TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VIII 667 



little showing above ground; and only 2 per cent did not germinate up to 

 the beginning of winter. Fall plowing made good progress till checked 

 by dry weather in October. 



Bulletin No. 1, April 13, 1920 — 



Winter set in early and severely toward the close of November, 1919. The 

 first three weeks of December were colder than any other similar period of 

 record. On December 10, local areas in Hardin, Grundy, Poweshiek, Dallas 

 and Fremont counties experienced temperatures of 30 degrees below zero or 

 lower, the lowest being- -36 degrees at Thurman. Preceding and during this 

 cold weather the ground was generally snow-covered and but slightly frozen. 

 Later in the winter deficient precipitation and snow cover in the southeast 

 and south-central districts exposed winter wheat, rye, clover and grasses to 

 severe temperatures and considerable damage is believed to have occurred. 

 Strawberries also suffered. Other fruits are believed to have wintered well, 

 except peaches which were injured by the severe cold of early winter. 

 Live stock generally wintered well, feed being abundant in most sections. 



During March young clover suffered considerably from heaving due to 

 alternate freezing and thawing, but winter wheat and rye improved, due to 

 general rains and warmer weather toward the close of the month. Excessive 

 precipitation in the south-central and southeast districts delayed farm work 

 so that the spring wheat acreage will be much reduced and the oats acreage 

 will be less than intended, though, probably greater than last year. Corn 

 will absorb most of the decreased acreage of spring and winter wheat. 



Seeding was quite general on March 31, but cold and stormy weather 

 following, stopped all field work and the ground has reniained frozen ever 

 since in the northern districts. Snow banks still remain in the southern 

 tier of counties from the heavy snows of April 3d and 6th. 



Considerable seeding of oats and wheat has been done the past week 

 in the central and northwest portions of the state. About half of the oats 

 seeding is finished in these sections. The rain and snow Sunday and Monday 

 and low temperature Monday night are causing further delay. The season 

 is 7 to 10 days later than last year. The southern counties are even later 

 than this, as a result of the excess of precipitation in March, the snow- 

 storms of April 3d and 6th, and the cold weather so far in April. 



Bulletin No. 2, April 20, 1920— 



Showers were mostly light and scattered till Saturday night, though 

 moderately heavy rains occurred Thursday night in the Mississippi River 

 counties from Lee to Clinton. Rains were general Saturday night to 

 Monday morning, the heaviest exceeding 2 inches in Calhoun, Sac, Carroll, 

 Greene and northern Audubon and Guthrie counties. 



Farm work has been greatly delayed by the saturated soil and deficient 

 sunshine and temperature. During the more favorable weather Friday and 

 Saturday, seeding of oats and spring wheat was pushed rapidly in the cen.- 

 tral, north-central and northeast counties. Most of the oats have been 

 "mudded" in, but there is a firm determination to maintain or increase the 

 acreage of oats regardless of weather conditions. Oats seeding is nearing 

 completion in the drier counties, Oats are sprouting slowly. Early seeded 

 oats were injured by freezing early in the month and some reseeding has 

 been necessary, 



A large acreage is being seeded to grass and more would be, were it not 

 for the fabulously and unprecedentedly high price of medium red clover 

 seed. 



Early spring wheat is beginning to show green on the south slopes in 

 Plymouth county which normally is one of the largest spring wheat pro- 

 ducing counties. Though very late, some spring wheat seeding was done 

 as far south as Adair, Scott and Polk counties this week. 



