour presented scenes not witnessed in a long time. * J° • points higher. Tho bear* were veir timid, and under the leadership of July prices from tho start began to climb, In a scml-panlcky • “ ort time, July Belling up to 11.20 from 11.06 at tho opening. At top prices Jo v longs rnahed to secure profits, the bears recovered from their fright closed** 61100 foUowed ' wW ch carried July down to 10.X, recovering 2 points at the u® w crop months kept pace with July, despite the fact that more favor able weather waa reported from the S’outh, tho trade in October, December and January being very heavy, and showing advances of 19 points for October and Do- *6 points for January at the high point The break In July extended Into the fall months, and cotton was thrown on the market from all quarter*, forc ing October down 12 point*. December 23 points and January 21 points. There was a somewhat better feeling at the close, which was barely steady on the old crops at a decline of I to 9 oolnts and steady for tho new crop months at 6 to 11 points ad vance, aa compared with Friday, May 17. Monday was a nervons day. The American markets were still deprived of for- elgn Influences,, at the Liverpool market was still observing the Whitsuntide holl- dsys. Domestic Influences were construed as bearish. In that the weather wa* still favorable and reports were being wired out that tho •‘bull leader” was ••short." It is hardly probable, however, that the •'ball leader” is cutting aiiy great figure In ahaplng the course of prices nt present—only doing the "clown In the ’circus” stunt A speculative reaction was due, and apparently this combination brought It about the market closing steady 2 to 10 point* lower than Saturday. On Tuesday tho market waa decidedly active, the fluctuations bordering on the sensational. The opening was 4 to 16 points lower on heavy selling, encouraged by the "holl leaders.” The weekly weather report was issued at noon, but wda not as bad as bad been expected, ana a decline followed Its publication. The close Toes- day waa barely steady, 18 points lower on July, 15 down on October and 14 off for December. Wednesday’s market waa 1 to 4 points lower at tho opening. Initial prices prov ing the lowest of the day. and working steadily upward the entire day. *Tbe close was steady 14 to 21 polnti higher. Thursday wa* high nay for the week. Business at tho opening was active with E rices 8 to 17 point* higher. Liverpool set tho pace. Price* In that center were uoyant. with manipulation all on the bull side. Thd Jdrcrpool close wa* fever Isb, with futures 22ft to 23ft points ar* ‘ rr ‘ ,c ^ season. Heavy realising In the late i from the high point, the close being at On Friday Liverpool was again clc ernlng prices. It was none too favoramc nnu »ot? opening w«* a vo o points mgucr. Around the high point heavy selling orders made their appearance, and prices sold down before the decline waa checked. Tho selling waa well absorbed, however, and on a renewal of unfavorable weather In Mississippi prices turned upward, the close being steady net unchanged to f points lower. Aa a result of the week’s transaction* In New York, tho near months show de clines of 6 to 7 points an compared with Friday, May 17, while the new crop months clow 8 to 11 points higher. In New Orleans the clow on Friday, May 24, ahows advances of 27 to 40 point* as compared with the Friday previous. NEW YORK. NEW ORLEANS. Ms, ----- Sate?-::—: December .■ January l *. 4 — l ».y< w ■■10.72 l&M-ll I 11.43 10.96 11.27 11.51 ll.M 11.36-27 11.64 11.15 11.47-41 11.03-tt 1L0G0G 11.19-10 11.*-* 11. SM May™::: .v.:i5WjiiA4(ii«r ihmt July 12J61L76 UL2244I1L9M11 October Ill.90[ll.36>11.77 111.5051 December J1LR7I11.SJ 11.74-75111.47-4* [January .|u.*(lL» 1LT7-78 1L6051I Spot cotton during the week has moved upward. Comparison with Friday, May 17, shows the following changes: Liverpool New York New Orleans Atlanta May 17. . 7.10 . 12.16 . 1113-16 . lift May 24. 6.96 12 :t, US 12.50 for 1 bale, and possibly as high as 65 pur bale. "An on more that _ _» .... 1< "lf*hss°b«'n estimated that more than 300.000 bales of ration hare been ruined here this season. Those are recorded ss low flenres. KlRurrd at 645 per hsle. It would mess nearly 610,000,0M In cash raise whleh farmers, factor*, and buyers bars loot Is this district. "Yet the outside world has hardly heard a whimper from ths South this season. There have been very few talluree In any dlrec- 11 "To avoid the possibility of another such season, the railroads and steamship comps- ales have ramldned with factors to build Immense storage houses." AMERICA'S SILK INDUSTRY. The silk Isdsstry of the United States now employs 79.010 operatives and la utlnf 6109,556.621 capital. A few years i(o the United Stales did not hare any "silk Indus try" Productive Quality of Seeds. The variance In the amount of seeds produced to the acre by different plants Is very great, aa some vegetables will give 660 pounds to the acre, and oth er* 6.000 or 6.000 pounds. A conserva tive average Is 600 pounds to the acre. —. Flowers run to the moat remarkable yield from smaller farms It Ib almost have sufficient diversity of climate and soil to grow In profusion any seed which Is now Imported. Most of tho seeds In the United States aro pro duced In California, where, In tha Santa Clara valley, there Is ono farm alone containing 10,000 acres. Thirty-five Kinds of Onions. Some vegetables lend themselves to variations more readily than others. There are seventy-four varieties of lot. tuce and thirty-live kinds of onions. Beans, cabbage, com and tomatoes, appear In the catalogues under twenty- five or thirty different names. Mus tard Is about the only vegetable that has remained untouched by the am bltlous seed-growers. Up to tho pres ent time one kind of mustard has suf ficed for all our needs. Sweet Peas in Plenty. Sweet peas have elghty-stx divisions, and over 309 sub-divisions. In Cali fornia, where almoat all tho flower seeds are grown, one form of 600 acres Is given up to the production of sweet peas alone. The total production year ly Is about 660,000 pounds, and even when this amount is augmented by the extremes In this yield. Sweet peas, which seed more freely than any flow er. sometimes produce 6,000 pounds to the acre—a ton and a half of seeds. The double petunia, which Is known to seed growers os the "shyest seeder, will sometimes fail to yield a pound to the acre. Progress in Seed Industry. The last quarter of a century has done more for the seed Industry In America than all the prevloua years of Its existence. In that time seed growers have not only produced more than-half tho seed used In this coun try as compared with a much smaller wru-ntw In former years, but they have demonstrated the fact that weUmated at 62,000. impossible to meet the demand. Sweet peas are the moot popular Heft** <■ America for home gardens, except the nasturtiums, and even these cannot al- way compete with the sweet peas. Had Collection of Cigars, la a French country town s •trance and peculiarly useless collection Is being put up for sale, says The Ixsidon Telegraph. It had taken the owner, an eeeeatrle count. Just dead, years to get It together. lie spent the greater pan of bis lifetime buy- in- specimens of every known brand of eigsr. Tha colleetioa. Jnmbartag thousands of samples, all of whleh hnve long since become uosmokabtc,-Is said to be veil-nigh complete. The value of the collection Is es* LUMBER PRICES INCREASE 100 PER CENT IN 10 YEARS. Much complaint through the West Southwest has been voiced against what Is said to be tho exorbitant prices of lumber. In Texas the attor ney general reported to the house of representatives thnt there existed In that stato a lumber trust which was responsible for remarkable advances In prices. A representative of the lumber trado. In answering theso allegations, con cedes that there has been an advance In tho last ten years of os much ns 100 per cent In lumber prices. Ho says that tho price of stumpage In Northern plno has increased from 69 cents to 616 per 1,000 feet, and that timber lands In the Southwest which ten years ago would gladly have been sold for 61 an acre, now bring from 610 to 625 for timber rights alone. Tho extent to which these rights have been secured may bo gathered from the fact that In Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas the holdings of 100,000,- 000 feet or more are almost entirely In tho handB of operators, many of whom after clearing out tho forests In tho North, have possessed themselves of theso tracts In tho South. Nor aro they slow to turn them to account. Ftfty-six mills have commenced oper ations in nno county alone In Texas within twelve months. In ten years plno stumpage has advanced 900 per cent, or from 60 cents to 65 per thou sand. There Is no doubt that tho yellow pine mills havo made money rapidly within tho lost five years. But It is alleged that tho profits aro not so much from manufacturing as from enhance ment of the value of stumpage. Where as It cost from 65 to 66 to make lumber, exclusive of stumpage, In 1896, today the corresponding cost Is 69 to 610, and with stumpage nt 65 the man ufacturer Is said to be fortunate If ha mokes a net gain of 63 per thousand on hla output. From another aource It Is held that the prices of lumber, compared with farm products, hardware and other commodities, havo not advanced so rapidly as lumber prices. For In stance, tho farm products of the state of Iowa In ten years are said to have advanced 74 6-4 per cent, against 66 2-6 per cent for lumber. Dimension stock has, howover, advanced as much as 86 per cent. Attention Is also called to the conditions under which lumber Is now marketed. Ten or more years ago much of It was handled by water, on rivers or lakes along whose shores It was cut. Nowadays available tract* . lie far Inland, and freight rate* have advanced rapidly. In Cedar Rapids ter ritory a 6 to 7 cent rate haa been replaced by ono of 12 to 16 cents. Whereas tho Northern pine region west of the lakes supplied the central West ten years ago, now much of the lum ber has to be brought from the Pa cific coast, on which a 66-cent rate Is paid for shingles and a 60-cent rato or fir and spruco lumber. The facts aa to co-operation of the members of the trade seem to be that no combination of prices Is made; but that expressions of opinion are ex changed systematically and an official price list Is printed and published. Careful statistics are collected as to the cut, the stocks, and tho number of mills operating, so that at any time tho relation of demand and supply may bo approximately determined. Tho enormous increase In tho demand for lumber, tho contraction .of availablo areas of timber supply and the longer distances between forests and mar kets bavo generally been the chief In fluences In tho enormous Increase In prices which is complained of. • Theso changes havo given timber investments a highly favorablo position. An Underground Farm. Atchison. Ksu.. will soon have an under ground mushroom farm. Between Mound and Ijirainie. on the west side of Klghth street, are two long, damp, spooky vaults of a brewery thnt stood over them years ago. J. A. Dcmond has leased these cave*, lie has been rending government re|iorts on mushroom eulture. nnd will grow thin vegetable In thb "enve." Demond says ho used to grow mushrooms In Detroit nnd HI. Joseph, ond was succenvful lo their eulture, lie rceelved 90 cents n pound for them. Ilia Brat crop. If tho "raves" prove the right place for the mushrooms, will be ready for market In about six weeks. Lizards 8uccsed Birds. V. If. Herrick, In "Bird Inn," describes s peculiar state of affairs whleh, be says, exists In Italy In consequence of the merri- less slaughter of birds of all kinds la that country. Bpring and fall the Italian mar kets ant filled with hints, and the land Is virtually dcpopolatcd of winged Inhabitants. , ths a treats of the birds. This consists In the multitude of Itssrds which dsrt shout everywhere nnd dlnplny the utmost agility and admirable appetites In capturing snd devouring Insects. Raven Not 111 Omen, i ere generally regarded as birds of bnt the nncieat Danes considered them s good portent. King Alfred believed that ir the lfanes were ilcstlnoil to gain a victory over him the signal would lie given by the appearance of s live crow nyi the middle of the enemy's unfurled f ■■■■hang 11 in p. IVrliap* _________ footed the raven for their standard out of feelings of gratHml**, for before the invention or the mariner’s com pass they are said to havo found him ex loose s raven. If the bird saw land hs sailed away forever; If he did not he turned to the ship.