IOWA WEATHER AND CROP REPORT 611 



Iowa's 1922 corn crop is the second largest of record. The old corn on 

 Iowa farms November 1 was estimated at 39,668,000 bushels; new corn, 

 December 1, 455,535,000 bushels; total corn 495,203,000 bushels; com- 

 pared with a total of 502,344,000 bushels in 1921, and 506,943,000 bushels 

 in 1920. New corn is 28 per cent above pre-war normal; old corn 159; 

 and total corn 33 per cent above pre-war normal. Fortunately, Iowa 

 farmers are much better provided with livestock to consume this corn 

 than they were last year and the corn production for the country as a 

 whole is less. 



It is unusual that both warm weather and cool weather crops produce 

 well in the same season, but in 1922, practically all crops yielded above 

 the 10-year average and fruit, particularly apples, made an unusually 

 large crop. The total value of crops is 57 per cent greater than a year ago. 



Bulletin No. 1, April 11, 1922 — 



A rather mild winter with the least snow in 32 winters preceded the crop 

 season of 1922. The ground froze more deeply than usual. March was 

 warm with an excess of precipitation in the central and south portions. 

 Winter wheat, rye, grasses, alfalfa and clover wintered well in spite of the 

 deficiency in moisture and snow cover during much of the winter. The 

 recent moist, warm weather has been favorable for these crops. 



Scarcely a beginning has been made in seeding of oats and spring wheat, 

 due to the frequent, heavy rains. The soil is generally saturated and 

 packed. Several days of sunshine are needed to put the soil into condition 

 to work. At this date last year approximately 85 per cent of the oats had 

 been seeded but they met disaster in the severe freeze that came later, 

 from which they never fully recovered. Not much spring wheat will be 

 seeded. 



A few potatoes have been planted and some gardening has been done. 

 Fruit prospects are believed to be unusually promising in most sections, 

 yet there is danger that the prevailing warmth and moisture may rush the 

 buds forward too fast. 



Numerous small tornadoes and local windstorms did considerable damage. 

 Severe hailstorms visited Council Bluffs and Diagonal. Dirt roads are 

 generally impassable. 



Livestock in general wintered well. The number of sows bred for spring 

 pigs is about 25 per cent greater than last year, but the reports on early 

 spring pigs are very discouraging. It appears that the superabundance of 

 cheap corn on the farms and the scarcity of ready cash to buy the supple- 

 mental feeds needed by brood sows has resulted in overfeeding the sows 

 with corn. Besides, cholera, "flu" and other diseases caused many of them 

 to fail to conceive or greatly reduced the size and vitality of the litters. 

 Contagious abortion is prevalent. The cloudy, rainy weather has been 

 very unfavorable for the young pigs. So the net result will be much less 

 than a 25 per cent increase in pork production. 



Bees generally wintered well. Though the weather has been unusually 

 cloudy and rainy, it has been warm, and occasional periods of sunshine 

 have afforded the bees ample opportunity for cleansing flights and a little 

 chance to work on maples. 



Bulletin No. 2, April 18, 1922 — 



Cool cloudy weather with rain or snow prevailed at the beginning and 

 close of the week, but Thursday, Friday and Saturday (13th-15th) were 

 favorable for field work in many counties. Frost and freezing tempera- 

 tures were general on the mornings of the 12th and 18th, but nothing was 

 susceptible to damage. 



