AGRICULTURE: Bumper Crop

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Across the rolling lands of Texas and Oklahoma, sweating harvesters drove their clanking combines in echelon, cutting wide swaths through the endless fields of golden wheat. As the winter wheat harvest hit its full stride last week, farmers were hard put to find a place for their bumper crop. In such railroad centers as Burkburnett, Tex., every available elevator was full to overflowing; shippers, caught by the shortage of railroad cars, were forced to dump the harvested grain in piles along the streets (see cut).

Only a month ago, the Department of

Agriculture had predicted a good but unexciting harvest. Last week, totting up farmers' estimates after a month of moderate sun and providential rains, a whopping 75,000,000 bushels was added to the total. Barring bad weather, the Government said, farmers could expect a crop of 1,192,425,000 bushels, second only to last year's record 1,364,919,000 bushels.

Despite this optimistic forecast, wheat futures dropped a scant 2¢ a bushel in the Chicago grain pits. Traders counted on Government exports of some 400,000,000 bushels to take care of any surplus.