REPORT OF SECRETARY. \) 



lands have been in continued cultivation for from fifty to seventy-five 

 years we have produced this year the largest yield per acre of both corn 

 and wheat in the history of the State. Can this be attributed alone to 

 the favorable season ? Our season has been good ; it has not been per- 

 fect by any means, and I think every member of the Board has seen in 

 the past just as favorable seasons for the production of heavy crops. 

 Some of the piincipal reasons for this bountiful crop are: First, the 

 farmers have been growing more clover and cowpeas. Second, they 

 have been more careful in saving and applying barnyard manure. Third, 

 they have increased the amount of commercial fertilizers used. Fourth, 

 they have adopted better systems of crop rotation. And fifth, and per- 

 haps one of the greatest, is that during the long period of drouth in 1901 

 the evaporation of the moisture which was almost continuously arising 

 from the soil brought up from deep down in the soil the plant food which 

 had been carried down by the water in previous years, and the plant food 

 was deposited upon the surface where it was available for plant growth 

 this year. They have found out that it is best to couple intelligence and 

 energy with physical force to insure a reasonable degree of success. The 

 day of farming by physical force is past. Our system has changed from 

 one of soil exhaustion to soil building, and I am confident that fifty years 

 from now the average production of the lands of this State will be much 

 greater than it is to-day. 



CROP REVIEW FOR 1902. 



WHEAT. A greatly increased acreage was sown in the fall of 

 1901. This was due to two reasons: First, to the fact that the yield 

 of both the crops harvested in 1900-1 were above the average production 

 and of excellent quality, and second on account of the disastrous drouth 

 in 1 90 1 a great many farmers sowed wheat for pasture to help take the 

 stock through the winter. In sections where there was sufficient moist- 

 ure and where the wheat was sowed in well prepared lands, the fall and 

 spring pasture more than paid for the seed and expense of seeding. 

 Over the northern and central portions of the State the winter was ver)' 

 dry during the early part of the season of 1902 and the seed made little 

 growth, but as the season advanced there was sufficient rain to mature 

 a bountiful crop. In many of the southwestern counties there were .good 

 rains in the fall of 1901, and the rain continued in the following spring 

 and the wheat made too rank a growth, causing it to lodge badly which 

 reduced the yield. The fields that were pastured heavily in this section 

 produced the best crop. In some of the southeastern counties wheat was 



